Yuri Lyubimov was married four times, and was distinguished by a frequent change of affections and sympathies. However, from 1976 until the end of his days, the Hungarian journalist Katalin Kunz was next to him. She was accused of excessive influence on her husband, of trying to quarrel between the director and the actors of the Taganka Theater, of scandalousness and quarrelsomeness. But at the same time, no one doubted that for Yuri Lyubimov she became an ideal wife, thanks to whom he lived to a very old age.
sudden love
Their first meeting took place in 1976 in Budapest, where the Taganka Theater together with the director came on tour with two of their best performances: “Ten Days That Shook the World” and “Hamlet” with Vysotsky in the title role.
Katalin, as an employee of the Soviet-Hungarian Friendship Society, accompanied the famous director everywhere as a translator and personal assistant. According to her recollections, passion covered them from the very first minute of their acquaintance. Lyubimov’s incredible masculine charm simply shocked Katalin. But she was married, and he was married. And they were both so busy with work that they only had time to exchange passionate glances and rare meetings outside the prying eyes.
The director was visiting a girl with whom he also fell in love almost instantly. During dinner, the husband was nearby, who understood everything, but hoped that with Lyubimov’s departure everything would go away for his wife. You just need to get over it like a cold. It didn't pass.
After Lyubimov’s departure, Katalin began to wait for his calls, freezing by the phone. Each new meeting was like a lightning strike. They both had to come to terms with the fact that they were now unable to live without each other.
Unfriendly Moscow
She came to Moscow in 1978 as a correspondent for the magazine “Film, Theater, Music”. It cannot be said that the capital welcomed her with open arms. They called her, threatened her, demanded that she leave Lyubimov alone and generally get out of the city. But love gave Katalin strength, and Lyubimov inspiration. They married in 1978 in Budapest, and a year later their son Peter was born.
There was an opinion that Katalin became the unwitting reason for the expulsion of Yuri Lyubimov from the country and the deprivation of his citizenship. However, it all started when Lyubimov made a fuss about the death of Vladimir Vysotsky. It was at his insistence that the funeral of the people's favorite was held with all due honors. And then Lyubimov’s production in memory of Vysotsky was banned, followed by “Boris Godunov” and “Theatrical Dances” based on Bulgakov.
At that time, he was constantly called to work at the Central Committee, at the Ministry of Culture. And every time she patiently waited for him at the entrances of institutions. In the car with the doctor, because his condition after such visits was depressing.
The reason was an interview with the director of the London Times. From completely innocent answers, they inflated the matter into anti-Soviet propaganda, and actually banned entry into their homeland.
Indomitable Katerina
He often called her the indomitable Katerina. Katalin really made the impression of a hurricane in her desire to make her husband’s life easier and rid him of people who, as she believed, were harming him and adversely affecting his health.
They traveled a lot around the world, and everywhere she tried to create comfortable conditions for him to live and create. Arriving in a new country, she rushed to look for the same things that were in their previous home. It seemed to her that she was creating at least the appearance of constancy, which there was no smell of in life.
She considered it her duty to provide her brilliant husband with a reliable rear. Sometimes restraint and composure failed her. Explosive and very jealous by nature, she could hardly stand the constant presence of beautiful women surrounded by the director. They always appeared next to him, hoping to get a role or win the heart of an idol. It happened that she simply did not pay attention to them, and sometimes she asked the impresario to spare Lyubimov and herself from the presence of certain, especially annoying people.
Return
They settled in Jerusalem, where Yuri Lyubimov was invited as director of the Habima Theater. They were both simply disarmed by the warm welcome they received in Israel. They took touching care of the director and his family, trying to create the necessary conditions for work. And then they began to call him to Russia. How could he not go home? And then he stayed in Moscow, in the hope that his talent and experience would help restore the former glory of the Taganka Theater. True, no one specially created the conditions for this, and Katalin began to rush between her husband and 8-year-old son, who remained abroad.
When she flew to Moscow for her husband’s 80th birthday, she was shocked by the conditions in which he had to work, and was amazed at the absence of truly devoted people around him. Later she decided to come to Moscow and help him. She was accused and called an evil genius, but she simply worked tirelessly and without mercy for herself. And I wanted everyone else to work with the same dedication. If she didn’t get what she wanted, then she did everything to get rid of unnecessary and unreliable people.
She was next to her husband until the last day. And when asked where she got so much strength to cope with all the difficulties, she answered that she simply loved her husband very much.
