Amarfiy Lilia Yakovlevna family. Troupe. Your son Alexey Yakovlev left the acting profession

DEDICATED TO THE LIGHT MEMORY

LILY-LILLIANNA,

MY CHARMING SCHOOL FRIEND

PEOPLE'S ARTIST OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION

DIVADONNAS AND "QUEENS"

MOSCOW ACADEMIC OPERETTA THEATER,

ONE OF THE MOST BEAUTIFUL WOMEN

SOVIET UNION,

LILY YAKOVLEVNEYA AMARFY

Yes!!! You are next to us

And no matter how many years fly by,

Under blue skies

Your smile will be the light...

THOSE WE LOVE LIVE...

March 17, 2013, Forgiveness Sunday. 11 am. Moscow. Troyekurovskoe cemetery. Artists' Alley. Deserted, lonely and incredibly sad.

I am standing with a huge bouquet of flowers, as I once stood, a long time ago in Nikolaev, on the top of the ramp near the side of the plane that had just flown in from Moscow, waiting in trembling excitement for Lilya to appear in the opening of the opened hatch.

I am no longer a young man. I'm already 70. I'm an old man! God! Am I really an old man already!? Life, so thievishly, flashed by, slipped past me - tiptoed behind my back, for a brief moment flashing with a bright, multi-colored fireworks of youth, bold plans, hopes, and so routinely and colorlessly comes to its logical end. I am already completely gray-haired, or, as we would say in Odessa: “gray-haired through and through.” Yes - “...and I’ve had snow on my hair for a long time, and my hair color and hair color won’t return in the spring...”. Alas!!!

I am standing at a white marble monument in the form of an Orthodox cross.

I carefully, carefully and even somehow especially carefully and tenderly select from the bouquet brought and arrange the flowers that SHE loved so much.

Before going to Moscow, I went to Moldova, to the small town of Orhei, where Lilya and I spent our childhood. The purpose of the trip to Orhei is to visit the city cemetery to take a handful of earth from the grave of Lily’s father, bring it to Moscow and, in such a symbolic way, reunite father and daughter, remove / level out / the huge distance that has separated them for a long time. Sighing, I just as carefully scatter the earth I brought over the grave.

And now I have one more important mission to complete.

I'm a sailor. Thirty-seven years of my life were devoted to the sea, working as part of the crews of long-distance passenger liners of the Black Sea Shipping Company. And, as a crew member, I had the opportunity to perform special cruise flights with pilgrims. This gave me a rather rare and wonderful opportunity to visit the most “holy” and exotic places on the planet.

On one of these flights, I was lucky enough to meet the Odessa hieroschemamonk Father Jonah, widely known among Orthodox believers. It still remains a complete mystery to me that, according to some special criteria known only to him, for some reason he singled out me from the entire crew. And this acquaintance with time, and we made twelve pilgrimage voyages together over the course of five years, me as a crew member, and the priest as a guest monk / here it should be noted that without his presence not a single similar voyage was carried out / has outgrown, if so one might say in this case, into a kind of friendship between Teacher and Student. We often talked for a long time if both he and I had free minutes. I learned from Father Jonah a lot of interesting and hitherto completely unknown and inaccessible information, for which I am very grateful to him.

When we talked to him for the last time, we both understood that we would not see each other very soon - since he had a long trip to Greece to serve in the Russian monastery on Mount Athos, and then departure / immersion / into deep schema. As a farewell, my father gave me a tiny bottle.

George, this is how my name Yuri sounds in Church Slavonic,” Father Jonah addressed me, “here are a few drops of a mixture of oil and myrrh from all the holy places we visited. And, remember, one such drop is enough to sanctify the entire Black Sea. I give it to you and I think that sooner or later this bottle will come in handy.

Nineteen years have passed. Not one of the precious drops was used up. And it was here and now, at the Troekurovsky cemetery in Moscow, that Father Jonah’s prediction came true.

