Kapler Alexei Yakovlevich - Soviet film playwright, actor, director and television presenter. He was born into the family of a wealthy Jewish businessman and, contrary to his father’s will, began performing on the stage. He was destined to become the first lover of Stalin's daughter Svetlana Alliluyeva and the last love of the talented poetess Julia Drunina. His "Cinema Panorama" was one of the most popular television programs on Soviet television, and the films on which he worked were masterpieces of domestic cinema.
Birth and family
Alexey Yakovlevich Kapler was born on September 28, 1903 (according to other sources - 1904) in Kiev, in a rich Jewish family. At birth, he was given the name Lazarus, but later he replaced him. The boy’s father was the famous Kiev tailor Kapler Yakov Naftalievich. In his studio, located on the Passage, dressed all the high society of the Ukrainian capital. Kapler masterfully sewed outfits of any complexity. His models received major prizes at international exhibitions. In addition to the studio, Yakov Naftalievich owned one of the best bath houses in Kiev, where you could not only take a steam bath, but also swim in the pool or take a shower of Sharko. The entrepreneurial tailor also owned retail premises that he leased, the Sion Hotel, and even a small synagogue.
Passion for the theater
Jacob Kapler and his wife Raisa Zakharyevna hoped that Lazarus would follow in his father's footsteps and continue the family business. However, the business worried about their son a little. Even in the gymnasium, he seriously became interested in theatrical art and began to dream of an acting profession. Together with friends, he ran away from lessons and, hiding behind the bushes that grew on the banks of the Dnieper, rehearsed plays by Kapler Alexei Yakovlevich. The children were so keen on acting that in 1917, immediately after the revolution, they founded their own small theater called "Harlequin". The tailor’s son had already managed to change his name and turned into Alexei. With best childhood friends Grishka Kozintsev and Seryozha Yutkevich, who later became famous figures of Soviet cinema, Alexei Kapler showed viewers puppet shows based on Pushkin's poems.
First steps on stage
Novice hypocrites understood that in Kiev they would not be able to achieve the popularity they dream of, so they soon decided to move to Petrograd. Here in 1921, Kapler, Yutkevich and Kozintsev founded the Factory of an Eccentric Actor (FEKS), which Leonid Trauberg soon joined. The performances in the newly created theater were fundamentally different from classical productions. The performances of Kiev actors, filled with humor, circus tricks and pop numbers, led the audience into wild delight.
Kapler Alexey: acting and directing
After working for several years at FEX, Lucy Kapler (as Alexey was called by close friends) managed to star in two films. In "The Ferris Wheel", created in 1926, he got an episodic and almost imperceptible role. In the same year, the young actor played a significant face in Gogol's "Overcoat." Having finished work on the film, Kapler was disappointed in the acting profession. He wanted to create a movie on his own, and not repeat the roles written by strangers.
In 1927 he moved to Odessa and worked as an assistant to the famous director A. Dovzhenko in the film "Arsenal". However, the ambitious Alexei Yakovlevich Kapler was unable to go for a long time as an assistant. In 1930, he directed his first film, The Right to a Woman, as a director, and the following year his second film, Mine 12-28, was released. But bitter disappointment awaited Lucy Kapler: the Soviet government banned both of his directorial works. At the same time, the film "The Right to a Woman" was declared decadent due to the fact that his main character left her husband, who prevented her from studying at the institute.
Coming success
After the ban on films, Kapler Alexei Yakovlevich did not give up. His biography testifies to the fact that he was a purposeful person and rarely lost heart for real. Having failed in directing, Kapler began to master the profession of a screenwriter. In this field, Alexei Yakovlevich expected an unprecedented success. For his scripts for the films "Lenin in October" and "Lenin in 1918" in 1941 he was awarded the prestigious Stalin Prize. Subsequently, Kapler became one of the most famous Soviet screenwriters. He worked on films such as Kotovsky, Behind a Department Store Window, Striped Flight, Amphibian Man, Blue Bird, etc.
The beginning of the war, meeting Svetlana Alliluyeva
In the 30s, a huge number of representatives of the Soviet intelligentsia suffered from Stalinist repressions, but they did not touch Kapler. Having received a prestigious government award, he became one of the few who could be called a minion of fate. But this did not last long. At the beginning of World War II, Alexei Yakovlevich went to the front as a war correspondent. In November 1942, he returned to Moscow and was invited by Stalin's son Vasily to a party dedicated to the anniversary of the October Revolution. The celebration was attended by the 16-year-old daughter of the leader of all peoples Svetlana Alliluyeva. The scriptwriter, who by that time was already 39 years old, fell in love with the girl without a memory, and she reciprocated. However, meeting the daughter of such a high-ranking person was not easy. Sveta never left the house unaccompanied, and the screenwriter was forced to take her to exhibitions, cinema and museums under the supervision of security guards.
