Natalya Durova is best known as a Soviet circus artist and trainer. But in her long, busy life, she found a place and circus, and literature, and social activities. This article provides a brief biography of Natalya Yuryevna Durova.
Famous family
A conversation about the biography of Natalia Durova should begin with an introduction to her family. Natalia was born on April 13, 1934 in Moscow, in the family of circus celebrities Durovs. The founder of the circus "Durov Beast Theater", Vladimir Leonidovich Durov, was the great-grandfather of the future artist. He died three years after the birth of the only great-granddaughter at that time. The famous artist with his handmade monkey in the photo below.
Like Vladimir Leonidovich, all of Natalia’s relatives were artists: great-grandmother, grandfather, father and uncle - circus, who gave their whole lives to the family circus, and grandmother and mother - pop. Incidentally, Natalya’s mother had an even more famous great-great-grandfather - the great Russian composer Alexander Borodin.
Circus art
The debut of Natalia Durova in the circus arena took place at the age of five - in 1939 she took a small part in the number of her father, Yuri Vladimirovich Durov. From the age of eight she was a regular participant in her father's rides, speaking with a lynx, elephant and cheetah, and from nine she was listed in the work book of Yuri Vladimirovich as an intern - this is how her long-term circus career began. A photo of Natalia Durova is presented below.
Most of Natalya’s children's performances took place during the war period - her father formed a front-line brigade of artists, and the beginning circus participated in performances for soldiers, which were arranged at the forefront and in hospitals.
At the age of 17, without interrupting circus activities, Natalya Yurievna began correspondence training as a veterinarian-diagnostician at the Timiryazev Moscow Agricultural Academy, and then, from 1951 to 1956. I studied full-time at the Gorky Literary Institute. Despite the full-time form, Natalya combined her studies with work as a trainer in the General Directorate of Circuses. In 1956, with two higher educations, Natalya Durova again began performing in the family arena at the Durov Theater, which at that time was called the “Durov Corner”.
In 1961, at the invitation of the Ministry of Culture of the USSR, she moved to the Union State Circus, where she specialized in creating unique numbers. So, in 1971, she even received an award from the Ministry of Culture of the GDR for the creation of the world's first attraction, which for a long time remained the only one - Sea Lions and Walrus.
After the death of her father in 1971 and uncle in 1972, Natalya Durova returned to the family arena, and in 1978 she became its director and artistic director, remaining in this position for the rest of her life.
In her work, Natalia Yurievna followed the precepts of her great-grandfather in everything - she tried to study the psychology of animals, finding methods of training based on trust, and not on fear. In her career, she performed with a huge number of animals and birds, including monkeys, elephants, hippos, giraffes, cheetahs, lynxes, tigers, walruses, sea lions, pelicans and parrots, as well as animals that no one had spoken to before: heron, nose and kinkaju.
Literary works
In addition to active circus activities, Natalya Durova was engaged in literature. She began writing in 1953, her debut was the tragic story about the circus elephant "The death of old Yambo." Since then, Natalya Yurievna has written more than thirty works that relate to animals, the circus, and her experience as trainers - all of them are created in the genre of children's literature. She has been the author of all scripts for performances of the Durov Theater since 1978. For achievements in the field of children's literature, Natalya Durova was awarded the Honorary Badge named after Arkady Gaidar.
Social activity
Creativity of Natalia Yurievna has always been closely associated with moral education - both in the circus and in literature. Therefore, in adulthood, she could not remain aloof from social activities. So, for example, it was Durova who was the author of the idea and the main inspirer of the creation of the "Temple of Childhood" - a center for moral education on the basis of the "Durov's Corner". Until the end of her life, she was a member of the association "World for the Children of the World", the Smoktunovsky charity acting foundation and the board of trustees of the charity, reconciliation and consent fund. Natalya Durova was also an academician of the International Association of International Spiritual Unity and a member of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences.
Personal life
Devoting all her youth to creativity, Natalya Durova remembered her personal relationships only by the age of thirty. At 32, she became the second wife of actor Mikhail Bolduman, who at that time was already 68 years old. In 1967, the couple had a son, who was named in honor of his father, Michael. The family life of Natalia and Mikhail was happy, but, unfortunately, did not last long - after 17 years, the death of the couple separated. Mikhail Bolduman died of old age in 1983 - he was 85 years old. After his death, Natalya Yurievna did not connect her life with anyone else.
The actress died on November 27, 2007, at the age of 73 years. She was buried in the Novodevichy cemetery. The son of Natalya Durova survived her mother only three years, having died from a perforated ulcer at the age of 43 years.