I take the treasured bottle out of my pocket. One drop falls on Lilino's gravestone, the second - in the center of the burial.

In addition to the flowers that She so idolized, I brought another gift from South Palmyra. This is a piece of glossy paper lying in the top pocket of the jacket next to the heart, neatly folded in four. It has calligraphic lines on it - a poem that was written “in one breath” by my friend, the famous Odessa poet Anatoly Yani. I remember the text by heart, but with slightly trembling fingers I take it out and unfold it. The beautiful, melodious words that I am now going to pronounce in a deserted cemetery are a tribute to the blessed memory of the great singer, actress, who possessed marvelous stage talent and the enchanting magic of the palette of the divine voice - a true gift from the Almighty, the Diva of the Moscow State Academic Operetta Theater, People's Artist of Russia, recipient of many high government and prestigious awards, Liliya Yakovlevna Amarfiy. Just a few lines, and in them are the alpha and omega of theatrical fate that flared up like a bright flame of a torch.

Her tour, her voice and the marvelous transformation that was happening at the moment when she appeared on stage led to ecstasy and brought deafening applause from spectators on all continents of the globe.

Lilia Amarfiy

There is such a special “ringing”, tense silence that one involuntarily gets the impression that all the nearby sad attributes of the cemetery and the space and time tightly concentrated around me are carefully listening to my words, closely watching what is happening here .

Having placed the scroll of the poem in an army casing, I bury it in the grave soil at the base of the monument.

On the front side of the monument, the words are carved into white marble:

"Lily Amarfiy

08.11.1949 - 28.09.2010"

And on the back of the monument are inscribed lines, the burning meaning of which seems to penetrate to the very depths of the heart:

“...Don't cry for me,

The soul is subject only to God,

She hit the road

through an unknown country.

There is a kingdom of light, a kingdom of stars,

There is a kingdom of world harmonies

So take your palms away from your eyes and

Smile - no need for tears."

I was panic-stricken and in every possible way cowardly delayed until the last moment, this moment, this kind of “Starting point of no return”, so that it would not come longer, this next moment. And then it came, this next moment, the tragic meaning of which, I did not give, did not allow to penetrate the depths of my consciousness, because it was from this point of reference that a real understanding would come that Lily was no longer in this world of ours. Up to this point, everything that happened was beyond my human understanding, beyond reality. In my memory, the lines of a song from one of the operettas where Lilia played emerged: “This is life! This is life! You hold on! You hold on! You hold on!” And I had the feeling that Lily, with these very words, was trying to support and encourage me at this moment. Probably never, a realistically thinking person will be able to realize the inevitability, the inevitability of leaving this world into Nothingness, into Nowhere.

Lily and Nothingness - this is so incompatible, so illogical! Quite recently, well, quite recently, it seems like just now, we were sitting together in the ship's bar of the snow-white ocean liner "Orange Melody", looking out the window at the majestic rock of Gibraltar and drinking the most aromatic Turkish coffee "oriental style", enjoying the intellectual social life conversation and each other's company. After all, it just happened! But now Lily is no longer there. Not at all! And he will no longer be, will NEVER be alive. How can this be understood? How can the very fact of the inevitability of leaving “from the surface of the earth” fit into human consciousness?!

Lilichka has always been a great optimist. And her truly fantastic energy charged, fascinated, and captured the people around her. She was always in a great mood, even despite sudden adversity and obstacles. She always believed in herself, in her strength, in her creative talent, in her talent. She has always been a leader, a center of attraction for others, a generator of new ideas.

Until this next moment, with an incredible effort of will, I forced myself not to raise my eyes, so as not to meet HER gaze... And now..., forcing myself, I still slowly raise my eyes...

Surprisingly beautiful, mysterious, thoughtful eyes gaze at me. The eyes of the One who is always in this world, in this life, were probably more dear to me than LIFE itself...

The face of the foggy moon,

Floated out from behind the clouds

And penetrated my heart,

Blessed ray.

