Why actress Verico Anjaparidze became a legend during her lifetime and how her memory is kept in Georgia Bashny.Net

Verico Anjaparidze (October 6, 1897 – January 31, 1987) is still popularly called the mother of Georgia. The British Encyclopedia “Who is Who” made her name in the list of the ten most outstanding actresses of the twentieth century.

With a huge talent, independent character, powerful explosive temperament, sharp, sometimes sarcastic mind, beautiful, proud and romantic Verico Anjaparidze associated with the image of a strong Georgian woman embodied on the screen. Although, of course, she played in the cinema and theater not only the role of Georgians. Almost 90 roles of unique women, young and venerable age, from different classes and countries with different destinies and characters, are alive in the memory of generations of fans of cinema and theater. Some of them are preserved on the screen.



True, Verico, who gained worldwide fame largely thanks to the cinema, did not like to act, as in the process of filming could not feel the connection with the audience. It is better to watch Anjaparidze’s game. Verico’s talent was universal: she brilliantly managed tragic, lyrical, and comedic roles.

Among her favorite images, Verico herself called those created on stage: Judith in the play “Uriel Acosta” based on the play by K. Gutskov, Shakespeare Cleopatra and Margarita Gauthier from “Lady with Camellia” Dumas is one of the most dear to her heart. After the premiere of “Lady with Camellia” in 1940, Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko, seeing the actress in the role of Margarita, admiringly said: “Finally I saw you!” – and added that such great actresses should put monuments during life.



Instagram / @historykino Great masters with their work create lifetime monuments to themselves. That's a common phrase, isn't it? The multiplication table is also banal. And accurate.
And in Georgia there is a living legend that during the meeting of the coming century, the great national poet Akaki Tsereteli raised two-year-old Verico in his arms and, calling her a little fairy of the twentieth century, instructed the baby: “You must glorify your homeland in the new century!” His words were prophetic...

Native to all of Georgia Veriko Anjaparidze, despite the harshness of judgments (she even argued with her husband Mikhail Chiaureli more than once, reproaching him for ingratiating herself with Stalin, whom she hated), had many admirers, was a hospitable hostess of a hospitable house on the Mountain of Thinking in Tbilisi, was friends with Solomon Mikhoels, Maria Babanova, Faina Ranevskaya, Maya Plisetskaya, Arkady Raikin.



Instagram / @historykino Yes, all Georgia considered her almost native. The daughter of the actress, no less talented and famous Sofiko Chiaureli (May 21, 1937 – March 2, 2008), said that, barely Verico Ivlianovna, the artist of the theater named after K. Marjanishvili, during the tour entered the market, the reproducer immediately thundered: “The great Verico Anjaparidze came to us! If someone takes at least a ruble from her ..." - the last sentence was pronounced with a promising formidable intonation, and the great actress, to save people from losses, and herself from awkwardness, immediately retreated.

Sofiko Chiaureli Sofiko people loved not so pathetic - "domestically", or in a kindred way. They called it "our Sofiko." Meanwhile, in childhood and early youth, the future artist dreamed of becoming a doctor. But she entered VGIK, following her beloved - Georgy Shengelai.



The student’s film debut took place in Rezo Chkheidze’s film Our Yard (1956). The painting was awarded the gold medal of the international competition within the framework of the World Festival of Youth and Students. There were also invitations to participate in other projects. Having seen Sofiko Chiaureli in the romantic “Hevsur Ballad”, where she created the image of the proud Mzekala, Sergei Parajanov decided that he had found the performer of the main roles in the metaphor film “The Color of Pomegranate”.

Roles Sofiko Chiaureli Yes, roles: the actress here plays not one, but six characters: a young poet, his beloved, a muse, a mime, an angel and a crazy nun. Without familiarity with the work of the famous Armenian ashug of the XVIII century Sayat-Nova and what is known about his life, it is very difficult to understand the film. But it's fascinating from the first shot.



Instagram/@nashekino And Sofiko Chiaureli's contribution to "The Color of Pomegranate" is priceless. Seeing him, Fellini and Mazina dreamed of getting acquainted with the Georgian actress, as if descended from the fresco. Parajanov himself wrote: With her, beauty itself enters into my films. She's a genius film ballerina. Both his Legend of the Suram Fortress (1984) and Ashik Kerib (1988), where Chiaureli also played, confirm the admiring reviews of the great director.

The range of her artistic talent is unlimited. In 1972, when the Soviet Union released the film drama Warmth of Your Hands, Sofiko was 35 years old. And her heroine Sidonia is 80... Different characters, genres, styles - everything interested the actress, everything was on the shoulder. Remember: “There would be a defendant, and evidence will always be found.” “He’s not young enough to take care of, but he’s not old enough to drag himself.” With a good woman, a man can become a man. These are the phrases of Alice Postik, her heroine from the detective comedy Alla Surikova “Look for a woman.”



The only Soviet actress, Sofiko Mikhailovna Chiaureli 7 times was recognized as the best actress of the year at various international film festivals. And Verico Anjaparidze in her later years aloud admitted that her daughter is a very big actress. And in my heart I always knew this, because it is not in vain that I entrusted her favorite role of Judith, with whom she herself for 40 years went on stage in the play Uriel Acosta.

Theatre is life. This is what you think of when you learn that the last time Verico Anjaparidze took the stage was the day before she was born to the sky. And speaking of monuments: founded together with Kote Maharadze, the theater Sofiko Chiaureli named after her mother - "Veriko".