Queen Stefaniya

To the 120th anniversary of the birth of People’s Artiste of the USSR Stefaniya Stanyuta

Outstanding actress Stefaniya Stanyuta achieved true recognition late in life. Her nationwide fame began only when she started to play the roles of old women — an unbearably difficult kind of role for a woman. Her fate encompassed the entire 20th century and part of the 21st: from the reign of Nicholas II to the establishment of sovereign Belarus. All the historical upheavals and changes of milestones passed before the eyes of this beautiful and wise woman with a regal bearing and light gait.

The unusual geometry of her features suggested the creation of an avant-garde artist. She did not fit into generally accepted frameworks and tastes, never stood in the ranks of divas or universally recognised beauties, the list of which changed as fashion changed. However, once you saw Stefaniya Stanyuta, it was impossible to forget her. Stefaniya Stanyuta was born in 1905 in Minsk, into the family of famous Belarusian painter Mikhail Stanyuta. Yet, in those distant years, the young artist was still only a promising student of Yakov Kruger. He married a simple woman from the common people, for which his Catholic mother banned him from their house: not only was her son’s wife a peasant, but she was also an Orthodox one! She softened only when her granddaughter was named Stefaniya in her honour. The girl studied first in a church parish school, then in a gymnasium, and once she had the opportunity to see Nicholas II, who visited Minsk during the First World War. The kaleidoscope of the era swirled her from a young age: she was musical, seriously passionate about dancing, and regretted for the rest of her life that she did not become a ballerina.
Stefaniya was 14 years old when she joined the First Belarusian Drama and Comedy Society (the future Kupala Theatre) under the guidance of Florian Zhdanovich, where she was both a choir singer and a dancer. A year later, she already performed on stage in her first role in Vladislav Golubok’s play. And then, deciding to study acting further, she rushed off with her girlfriends to Moscow, where the Belarusian Studio of Dramatic Art was being organised at the Moscow Art Theatre [MKhAT]. 
She had the nickname Lily — in honour of the lily flower, such was her slender and fragile figure. Over the years, Lily transformed into Lelya, which is what Stefaniya Stanyuta was called by her close friends and colleagues until the end of her life.

  




















In the play Kind People, 1959                                                                              In the play Secret Marriage, 1957

She was fortunate with her teachers like few others: she was educated by the theatre stars of the 1920s — Sofya Giatsintova and Valentin Smyshlyaev. The creative cultural Moscow of that time is associated with the bright bass of Chaliapin and the silvery tenor of Kozlovsky, the fierce friendly rivalry between poets Mayakovsky and Yesenin, the Greek chitons of barefoot Isadora Duncan, silent cinema, on the horizon of which the star of Eisenstein was already rising, and the prominent actors of her era. It was there — in an era that was equally inspiring and tragic — that the roots of Stefaniya Stanyuta’s talent lay, her school of life and stage, the signs of which were visible in the actress’ work decades later. A semi-starved existence, first love, and her first marriage to actor Vasily Rogovenko, which was not destined to last long.
In 1926, a graduate of the Moscow Art Theatre studio, she joined the troupe of the Second Belarusian State Drama Theatre (now the Yakub Kolas National Academic Drama Theatre) established in Vitebsk. Several fruitful years, an abundance of roles and the star status awaited her there. Stanyuta was in demand at the theatre, and the public quickly appreciated the actress’ talent. In 1931, she decided to return to Minsk, to the Kupala stage, where she had started her career. Stefaniya Stanyuta, much like another great actress Faina Ranevskaya, could play a minor scene in such a way that the audience would be willing to come to the performance for that alone. In the 1930s, she again tried to start a family with brilliant cavalryman Aleksandr Kruchinsky, but although a son was born in the marriage, a long and happy family life did not materialise here either. The Great Patriotic War caught her with the theatre on tour in Odessa, from where the troupe was taken in evacuation to Siberia, to the distant and snowy city of Tomsk. Her son remained in occupied Minsk with his father, who was helping the resistance fighters. They were separated for three years. The Kupala troupe performed in Tomsk. Stefaniya Stanyuta, together with front-line brigades, performed in hospitals and at the fronts, and marked the advance of Soviet troops on the map with hope, because there was no news from occupied Belarus, and what had happened to her relatives, to her son was unknown...

    



















Stefaniya Stanyuta in her youth                                                                In the television film We Are Tenacious Lads, 1974 

As for fame... it came late, and thanks to cinematography. Stefaniya Stanyuta began acting in films in the late 1950s, starting with an episode in Red Leaves by Vladimir Korsh-Sablin. Cinema became a breath of fresh air, which prevented the actress from becoming disillusioned with her vocation and provided her with interesting work. At Belarusfilm, Stefaniya Stanyuta played in many films that are now considered classics of cinema: The Clock Stopped at Midnight, Letters for the Living, I, Francysk Skaryna..., The Lion’s Grave, Time Chose Us, Atlantians and Caryatids, I’ll Take Your Pain, People in the Swamp, White Dew. She worked with the best Belarusian film directors — Valery Rubinchik, Viktor Turov, Igor Dobrolyubov, Mikhail Ptashuk, master of children’s fairy tales Leonid Nechaev...
The main film in Stefaniya Stanyuta’s filmography is the film Farewell, released in 1981. The film adaptation of Valentin Rasputin’s novel Farewell to Matyora, conceived and started by Larisa Shepitko, made the actress famous throughout the Soviet Union.
One of the few successful female film directors chose her for the leading role of Darya, a resident of the village of Matyora, which was to be flooded during the creation of a reservoir, and all the old people were to be relocated to the city and their empty houses burned down. Shepitko, who was known for being picky about choosing actors for her films, approved Stanyuta even without auditions: she was struck by the spiritual face of the 75-year-old actress, etched with wrinkles...
Alas, in 1979, when filming had only just begun, Shepitko died in a car accident along with several members of the film crew. Her husband, Elem Klimov, had to finish her work, and he replaced the entire cast — except for Stefaniya Stanyuta, whom he admired.

“After Farewell to Matyora, I somehow began to feel differently. Freedom appeared, and courage...” the actress later confessed. It was then that she was finally noticed and loved; Stefaniya Stanyuta’s creative flourishing came during the years when actors’ stars usually fade.

At the age of 80 years old, Stefaniya Stanyuta received the title of People’s Artiste of the USSR, although there were colleagues who hissed behind her back, saying it was a pointless waste of such a high award — what did she, an old woman, need it for? But Stanyuta continued to take to the stage for another decade and a half: fate granted her 95 years of life and, in her declining years, finally allowed her to taste the bittersweet flavour of fame...

PORTRAIT OF A DAUGHTER 

The National Art Museum houses a famous portrait of Stefaniya Stanyuta, painted by her father. The painting was created in 1923. The actress admitted that she was the initiator, once chiding her father, “How come you still don’t have a portrait of me?” She came up with the image herself, tying her hair, braided into plaits, with a Slutsk sash, and hung a painted, floral, gypsy shawl as a backdrop.

By Irina Ovsepyan