The light of magic rays,

I remembered now

What once flowed

From beautiful eyes...

Boris H.

I believed and still believe that in my life I have always had three guiding beacons that patronized me, shone for me, and guided me in this life. This is: the Odessa port Vorontsov lighthouse, a truly fantastic, indescribable magic beauty of the radiance of the Southern Cross constellation (the image of which proudly flaunts on the national flags of two states - Australia and New Zealand, in whose waters and in the South Pacific Ocean: French Polynesia, Tahiti, Bora -Bora, Tonga, Kiribati, I collectively spent more than ten years of my sea life) and... Lily's eyes.

Lily's eyes... They, like two clear guiding stars, shone for me on my journey all my life, helped me, guided me and supported me in the most difficult moments of my life.

Alas and Ah!!! These eyes shone and shone, beckoned, beckoned, led, led, but never led me to a cozy, quiet harbor to a reliable berth. And it was impossible to do anything about it. This is how life happened, this is how it happened. The colorful and unpredictable kaleidoscope of the game of Fate put together just such a bizarre picture of our destinies with Lilia, just such a configuration. And, to my bitter regret, it’s not quite what I would like. And Her Majesty Fate was pleased to disagree, not to take into account, not to take into account my opinion, my wish. Fate carelessly and absent-mindedly discarded it, without even considering my “business proposals” as a backup option, a “reserve parachute”...

And, the Lord God sees, no matter how I tried, no matter how I wriggled in the dance of a butterfly, pinned with a pin to the cardboard on which the plan of my life was drawn, to jump off this pin, to turn the course of events in another, necessary, desired direction, I so and it didn’t work, it didn’t seem possible. And just like that, exactly in this way and in no other way, and it was in this version, and precisely in this sequence that the maps of our destinies with Lilia lay on the stage of this life. And Lily’s heart never opened up to meet me, did not flare up with a bright flame in response. And nothing could be done about it!

And yet... And yet, something Important, Main, Beautiful did not happen, did not happen in my life. That is the only and most important thing that happens only once in a life, only once in a life! Once and... forever!

I once either heard or read somewhere an amazingly beautiful poetic phrase that sank into my soul and was remembered: “You rustled past me like a branch full of flowers and leaves!” I think this was said about us.

I had the opportunity to visit many ports of all continents of the globe, including also approaches to the boundaries of eternal ice and in Antarctica, when changing winterers at polar stations and in the Arctic Ocean, during northern cruises with passengers to the Norwegian Spitsbergen, to St. Magdalene Bay. He swam in the waters of all the world's oceans, sank three times during shipwrecks, burned on a Greek tanker, and managed to go on voyages around the world seven times. Nine days before the sinking of the steamship Admiral Nakhimov, he went on vacation. And, I want to admit, I often thought about Lilia, or rather, I always remembered her, no matter where I happened to be. Yes, it didn’t work out for us... But she was invisibly with me everywhere, present next to me, like a good guardian angel.

Came so magically

Gone to nowhere

It seemed like a miracle!

And that forever

Hope is shattered

The dream has gone out

"... Forget - I beg you,

Forget it forever.

Will you forget?!..." - "I will forget!"

To always remember

It seemed like a miracle

And what about the year,

You came from childhood,

Gone to nowhere...

I remembered the words that Lilia said in one of our last conversations, addressing me:

You often used the words in conversation with me: fell in love, love, loved all your life! I think that these words can be replaced with calmer, more democratic words, namely, attention to me. I think you've loved the wrong one all your life. Wake up, wake up, come back to this reality, to this real life! You loved all the time, a girl who never existed, simply was not in the world, and it seemed to you that you loved me! After all, you just invented her, that is, me. I'm actually completely different! You invented me, just like Alexander Green came up with his beautiful Assol! And you came up with your own Lily Amarfiy! I am also Lilia Amarfiy, but I am not the same, I am completely different. And I am the real one! Try to understand this, well... well, I just ask you!

