The path to the dream
Burduchenko was born in Chernigov. Since childhood, she dreamed of becoming an actress, despite the fact that her parents saw her future in medicine. On the second attempt, she entered the I.K. Karpenko-Kary Theater Institute in Kyiv.
It seemed that a happy period had begun in life, and dreams were becoming reality. The young actress with expressive eyes was invited to audition for the main role while walking along Khreshchatyk. Representatives of the film crew of the film “Ivanna” approached Burduchenko. Director Viktor Ivchenko, seeing Burduchenko, immediately approved her for the main role.
He predicted Burduchenko a great future in cinema. I saw her in the role of Mavka in the film adaptation of “The Forest Song” by Lesya Ukrainka. Burduchenko will never play this role. She will be portrayed by another actress, Raisa Nedashkovskaya.
Fatal shooting
The second role in Burduchenko’s life (and, as it turns out, the last) was in the film “Nobody Loved Like That” (later it will be released under the title “Flower on a Stone”), which was filmed in the Donbass. In one of the episodes, Burduchenko’s heroine had to run into a burning house to save the red flag.
Director Anatoly Slisarenko refused the combined filming and forced the actress to run into the burning barracks. There were no doubles or stuntmen. The wooden building was previously doused with oil and gasoline, so it burned very quickly.
Slisarenko was not satisfied with the first two takes. Despite the fact that after the second take Burduchenko’s clothes were already on fire, he forced the young actress to run into the fire for the third time. When she was back inside the building, a shoe heel got stuck between the floorboards. And after a burning beam fell in front of the actress, she found herself in a fire trap.
Almost all of Burduchenko’s body was burned: 78% of burns. While in the flames, she still tried to cover her face with her hands…
Fight for life
The actress’s mother was urgently summoned by telegram from Chernigov to Donetsk. She fainted when she saw her daughter completely wrapped in bandages. The actress constantly lost consciousness, and in those moments when she came to her senses, she repeated that she would definitely play Mavka.
The body did not accept food, but Burduchenko asked her mother to try to feed her even through force. It turned out that she was expecting a child: she was three months pregnant.
From July 30 to August 15, the painful struggle for life continued. And then two hearts stopped: the actress and her unborn child.
Rumors of a curse
Both films in which Burduchenko played were prepared as part of anti-religious propaganda. The actress’s heroine in “Ivanna” is the daughter of a Greek Catholic priest, who renounces her faith and becomes a partisan. And in “Flower on a Stone” her Christina is a representative of a religious community who also renounces her faith after falling in love with a Komsomol member.
According to rumors, after the release of the film “Ivanna,” the Pope anathematized the entire film crew. This fact has not been confirmed, but the film was indeed banned in Western European countries.
Mysticism is also seen in the fact that Burduchenko’s husband, Igor Kirilenko, died on the same day as her, only three years later. Got into an accident.
How was the culprit punished?
Director Slisarenko was tried after the death of Burduchenko. He was sentenced to five years in prison and the same without the opportunity to work in films. But he came under amnesty after two years of arrest. And… he returned to the profession, although he moved to another part of cinema – he made documentaries.
But in 1986, the fact of financial abuse and misappropriation of awards from the Second World War was discovered, so he was expelled from the Union of Cinematographers.
You can see what the graves of Burduchenko and her husband look like at the Baikovo cemetery in the video.
