early years
The future actress was born into the family of architect Georgy Alexandrovich and actress Raisa Ivanovna, who served at the Gogol Theater, so she inherited acting genes from her mother. As a child, Katya studied languages (German and English), practiced the piano and took drawing lessons.
After school, the girl entered the Moscow State Pedagogical Institute of Foreign Languages named after Maurice Thorez (now MSLU), but due to her youth she dropped out of school and enrolled again. This time to the Moscow Art Theater School for the course of Vasily Petrovich Markov.
Ekaterina Gradova today
Ekaterina Gradova began a completely new life.
Her charity foundation helps children who are left without parents and does not neglect lonely old people. The woman graduated from the Institute of Theology and teaches the subject “Living Word” in schools. This subject draws on the spiritual heritage expressed in the Gospel and classical literature. The former servant of Melpomene is now doing what her soul requires: Ekaterina Gradova devoted herself to the study of art and religion. She not only studies the history of her native land, but also involves children and teenagers in this within the framework of the All-Russian children's Orthodox movement “Vestniki”.
Theater career
After completing the course, she was accepted into the troupe of the Vladimir Mayakovsky Theater, where she served for a year, appearing in two productions - “Talents and Admirers” (based on Alexander Ostrovsky) and “The End of Book Six” (based on Jerzy Broshkevich).
In 1970, the young actress moved to the Satire Theater, and the artistic director of the theater, Valentin Pluchek, blessed her for this task. She worked there for 18 years and played in about the same number of performances. The first production with her participation was a play based on Alexander Stein’s play “Captive of Time,” and Ekaterina Gradova’s last role at the Satire Theater was Mrs. Sokolova in Gorky’s “The Last.”
Over many years at the theater, Gradova managed to work with such directors as Valentin Pluchek, Vadim Kondratiev, Margarita Mikaelyan, Andrei Mironov, Anatoly Papanov, Alexander Shirvindt and Leonid Eidlin.
Among the productions with her participation are “Pippi Longstocking” (based on the story by Astrid Lindgren), “The Bedbug” (based on the play by Mayakovsky), “Little Comedies of the Big House” (based on Arkady Arkanov and Grigory Gorin), “Foam” and “The Slap” (both – according to Sergei Mikhalkov), “Repair” (according to Mikhail Roshchin), “The Wood Grouse’s Nest” (according to Viktor Rozov), “Eccentric” (according to Nazym Hikmet), “Mad Money” (according to Ostrovsky), etc.
Grandson of Andryusha
— Mironov dreamed of a son. I wanted to call him Andrey. Once I brought three bracelets from Spain: Maria, Andrey, Ekaterina - for our children. But he didn’t wait for Andrei,” sighs Ekaterina Georgievna. “If Mironov saw his grandson, he would not let him go from him for a minute. Andryusha absorbed all the most beautiful things that exist in two families. He's at the very beginning of his journey. From my point of view, my grandson has a future in directing. He will continue his grandfather's work. In recent years, Mironov has said that he was very tired of roles, of filming, tried himself as a director, and made five productions. If trouble had not happened, I have no doubt that I would have headed the theater after Pluchek .
Grandson of Andryusha, the most talented
Photo from the family’s personal archive
Olga Emelyanova
#SV2/2021 Andrey Mironov Ekaterina Gradova exclusive
Films with Ekaterina Gradova
In cinema, Gradova played in a small number of films. If you don’t take into account the television performances, the artist’s filmography includes only four films (all without leading roles). But two of them are well known, loved by domestic audiences and became classics of Soviet cinema.
Ekaterina Gradova made her film debut as an actress in 1967, when she starred in Boris Yashin’s drama “Autumn Weddings.” After that, she didn’t act in film for a long time, but her next role was remembered by the entire Union.
After the serial film “Seventeen Moments of Spring,” Ekaterina Gradova began to be known as radio operator Kat, Stirlitz’s liaison Katherine Keene (aka Katya Kozlova). The prototype of radio operator Kat was intelligence officer Anna Filonenko, with whom the director of the cult film Tatyana Lioznova was specially introduced. Together with her husband Mikhail Filonenko, she worked for many years as an illegal intelligence officer. Filonenko ended up serving as a consultant for the film.
For her active participation in the filming of “Seventeen Moments of Spring,” the actress was even awarded the Order of Friendship of Peoples.
The next film with Gradova’s participation is little known. This is the drama “Birth” by Frunze Dovlatyan, which tells about the establishment of Soviet power in the 1920s in Armenia.
The mini-series “The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed” became no less popular, in which Ekaterina Gradova was entrusted with the role of Svetlana Petrovna Volokushina, an accomplice of the thief Ruchechnik (played by Evgeny Evstigneev himself).
Second husband
“A most wonderful person with the purest soul, a man with a capital M,” Gradova awarded him with these epithets.
Igor Timofeev, nuclear physicist
She discovered all these incredible qualities in Igor on a pilgrimage to Optina Pustyn. They got married in 1991. Then they got married. A year later, they took one-year-old Alyosha from the orphanage where they helped build the church.