I then listened to her sad words, nodded my head in agreement to the beat, and the lines of Fyodor Tyutchev spontaneously appeared in my memory. And it was these wonderful lines that perfectly expressed my mental and emotional state at that moment:

"...I still strive for you with my soul,

And in the twilight of memories,

I still catch your image,

Your image is sweet, unforgettable,

With me everywhere and always

Unattainable, unchangeable,

Like a star in the sky at night..."

Well, now, I want to be left alone with Lily. Stand nearby. Keep quiet. Something very necessary and important to say to Lilechka, mentally, to yourself, and something to say out loud. Ask for forgiveness for voluntary and involuntary offenses. Suddenly he will hear!!! Then walk slowly along the deserted alley. first one way, then the other. Stop, look back... Then return to Lily again. And again and again to leave and come back again. And say goodbye again and again. And again - come back again. And again and again “weave” around the snow-white tombstone. And again stood silently, sadly bowing his head. Oh! How I, in Slavic naivety, want a miracle to happen, a real miracle, no matter how paradoxical and unnatural it sounds. How incredibly I would like for this cemetery to supernaturally disappear forever, to disappear with all its abundance / overabundance / grief, / immeasurable sorrows /, a sea of ​​​​bitter tears! And in this place a blooming park would instantly appear, where cheerful, carefree, smartly dressed people would come to walk and enjoy life, who would not even be able to imagine that there could be a cemetery here!..

AND... THERE WOULD BE CAREFREE, HIGH CHILDREN'S LAUGHTER FROM ALL SIDES... A LOT OF CHILDREN'S LAUGHTER...

Obviously, my nerves really began to go completely wrong, they began to give in treacherously... I could barely restrain myself from the irresistible desire to stop in the middle of the alley and, not paying attention to the rare visitors, raising my head to the sky, howl in wild despair in pain, grief, hopelessness , like a wolf, like an animal, as once upon a time he howled and sobbed over the lifeless body pulled out of the Lilichka River on the city beach of the Moldovan town of Orhei.

Konstantin Simonov

...Having buried Love, Like a stone, I stand among the graves,

I doomed myself, praying for only one thing,

To be a monument to her. “Don’t touch with your hands!”

Over a fresh grave, And foreign inscriptions on me

I wrote a couple of lines to myself, Please don’t do it,

Posthumously writing them through force. I'm not a stone after all...

And, as a farewell, I myself will perform this time as an actor-artist...

Once upon a time, eight years ago, in the music salon of a cruise ship, in the Mediterranean Sea, Lilia sang a song especially for me, and now at the Troekurovsky cemetery in Moscow, especially for Liliya Yakovlevna, I will read a famous poem and, in my opinion, a masterpiece of love lyrics . These are amazing in meaning and depth, magically beautiful, soaring and melodious. lines:

...Your eyes are like two fogs

Like two leaps out of the dark

By what means, by what deception,

"Into my heart" you crept

"When problems surround"

And a thunderstorm is coming.

From the bottom of my soul they flicker

Your beautiful eyes...

Nikolay Zabolotsky

...And yet... And yet... What if it’s all wrong, it’s so unfair! It’s not logical, it shouldn’t be like that, it can’t be like that! And in no case should it have taken place... It’s so easy to imagine you, fluttering around the theater stage in the bright rays of spotlights, alive, that in the fact that you, so unexpectedly, so quickly, so untimely left this life, left this world is simply impossible to imagine! Impossible, because this, well, in no way, well, in no way should have happened!

Lilichka! You are so bright! You are so "radiant"! You are so luminous, as if a mysterious and magical torch is constantly burning inside your heart. You're so beautiful! You are so talented! You have always been a “holiday person”! And it is here, and right now, and it will be so appropriate to use my version of the words of the song “Scheherazade”, which was so uniquely performed by Muslim Magomayev, whose voice and songs you loved so much:

...It’s like you’re all made of light

All from the sun's rays

Prima of a sweet operetta,

So maybe what happened, what happened is a Dream! Just a Dream. Ridiculous Dream. Heavy Sleep. Bad Dream. A dream that must surely disappear, dissolve under the morning rays of the rising sun...