He died on October 5, 2014. Since the death of her husband, his widow has headed the Yu.P. Theater Arts Development Fund. Lyubimova.
The genius of director Yuri Lyubimov became the basis of his masculine charm. Marina Zudina also once found herself under the influence of an extraordinary talent
The famous director was married several times. In general, he was always known as a favorite of women, and many actresses could not resist his charm. The very first wife of Yuri Lyubimov, about whose marriage very little is known, was one of the actresses - the Pashkov sisters - Galina or Larisa. Which of them exactly he was married to is now unknown for the reason that, as they say, he was torn between them and loved both.
Lyubimov entered into his second marriage after he was already forty years old. The second wife of Yuri Lyubimov is Olga. She was a ballerina and lived with him for only five years, giving birth to a son, Nikita. One of the reasons why this marriage broke up was Lyubimov’s new hobby. She began courting theater and film actress Lyudmila Tselikovskaya - a beautiful, talented and extremely popular actress at that time. They had known each other for a very long time - since their studies at the Shchukin School.
Some said that Lyubimov began to court Tselikovskaya for selfish interests - he was planning at that time to create his own theater, and the popularity of the actress would help him do this. Lyudmila Tselikovskaya was not aloof from the Taganka Theater newly created by Lyubimov. She came up with productions for many performances and helped her husband in the fight against the bureaucracy of officials. Despite the fact that the director valued his wife very much, even at that time he was partial to beautiful women.
In the photo Lyubimov with his third wife - Katalin Kunz
Katalin Lyubimova, the wife of Yuri Petrovich Lyubimov, once admitted that for her the role of a loving and understanding wife was no less significant than the role of a mother. She says she has never been a mother hen who only cares about her children. For thirty-six long years, Katalin was a faithful assistant in all of Lyubimov’s creative endeavors.
Ideal wife
Yuri Petrovich, until the end of his days, did not stop doing the work of his life - the theater. Although he said that he was tired of creativity in conditions of surrounding instability, he immediately admitted that he intended to work on staging performances until the last day of his life, as a person who cherishes his profession.
Yuri Lyubimov's wife Katalin worked at the Taganka Theater until he left there. She did not hold any official position, but helped in managing economic affairs as a volunteer. The working day of both spouses lasted ten to twelve hours.
Katalin Lyubimova also cooked for her husband herself. Even before the start of the working day, she managed to go to the store to buy vegetables for her dear husband, which mainly comprised the diet of their entire family - Katalin believed that fried and smoked foods could adversely affect the health of Yuri Petrovich.
Secrets of happiness
There was also a rule in the family that Katalin established: when Lyubimov was resting, it was forbidden to disturb him on any issues. She forbade her son to make noise and play games that could disturb his father's peace.
What Yuri Lyubimov valued most in family life was peace and comfort. He himself never answered questions from journalists about his personal life, following the rule “my home is my castle.”
When asked about jealousy, Katalin answers that she was always very jealous, but she tried not to give free rein to her emotions, and she was never jealous of her husband without reason. She admits that she always made sure that other people did not violate the rights of her husband and his peace of mind.
Smoking is harmful to health
The only condition that Katalin Kunz set for Lyubimova when she married him was that he certainly had to quit smoking. At that time, Yuri Petrovich smoked up to three packs a day, which, of course, had an adverse effect on his health. Katalin posed the question bluntly: if you want to be with me, you need to forget about the addiction.
Yuri fulfilled this wish and never touched cigarettes again.
Indomitable Katerina
It is possible that it was then that the nickname “Indomitable Katerina” appeared, which Lyubimov bestowed on his wife. She herself says that she agrees with this nickname, since she really has an incredibly strong character, thanks to which she was able to survive both years of wandering around the world and difficult times in our country. But she went through all the trials with dignity, helping both her husband in the implementation of his creative plans and her son Peter, making sure that he received a decent education. Moving from city to city and from country to country, Katalin Lyubimova tried to create at least visible stability for her family. Every time she transported some pieces of furniture and household items with her to her new place of residence. And if this could not be done, then she spent a long time running around the shops in search of similar things. This helped create the feeling that no move had taken place.
