Fate promised her a brilliant beginning and a tragic end. Izolda Izvitskaya's finest hour (1932-1971) was the masterpiece of Russian cinema - Grigory Chukhrai's film "Forty-first," where she starred in tandem with the then popular Oleg Strizhenov. Few people before filming saw in the graceful, beautiful graduate of VGIK a wild and sharp Maryutka from the story of Boris Lavrenev. But success exceeded all expectations. The love story of an ardent revolutionary and a White Guard officer still cannot be watched without excitement. And in 1956, when the picture was released and was shown at the Cannes Film Festival, having received a special prize there, the actress fell into the spotlight.