The Sun, which promises the right only to Life!!!

Oh, how I would like, hand on heart, to feel the depth of the brilliant lines of Omar Khayyam:

... Do not mourn, mortal, yesterday's losses,

Don't measure today's affairs by tomorrow's standard?

Believe neither the past nor the future minute,

Be happy now just for the current minute!...

Translation by German Plisetsky

I want to get into it, but, unfortunately, I can’t. And, probably, this is why “life flows with bitter tears through the crooked mirror of the soul.”Throughout my entire adult life, after meeting Lilia, I was haunted by a persistent, obsessive impression, as if an unkind, evil, unnatural Something, in some supernatural way, had made a volitional decision to change and disrupt the natural course of events and physical processes. And what happened, I mean such an unexpected, completely unpredictable departure from this life of Liliya Yakovlevna, should in no way have happened. This couldn’t happen, it simply couldn’t happen, because it didn’t have the slightest right to exist at all!!! After all, this is complete absurdity!!!

The famous artist, Russian and Soviet operetta actress Lilia Amarfiy was born on November 28 in the town of Orhei, Moldova.
The future soloist of the operetta theater in Moscow began singing early, at the age of six. Already at such a young age, she not only studied vocals at the local Pioneer Palace, but also, at the same time, studied dancing and the accordion. Subsequently, Lilia became a soloist of the children's ensemble (performing jazz compositions) “Codru”, which successfully performed in Moldova. In 1966, the group came to Moscow with a concert, where they successfully performed at the Palace of Congresses.
In 1967, Amarfiy came to Moscow to enroll in theater studies. I submitted documents to three universities at once: GITIS, Moscow Art Theater and the Institute named after. Lunacharsky. Quite by chance (she was late for the Moscow Art Theater because of an exam at GITIS) Lilia becomes a student at the Institute. Lunacharsky.
After graduating from high school, Lilia Amarfiy got a job at the Moscow Operetta Theater, where she has worked to this day. Quite quickly, Lilia began to receive leading roles in performances such as “The Golden Keys”, “Quadrille”, “The Buzz from Budapest”, “The Promise”, “The Beautiful Galatea”, “The Count of Luxembourg”, as well as many others.
Since 1972, Liliya Amarfiy has acted on television in a series of programs about operetta (called “For Operetta Lovers”). Amarfiy toured a lot - both in Russia and abroad. Dozens of cities in our country, Hungary and the USA, Germany and Israel, Italy and the Czech Republic, as well as many other countries, are included in the singer’s “tour map”.
The Amarfiy benefit took place on January 22, 2010. Lilia passed away on September 28, 2010 as a result of an exacerbation of a serious illness. In November 2010, a farewell concert dedicated to the singer, called “Lily,” was held at the Moscow Operetta Theater. The entire theater staff took part in it.

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One day, while in Moscow on official business, I came across a poster for the operetta theater: “Maritsa”, and a list of names previously unknown to me. But Kalman has been my idol since childhood, and I persuaded my friend Sasha Ivanov to go, watch and listen (“You won’t regret it, believe me!” - I had to persuade him, because Sasha did not go to theaters. But going to a restaurant is another matter! ). When Lilia Amarfiy appeared on stage, Sasha fixed his eyes on his binoculars and did not look away from him until the end of the performance. And when she started singing!..

An outstanding actress, star of the capital's Operetta Theater, died at the age of 61. As her friends and colleagues recalled today, Lilia Amarfiy was always distinguished by a special love of life and cheerfulness, so characteristic of the operetta genre. In May of this year, the singer appeared on stage in the thousandth performance of “Die Fledermaus.” "Culture News" reports.

