Marina Ladynina was born on June 24, 1908, in the village of Nazarovo, in Central Siberia, near the city of Achinsk. Born into a peasant family and the eldest of four children, Marina Ladynina learned domestic chores at a very early age: washing clothes in the river, milking cows, and taking care of the house. The little girl loved reading and dreamed of becoming an actress, which is why she often participated in school performances as a prompter. At the age of 16, Marina Ladynina began teaching at her village primary school. Then, to be closer to cultural centers, she moved to the Smolensk region, her father's native land. A meeting with an actor from the Meyerhold Theater, who gave her the address of the Moscow Theater School and Stanislavsky's book "My Life in Art" (Моя жизнь в искусстве), determined her destiny.
In 1929, Marina Ladynina came to Moscow and brilliantly passed the exams at the State Institute of Theater Arts (GITIS). Highly talented, during her second year of studies, she obtained an internship at the renowned Moscow Art Theater (MHAT), then a scholarship and a place in the troupe. After completing her studies, she stayed at the Moscow Art Theater (MHAT) for five years and was highly regarded by Stanislavsky, Nemirovich-Danchenko, and Maxim Gorky. During her studies, she made her film debut and, in 1931, landed a small role in Yuri Zhelyabuzhsky's film "Forbidden to Enter the City" (В город входить нельзя). Already a member of the Art Theatre troupe (МХАТ), she landed the lead role in the film "Paths of Enemies" (Вражьи тропы). V. Nemirovich-Danchenko, who allowed her to appear in this film, remarked to her: "Your place is in the theater."
In 1936, Marina Ladynina met Ivan Pyriev, who became her husband and her film Pygmalion. Their first film, The Rich Bride (Богатая невеста), was released in 1938 and was a great success. She entered the circle of the most famous actresses in the Soviet Union. In 1939, in The Tractor Drivers (Трактористы), she played the role of Mariana Bajan, a brigadier of a brigade of women tractor drivers. But her greatest success remains the role of the pig-herd Glacha in The Pig-Herd and the Shepherd (Свинарка и пастух).
The film tells a love story between a pigherd from Northern Russia and a mountain shepherd from the Caucasus who meet in Moscow at a World's Fair. It also celebrates friendship between the peoples of the Soviet Union.
Marina Ladynina is portrayed as a profoundly pure, hardworking woman, faithful to her convictions and her love. A few months before the end of the war, Six Hours After the War (В шесть часов вечера после войны) was released, which deals precisely with fidelity in love through the story of a man and a woman whose destiny was shaped by war. Her co-star in this film is Yevgeny Samoilov (Evgeny Samoylov).
In 1949, Kuban Cossacks (Kubanskie kazaki) was released, a film that would be the subject of debate for many years: could one, in the difficult post-war conditions, when the country's economy was in ruins, depict prosperous life on an imaginary kolkhoz somewhere on the banks of the Kuban River in southern Russia? The film, featuring beautiful songs that immediately spread throughout the country, was very well received by the public. Marina Ladynina, who plays Galina Peresvetova, the kolkhoz leader, in this film, receives many applications to join the kolkhoz, addressed in the heroine's name.
The Test of Fidelity (Испытание верности) is the last film by Ladynina and Pyriev. It was said that after a difficult divorce, Pyriev prevented his ex-wife from working in film. She no longer acts but performs at the Theater of Film Actors (Театр –студия киноактера), travels extensively both domestically and abroad, and gives concerts.
She is the only actress from the Soviet Union to have received five awards from the Russian state for her roles in the films: The Tractor Driver, The Pig Girl and the Shepherd, Six Hours After the War, The Tale of the Siberian Land, and The Kuban Cossacks.
