Natalya Fateeeva is a European film star of Ukrainean heritage who appeared in over 60 Soviet and Russian films and also participated in international projects and was a jury member at various film festivals in Europe.
She was born Natalia Nikolaevna Fateeva in 1934, in Kharkiv, Ukrainian SSR of the former Soviet Union (now Kharkiv, Ukraine). There, her father, Nikolay Demianovich Fateev, was a Red Army officer and her mother was a manager of the prestigious "House of fashion and modeling." Young Fateeva studied piano and also took lessons in opera singing. She was fond of movies and was a frequent moviegoer at local theaters, especially at screenings of such masterpieces of European cinema, as "Beauty and the Beast" (1946), "Orpheus" (1949), and "The Count of Monte Cristo (1954), all starring Jean Marais.
While studying acting at the Kharkiv theatre school, Fateeva made her debut on local television that made her visible, and soon she was accepted at Moscow State Institute for Cinema (VGIK). There Fateeva studied acting under directors Aleksandr Gerassimov and Tamara Makarova. At that time, she was introduced to Moscow cultural milieu where she socialized with other prominent Soviet filmmakers of that era. In 1957, Natalya Fateeeva married director Vladimir Basov, and the couple had one son who also became a successful actor and filmmaker.
Natalya Fateeeva shot to stardom in the USSR after she appeared in "Three Plus Two" (1963) in a supporting rile alongside the popular actor Andrey Mironov. During the filming, Mironov and Fateeva became romantic partners and were planning their wedding, but his mother ruined their relationship and their marriage plans were canceled. Fateeva briefly returned to her first husband, Vladimir Basov whom she soon divorced. In 1965, she married the famous Soviet astronaut Valery Egorov, and the couple had one daughter, but that second marriage ended in divorce in 1970.
After the initial success, Fateeva appeared in supporting roles in such popular comedies, as "Children of Don Quixote" (1966), "Songs of the Sea" (1969), and "Gentlemen of Fortune" (1971) alongside such popular comedians, as Evgeny Leonov and Valery Kramarev. Among her more serious works was the leading role as an international businesswoman in Cold War drama "Countermeasure" aka Otvetnaya mera (1975), (1974). In it Fateeva co-starred with Raising the Roofs (2006), and the two actors went on to working together in several more films, such as "You Win it in the Battle" (1975), "A Moment Decides Everything" (1978), and "Sindikat 2" (1981). She also appeared in supporting roles on television in such popular series, as "The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed" (1979) and "Broadway of our Youth" (1996) among her other works.
During the presidential campaign of 1996, she supported re-election of president Boris Yeltsin, and during the next presidential elections in 2000, she initially supported Vladimir Putin. However, eventually Fateeva became a strong opponent of the ruling political party of Russia. In 2011 she was awarded the title of "Honorable Citizen of Kharkiv, Ukraine" adding this to her other honors and awards. She joined the opposition to president Putin and strongly criticized the annexation of Crimea in 2014, and became a vocal opponent of the Russia’s invasion in Ukraine in 2022.
Natalya Fateeeva is living in Moscow, Russia.