When they asked her about the secrets of such a brilliant form, it turned out that there were no special secrets. Of course, gymnastics, of course, diet, but the main thing is the sparkle in the eyes that comes from the ability to sincerely rejoice, not notice the bad, fall in love and fall in love. It’s so easy to say about this, and how much mental work is needed in order not to let bad thoughts enter into oneself, not to react to gossip and intrigue, to carry a captivating image of femininity from the stage and not change it in life.

“It’s a tragedy for our theater, because Lilya was not just an ordinary actress, but a prima donna of operetta. Moreover, her talent has a huge range. She could play any role,” says Vladimir Tartakovsky, director of the Moscow Operetta State Academic Theatre.

Silva, The Bat, The Violet of Montmartre, The Beautiful Galatea – it would not be an exaggeration to say that Lilia Amarfiy sang all the operetta classics. But she almost became a dramatic actress. But the exams at Gitis and the Moscow Art Theater School were on the same day, and the applicant did not have time to get to the studio school. Liliya Amarfiy recalled her studies in Gitis as a series of obstacles that she overcame with enviable tenacity. The Moldavian dialect got in the way, my voice couldn’t be heard, and I had to work hard at the ballet barre. When she sang Violet’s aria at an audition for the Operetta Theater, she didn’t remember herself from excitement - she woke up when the whole orchestra applauded.

“This is a huge human and professional loss for our theater, and in general for the operetta genre,” says People’s Artist of Russia Gerard Vasiliev.

Unlike many prima donnas who devote themselves only to the stage, Lilia Amarfiy was no stranger to family joys - she got married more than once and gave birth to a son. I enjoyed doing housework while rehearsing my roles.

“She knew how to make herself beautiful and elegant. She needed a night to come up with new ideas. And during that night, she and I could move mountains,” recalls Lyudmila Ivanova, head of the sewing workshops of the Moscow Operetta State Academic Theatre. “It’s hard and scary when the best representatives of our theater, our genre and musical theater in general leave in such years,” says People’s Artist of Russia Yuri Vedeneev. “I feel great in my roles, I live in them, each of them is a life lived,” said Lilia Amarfiy. On this stage he lived dozens of imaginary lives. And she was happy with her life.

Drunk behind the wheel, Yuri Yakovlev almost killed his pregnant wife

Drunk behind the wheel, Yuri Yakovlev almost killed his pregnant wife

This year the genius Arkady RAIKIN would have turned

100 years. On the eve of the anniversary, we met with his daughter, actress Ekaterina RAIKINA. For the first time, she revealed her father’s intimate secrets and talked about the difficult relationship with her famous husbands - Yuri YAKOVLEV and Mikhail DERZHAVIN.

Ekaterina Arkadyevna, you served at the Vakhtangov Theater for many years. But why did you often find yourself unclaimed on stage?

Such is my destiny. It was insulting and painful that the directors didn’t seem to notice me. I cried, went crazy, my legs were paralyzed due to nervousness. For some time I even left the theater. But all my life I loved my native stage, because I came there as a teenager. When I was 12, the Vakhtangov Theater came to Leningrad on tour. In the play Les Misérables, a Moscow girl was supposed to play Cosette, but her parents did not let her into St. Petersburg. Through our family friend Nikolai Akimov I was invited to this role. Since then, I couldn’t imagine myself without the theater, the actors who were later accepted into my team.

The theater that my dad created was rather intended for one actor - himself. Where was I supposed to go? Moreover, I was constantly worried that my father did not think about my mother in this regard. She could play interesting roles, she herself wrote brilliant monologues, but she was constantly in the shadow of her husband. Kind, generous, warm-hearted, wise, and also a brilliant actress, but dad didn’t even help her get titles. He was embarrassed and believed that it was indecent to send representations to the ministry against his wife. She was very offended, although she never said anything. To be a wife Raikina It’s very difficult - a woman must give all of herself to her beloved. So my mother gave it away. They lived together for more than 50 years.

Sex is at the forefront

At one time there were rumors that if your brother Kostya had not been born, Arkady Isaakovich would have left for another woman...

