Vera Cold, the queen of Russian cinema of the beginning of the last century, attributed a lot of passionate and passionate novels. But it was absolutely not so. In fact, Verochka was a very quiet and modest girl, and she gave her heart once and for all to one single man.
Verochka Levchenko - the future star of Russian cinema Vera Kholodnaya, from an early age she loved reading adventure novels. She vividly imagined how brave captains drowned pirate ships, landed on exotic islands and went in search of treasure. At such moments, the girl repeatedly tried to imagine what the hero of her novel should be: a romanticist, a scholar, an optimist, a company soul ... Then she slammed the book and sighed sadly, believing that she was unlikely to be lucky ...And I recognize her immediately ...
And in another quarter of Moscow, the beginning lawyer Vladimir Kholodny received the first visitors. And although, in the opinion of his father Grigory Makarovich, the young man was engaged in a serious and important business, he at times wandered in the clouds. He enthusiastically spoke about the fashionable poet Nikolai Gumilev and sincerely believed that only the desire for self-sacrifice in the name of others' happiness can save a spoiled world. Admired by the Knights of the Round Table of King Arthur, who, for the sake of the lady of the heart, could alone fight the whole army. And now, the young man thought, the heroes are diminishing, high feelings among young people cause nothing but a grin. Marriage is now not a great union of two loving hearts, but just a contract for cohabitation. In that case, you told the son Grigory Makarovich, you will remain a bobyl for life. But Volodya assured me that he would immediately recognize his love and not pass by.
Time to love
In the spring of 1910, a friend invited Vladimir to a graduation ball at the gymnasium, which Vera Levchenko had just finished. In the festive hall, Vladimir Kholodny entered with a bored look. He looked around, and his eyes met the gray-green eyes of a short brunette. Vladimir and Vera spun in a waltz. Perhaps they wanted to say a lot to each other, but they did not say a word for the whole dance. Behind the lovers spoke the eyes sparkling with happiness. The music is over, but they just could not leave. Moving aside, they talked: it turned out that they had surprisingly much in common. Listening to Volodya, Vera caught herself thinking that this enthusiastic youth was her destiny.
They agreed on a new meeting. In those days, the Moscow youth was completely fascinated with the cinema, so on the offer of her knight to see the film, the girl readily agreed. What kind of intimate simple themes of the pictures seemed to the romantic souls of lovers! Verochka squeezed Volodya's hand and sat without stirring the entire session.
As soon as Vera was seventeen, they played a wedding and moved to a spacious house on Novaya Basmannaya Street, 28. Here, Zhenechka's daughter appeared at the Cold. The birth was very difficult, and the doctors forbade Vera to have children later. But the couple did not want to put up with the fact that they will have only one child, and a year later their family was replenished with the adopted baby Nonna.
Life for love
Then the time seemed to be frozen, petrified by grief: in 1914 Lieutenant Vladimir Kholodny, who was assigned to the 5th Army of the Western Front, kissed his wife, embraced his daughters, smiled faintly and promised to return, went to war. The house was orphaned - that's how Vera felt. The children, her only consolation, did not brighten up the loneliness too much. She was increasingly tormented by nightmares.
I can not sit still and be exhausted with depressing thoughts, Vera went to the movie factory. She had been dreaming about cinema for several years, but she could not even imagine that her amazing talent and extraordinary appearance would be noticed and appreciated. Several episodic roles - and she is already the main character. Her dream came true! But the joy of recognition, so unexpected and loud, faded with an exorbitant burden of emotions for her husband.
Since the beginning of the war, Vera hated calls at the door. She shuddered, did not open it at once, as if it could save her from unhappiness. It did not help: in one of the August days of 1915 the postman brought the sad news. In the official letter it was reported that the lieutenant Vladimir Kholodny, awarded for the valor with the golden St. George's sword, was seriously wounded in the battles near Warsaw and taken to the rear hospital.
Vera read the notice several times and could not accept what had happened, fainted. Recovering herself, she smiled sadly, remembering the first dates with Volodya, and her heart filled with a feeling of infinite happiness. She thought: nothing irreparable has happened, because he is not killed, did not go missing, which means she can find and save him.
And the star of Russian cinema Vera Kholodnaya, which the public already adored for such films as "The Song of Triumphant Love" and "The Flame of Heaven", quits the job and goes to the rear hospital. To say that the road to her husband was a nightmare is to say nothing. She was accompanied by mud, ignorance, alien suffering, which permeated the soul, intensifying her own pain. But all this is just nothing compared to her love for her husband - it was she who helped her survive.
... She found her Volodya - still, but alive. The doctor said, looking away: "We consider such wounded people to be hopeless." Well, a day or two is all, and Lieutenant Cold is somehow still alive, he says that you are mentally helping him to recover, but they have not yet learned to heal the thought. .. "" Perhaps you do not know everything, doctor, "said Vera.
For weeks, she took care of Volodya and the other wounded: she was a caring nurse, nurse, teacher. What kind of mental and physical strength it required - not to convey, but thanks to her selflessness, the deadly wounds on her husband's body began to drag out. Vladimir could not walk yet, but he was already eager to go home. And Vera, having procured a wheelchair for her husband, took him to Moscow by way of the buggies.
He followed her ...
Upon returning to Moscow, Vera goes headlong into the work: without it, it was already impossible to imagine Russian cinema. One by one, there are films with her participation: "Mirage", "Life for Life", "By the Fire". She works frantically, as if she's afraid of not being in time ...
In the winter of 1919, Vera Cold was on set in Odessa. At that time there was rampant "Spaniard" (a special form of influenza), but the film group continued to work. After the performance in front of the audience in a crowded and poorly heated room, the disease also threw the actress. For her life, the best doctors fought, but they could not defeat the flu, which was also affected by pneumonia. On a frosty Sunday, February 16, Professor Ukkov came out on the porch of the house, where the actress died down. The huge crowd, who was on duty under her windows, was quiet. The doctor waved his hand and wept bitterly: the heart of the 26-year-old Vera Kholodnaya stopped beating.
She has been in the movies for only four years, but during this short period, more than 40 films with her participation have appeared on the screens. We have reached only five of them, more precisely six: the last - the shooting of her funeral. Vladimir never recovered after his wife's death: he stopped leaving the room, started talking. And one day he fell asleep with a serene smile and did not wake up. He survived the Faith only for two months. According to doctors, he died of typhoid fever. You can not write in the medical history that he died of anguish ...