Hard time
One of the most difficult periods in the life of the director and his wife was the few days after the death of Vladimir Vysotsky. The Olympics were taking place in Moscow and the government gave instructions to bury the artist as discreetly as possible, so as not to create unrest among the masses. But Yuri Petrovich could not allow the popularly beloved artist to be buried without due honors, without giving the many admirers of his work the opportunity to say goodbye to him. I had to run through many offices of high-ranking officials. During these visits, Katalin would wait for her husband in the car. At her insistence, there was always a doctor in the car, because Lyubimov often left such offices in a pre-heart attack state.
Son of Yuri and Katalin Lyubimov. Biography of Peter Yurievich
Speaking about children, Katalin Lyubimova admits that, in her opinion, the most important thing for a child is a warm, friendly climate within the family. With the support of understanding parents, the only son of the couple not only successfully received a school certificate, but subsequently did not lose interest in education and graduated from the University of Cambridge. But the boy’s school years were not spent in the easiest conditions: during ten years of study, he changed more than twenty-five schools in America and Europe.
It happened that in one academic year he had to study in five educational institutions. Difficult conditions only strengthened his love for his parents. And when, after graduating from university, great prospects opened up for the young specialist in the construction business in the West, he considered it necessary to put aside his own career for a while and move to Moscow to help his father and mother work in the theater.
Love and freedom
Katalin Lyubimova never interfered with her husband in his creative activities. She was always with him, wherever he had to work: he staged plays in theaters in the USA, England, Italy and many other countries. She admits that when Yuri Petrovich was asked to return to the Soviet Union, he asked her for advice on what to do. Since she understood how much the Taganka Theater meant to her husband, she said that he needed to go home. At the same time, Katalin never interfered in the creative affairs of the theater or in matters relating to its management. When in the early 2010s, endless gossip and speeches against the director began in the theater, which led to his dismissal of his own free will, she said that she did not want to get involved in matters that did not concern her, leaving her husband to decide his own destiny.
She says that her duty was to take care of creating home comfort and taking care of the improvement of the theater premises. Often she had to go to bed only at three in the morning. To the question: “How did you cope with such a frantic pace of life?”, she answers simply: “I loved my husband. That's the whole secret."
The meeting that changed my life
They met in the mid-seventies. Then the Taganka Theater was on tour in Hungary. Even before meeting, the young Hungarian employee of the department of Soviet-Hungarian relations managed to watch two performances from the theater’s repertoire. She, like many other Hungarian theatergoers, was greatly impressed by these performances. All performances were sold out to full houses. Sometimes it was simply impossible to get a ticket. People were ready to resort to various tricks, even hanging from chandeliers, in order to watch the performance of the famous troupe. Katalin was terribly happy when she was sent to work as a translator for the director of this theater - Yuri Petrovich Lyubimov. The list of her responsibilities included, among other things, softening Lyubimov’s sharp, politically incorrect, from the point of view of the Hungarian government, statements. Katalin was married at that time. Her husband, a prominent scientist, lived for some time with Katalin in Moscow. It was during this visit to the Soviet Union that she learned Russian. And the love for Russian literature was instilled in her by her father, who strongly recommended that she read Russian classics: Pushkin, Dostoevsky, Gogol and many others.
Yuri Petrovich was also married at the time of their acquaintance. His wife was theater and film actress Lyudmila Tselikovskaya.
When the Taganka Theater returned to Moscow from a Hungarian tour, Lyubimov staged the play “The Master and Margarita,” which he dedicated to Katalin.
Wedding and birth of a son
Fate decreed that two years later Yuri Petrovich and Katalin got married. The marriage had to be registered in Hungary, since there were many obstacles to this in the Soviet Union. Under the patronage of high-ranking officials in Hungary, who really liked Lyubimov’s work, his new wife was sent to Moscow as a correspondent for a magazine dedicated to theater and cinema. The Hungarian journalist and theater director had to live in a small one-room apartment.
A year later, they had a son, who was named Peter in honor of Yuri Petrovich’s father. Katalin decided to give birth in Hungary. Lyubimov managed to obtain permission to travel to Hungary with great difficulty. They wanted to refuse him, explaining the refusal by the fact that he had recently been on tour in Hungary. But thanks to the help of the Hungarian ambassador, Yuri Petrovich was finally released. After some time, the family, now consisting of three people, returned to Moscow.