My parents had a wonderful marriage, but the women literally stuck to my father. If he went on tour without his mother, then the ladies did not give him access. Arkady Isaakovich, of course, had novels, but his mother adored him and could not imagine her life without him. A wise woman, she, for example, forgave her father for his relationship with one actress of the Vakhtangov Theater. Moreover, this story continued even when my mother carried Kostya under her heart. My father's mistress was very beautiful in real life, but she did not shine with her talents. Such a feisty one, with a nasty voice, set herself the only task - to “grab” dad. Mom suffered a lot, but everyone told her.

I wouldn't want to say her name out loud. If you wish, you can easily calculate it. (Having made inquiries, I found out that Raikin’s mistress was an actress Antonina Gunchenko. - Ya. G.)

- How did her father meet her?

Their first meeting took place in Moscow at some banquet. I don't think dad loved her. Here sex was at the forefront. Although this woman treated me with incredible tenderness, especially when I came to the theater. I tried to get closer, to make friends. But I kept my distance, remembering that she was trying to destroy our family. At the theater they later told me how at one time this lady spluttered: “If it weren’t for this little Jew - meaning the born Kostya - he would have been mine!” - meaning dad. Imagine, little Jew! As if dad were different! I’m not sure that she could have managed to take away Arkady Isaakovich, because my mother’s love for my father outweighed. Well, the kingdom of heaven to this lady, she is no longer in the world. By the way, she herself had a family: a daughter, her husband is an actor Maxim Grekov. He died horribly: he went on tour to Sverdlovsk, where he swam in the lake. At this time, an atomic explosion occurred there, which was then hidden. As a result, Grekov fell ill and quickly died.

Colourful dreams

- Was your father a wealthy man?

How to say. For example, all his life he dreamed of visiting America and showing his art there. American impresarios invited Dad every year, but the state security agencies stubbornly answered that he was on another tour or was ill. However, the only time he was allowed to travel to the United States, 90 percent of the fee was taken in favor of the state. A similar expropriation was once tried to be carried out in 1985 in Bulgaria before my eyes. Dad was not feeling well at the time and was in a hotel. In the evening, a man from the embassy came to him with a small safe in the form of a suitcase. After drinking tea, he said: “Forgive me, Arkady Isaakovich, you know why I came? You owe the embassy." To which dad sharply replied that he didn’t owe anyone anything. It turns out that for the first time in his life, when perestroika had already begun in the USSR, my father decided not to share his honestly earned money with the country. All his life he received pennies and was constantly underpaid. Then, when this man left the embassy, ​​dad told me about it in detail.

During my father's life, my brother made great progress. When the film "Truffaldino from Bergamo" was released, we did not yet have color television. Kostya bought it, installed it and left. At first there was some boring program, dad lay down on the sofa and fell asleep. I woke him up when the picture started. “Katya, color TV is a miracle! - the father could not get enough of it. “Imagine, you see colorful dreams under it.” He really liked the film with Kostya.

- Did Kostya have a hard time at the beginning of his career?

Absolutely right. Dad and Kostya have different talents. It’s just a pity that my brother’s wife, Lena Butenko, plays little in the theater. I think she’s offended, but Kostya, like dad, is of the opinion that it’s inconvenient to help his wife. But their daughter Pauline is already playing in Satyricon, although he is still on the staff of the Stanislavsky Theater. Kostya is trying to pull her over, he thinks that she feels bad in that theater - her taste is spoiled, she has to pick up the stubs.

Splinters in hair

- My parents had only one marriage. And you have been married three times.

An actress must be able to love. This wonderful feeling did not pass me by, so it’s a sin to complain.

- All your husbands were handsome men. Is appearance so important to you in a man?

I wouldn't say it, it just happened that way. I got married early - at 19 years old. In general, my parents loved all my spouses. Although dad was a little jealous, it was from the heart.

- Do you consider marriage to Mikhail Derzhavin a mistake of youth?

