Nonna Mordyukova
Noyabrina Viktorovna Mordyukova (Russian: Но́нна (Ноябри́на) Ви́кторовна Мордюко́ва; 25 November 1925 – 6 July 2008) was a Soviet and Russian actress and People's Artist of the USSR (1974). She was the star of films like director Denis Yevstigneyev's "Mama" and Nikita Mikhalkov's 1980s hit "Family Relations". The editorial board of the British "Who's Who" encyclopedia included Nona Mordyukova among the top 20 actresses of the 20th century. Biography. Nonna (Noyabrina) Viktorovna was born into a large family in the Cossack village of Konstantinovka, Donetsk Region, Ukrainian SSR. Nonna spent her childhood in a settlement where  her mother worked as chairwoman of kolkhoz (collective farm). In 1946, Mordyukova entered the Actors’ Faculty of VGIK and studied there under Boris Bibikov and Olga Pyzhova. After graduating she played on stage of Theatre Studio of Film Actor and was often featured by film directors. In 1948, Mordyukova was married to actor Vyacheslav Tikhonov and had a son (now deceased) by him. The two were divorced in 1963. Career. In 1949, she was awarded the Stalin Prize for the role of Ulyana Gromova in "The Young Guard" movie. It was her debut film role. Her filmography reveals, however, that  while she has had the chance to work with a constellation of the best Soviet directors, it has usually been for one project only. There is no high-profile director with whom she has a continuous working relationship. After her work for Sergei Gerassimov on "The Young Guard", she was cast in the last movie of veteran Vsevolod Pudovkin "The Return of Vasili Bortnikov" (1952). Other one-time collaborations with well-known directors have been with Mikhail Shvejtser for "Chuzhaya rodnya" (1955); Lev Kulidzhanov for "Otchij dom" (1959); Leonid Gaidai for "The Diamond Arm"; Andrei Konchalovsky for the Turgenev adaptation  Dvoryanskoye gnyezdo (1969); Grigori Chukhrai for "Tryasina" (1978); Eldar Ryazanov for "Railway Station for Two", and Nikolai Gubenko for "Zapretnaya zona" (1988). She appeared only once in a film by Nikita Mikhalkov, who structured his village comedy-drama "Kinfolk" (1981) entirely around the personality of the actress, who had by that time established herself as an epitome of the Russian peasant woman. The role of Klavdia Vavilova, a robust and boisterous Red Army Commissar who has accidentally become pregnant in Aleksandr Askoldov's "Commissar" (1967) is Mordyukova's most memorable work. The film, shot in 1966, was shelved and was  only released in 1988. By that time Mordyukova was over sixty and had starred in over twenty other films. The wide critical acclaim and appreciation for what is probably her best performance came too late to have any definitive effect on her profile as an actor. She received FIPRESCI Award, Otto Dibelius Film Award, Special Jury Prize at the Berlin International Film Festival, and Silver Spur Award (Flanders International Film Festival) for "The Commissar". During perestroika, Mordyukova appeared in a number of supporting roles in a range of comedy-dramas. Similarly, she has been a highly visible presence throughout the  1990s, with supporting roles in some of the most-popular Russian features, such as Pavel Lungin's "Luna Park" (1992) and Vladimir Menshov's "Shirli-Myrli" (1995). In 1999 she played the leading role in "Мother" (1999), directed by Denis Yevstigneyev; a family saga loosely based on a real story, mixing melodrama and comedy elements, and spanning over several decades. "Russian cinema goers and critics call Mordyukova one of the best actresses of the 20th century." In over fifty years of cinematic work she has played in dozens of films, where she acted mainly as ordinary Russian women. In November  2000, Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a presidential decree awarding the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, third degree, to Mordyukova. The asteroid 4022 Nonna is named after Nonna Mordyukova.