Personal life
In the 60s, the actress had a chance to meet Maxim Shtrauch. The People's Artist of the USSR was 46 years older than her and married to Judith Glezer. At first, the young actress helped her older colleague care for his seriously ill wife, and after her death, Katya moved in with a widower.
However, Ekaterina Gradova and Maxim Strauch did not have the chance to live together for a long time. Soon after moving to the Satire Theater, the actress met the man of her dreams. Ekaterina Gradova and Andrei Mironov got married six months after they met.
Ekaterina Gradova happened to be Andrei Mironov’s wife for five years. According to her, her husband often cheated on her. In their marriage, they had a daughter, Maria, who, following her parents, became a theater and film actress. The daughter made Catherine happy with two grandchildren - Andrei and Fedor (the age difference between the brothers is 27 years).
The divorce happened soon after Ekaterina caught her husband with his colleague at the Satire Theater Nina Kornienko. Andrei told his wife that he was leaving on tour, and he went to his mistress. Gradova tracked him down, waited all night at the entrance, and in the morning she met him at the exit from the apartment and caused a scandal to her unfaithful hubby.
Later she recalled that Mironov’s father, Alexander Semenovich Menaker, assured her that all of his son’s connections were accidental, and that he only loved his wife. Maria Vladimirovna echoed her husband and mother-in-law. But Catherine did not listen to them.
After the divorce, Catherine began raising her daughter, occasionally acting in films and theater. The 80s turned out to be an extremely difficult time for her. First, in 1984, his father, Georgy Gradov, who was an avid climber, died. He went to conquer the Pamirs and never returned.
Then the actress suffered from a serious illness of unknown origin. Psychics were called to Gradova, but everything was in vain, she lost weight and often fell unconscious. Against the backdrop of illness, the actress turned to religion, entered the St. Tikhon’s Theological Institute and traveled to monasteries. This helped, the disease subsided.
On one of these trips she met Igor Timofeev. It was in Optina Pustyn. Soon they got married. Ekaterina Gradova’s second husband was a nuclear physicist by training, but in the early 90s he moved to the IT field and worked in.
Soon after the wedding, Catherine and Igor adopted a child. They took the boy Alexei Sukhoverkov from an orphanage. The adopted son grew up and became a cook, working in the Moscow region. According to him, if it weren’t for his mother, he would have grown up to be a very bad person. Mom gave me a core of calm, taught me to look at myself from the outside, he said after Gradova’s death.
In recent years, the actress and her husband lived in the village of Gorki, Vladimir region.
“Save! Help!
Mother Katya and grandmother Raisa doted on Mashenka. They looked after us as best they could. But at the age of five the girl fell ill. Double pneumonia, and a drunken surgeon decided it was appendicitis and cut it open.
— The condition was critical. I pounded the wall with my fists, breaking my knuckles until they bled. I didn’t understand who to pray to, but I shouted: “Save me! Help! And my daughter survived,” Gradova shares. — I was 33. When Mashunka was discharged, I was baptized and baptized her.
June 1973 and in 2006
And then she herself got sick. She was dying from an unknown illness. I lost weight up to 40 kg. Even psychics came to her, but they too were powerless. For almost eight years she was afraid to go outside and constantly lost consciousness.
— I was released from the hospital on New Year’s Day. They told my mother: “This could be her last holiday,” said the actress. — Father came to us. He saved me.
By the way, her mother, having suffered a severe stroke, took monastic vows in 2004 and became Mother Daniela. And she lived for another seven years, although not a single doctor believed in her healing.
Death
Gradova died on February 22, 2021 in the Russian capital, according to Wikipedia. She would have turned 75 in October. The media write that the cause of death was a stroke. Upon learning of her mother's death, Maria Mironova interrupted her vacation to fly to the funeral.
Gradova was buried in the Alley of Actors of the Troekurovsky Cemetery. Her grave is located near the resting places of Andrei Myagkov, Valentin Gaft and Sergei Yursky.
Foster-son
“He didn’t grow up easily—he had a very difficult heredity. Although he is somewhat talented,” the actress says about her adopted son.
Alexey Sukhoverkov, goofball kulanar
A cheerful youth with girls and excessive libations did not bypass the guy. about him, who settled in the apartment left by Andrei Mironov . Even the police were called. After a while, of course, he settled down. I got a job at a restaurant in Balashikha. As a chef, he received the most wonderful reviews: “He, like an artist, creates culinary masterpieces on a plate instead of a canvas,” “Lesha is a magician and sorcerer! A creative approach to every dish!”, “The chef deserves a Michelin star.” And not just one. Virtuoso!" But again, something went wrong, and Pavel now takes Alexei’s place. They say he's also a super-cool cook.
Alexey Sukhoverkov, goofball kulanar
Childhood and youth
Ekaterina Georgievna Gradova was born in Moscow on October 6, 1946 in a family where creativity and intelligence were perfectly intertwined. Father Georgy Alexandrovich is an eminent architect, professor, who is fond of mountaineering. He climbed Mount Pamir at the age of 73 and died of cardiac arrest during the hike.
