Nato Vachnadze

Natalia "Nato" Vachnadze , born Natalia Andronikashvili , (14 June 1904 – 14 June 1953) was a Georgian and Soviet film actress. She started her career in the silent film era, usually playing the screen character of an Ingénue, an innocent and passionate young woman. She continued to work as an actress during the sound era until her death in a plane crash in 1953. One of the first film stars of the Soviet Union she received numerous honors, including the title of People's Artist of the Georgian SSR and the Stalin Prize.

Biography Nato Vachnadze was born in Warsaw, then in the Russian Empire as the daughter of a Georgian father George Andronikov from the Andronikashvili family and a Polish mother Ekaterina Slivitskaya. Her father, an officer in the Russian army, was killed in a skirmish with a band of Chechen outlaws (abrek) in 1912. She adopted her last name from her first marriage to Merab Vachnadze, with whom she had a son, Tengiz Vachnadze (born 1926), the future architect. Her second marriage was with the film director Nikoloz Shengelaia, with whom she had two sons, the film directors Giorgi Shengelaia and Eldar Shengelaia. Her third marriage was with the Soviet navy captain Anatoli Kacharava (1910–1982). Nato Vachnadze's younger sister, Kira (1908–1960), also became an actress and married the writer Boris Pilnyak.

Although several versions of her discovery for the film exist, the most popular and likely is that the film director Shakro Berishvili noticed her photography in a photo studio in Tbilisi. He managed to find her in Kakheti and convinced to play in her first film, the 1923 adventure film Arsen the Bandit. The role of Nunu in the 1923 film Patricide and the role of Esma in the 1924 film Three Lives made her famous not only in the Georgian Union Republic, but all over the Soviet Union. In these films her screen character was that of an Ingénue, an innocent and passionate young woman. The theater and film director Kote Marjanishvili gave Vachnadze two challenging roles in the experimental films The Gadfly and Amok adapted from novels by Ethel Voynich and Stefan Zweig. By now not only a national, but also an international star she played the gypsy woman Masha in the German-Soviet film The Living Corpse, adapted from the Leo Tolstoy play The Living Corpse. The writer Viktor Shklovsky described her as "an artiste of the American type because her value lies in the purity of her ethnographic type".

With the emergence of the sound film Vachnadze decided to have a time out. Following a recommendation by Grigori Kozintsev she went to Moscow where she worked for Esfir Shub as an assistant director. She then returned to Georgia, restarting her career in some of the earliest Georgian sound films such as the 1934 film The Last Crusaders and Mikheil Chiaureli's The Last Masquerade. She also played in films of her second husband, Nikoloz Shengelaia, including the silent film Giuli and The Golden Valley. Her last film was the 1952 film Conquerors of the Peaks directed by Davit Rondeli. Shortly before her death the poet and writer Boris Pasternak addressed her during a visit to his country house. He said about Nato Vachnadze "Your beauty evokes a desire [in us] to kneel down before you!".

After her death she received several honors. A street in Tbilisi and a product tanker of the Georgian Shipping Company was named after her from 1985 to 1995. The Georgian film award is named Nato in her honor. In 1981 the Nato Vachnadze House Museum opened on the family estate in Gurjaani, Kakheti.

Filmography

YearEnglish TitleGeorgian TitleRussian TitleRoleDirector 1923 Arsen the Bandit არსენა ყაჩაღი Разбойник Арсен Neno Vladimir Barsky Patricide მამის მკვლელი У позорного столба Nunu Hamo Beknazarian 1924 Three Lives სამი სიცოცხლე Три жизни Esma Ivan Perestiani 1925 The Case of Tariel Mklavadze ტარიელ მკლავაძის მკვლელობის საქმე Герой нашего времени Despine Ivan Perestiani Who is the Guilty? ვინ არის დამნაშავე? Наездник из Вайлд Вест Pati Alexandre Tsutsunava Horrors of the Past 2 ათასის ფასად Vladimir Barsky 1926 The Gadfly კრაზანა Овод Jema Kote Marjanishvili Natela ნათელა Натела Natela Hamo Beknazarian 1927 Amok ამოკი Амок, закон и долг Woman Kote Marjanishvili Giuli გიული Гиули Guili Nikoloz Shengelaia 1928 The Living Corpse Живой труп Masha Fedor Otsep 1930 Suburban Quarters Кварталы предместья Dora Grigori Gritscher-Tcherikover 1931 Iron Brigade Железная бригада Masha Dmitri Vasilyev 1934 The Last Crusaders უკანასკნელი ჯვაროსნები Последние крестоносцы Tsitsya Siko Dolidze The Last Masquerade უკანასკნელი მასკარადი Последний маскарад Tamari Mikheil Chiaureli 1937 The Golden Valley ნარინჯის ველი Золотистая долина Nani Nikoloz Shengelaia Arsena არსენა Арсен Neno Mikheil Chiaureli 1939 Girl from Khidobani ქალიშვილი ხიდობნიდან Девушка из Хидобани Gviristine Diomide Antadze 1940 Motherland სამშობლო Родина Natela Diomide Antadze and Nikoloz Shengelaia 1941 Qadjana ქაჯანა Каджана Marta Konstantine Pipinashvili 1943 He will come back ის კიდევ დაბრუნდება Он еще вернется Manana Diomide Antadze and Nikoloz Shengelaia 1947 A Cradle for Akaki აკაკის აკვანი Колыбель поэта Mano Konstantine Pipinashvili 1948 Keto and Kote ქეთო და კოტე Кето и Котэ Dancing in the last scene Vakhtang Tabliashvili and Shalva Gedevanishvili 1952 Conquerors of the Peaks მწვერვალთა დამპყრობნი Покорители вершин Elisabed Lomidze Davit Rondeli