Moments of happiness
Katalin remembers these short three years before leaving abroad as an amazing and very happy time. Then she had the opportunity to meet the most interesting people of her time, who were among Yuri Petrovich’s close friends: Alfred Schnittke, Sergei Kapitsa and his family, Andrei Voznesensky and many others. But this happy time, unfortunately, did not last long. Just three years later, the Lyubimov family was forced to leave Russia for eight long years. Yuri Petrovich was invited to stage the play “Crime and Punishment” in London. The director was released from the Soviet Union, but was not allowed to return, depriving him of citizenship. The authorities recalled to him the incident with Vysotsky’s funeral, and other unpleasant actions of the wayward director.
Wanderings
From then on, the family’s long wanderings to different countries began. Katalin remembers this time as terribly difficult, but at the same time very fruitful. For Yuri Petrovich, the opportunity opened up to choose for himself which performances to stage and which not, which theaters to enter into a contract with and which not. There was much more creative freedom than in the Soviet Union. Two states immediately gave him citizenship: Hungary, with which he had a long-standing creative friendship, and Israel, where Lyubimov was invited as a director of one of the drama theaters. Katalin says she was happy to live in Jerusalem for a while, surrounded by people of her own nationality. Katalin Lyubimova, as already mentioned, did not object when her husband was offered to return to his homeland.
Where is Katalin Lyubimova now and what is she doing?
Over the past few months, she has been actively involved in organizing events dedicated to the centenary of Lyubimov’s birth.
It is planned to hold a number of different events that will be of interest to both professionals in the field of theatrical art (including lectures on the specifics of the master’s directing) and numerous fans of the work of the outstanding director and actor. One of the main events of the anniversary program was the next presentation of the Yuri Lyubimov Prize. This prize was established during the artist’s lifetime. It is awarded not only to theater directors and actors, and not only to artists in general, but to people who have achieved high professionalism in any field of human activity. The idea of creating this kind of award seemed interesting to the famous director. The award is relevant today for the reason that there are very few examples of such awards that can be awarded to people whose activities are not related to art, compared to the huge number of theater, music and film awards.
Lyubimov and time
Since August 2017, Moscow has hosted an exhibition called “Lyubimov and Time.” Katalin Lyubimova was directly involved in organizing the exhibition. She explains the title of the exhibition this way: the work of Yuri Petrovich Lyubimov can only be considered in the context of the time in which he happened to live. He witnessed or directly participated in almost all significant events in the history of Russia in the twentieth century: he was the same age as the October Revolution, participated in the Great Patriotic War, was expelled from the country, during Perestroika his citizenship was restored, and so on, and so on. The exhibition is also built on drawing parallels between historical events and facts from Lyubimov’s biography. And the biography of Katalin Lyubimova is forever connected with the biography of her husband. Even today she proves her love for him by participating in events held in his memory. She still serves her life’s work - to promote the creativity of Yuri Lyubimov. And this adds vigor and vitality to her, despite her advanced age (Katalin Lyubimova does not hide it; last year she celebrated her seventieth birthday).
In honor of the centenary of the birth of Yuri Lyubimov, exhibitions, performances, concerts, scientific conferences will be held in Moscow, St. Petersburg and the director’s homeland in Yaroslavl; a book of memoirs of contemporaries will be published, as well as a disc with recordings of poems performed by the director. Izvestia talked about the upcoming events with the widow of Yuri Lyubimov and the main inspirer of the celebrations, Katalin Lyubimova.
The program includes many educational master classes and lectures. Is it possible, having discovered the algorithm of Lyubimov’s work with artists, to pass on this experience to young actors and directors?
Of course, recordings of Yuri Petrovich's rehearsals can serve as educational material, since each of his rehearsals was a kind of master class.
- What other events are planned?
- An exhibition dedicated to Yuri Petrovich will be held at the Museum of Moscow for almost two months, various performances will also take place there, and meetings called “Conversations about Yuri Lyubimov” are planned at the Documentary Film Center.
Yuri Petrovich always worked closely with composers and artists - and so, they will talk about how they worked with Lyubimov. These are theater artists Boris Messerer, Zinovy Margolin, composers Vladimir Martynov, Pavel Karmanov, directors Maxim Didenko, Kirill Serebrennikov...
In 2015, the Yuri Lyubimov Prize was established, which is awarded to people of different professions. Was this Yuri Petrovich's idea?
Yes, he himself wanted to establish it, but did not have time. Yuri Petrovich helped both the theater and those people who needed this help a lot. The award is public, not theatrical: there are a lot of theater awards, I would not like to repeat myself.
