Lyudmila Gurchenko

Lyudmila Markovna Gurchenko (Russian: Людмила Марковна Гурченко, Ukrainian: Людмила Марківна Гурченко Ludmyla Markivna Hurchenko, informal – Lucia, 12 November 1935 – 30 March 2011) was a popular Soviet and Russian actress, singer and entertainer (of Ukrainian descent).

Lyudmila Gurchenko was born in Kharkiv, USSR (now Ukraine) in 1935 to Mark Gavrilovich Gurchenko (1898–1973) and Yelena Aleksandrovna (or Olena Oleksandrivna in Ukrainian) Simonova-Gurchenko (1917–1999). Before World War II they lived in a single room apartment on the ground floor at Mordvinovsky Lane #17 (now Gurchenko Lane #7). At that time, her parents worked at the Kharkiv Philharmonic Society. Mark Gurchenko was known to play the bayan (Ukrainian accordion). Gurchenko spent a part of her childhood with her mom during the time of the German occupation of USSR in her native city, while her father joined the army and, together with his concert brigade, survived the war. After the withdrawal of the German Army from Kharkiv, Gurchenko auditioned for the local Beethoven Music School, where she performed the song About Vitya Cherevichkin with gestures, after which she was accepted as an acting student.

She moved to Moscow, enrolling in the Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography. At age 21, after starring in Eldar Ryazanov's 1956 directorial debut, the musical Carnival Night, Gurchenko overnight achieved fame as well as celebrity status. Throughout the next two years she toured the entire country with her Carnival Night-inspired musical numbers, attracting crowds of fans.

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