Lyudmila Maksakova was born in Moscow to the Soviet opera star Maria Petrovna Maksakova and Aleksander Volkov, a theatre entrepreneur. In 1942 the latter deflected to the West and later became the United States citizen. For decades Lyudmila remained unaware of her father's identity. By keeping it secret, Maria Petrovna was protecting her daughter from trouble at the times when any relation to a 'traitor' could lead to prosecution. According to another version, though, Lyudmila's father might have been the NKVD general Vasily Novikov, who granted Lyudmila Vasilyevna her patronymic, and there were even rumours pointing at Stalin himself, who was known to have favoured the famous Bolshoi singer.
Career
After the simultaneous graduation from a secondary school, and the Moscow Central music school where she studied cello, Lyudmila opted against pursuing the musical career and enrolled into the Shchukin Theatre Institute to join the actor Vladimir Etush's class. In 1961 she joined the Vakhtangov Theater where she debuted as Masha in The Cookie's Marriage. Her breakthrough came two years later when she played the Tatar Princess Adelma in the much acclaimed Vakhtangov production of Princess Turandot, revived by director Ruben Simonov. Among her other lauded performances were those of Lolya, Knipper-Chekhova, Nicol, Maria and Mamayeva. In 1964 Maksakova debuted in film, as Nina in Grigory Chukhray's There Was an Old Couple. Over the next decade she appeared in more than fifteen films, including the revolutionary history drama Tatiana's Day, psychological melodrama Not Guilty, tragic melodrama The Bad Good Man and the psychological drama Autumn. Among other critically acclaimed films she appeared in later, were Old Russian Vaudevilles' Evening, Igor Talankin's drama Father Sergius and Die Fledermaus, Ian Frid's musical film after Johann Strauss Strauss' classic, alongside Yuri and Vitaly Solomins. The early 1980s saw Maksakova enjoying her second wave of success in theatre. Much lauded were her Anna Karenina in Roman Viktyuk's 1983 production, Paola in The Lady Without Camellias, Bizyukina in Soboryane and Louise in I Don't Know You From Now On, Dear. Her performance in Pyotr Fomenko's production of Guilty Without Fault by Alexander Ostrovsky, earned Maksakova the USSR State Prize in 1995, and the Stanislavsky Prize a year later. In 2000s Maksakova started to teach at the Shchukin Theater Institute; her appearances on stage and on screen became rare and far between.
Private life
Lyudmila Maksakova's first husband was the artist Lev Zbarsky ; they had a son, Maxim. In the mid-1970s Maksakova married Peter Igenbergs, a West German citizen. On 24 July 1977, she gave birth to a daughter, Maria, an opera singer and TV presenter.