Mom Raisa Ivanovna was an actress and was a member of the troupe of the Moscow Theater. N.V. Gogol. At the age of 81, Gradova’s mother went to a monastery, where she received a new name and they began to call her Mother Daniela. Ekaterina Gradova's parents never sat idle. Dad spent most of his time at work.
He was the head of one of the largest and most significant research institutes for the country, and was also the author of scientific approaches to the theory of architecture. The leadership qualities of Georgy Alexandrovich have been mentioned more than once since the war, when he served with the rank of guard major, commanded a regiment, and none of his soldiers died.
The future artist’s mother worked in a drama theater. Little Katya Gradova was left in the care of a nanny, and long after the baby was put to bed in her parents’ rooms, the lights were on - her father was working, and her mother was sewing, embroidering, or learning another role.
Ekaterina Gradova in her youth with her father Georgy Alexandrovich
Katya was brought up in strictness; her military father did not pay attention to the ladies’ whims. From the age of four, the baby was taught German, and at seven, a second language was added – English. There were also painting and piano lessons. The future actress had an excellent ear for music and loved not only to listen to melodiously flowing sounds, but also to conduct.
The girl climbed onto her father’s chair, took his cane and imagined herself as a conductor. Katya Gradova learned to write and read early; from childhood she was accustomed to drawing up a plan for the day, and when she completed one of the points, she crossed it out with pleasure. The actress continued this habit throughout her life.
Her mother, an actress, often took little Katya to the theater, but the girl did not dream of the stage. After graduating from school, the future artist entered the Moscow Foreign Academy, but studied there for only one year. After the first year, Ekaterina Gradova realized that she could not imagine herself in her chosen profession, so she took away her documents from the university.
A talented girl decides to try her luck at the Moscow Art Theater School and passes the competition on the first try. Ekaterina Gradova’s supervisor in the theater studio was Vasily Markov.
The first time Ekaterina Gradova got a taste of fame was while still in her fourth year at the Studio School. As a student, she played the main character in the play “Talents and Admirers,” which was staged at the Theater. Mayakovsky.
Ekaterina Georgievna Gradova in the television play “Talents and Admirers”
The aspiring actress was confident and very organic on stage, as if this was not her first role, and she had significant experience playing on the stage behind her. Young Gradova charmed directors and audiences. After receiving her diploma, Ekaterina got a job at the Satire Theater, where she worked until 1987.
Her creative biography ended in the late 80s. The promising actress left both the theater stage and the film set. It is symbolic that the final theatrical work of Ekaterina Georgievna Gradova was a play called “The Last”.
Biography and personal life of Andrei Gradov
The future actor was born at the end of January 1954 in the capital of our country. The boy's father, mother, and grandparents were associated with the world of art. The youngest child in the family was also growing up - daughter Tatyana, who had been acting in films since childhood. It is not surprising that Andrei decided to continue the creative dynasty. After graduating from drama school, the handsome young man received an invitation to act in films.
He was lucky enough to work with real stars - Boris Nevzorov, Vladimir Vysotsky, Nina Ruslanova. Gradov successfully played in lyrical comedies, musicals, crime dramas, and films about war, his talent was so diverse.
Andrey Gradov in his youth
Since the early 2000s, the actor has been involved in television series, and he is also in great demand in this genre.
Andrei Petrovich’s personal life is characterized by regularity and stability. He has been legally married for many years. The actor's wife's name is Natalya, she is a medical worker. Gradov has an only daughter, Ekaterina, who works in the design field, and a grandson, Maxim.
Actor with wife and daughter
In his youth, Andrei Petrovich had another marriage, which lasted only a short time, about two years.
Gradov in one of the television series
The celebrity devotes his free time to sports - swimming, tennis and horseback riding. It is known that he is a big fan of billiards and will not refuse a game of poker. Another passion of the man is traveling abroad, where he gets acquainted not only with the sights, but also with the cuisine of different countries of the world.
Notes
- [www.kuzrab.ru/publics/index.php?ID=1324 Architectural name]
- [www.russiandvd.com/store2/person.asp?id=14674&media=6&type=actor Ekaterina Gradova]
- [www.htvs.ru/ru/institute/alumnus/all_by_years/year50/ VTU im. B. Shchukina. Course by Ts. Mansurova, Class of 1950]
- [mhatschool.theatre.ru/people/alumni/1960/ Moscow Art Theater School-Studio: 1960—1969]
- [www.peoples.ru/family/dynasty/mironov/index.html Mironov Dynasty]
- [ibaza.org/show?id=f76IA Moscow telephone directory]
- [www.mariya-mironova.ru/biography.html Official website of Maria Andreevna Mironova] (Russian). Retrieved July 19, 2012. [www.webcitation.org/69ifoX65a Archived from the original on August 6, 2012].
- [www.vzov.ru/2006/10/01.html Eternal Call is a Russian Orthodox newspaper. With love to God and Russia]
- Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR No. 7425-X of June 28, 1982.
