Katalin Lyubimova, 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 the mother. She says she has never been a mother mother who cares only about children. For a long thirty-six years, Katalin was a faithful assistant in all of Lyubimov’s creative endeavors.
Perfect wife
Yuri Petrovich until the end of his days did not cease to engage in the business of his whole life - the theater. Although he said that he was tired of creativity in conditions of environmental 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 to manage economic affairs as a volunteer. The working day of both spouses lasted ten to twelve hours.
Katalin Lyubimova cooked for her husband herself too. Even before the beginning of the working day, she managed to go to the store to buy vegetables for her dear husband, which mainly consisted of the diet of their entire family - Katalin believed that fried and smoked food products could adversely affect the health of Yuri Petrovich.
Secrets of happiness
Even in the family there was a rule 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 her father’s peace.
Most of all, Yuri Lyubimov appreciated peace and comfort in family life. He himself never answered journalists' questions about his personal life, following the rule "my house is my fortress."
When asked about jealousy, Katalin replies that she was always very jealous, but tried not to give free rein to her emotions, and she was never jealous of her husband for no 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 - harm to health
The only condition that Katalin Kunts Lyubimova made when she married him was that he had to quit smoking. At that time, Yuri Petrovich smoked up to three packs a day, which, of course, adversely affected his health. Katalin posed the question with an edge: if you want to be with me, you should forget about addiction.
Yuri fulfilled this wish and never again touched cigarettes.
The indomitable Katerina
It is possible that it was then that the nickname “The Indomitable Katerina” appeared, with which Lyubimov endowed his wife. She herself says that she agrees with this nickname, because she really has an incredibly strong character, thanks to which she was able to survive years of wandering around the world and difficult times in our country. But she passed through all trials with dignity, helping both her husband in the implementation of his creative plans and her son Peter, taking care that he received a worthy 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 with her to a new place of residence any pieces of furniture and household goods. And if this did not work out, then she would go shopping for a long time in search of similar things. This helped create the feeling that there was no moving.
Hard times
One of the most difficult periods in the life of the director and his wife was a few days after the death of Vladimir Vysotsky. The Olympics were held in Moscow and the government ordered to bury the artist as discreetly as possible so as not to create unrest among the masses. But Yuri Petrovich could not allow a popularly beloved artist to be buried without due honors, without giving numerous admirers of his work the opportunity to say goodbye to him. I had to go around many offices of dignitaries. During such visits, Katalin was waiting for her husband in the car. At her insistence, the doctor was also always in the car, because Lyubimov often left these rooms in a pre-infarction state.
The son of Yuri and Katalin Lyubimov. Biography of Peter Yuryevich
Speaking of 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 also did not lose interest in education and graduated from the University of Cambridge. But the boy’s school days were not in the most difficult conditions: for ten years of study, he replaced more than twenty-five schools in America and Europe.
It happened that in one academic year he had to study at five educational institutions. Difficult conditions only strengthened his love for his parents. And when, after graduation, the young specialist had great prospects in the construction business in the west, he considered it necessary to postpone his own career for some time and move to Moscow to help his father and mother 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 performances in theaters of 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 and in matters relating to its leadership. When in the early 2010s, the theater began endless gossip and performances against the director, which led to his dismissal at his own request, she said that she did not want to get involved in matters that did not concern her, leaving her husband to decide his own fate.
She says that her duty was to take care of creating home comfort and caring for the improvement of the theater premises. Often she only had to go to bed at three in the morning. To the question: “How did you maintain such a frantic rhythm of life?”, She replies simply: “I loved my husband. That’s the whole secret. ”
A life-changing meeting
They met in the mid-seventies. Then the Taganka Theater was on tour in Hungary. Even before meeting, a 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 theater-goers, was greatly impressed by these performances. All performances took place with a full house. Sometimes it was simply impossible to get a ticket. People were ready to resort to various tricks, including hanging on chandeliers, 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 duties included, among other things, mitigating Lyubimov’s sharp, politically incorrect, from the point of view of the Hungarian government, statements. Katalin at that time was married. Her husband, a prominent scientist, lived for some time with Katalin in Moscow. During this visit to the Soviet Union, she learned Russian. And her father instilled a love of Russian literature in her, who strongly recommended her to read Russian classics: Pushkin, Dostoevsky, Gogol and many others.
Yuri Petrovich was also married at the time of his acquaintance. His wife was a 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 Katalin dedicated.
Wedding and birth of a son
Fate decreed that two years later Yuri Petrovich and Katalin got married. Marriage had to be registered in Hungary, since in the Soviet Union there were many obstacles for this. Under the patronage of Hungarian dignitaries, 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 huddle in a small one-room apartment.
A year later, they had a son, who was named Peter in honor of the father of Yuri Petrovich. Katalin decided to give birth in Hungary. With great difficulty Lyubimov managed to obtain permission to travel to Hungary. 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 still released. After some time, a family of now three people returned to Moscow.
Happy moments
These short three years before going abroad Katalin recalls as an amazing and very happy time. Then she happened to meet interesting people of her time, who were among the close friends of Yuri Petrovich: Alfred Schnittke, Sergey Kapitsa and his family, Andrey Voznesensky and many others. But this happy time, unfortunately, did not last long. Three years later, the Lyubimov family was forced to leave Russia for a long eight 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 the incident with Vysotsky’s funeral and other unpleasant acts of the wayward director.
Wanderings
Since then, the family began long wanderings in different countries. Katalin recalls this time as terribly difficult, but at the same time very fruitful. Yuri Petrovich was given the opportunity to choose for himself which performances to put on and which not, which theaters to contract with and which not. There was much more creative freedom than in the Soviet Union. Two states gave him citizenship at once: Hungary, with which he had long-standing creative friendships and Israel, to which Lyubimov was invited as a director of one of the drama theaters. Katalin says she was happy to live in Jerusalem for some time, surrounded by people of her nationality. Katalin Lyubimova, as already mentioned, did not mind when her husband was offered to return to his homeland.
Where is Katalin Lyubimova now and what does she do?
In the past few months, she has been actively involved in organizing events dedicated to the centenary of the birth of Lyubimov.
It is planned to hold a number of diverse events that will be of interest to both professionals in the field of theater art (among them lectures on the specifics of directing the master), and numerous fans of the work of an outstanding director and actor. One of the main events of the anniversary program was the next presentation of the Yuri Lyubimov Prize. This award was established during the life of the artist. She is awarded not only theater directors and actors, and not only artists in general, but people who have achieved high professionalism in any branch of human activity. The idea of creating such a prize seemed interesting to the famous director. The prize is currently relevant for the reason that there are very few examples of such prizes that can be awarded to people whose activities are not related to art compared to the huge number of theatrical, musical and cinematic awards.