For young Alliluyev, an affair with Kapler was the first serious feeling for which she was ready to sacrifice everything that she had. Before meeting with Svetlana, Alexei Yakovlevich had one official and two civil marriages. In 1921-1930, he was married to actress Tatyana Tarnovskaya. From this marriage he had a son, Anatoly. After the divorce, he lived for some time with his colleague in the shop, Tatyana Zlatogorova, then was in a relationship with actress Galina Sergeeva. But even though Kapler had the glory of a hero lover, he truly fell in love with Stalin's daughter. He madly loved this modest and educated girl, and he could not do anything with his feelings.
Arrest
Kapler Alexey Yakovlevich and Svetlana Alliluyeva did not notice the difference in age and felt extremely happy. Their rare dates were completely innocent, but Stalin, learning about his daughter's adult boyfriend, became furious. On his orders in 1943, Kapler was arrested and charged with espionage in favor of Great Britain. In a trumped-up case, he was sentenced to 5 years in prison and sent to serve his sentence in Vorkuta. Svetlana received a big thrashing from her father, and a year later she married a friend of her brother Grigory Morozov. Throughout her life, Svetlana had 5 official husbands, but she did not recall any of them in memoirs with such warmth as her first beloved Kapler.
Prison life, love for Valentina Tokarskaya
In Vorkuta, Aleksey settled himself quite well. The head of the prison was sympathetic to the famous filmmaker and allowed him to leave the city colony. Alexei Yakovlevich Kapler worked in a local darkroom, and in his spare time he wrote and thought a lot about life. In Vorkuta, he met the famous Soviet actress Valentina Tokarskaya, who was serving her sentence for being captured by the Germans at the beginning of the war and agreed to cooperate with them in order to survive. Being in exile, the scriptwriter invited her to marry him and received consent in response. Tokarskaya brightened up the prison life of Alexei Yakovlevich and even pulled him out of the loop when, at the time of greatest despair, he tried to lay hands on himself.
In 1948, Kapler’s prison term ended. He was strongly advised not to return to Moscow and stay away from Alliluyeva. Alexei Yakovlevich did not even think of looking for meetings with Stalin’s daughter, but he decided to go to the capital in order to go to Kiev to visit his parents from her. As soon as he ended up in Moscow, he was arrested again and sent to a camp located in the village of Inta in another trumped-up case. This time Kapler had no concessions. Together with other prisoners, he worked hard in the mine. And only love for Valentina Tokarskaya, who remained in Vorkuta, helped him survive in that difficult time. In correspondence with his beloved woman, he believed that the day would come when they would be able to reunite forever.
Meeting with Julia Drunina
In 1953, Joseph Stalin died, and Kapler, like most people displeased by him, was released ahead of schedule. Turned out to be free and Tokarskaya. Arriving in Moscow, the lovers filed an application with the registry office and soon became official spouses. Alexey Yakovlevich again began writing scripts, his wife began to be invited to act in films. But happiness never came to their family. In 1954, the 50-year-old Kapler was invited to teach screenwriters at the Higher Courses of the USSR Filmmakers Union. One of his students was the young but already well-known poetess Julia Drunina. Both at the time of their acquaintance were not free and for a long time tried to deal with feelings that suddenly surged over them. But love won, and in 1960, divorcing their soul mates, Alexei Kapler and Julia Drunina got married.
The whole of Moscow spoke about the novel of the screenwriter and poetess. Lovers did not hide their feelings from anyone, did not get tired of declaring love to each other, and appeared at all social events together. Drunina dedicated many wonderful poems to her husband, and over the years he lived with her, he wrote his best scenarios.
Work in the frame
In 1966, Aleksei Yakovlevich Kapler came to work as a TV presenter in the Kinopanorama program (photo from the shoot below). He distinguished himself from his colleagues in the shop. Charming, bright and charismatic, Kapler never read a text on a piece of paper and did not make a serious face in front of the camera. He improvised, said what he was thinking about, and was not afraid to ask the guests in the studio not very comfortable questions. Alexei Yakovlevich became a favorite host for millions of Soviet people. His "Cinema Panorama" was watched even by those who had little interest in cinema. He was the permanent leader of the program until 1972.
