Lydia Tsirgvava, married Vertinskaya, lived a bright and long life. She was born in China in 1923, where she spent her childhood and youth. And then her entire large family moved to the Soviet Union.
Lydia's dad worked at the Railroad Administration, her mother was a housewife. Their grandfather, a retired career officer, also lived with them. They all lived together in Harbin, but they had Soviet citizenship and considered themselves citizens of their country, fulfilling their civic duty abroad.
In her diary, Lydia wrote that when the Great Patriotic War began, the whole family began to discuss the issue of moving to the Soviet Union in order to help the country in the struggle against the invaders in difficult times. And in 1943 the Tsirgvava family moved to Moscow. Of course, it was difficult, but they survived everything, because they were very friendly.
Creative life
Only at the age of 28, Lydia was able to enter the Moscow State Academic Art Institute. Surikov, at the Faculty of Painting. She painted very well and her work has been exhibited at various exhibitions in Moscow. After graduation, Lydia went to work at a printing plant as an artist.
Her paintings, meanwhile, sold well - they were mainly landscapes and prints.
At one of the exhibitions, Lydia was seen by Alexander Ptushko, who at that time was already a famous director. He was struck by the girl's sharp and penetrating look, and immediately invited her to star in his film.
And soon the audience saw a beautiful bird Phoenix in the film "Sadko" - this was Lydia Tsirgvava, who by that time already bore the name Vertinskaya. It was surprising that the girl without acting education did an excellent job with the role and received a lot of good reviews from critics. However, Lydia herself did not rush into a whirlpool, into an acting career: in the cinema she played only five roles. The most famous films: "Don Quixote", "The Kingdom of Crooked Mirrors", "The New Adventures of Puss in Boots". As a rule, she played characters with magical properties - apparently, her appearance suited this role.
Personal life
Once, back in Harbin, a 50-year-old singer Alexander Vertinsky appeared in the shipping company where she worked. He immediately drew attention to the bright girl, they met, and Lydia instantly fell in love. She was only 17 years old, the whole family was against this connection, but Alexander and Lydia insisted on their wedding.
Together they moved to Moscow from Harbin, and in 1943 they had a daughter, Marianna, and at the end of 1944, a daughter, Anastasia.
In 1957, Alexander died, and Lydia had to raise her daughters alone, she never married again. But she lived up to the time when her daughters became famous actresses, gave birth to her wonderful grandchildren. Two of them are also famous: artist and TV presenter Alexandra Vertinskaya and actor Stepan Mikhalkov.
Lydia Vertinskaya died at the age of 90 and was buried at the Novodevichy cemetery.