Since Yuri Petrovich valued professionalism most of all, not only in actors, but in people in general, the award awarded to those who showed the whole world what can be achieved by working conscientiously and devoting oneself to one’s favorite work. This could be an academician or a mechanic.
The first prize was awarded to historian and political scientist Alexei Arbatov; also among the laureates were composer Vladimir Martynov, with whom Lyubimov had worked for the last 16–17 years, and sculptor Leonid Baranov. The second prize was awarded to such respected, beloved people as Irina Antonova, Evgeny Mironov, and the world-famous neurosurgeon Alexander Konovalov. The next presentation will take place on September 30 at the Bolshoi Theater.
The exhibition at the Museum of Moscow, which will open at the end of August, is called “Lyubimov and Time. 100 years of history of the country and people.” Is this how you want to emphasize his place in our history?
What do you think? Lyubimov's creativity cannot be extracted from the context of history. This is the only way to show his time and the person in him. A person who, in all his guises, tried to be useful to the country in which he was born.
- We know Yuri Lyubimov from his theatrical works, but what was he like in life?
In a profession such as a director, one cannot do without humor and sarcasm, otherwise the performances will not be so entertaining. He was a man of great culture, unusually well-read and loving life...
- Do you watch performances by modern directors? Can we talk about the influence of Lyubimov’s theater on their style?
- Of course, performances by other directors, individual mise-en-scenes often resemble Yuri Petrovich’s productions. I don’t say this as a reproach - on the contrary, it’s wonderful. To my surprise, I discovered such influences in “Cavalry” by Maxim Didenko, whom I invited to do performances at an exhibition dedicated to Lyubimov at the Museum of Moscow.
- Do you often go to Taganka?
- No, I don’t go to Taganka. The theater that Lyubimov created ended for me with his departure. But I am grateful to them for the events that they hold in his memory.
- It is known that Yuri Lyubimov was interested in the history of Russia and often staged Russian classics.
- He believed that Russian literature is the richest. He was primarily occupied with Russian classics, and then the world classical repertoire was added. Sometimes he staged works by his contemporaries - such as Yuri Trifonov, Fyodor Abramov, Boris Mozhaev, but if he took on contemporary literature, then these were only the best authors.
In addition, Lyubimov created a poetic theater, for example, the play “Fallen and Living,” where he used poems by front-line poets. Much remains to be studied - Andrei Voznesensky, Evgeniy Yevtushenko, the first performances of the 1960–1970s...
- At the Higher School of Economics, they even organized a laboratory to study Lyubimov’s legacy.
Yes, and very qualified people work there: theater experts, literary scholars... A whole layer has not been studied at all - for example, how Lyubimov’s scripts were created. After all, he never staged a play as such, but took the literary basis and made the scripts himself. Reading and studying them is very interesting and useful.
- What do you think distinguishes Lyubimov from other directors? What is the phenomenon of Lyubimovsky theater?
- My husband’s whole life was built on sincerity. He simply did not know how to present ideas falsely, even if it later got him into trouble. In addition, he was distinguished by incredible efficiency and, of course, complete mastery of his craft.
He, being an actor himself, took this profession very seriously. He read poetry perfectly, paying attention to punctuation marks, because he believed that emphasis and, ultimately, content depend on rhythm. Today, many people do not attach importance to rhythm, so the internal music, the very algorithm of the poem, collapses.
Lyubimov was sure that a serious performance could only be staged through dedicated work, so in the theater there could be no such thing as a director or actor looking at his watch and saying: “My working time is over.”
And Yuri Petrovich always said that there can be no theater without discipline, otherwise the result will not be a performance, but chaos. And all my life I fought with the people who created this chaos.
Izvestia Help
Katalin Lyubimova-Kuntz was born in Budapest. She graduated from the Faculty of Philology of Moscow State University and the University of Budapest. She worked in the Hungarian-Soviet Friendship Society, which organized Yuri Lyubimov’s tour in Budapest. In 1976 she became the director's wife. After returning from emigration in 1997, Katalin worked as a volunteer at the Taganka Theater, taking on public relations, searching for sponsors, and conducting tours. Since 2014, he has headed the Yu.P. Theater Arts Development Fund. Lyubimova.
MORE ON THE TOPIC
Yuri Lyubimov was once asked: “They say about you that you were a terrible womanizer. This is true?" The director did not deny: they say he fell in love more than once. But he said that he does not answer indiscreet questions and does not like to talk about ladies. It is almost impossible to hide romances in the theater world. One can only forget about them due to the passage of time, because the master of the theater is already 95.
