Many professions are considered suitable only for men. Performing professional duties requires excessive physical or mental strength. Women will not be able to cope with them. Most people think so. A trainer is one such profession. Margarita Nazarova violated the accepted template in society about the possibilities of a beautiful woman.
Unusual beginning
Margarita never dreamed of becoming a tiger trainer. But fate decreed otherwise. The result is what happened. Persistence of nature, strength of character and desire to overcome dangers predetermined the life of a girl.
For the first time, Rita got into the cage to the tigers in the early fifties. Preparations were being made for duplicating the main character on the set of the film Dangerous Trails. At that time, the girl performed in the ballet troupe with acrobatic numbers. Acquaintance with tigers under the guidance of the talented animal trainer Boris Eder gave rise to the idea of trying yourself in a new role. The attempt was successful and became a life path. So, the invitation to duplicate the actress on the set with the tiger led to the emergence of a big name "Margarita Nazarova - a trainer." The biography of the girl from birth led her to this risky step.
Childhood little forget-me-not
A girl was born and raised in a happy and friendly family. Mom taught. Dad worked as a forester. The combination of teaching and living in the lap of nature led to the formation of the character of Margarita. The Nazarov family had three daughters. For the long summer holidays, they were sent to their father at the gatehouse. Freedom and unity with nature made it possible to fly imagination.
One day, the father brought a little bear cub left without a mother. This pushed Margot to the first attempt to become a trainer. But nothing happened, the bear did not obey the girl.
The desire to find a hobby for liking soon led the girl to a ballet school. Her blond hair, sky-blue eyes and a slender camp created the appearance of an unearthly creature. Parents called their daughter Forget-me-not. Classes were successful. But everything ended abruptly.
Fate and war
A sharp turning point began with the war. In 1941, a fifteen-year-old girl was captured. Everything happened mundane and unexpected. Father was called up for war. Mother and her daughters tried to escape from the advancing fascists, moving to the rear. Elder Margarita, in search of at least some food, once went to the village. During this time, the mother and children were evacuated, and Rita was captured.
A young girl is transported to Germany to work with such teenagers. In Hamburg, the chief pays attention to the beauty. Her external resemblance to the famous actress Rita Hayworth helps to escape from exhausting slave works for the benefit of the Wehrmacht. The boss sends a copy of the Hollywood artist to work in a rich house as a servant. The hostess liked the girl. Years of captivity passed, though humiliatingly, but relatively calmly.
After some time, the smooth movements and gracefulness of the girl’s figure leads the owner to give the servant to the dancer. Her work in a cabaret begins. Dances continued until her release from captivity in 1945. Russian soldiers with assault rifles at the ready burst into a cabaret before the start of the performance. Hearing the Russian speech, Rita jumped out to the liberators. Fate makes another turn.
Life with a clean slate
In the summer of 1945 Margarita arrives in Riga, where her mother and sisters live. Father from the war did not return, went missing. Post-war life forces the young woman to conceal the fact of her captivity. She tries to find a steady income. Using her skills, Rita creates an acrobatic number with dance elements. With such a performance, she is taken to work at the Circus on Stage.
Work with a partner does not remain unchanged. Craving for animals makes itself felt. Acrobats on the stage are joined first by dogs, then by horses. Conceiving an unusual number, a circus actress masters a motorcycle. Her vertical motorcycle races are becoming a sensation. Adrenaline rolls over. The audience is delighted.
But the motorcycle racer soon becomes too little. She continues to search for a calling. The thought of subjugating the striped giants to their will leads to action. So the famous name “Margarita Nazarova - the trainer” appears. The biography of the tamer from this time gives the impression of a quick takeoff.
Work plus family
The debut of working with tigers in the role of an actress understudy was prepared for long and tiring months. Mentor Boris Eder taught the habits of dangerous predators, passed on his experience. After filming the film "Dangerous Trails", he suggests continuing to work together in a new attraction. An experienced tamer saw that the tigers and the student began to understand each other with a slight gesture and a fleeting glance.
At this time, there is a meeting and rapprochement with the assistant head coach. After some time, Konstantin Konstantinovsky becomes not only a partner in risky work, but also Margarita’s husband. Their joint performances were sold out. A tour of the cities of the Soviet Union and trips abroad have brought worldwide fame. A son Alex was born in a family of trainers.
Actress Tamer
Circus performances were not the only hobby of the family. After working as an understudy for Lyudmila Kasatkina in the film Tamer of the Tigers, it became possible to act on her own. Scenarios of films where the main character would be Margarita Nazarova (a trainer), whose biography became a model for many Soviet women, appear one after another. Especially after the words of N. Khrushchev that such heroines “need to make a movie”. A female policeman, livestock specialist or factory worker, who subdued predators by her will, embodied the tale of Cinderella becoming a queen.
Everyone was infected by the story of the sea voyage of polar bears on a ship. During the tour, the cubs broke out of the cages. Their adventures among those distraught with fear caused laughter. It was decided to make a film on such a plot. The script was written by Viktor Konetsky in alliance with Alexei Kapler. In the final version, the bears were replaced by tigers. The main character was Margarita Nazarova, a tamer. The favorite film “Striped Flight” has appeared.
The family of trainers managed to bring allegiance to the tigers with their son Alexei. After the death of his father and the prohibition for his mother to work with predators (due to the trauma received by the tamer), the son inherited a family affair. A few years later, Alexei Konstantinovsky went on a tour of Europe and stayed abroad to live.
The secret of professional achievement
To subjugate indomitable striped animals, you need a lot of patience and skill. Two types of training are usually used: through pain or through a treat. Margarita Nazarova - a trainer, whose biography speaks of the importance of using knowledge of the nature of the beast, used mainly the second method. The proximity to predators, the replacement of instincts as a result of long training with conditioned reflexes, led to amazing results. The Ussuri tigers considered her theirs and obeyed this fragile woman.
Only this beautiful tiger trainer decided on desperate experiments with wild animals. Her extravagant room in the pool with several beasts enthralled the audience. Watching the events in the water, people forgot about the danger to which people are exposed. Tigers played ball, chasing, jumping and splashing like children. The favorite of the tamer, the huge beast Punch, loved to submerge his patroness under water. Putting a paw on her head, he did not let the woman go for a certain time. Then allowed to emerge.
Nazarova Margarita Petrovna was not afraid to go out with tigers to the city. She could be seen in company with her favorites in a restaurant, in a car, just outside. She belongs to the primacy of the withdrawal of a trained beast in natural conditions. Once in the wild, the tiger darted into the thicket. The tamer is after him. A few minutes later they returned together and continued filming.
last years of life
After the termination of performances with tigers, Nazarova closed herself from the whole world. Husband Konstantin Konstantinovsky long died, son abroad. The years of captivity were not in vain, and it seemed to her that surveillance had been organized for her. Therefore, she minimized contacts. Her apartment in Nizhny Novgorod became a shelter from persecution.
She lived modestly, on a small pension. She managed to serve herself with difficulty - numerous injuries affected, physical and moral. She flatly refused to ask for handouts. Died in poverty and obscurity on October 26, 2005. The trainer was buried at the Fedyakovsky cemetery in the Nizhny Novgorod region.