Svetlana Zhgun is a wonderful Soviet actress, whose career peaked in the sixties and seventies of the XX century. She also performed on the stage of Lenkom and the Maly Theater in Moscow.
Early years and first movie roles
The future actress Svetlana Nikolaevna Zhgun was born in September 1933 in the village of Yareski (Ukrainian SSR) into a military family.
After school, Svetlana continued her education at the Leningrad Power Engineering College. Graduating from it in 1953, she became a certified energy technician. Then Svetlana Zhgun worked for about two years at one of the production enterprises of Leningrad.
In 1956, a young girl decided to radically change her life and applied to the Leningrad Theater Institute for the acting department.
In 1958, the actress married for the first time - to the film actor Gennady Nilov (he is best known today for the role of Stepan Sundukov in the comedy "Three plus two"). But this marriage lasted only a year and a half.
In 1959, Svetlana first appeared on movie screens - she played Nyura in the musical comedy Don't Have a Hundred Rubles and Valentina in The Tale of the Newlyweds.
Peak career and best roles
In 1960, Svetlana was entrusted with playing the very significant role of Ulyana Vasilievna in the drama about the Great Patriotic War "The Tale of Fiery Years." Zhgun brilliantly coped with this task, and eventually became famous throughout the Union. However, this film was also a success abroad - at the Cannes Film Festival it was even awarded the prize for the best director.
In addition, on the set of "The Tale of Fiery Years", the actress met her second husband, the artist Alexander Borisov. Later, Alexander and Svetlana had a daughter, Lada (now she lives in Denmark).
After graduating from the institute, Svetlana got a job at the famous Alexandrinsky Theater. However, the actress did not stay here for a long time - two years later she decided to move from Leningrad to Moscow. In the capital, she played first at Lenkom, and then (since 1963) at the Maly Theater.
External data and undoubted talent allowed Svetlana Zhgun in the sixties and seventies to become a very popular film actress - Soviet directors willingly invited her to their films. Among her most significant film roles are Stesha Voronova in the biographical film Comrade Arseny (1964), collective farmer Nastya in Babi Kingdom (1967), crane operator Anya Seryogina in the film Wait for Me, Anna (1969).
The fate of the actress after 1977
Svetlana Zhgun's career as an actress actually ended in 1977. She was deprived of her job in the theater, as she often violated discipline and abused alcohol. They also stopped inviting the artist to the cinema.
In 1989 Zhgun made an attempt to return to the big screen. She brilliantly performed a small, but characteristic role of one of the vacationers in the sanatorium in the film "Love with Privileges" by Vladimir Kuchinsky. Unfortunately, this film role was the last. Svetlana Zhgun was never able to defeat her addiction to alcoholic beverages.
The famous actress died on January 18, 1997 in Moscow. At that time, her age was 63 years.
