- Valentina Leontyeva
Valentina Mikhaylovna Leontyeva ( _ru. Валентина Михайловна Леонтьева;
1 August 1923 ,Petrograd -20 May 2007 ,Ulyanovsk ) was a famous anchor onSoviet TV . She was one of the first television presenters in theSoviet Union .Leontyeva survived the
Siege of Leningrad , which claimed the life of her father. After a brief stint at the Mendeleyev Institute, she attended theVakhtangov Theatre School in Moscow. In 1948, she joined a theatre inTambov .As a TV anchor, she became famous for her deeply-felt manner of presentation. Among her most popular shows was "Ot vsei dushi" ("From all the soul"), which has been praised for its honesty and emotional depth. She toured 54 cities of the Soviet Union with a stage version of the show. She was also the host of the "
Goluboy ogonyok " ("Blue Light"), aNew Year 's Eve variety show, and "Spokoinoi Nochi, Malyshi " ("Good Night, Little Ones"), a daily program for children. In 1975, Leontyeva was awarded theUSSR State Prize .In the 1980s, she hosted "
V gostyakh u skazki " ("Visit to Fairy Tales"), a children's show, and became popularly known as simply "Aunt Valya" ( _ru. Тётя Валя). Her popularity led to her being awarded the title ofPeople's Artist of the USSR (1982), the highest honor that could be bestowed on a television presenter. OnMarch 12 ,2004 theFederation Council of Russia presented to her the medal "For Contributions", revived from the 19th century.After her retirement from Channel One in 1991, Valentina Leontyeva lived with her sister in the
Ulyanovsk Oblast up until her death.There is a statue of her more than 2m in height on the
Goncharov street inUlyanovsk opened onAugust 1 2008 in the garden of theUlyanovskiy Regional Muppets Theater which was recently named after Leontyeva. [http://www.rian.ru/culture/20080801/115382939.html Monument to Valentina Leontyeva will be opened in Ulyanovsk on Friday] ,RIAN , 01.08.2008 02:30MST ]External links
*ru icon [http://www.peoples.ru/tv/leontieva/ Biography]
* [http://www.admhmao.ru/english/newsE/2004/March/23.htm Laureate Medal in 2004]
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