Her name was Galina. Or Larisa? Now the witnesses of those passions are confused in their testimony. Both actresses were beauties. They, like Yuri Lyubimov, served at the Vakhtangov Theater and both were Pashkovs. Sisters.
Galina, the eldest, was reputed to be a rival of the artist Lyudmila Tselikovskaya, Stalin’s favorite. Spectators of the Vakhtangov Theater were divided into “tselikistok” and “pashkistok”. Their clashes sometimes reached hand-to-hand combat. Men were crazy about them too.
Yuri Lyubimov played on stage together with Galina Pashkova in the play “Romeo and Juliet”. But Shakespeare's passions were in full swing not only on stage.
“Lyubimov had a marriage with one of the famous sister-actresses of the Pashkovs,” actress Elena Kornilova recently revealed the director’s heartfelt secret.
Yuri Petrovich himself never mentioned this fact in his biography. According to the same Kornilova, there is a reason for this. And quite spicy. As the actress told one of the capital's publications, Lyubimov was allegedly torn between Galina and Larisa...
But in the early 50s, Yuri Petrovich, when he was already 40 years old, settled down and married a ballerina named Olga. Nobody will remember her maiden name now. Later, having divorced Lyubimov, she married the famous musician, conductor Yuri Silantiev. Married to Lyubimov, she gave birth to a son, Nikita. But family happiness did not last long: Yuri Petrovich began to court the theater's prima Lyudmila Tselikovskaya. Her popularity was fantastic. There is a legend that even on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War, soldiers went into battle with the words: “For the Motherland! For Stalin! For Tselikovskaya!” Women, imitating her, sewed dresses like Tselikovskaya’s and did their hair like “Lyusenka.” They said about her: “Three million men cannot be wrong.” She was showered with flowers by admirers, and high-ranking ones at that.
In one interview, Lyubimov assured that because of the affair with him, her marriage to Karo Alabyan, the famous architect who built the Soviet Army Theater, collapsed. He said that at the exit from the theater some thugs blocked his way and, hinting at his closeness to Tselikovskaya, threatened to beat him up. They warned: “Think carefully!” And he told them: “You should understand? It’s a shame to do such things!”
Although they also said something else: that Lyubimov, having started an affair with Tselikovskaya, was simply trying to console himself. After all, Olga, his wife, was taken away from him by Yuri Silantiev. He became a family friend when Lyubimov worked with him in the NKVD Song and Dance Ensemble.
Olga, taking her son, went to a musician who earned much more than her husband. However, it is now impossible to understand who is telling the truth and who is not.
Tselikovskaya herself and her relatives have repeatedly emphasized that Lyubimov supported the actress in difficult times, when her husband Karo Alabyan died. They say that only then did love begin between them. They claimed that he had been in love with Tselikovskaya since his studies at the Shchukin School. But some slandered: he married Tselikovskaya for convenience, because it was thanks to her authority that he, a little-known Vakhtangov member at that time, was given the opportunity to create the Taganka Theater.
“My first memory after my dad’s death: we went on vacation at the seaside with Lyubimov,” recalled the actress’s son Alexander. “At first he came into our lives as my mother’s friend and then began to live in our apartment. And the relationship in general, especially at first, was very good.
And at the same time, Alexander Alabyan admitted:
– In my opinion, Lyubimov is a rather selfish person who truly loves only himself. Not only to me, but also to his son Nikita, who came to see us, he did not show human warmth. Moreover, in those years he devoted most of his time to his theater.
In the life of the Taganka Theater, Tselikovskaya was not an outside observer. And according to many contemporaries of those events, she was the author of many ideas for legendary productions; they were born in the kitchen of her house. Tselikovskaya composed dramatizations for Taganka performances. She modestly called them “blanks.” In addition, she did her best to protect her husband from attacks from officials.
“All these gentlemen in power, they also always bowed their heads before her name,” said actress Lyudmila Maksakova. - It was a magical name. There was a case when she called Yuri Petrovich, he was once again given some kind of beating, another study, he was gone and gone. And she, feeling that time was already dragging on, began to get nervous, called and told the secretary: “Connect me immediately” with some high official, they could not refuse her. She said: “Is my Yuri there? Go home immediately. Don’t be humiliated, Yuri, buy a bottle of Mozhaisk milk on the way. Go home immediately."
