I was lucky enough to be a guest artist for Google on the 86th birthday of multi-hyphenate Russian entertainer Lyudmila Gurchenko.
Lyudmila Gurchenko was born on 12th of November, 1935. From playing piano in vaudeville numbers to pulling heartstrings in war dramas, Gurchenko captivated millions as a versatile pop music sensation whose extensive acting career is widely considered among the greatest in 20th-century Russia.   
Lyudmila Markovna Gurchenko was born in Kharkov, Ukraine, USSR (now Ukraine) on this day in 1935 to musician parents who fostered her talent from a young age. With a button accordion and dreams of acting in film, Gurchenko moved to Moscow to study at the All-Union State Institute of Cinematography. Her meteoric rise to fame came not even one year after graduation, with her debut in the Russian flim musical “Carnival Night” in 1956. 
In the wake of the movie’s success, Gurchenko began performing popular numbers from the film on a national tour. However, her career was stunted for over a decade by detractors in the government who criticized her for accepting compensation above state wages. Yet Russian filmmakers couldn’t ignore her prodigious talent. In 1973, she returned to the big screen with a leading role in the Soviet drama “Old Walls.”
She rode the momentum of her comeback as a star of Soviet entertainment into her 70s, appearing in over 130 acting roles and recording over 10 albums. To this day, it is tradition for many Russian television networks to ring in the New Year with an airing of “Carnival Night.”

Doodle can also be viewed at the link: https: www.google.com/doodles/lyudmila-gurchenkos-86th-birthday
 

Early drafts of the Doodle