Although there are about forty works in the filmography of the theater and film actress Eleonora Shashkova, the role without words became the brightest and most noticeable. In the movie "Seventeen Moments of Spring", her heroine was on the screen for only seven and a half minutes, but in the memory of the audience, Stirlitz's wife remained forever.
Without the help of words, Eleonora Petrovna managed only with a glance to convey the entire palette of feelings of a woman, for many years separated from a person dear to her. The performer, recognized as the model of the spy's wife, played the role so reliably that the artist was presented with an award from the Foreign Intelligence Service.
The road to vocation
The biography of the future celebrity began in 1937. The child was born in Batumi on December 24 in the family of a serviceman. The girl dreamed about the scene since childhood. Mom took both daughters, Elya and Marina, to the musical theater. However, even thinking about an artistic future was forbidden by his father.
After school, the graduate continued her education at the agricultural institute, participating in the amateur performances in the garrison club. After the family moved to a new job for her father, the eldest daughter joined her relatives in the Kuril Islands. Eleanor began working in the headquarters intelligence department. The girl did not leave the dream of playing on stage, although she liked the new occupation.
Elya insisted on her, having obtained permission to pass exams in the capital. She was admitted to the Shchukin school. The leader, who advised the student's age, jokingly took from her a promise to always remain young.
Shashkova began to play on the stage of the Vakhtangov Theater during her studies. After graduation, she joined the troupe. The actress spent over half a century in it.
Family and career
There they met their future husband, Ernst Zorin. The family had a daughter, Antonina. In 1968, for the first time, the actress was reincarnated as the spouse of a spy, Maria, in a tetralogy about Mikhail Tulyev, played by Georgy Zhzhenov.
Director Tatiana Lioznova invited Eleanor to participate in the TV serial "Seventeen Moments of Spring". For seven minutes, according to the performer herself, she lived a whole life. After such work, the actress never agreed to act in films with dramatic silence, realizing that she could no longer play better.
The alliance with Zorin fell apart. Director Valentin Selivanov became the new chosen one of Shashkova. The acquaintance took place on the set of the film "Diary of Carl Espinola", where Eleonora Petrovna played Alexandra Ivanovna.
Off screen and stage
With the departure of her husband from life in 1988, the actress tried to occupy herself with work completely. She did not even refuse episodic roles in TV shows and movies. In 2006, in the TV project “Utesov. A Life-Long Song Ekaterina Furtseva became her heroine.
The artist enters the stage in two productions.
She, despite her considerable age, does not lose her optimism. Her main people are her daughter with her grandchildren Gregory and David.
Eleonora Petrovna kept her promise to stay young once: she looks great, takes pictures very rarely, gives concerts and recitals in memory of “Seventeen Moments of Spring”.