Not at all, I loved him very much. We got married in the third year of college, but then I came to the theater and saw Yuru Yakovleva and lost her head. I never regretted that I left Misha for Yura. After all, we were born with Yakovlev Lesha. My son’s family has a lovely daughter, Lisa, my granddaughter.

That's what Yura decided. He proposed to name him Alexey in honor of his uncle who died in the war. It is not customary for Jews to name people after the living. When my son went to get a passport, he asked me: “Mom, what nationality should I write?” “Russian,” I answered. In our country it was very important that no obstacles arise.

- Why did you break up with Yakovlev?

Following the example of my mother, I could forgive my husband for any shortcoming, except drunkenness. My father didn’t drink at all, but Yura had the same problem. Once, the fact that Yakovlev drank and got behind the wheel almost cost us our lives. In May 1961, when I was four months pregnant, we were traveling from Moscow to Leningrad on tour. My friend and I sat in the back of the Moskvich. Yura quenched his thirst with beer and after a while fell asleep at the wheel. We ended up in a ditch. It helped that there was no high embankment nearby, no one was coming towards us and there were no pillars nearby. They flew out of the car along with their suitcases. There was a car driving behind us. Those who were sitting in it saw our accident and called for the transportation of corpses. They could not even imagine that we were alive. When the corpse truck arrived, a man in a dirty robe came out and asked: “Well, where are the dead?” I, sitting on a hill, answered: “This is us!”

When we finally got to Leningrad, my mother called and said: “I had a terrible dream that you died in a car accident.” The doctor, when I came to him for an examination, said that a miracle had happened. After all, I was covered in bruises, there were small shards of glass stuck in my hair, but everything else turned out to be intact. After the accident, we even performed a performance, Yura went on stage with a crack in his shoulder blade. Alas, Yakovlev never understood that drunkenness interferes with normal life and work. We separated when our child was only three years old.

When love leaves, the little person feels it, and his soul is crippled by falsehood. Therefore, we need to separate, but not lose the relationship, as happened with Yura and me. Both parents must understand that the child cannot be deprived of communication with either his mother or his father. Personally, I didn’t come to this right away. There are parents who are offended by each other and display vile traits - cruelty and a desire for revenge. When 18-year-old Lesha was already studying at Shchukinsky, Yura was told: “Come and look, you have a wonderful heir.” And he came. And 15 years after separation, I met my son again, and they began to build a relationship again.

- Your third husband, Vladimir Koval, also drank, like Yakovlev?

With him everything turned out to be more complicated - they didn’t get along in character. We played in the same theater, he is a wonderful actor. And we are still officially married, but we haven’t lived together for 15 years. Although we communicate normally, we call each other every day. If there is no call, I start to get nervous, because I am no longer young.

Adult son

- Has your son Alexei Yakovlev left the acting profession?

Yes. After Shchuka, he worked at the Ermolova Theater. The chief director was pleased with him Volodya Andreev. Alexey had many interesting roles. But then it turned out that the actors began to sign letters, wanting to bring them to the theater Valeria Fokina. Lesha also signed for Andreev’s resignation. But when Fokin came, he brought his team. Lesha immediately left the theater. And then he appeared Sasha Ponomarev, a charming person, a talented actor and director, and he and his son created the Even-Odd Theater, which collapsed due to lack of money. Now my son works as a realtor.

- Were you friends with your son’s first wife, the operetta queen Lilia Amarfiy, who recently died?

Very! It’s so sad, it’s impossible to believe her death. She was 60 years old, 12 years older than Lesha, but I didn’t care about their age difference. I remember coming to her anniversary at the Actor’s House. Lilia loved the theater and her profession, she sang and danced beautifully, and could have made a career on Broadway. U Amarfiy From his first marriage there is a son, Sasha. Lesha raised him as his own, because he and Lilia were unable to have children of their own. Now Alexander is already an adult. His second child is about to be born. If it's a girl, I'm sure they'll name her Lily after her grandmother.