What intimate secret of her husband Lyubov Orlov kept all her life

Actress Lyubov Orlova proudly bore the title of Soviet style icon, Stalin’s favorite and the wife of a brilliant film director. She was dollish. Height - 158 cm and waist - 43 cm. Millions of men sighed for Orlova, although she never kissed anyone in any picture. Up to the age of 72, the actress played young girls, but her difficult fate gave a hard look. What was Lyubov Orlov really like, and what was hiding her heart from camera flashes?



Actress Lyubov Orlova The famous blonde during her life composed legends about her personal history. After her death, her fans continued her work – screenwriters, directors and biographers.

Fate caressed the future actress at birth. The father is the heir of the Rurikoviches, the mother is a distant relative of Leo Tolstoy himself. The revolution took away her wealth, but did not break her noble ambitions.

To rise from the social bottom of 20-year-old Lyubasha helped a real man. She was waiting for the prince on a white horse and with a heavy purse. But the savior was an ordinary agronomist Andrei Berzin. True, quite successful and wealthy, even with a separate living space. He rescued the beauty from poverty, but could not give the young wife all of himself.



Berzin disappeared for days at work, and Orlova escaped loneliness in hedonism and waste. To stay fit, she started taking classes in a private dance studio. I measured my waist every day. If the indicators deviated from the reference 43 cm, immediately went on a diet. Such strictness has borne fruit. Until the end of her life, the actress did not add a single extra gram.

Her husband was soon arrested and thrown into prison. After the horrors, Lubu was overcome by photophobia. Since then, the woman could not sleep if even a faint ray of light penetrated the room.

The desire to show her beauty and talent led Orlova to the ballet and choir. There were even episodic roles in movies. But she's 30 years old, and she's not famous. The girl skillfully concealed her age with elegant clothes and makeup, but time was running out. As if by the hand of friends told her about the director Grigory Alexandrov. He worked in Hollywood for three years and at that time was looking for the main character for his musical.

It was a chance, and Lyubasha arranged an unforgettable meeting for Alexandrov. I asked a friend who knew the man to call him for tea. And she came to him herself, graceful and inviting. After that evening, Orlova received the main role, and with it the heart of the film genius. He so lost his head from blond beast that on the set in Gagra flirted with her in front of his wife and child.



After the release of “Jolly guys” Alexandrov left his wife to the newly made Soviet star. The film made a splash in the States, receiving the prize of the Venice Film Festival and the recognition of Charlie Chaplin himself. And Orlova woke up famous. She bathed in the love of fans, filmed for magazines, gave dozens of interviews and chic in luxurious dresses. She even toured abroad and made friends with a Hollywood bohemian.

By the way, the homeland did not immediately accept the “Jolly guys”. Critics called the film a tracing of Hollywood musicals. Indeed: in the image of Anute in the cylinder was seen cabaretist Marlene Dietrich. Aleksandrov wanted to create a Soviet version of the German artist from his muse.

Lyubov Orlova became one of the first clients of Soviet plastic surgeons. On the screen she was bright and shocking, but in life - thin, small and inconspicuous. According to the niece of the actress, the famous husband made her beautiful. Alexandrov filmed Orlova so skillfully that she seemed taller.



But what about the "Funny Guys"? Did the Soviet audience not enjoy the musical comedy? By the will of fate, the picture still reached the “father of nations”. While watching, Stalin laughed contagiously, and then summed up: "He rested - like he spent a vacation!" Later Orlova even received the title of Honored Artist of the RSFSR.
The painting got a green light. And after the release of Circus, Stalin either jokingly or seriously threw the director: “Take care of Orlov.” If you offend her, we will shoot her.

For the "Merry Children" Alexander received a plot of an area of a hectare. His blond wife hired a Swedish architect who designed the estate to suit her personal tastes.

In a large basement cinema with a huge fireplace, private film screenings were arranged, the piano was played. The second floor was divided into two halves. One of them, with women’s rooms, a dressing room and a bathroom, was the sacred citadel of Orlova. The second - with an office, fireplace and sink - belonged to Alexandrov. The second floor was decorated with a large dance terrace. I have never had a dance party here.