Yuri Petrovich highly valued his wife, but even then he could not resist beautiful women. One of them was Elena Kornilova. Only recently did she talk about this secret affair. And what’s surprising: she admitted that she regrets him. She says that memories of closeness with Lyubimov cause acute pain in her...
In 1974, Tselikovskaya became a grandmother. In the theater, the time has come for her to take on age roles. Lyudmila Vasilievna felt more and more that her husband was moving away.
– To live with a genius, you need to be a darling. “I’m quite the opposite, stubborn, with my own views,” she complained.
Lyubimov had just experienced a new passion. To a young Hungarian woman.
“She fought for Lyubimov for a long time, but Katalin turned out to be stronger,” says Kornilova.
According to Lyubimov, there was no breaking of dishes or shouting.
“I can’t say anything bad about Lyudmila,” said Yuri Petrovich. “For her, our breakup was a great grief, a tragedy. She was already getting old, and I was quite a few years old at that time - a pensioner at five minutes.
“She and Yuri Petrovich lived for almost 20 years, and broke up overnight,” recalled one of Tselikovskaya’s friends. “She realized that he was passionate and did not fight to stay together; she considered it completely unnecessary. And she showed: “Here is God, here is the threshold.” One evening. She just asked him: “Why are you so late? She arrived and you went to accompany her home?” He said: “Yes, she was staying at a hotel, I had to see her off.” That's all.
Lyubimov explains his action simply:
– I fell in love with Katalin. She, you know, is what I have - a fighting Hungarian... She is an implacable person... What about Decembrist wives - she will not only stop a galloping horse, but also a tank...
As soon as he began to live with Katalin, many felt a change in Lyubimov’s character.
– As soon as Lyubimov met Katalin, everyone around him felt that kindness began to disappear. And he always preached kindness in his work. In my opinion, Katalina has an embittered, “spy” character. “I am quite seriously sure that it was sent to him,” says Kornilova.
“Mom gave Lyubimov many wonderful, creative years of life, but he left her overnight and when my mother died, he didn’t even come to the funeral,” sighs Alexander Alabyan. – Although because of him she never became a People’s Artist of the USSR. The theater applied for the title several times, but there was an opinion - since I was in a civil marriage with Lyubimov, I shouldn’t give it a go...
...Katalin worked in the Soviet-Hungarian Friendship Society. She organized exhibitions of fine art and photography. And one day she managed to invite the Taganka Theater to Budapest.
“I developed a very strong sympathy... I don’t want to say “love at first sight” or “passion,” these words have become so worn out,” admitted Katalin.
She was married then, Lyubimov was also not free, living with Tselikovskaya. But Katalin felt that he treated her with great sympathy.
They wandered around Budapest for hours. And after leaving for the USSR, he began calling her. Every day. When going abroad, I tried to fly through Budapest and stayed there for several days. They got married in 1978. A year later their son Peter was born. They didn’t want to let Lyubimov go to Hungary so that he couldn’t see his son. Katalin moved to Moscow. Then - emigration.
Katalin, like Tselikovskaya, did not stay away from the master’s theatrical affairs. In the recent conflict between Yuri Lyubimov and the actors of the Taganka Theater and his subsequent departure from there, according to many, she, his wife, is to blame. They say that it was Katalin, on tour in the Czech Republic, who called the artists cattle when they demanded the $16,000 they were owed for their work...
But that's another story.
Not long ago, Lyubimov was asked how he felt when 18-year-old girls in miniskirts walked past him.
- A surge of vigor! – the director answered without hesitation. – It’s nice to look at young people, especially when everything is not too much, otherwise they will put on jeans that will fall off their hips... I’m still in favor of holding the pants tighter...
He was not afraid of the question whether he could now experience erotic excitement.
“I won’t develop this topic,” he said. – It’s important that I can!
By the way
Nikita Lyubimov , the director’s son from his first marriage, suffered greatly because his father turned his back on him by marrying Katalin. After graduating from the Literary Institute, the talented guy could not get a job anywhere. No one wanted to take in the son of an “enemy of the people.” With great difficulty, he only managed to find a position as a janitor in one of the theaters... Now he is 62 years old, he is retired, he writes poetry.
Peter Lyubimov received a matriculation certificate from Cambridge, graduated from university, spent a year improving his Italian in Italy, and worked in a construction company. And then he considered that it was his duty to help his father. Until recently, he worked with his father at the Taganka Theater.