Runaway Girl and Failed Marriages: The Loneliness of Larisa Udovichenko

Larisa Udovichenko was born on April 29, 1955 in Vienna, where her father, military doctor Ivan Nikonovich Udovichenko, worked at that time. The family history of the future artist was typical for those years: Larisa’s mother, a beautiful Petersburger named Muza, Ivan Nikonovitch met during the war years on the Road of Life. Burst feelings finally led the military doctor to leave his first family: his wife and two sons. The muse then also had to make her sacrifice for love: she, a student at the Leningrad Institute of Theatre, Music and Cinema, put an end to her dream of becoming an actress and devoted her whole life to her husband.

Well, the Muse’s ambitions finally came true thanks to her daughter. As if she absorbed the craving for the stage with her mother’s milk, Larisa showed artistic talent from an early age and already at 15 she made her debut in the short film “Happy Kukushkin” directed by Alexander Pavlovsky. Before graduating, Udovichenko managed to star in several more films. So she already entered VGIK as an experienced artist. Tamara Makarova and Sergey Gerasimov, who were taking the course, appreciated the candidate. The daily life of brilliant students began, which, of course, was a continuous celebration of creativity and artistic research. In the same years, Karen Shakhnazarov, Nikolai Burlyaev, Pavel Chukhrai, future masters of Russian cinema, studied at the Institute of Cinematography.

Alas, this period full of hope and joy was overshadowed by the personal losses of Udovichenko. When she was in third grade, her mother died of cancer at the age of 50. Father Oudovichenko died seven years later.

The role of the walking Manka in Stanislav Govorukhin’s crime drama “The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed” became one of the most significant and memorable in Udovichenko’s career. It was thanks to the image of this characteristic heroine that the actress gained real fame and recognition. Larisa played this role just three years after graduating from VGIK.

But this work required some courage from the actress. The actors were a little afraid of provocative roles and “anti-Soviet” images – after all, this can become a stigma. And here, the budding actress must embody the role of a girl of little virtue – and yet her whole career awaits her! And yet, Udovichenko decided. And not only did she decide, but for the sake of Manka she refused the role of a positive heroine – policeman Sinichkina. However, in the end, Udovichenko considered the picture tasteless and herself suggested that Govorukhin take her in the role of Manka. The director was surprised, but agreed. And I didn’t guess. Udovichenko was inimitable, surprised everyone with his mastery of disguise and made Manka one of the most characteristic images of the whole film.

By the way, the remark about how the word “bond” is spelled was also invented by Udovichenko herself, improvising on the set.

Udovichenko was pretty and extremely charming, so it’s no surprise that she always had enough fans. The actress married three times and divorced the same number. Alas, Larisa never found true love. However, she admitted that she often falls in love.

The first time Udovichenko got married while still a student was a fictitious marriage. Larisa, who arrived in Moscow from Odessa, needed a residence permit to stay in the capital. She did not leave everything to chance and took matters into her own hands. She approached Alexander Pankratov, a friend from the directing department, and offered to marry her. The young man, who already loved Larisa, agreed. True, as he later admitted, he took this marriage seriously. People around also hoped that Larisa would fall in love with Alexander, but family life did not work out.

The second husband of the actress was director Andrey Eshpay. But here too, it didn’t work. As they said, family life was destroyed by jealousy of her husband – at this time Larisa’s career developed rapidly, fans did not give her a pass, and even aware from the love of Udovichenko herself towards her on-screen partners… A I imagine that Eshpay’s nerves could not bear it.

In 1987 Udovichenko remarried businessman Gennady Bolgarin. This marriage was the longest in the biography of the actress: she lived with her husband for 13 years. With him, Larisa also partly repeated the fate of her own mother: the man was married, but for spectacular beauty he left his family and child.

In the same marriage, Udovichenko became a mother for the first time – her only daughter, Maria, was born. It seemed that the actress had finally found harmony and a warm home. But the romance was poisoned by her husband’s gambling addiction.

It was there that Udovichenko ended his attempts to find family happiness.

That’s what the actress says about herself.

Read also: The secret personal life of Boris Korchevnikov: who loved the TV presenter?

Udovichenko’s soul aches for his only daughter Masha. The girl never found herself in life. At first she tried to become an actress, but soon realized that it was not her. She then received an economic education, but also lost interest in the profession. Masha’s new goal was the world of fashion, and then, when Maria failed there, directing. To realize herself in this direction, she goes to Italy. Either to make it easier for strangers to pronounce her name, or because she wanted to separate herself from her mother’s fame and the inevitable comparisons, Maria changed her surname to Milusha.

In 2016, Udovichenko’s daughter met her love in Italy, musician Francesco Criuscoli. Two years later, they got married. But it is said that the marriage has already broken up – netizens noticed that Maria no longer posts joint photos and does not mention her husband.

Udovichenko is worried about her daughter, because she did not find herself in the profession – Maria’s achievements as a director are still limited to a short film. But Udovichenko, who is used to pampering and supporting her daughter, does not bother her with moralizing.

“She lives as she wants” — says the actress.

She herself must once again seek salvation from loneliness in profession. Fortunately, in recent years Udovichenko has again toured a lot.

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