Zhanna Prokhorenko
Zhanna Trofymiwna Prokhorenko (Ukrainian Жанна Трофимівна Прохоренко, Russian Жанна Трофимовна Прохоренко; born May 11, 1940 in Poltava, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union; † August 1, 2011 in Moscow, Russia) was a Russian actress. She played with in about 50 Soviet feature films, including in Ballad of a Soldier and The Red Snowball Bush.
Life and work
As a student of the Moscow Art Theatre Prokhorenko was discovered in 1959 by film director Grigori Tschuchrai for the war epic Ballad of a Soldier. Tschuchrai chose the then 19 - year-old from the basis of a photograph and cast her for the role of the humble and fearful Shura, they had become known internationally. The production was awarded in 1960 at the International Film Festival in Cannes and was nominated for an Oscar.
After this success, she moved to film school WGIK and studied until 1964 under Sergei Gerasimov and Tamara Makarova. After the first successes of her film career stagnated over time; it has often been set to the role of the simple, dreamy girl and could be difficult to solve of their image. Nevertheless Prokhorenko matured with increasing Acting experience to a character actress of Soviet cinema; repeatedly occupied in film adaptations of Russian literary classics.
1988 Zhanna Prokhorenko was honored as People's Artist of the RSFSR.