Antique furniture, Persian carpets and a luxurious phone for the time – all this served only the two of them. A rare guest could hardly count on an extra couch.

Every visitor to the estate knew about the cool temper of his mistress. She was often called a “viper” behind her eyes. Orlova could apply several layers of powder, scarlet lipstick and false eyelashes for a 5-minute exit in front of her husband’s guests for an hour. And the arrogant phrase: "Gentlemen, Grigory Vasilyevich will be served dinner in a minute!" So the visitor had to quickly get up and apologise to leave the star dwelling.

Her name was Love, but she did not love people, friends, guests. She was admired, but feared, and Orlov was quite satisfied. Why did everything go so smoothly with Alexander? Is it smooth?



Both spouses were very artistic. Their family life was the scene she descended to tea with impeccable makeup, in a silk French peñoir. He was waiting at the table with his jacket and tie. I put down the newspaper to move my chair. Exquisite manners, all conversations on "you." But after a small performance, everyone invariably retired to his bedroom.

The flawless appearance of this marriage hid from the public the dark secret of Alexandrov. Love suited everything in their relationship. Even the fact that her faithful did not like only women. Several times she became pregnant from their rare intimate relationships, but each time she got rid of the baby. She said that pregnancy rejuvenates, but did not shy away from life-threatening underground abortions.

She didn't want children. Beautiful toilets brought her much more joy. Faina Ranevskaya even ironically said about this: “The wardrobe of Lyubov Petrovna is so large that the moth living there never learned to fly!”

Orlova was not going to share her husband with his only son. Little Douglas was an orphan with his parents alive and after the death of his mother was in an orphanage. The boy learned to be a cameraman, inheriting his father's talent. But with a hard hand, the famous stepmother closed all the roads to Mosfilm to him. Secretly from his wife, Alexandrov arranged Douglas for the KGB. But to say goodbye to his son after his death from a heart attack, the director did not come.



To play simple Soviet girls - weavers, housekeepers, postman - the actress carefully prepared. A couple of days carried mail before the shooting of “Volga-Volga”, and before “Bright way” three months worked at the Institute of textile industry.

A noblewoman by blood, she froze her fingers during the revolution, when she and her sister Nonna dragged heavy cans of milk to the market. Therefore, in no picture will we see her hands close-up. In life, the actress hid them under gloves.

The woman was haunted by the fear of old age. She quite late broke the laurels of fame and did not have time to enjoy herself - young and beautiful. Neither expensive creams nor plastic surgery paid for by Chaplin could turn back the clock. Over the years, she needed makeup watches and filigree camera work to reproduce her former beauty.

Orlova sought refuge from loneliness, stress and the phony family idyll in alcohol. When rumors spread about the drunkenness of the stars, Alexandrov sharply stopped this lawlessness. He may have threatened to suspend her or divorce her. Lyubov Petrovna managed to overpower herself and quit the addiction.



Instagram She's been sick for a long time. The cause was not kidney stones, as she was then told, but late-stage pancreatic cancer. About the fatal diagnosis Orlov never learned. When she felt better, she even asked her husband to get her a ballet machine. Already in the hospital, the dying actress Lyubov Orlova with severe agony every morning for an hour and a half tortured herself with training. She fainted from severe pain, but again forced herself to return to the machine.

They buried a favorite on her birthday. She didn't like this day so much. Out of respect for the actress, with Orlova said goodbye in a closed coffin. She would like to be remembered by fans as a blonde queen, not a wrinkled little old lady. According to doctors, it was her insatiable passion for corsets and diets that triggered the terrible disease.

Alexandrov died 8 years after the death of Orlova. He married the wife of his deceased son to leave his inheritance to her. He made a documentary about his extraordinary wife and followed her into eternity. Genius and his muse peacefully rest next to each other in the Novodevichy cemetery.