Irina Skobtseva, an excellent actress and, in addition, the mother of Fedor Bondarchuk, was born in 1927. So, in August 2017, she turned exactly ninety. For this wonderful anniversary, the TV channel "Culture" presented on its air "Othello" - the very first of the films with her participation. Shakespeare's tragedy brought together a completely star-filled company for a student shortly before her graduation from the Moscow Art Theater School. Sergey Bondarchuk, Evgeny Vesnik, Andrey Popov, Antonina Maksimova, Vladimir Soshalsky starred in this film. And I saw in the future mother of Fedor Bondarchuk a real talent as a wonderful director and great master Sergey Yutkevich.
Actress
Irina Skobtseva is not so easily recognized on the screen from the very first moment when she appears. So, for example, many actors adhere to their role. It turns out, for example, Leah Akhedzhakova, and the viewer immediately knows who she will play in the film and how. The mother of Fedor Bondarchuk was always different, even when on the screen you had to be the mother of other children, and always, absolutely always admired. And not only because of this dissimilarity, because the roles she was entrusted with diverse. She not only looked, but presented herself every time differently, and did not get tired to surprise.
That is why a variety of directors celebrated her exceptional talent. She was good both in the main roles and in the secondary ones. The magnificent Helen in the epic "War and Peace" or the ambiguous mother of the two sons of Maryan from the film "Seryozha", the military doctor from "They Fought for the Motherland" or Marina Kurchatova from the picture "Choosing a Target", Vasilisa Ilinichna from the wonderful "Quiet Don" or Mrs. Bredveri from the movie "Velvet Season" - Irina Skobtseva was not only herself, beloved in any role. Even that she was the wife of Sergei Bondarchuk and the mother of Fedor Bondarchuk, Irina Skobtseva was able to forget. She penetrated so deeply into the most hidden secrets of the character that the viewer was surprised that this was possible.
First role forever
Sergei Yutkevich had several hundred actresses who claimed the role of Desdemona in his film adaptation of one of Shakespeare's most remarkable and most famous tragedies. And the best Desdemona was Irina Skobtseva. Mom Fedor Bondarchuk often revises the photo of those years. This role not only brought her worldwide fame. At the Cannes film festival she was awarded the title of "Miss Charm" - that’s what Fyodor Bondarchuk’s mother was in her youth! This film also gave her great happiness in her personal life - as many as two Bondarchuk. The eldest - almost immediately, the younger - much later.
The film “Othello” turned out to be fateful for Irina Skobtseva: on the set there was a wonderful director and actor Sergey Bondarchuk, and he could not help but fall in love with this exceptionally beautiful woman. The rest of his life was filled with it - for thirty-five years they went hand in hand: they starred in films together, and a lot of Irina Skobtseva starred under him as a director.
And, of course, how can you forget about the film "Othello", which won the laurels of the best directing in Cannes? Apparently, life itself was directed by Sergey Yutkevich. And not only the film was directed, but also the fate of two wonderful people. And after twelve years, Fedor Bondarchuk was born. Mom and Dad were happy.
Minor and major
The success of Othello in the USSR and in the world was simply incredible. After that, Irina Skobtseva was very busy, she played in almost eighty films - the most popular, and all the roles are characteristic. The main ones in the biography film "Ivan Franko", in the comedies "Ordinary Man" and "Zigzag of Good Luck", in the melodramas "Ghosts of the Green Room" and "Seryozha" (all viewers remember the phrase: "Uncle Petya, are you a fool?", As well they all know very well that Fedor Bondarchuk’s mother, Irina Skobtseva, is not at all like the heroine of this film, but they believe her game so much that they exclaim: “How could she ?!”).
There were detectives, such as “Fifty to Fifty, ” and there was science fiction (“The Court of the Crazy”), many dramas, including military ones. And all the roles were beautifully memorable, perfectly played. But not only the main, secondary characters were also surprisingly organic for Irina Skobtseva - remember only Helen Bezukhova or the military doctor from the epic "They Fought for the Homeland." Even the main characters of others are not so convincing. Already in 1965, Irina Skobtseva became an Honored Artist of the RSFSR. A decade later - People’s Artist, and by her seventieth birthday she was awarded the Order of Friendship. And their children, whom they know and love in the country no less, were gifted with talent by the mother of Fyodor Bondarchuk.
Biography
Irina Skobtseva was born in Tula, her family was very far from art. The actress's father - Konstantin Alekseevich - was engaged in science in the weather service, in the Main Directorate, and Irina's mother - Julia Nikolaevna - was an archivist. Born in 1927, the girl had to survive the war with all her hardships, while still a teenager, and therefore she had almost no time to study in high school, she mastered all the programs on her own. Naturally, she did not even suspect about her career as an actress.
A matriculation certificate was nevertheless obtained, and so good that it allowed her to enter the history department of Moscow State University and become an art critic of the highest standard. The college was wonderful! It was there that the world of the theater opened to Irina, she played in absolutely all amateur performances of the university, and this world completely captured her. Having received a diploma from Moscow State University, Irina Skobtseva immediately entered the Moscow Art Theater School named after V.I. Nemirovich-Danchenko, where she studied until 1955. In his last year, Desdemona made such a happy choice for everyone for the Shakespeare tragedy.
Further way
When she graduated from the theater school, Irina Skobtseva became the native Theater Studio of the film actor, where she worked and played for many years in a row. Of course, often interrupted in order to give us a new good film. She acted in films a lot. Since 1971, teaching began - Irina Skobtseva taught VGIKA students acting skills and already in 1977 became an assistant professor at the department. She worked in the studio with her beloved husband - Sergei Bondarchuk, and there he received his first impressions and a young son, future actor, director, producer Fedor Bondarchuk. Mom sometimes took him to work.
And the new millennium did not make the actress rest on her laurels. No one asks how old Fyodor Bondarchuk’s mother is, she’s always full of energy, always sociable, efficient. After 2000, Irina Skobtseva starred in many television series, in films. For example, the drama "The White Guard" or "Gold" - how can you not remember them and not appreciate them? And the actress has not changed in her skill: each new role is a different one, completely unknown to anyone Irina Skobtseva. This is the Inhabited Island, and Amber Wings, and Family Dinner. Everything just as wonderful played literally everything: psychological dramas, and historical, and melodramas, and adventures, and anti-utopias, the wonderful mother of Fyodor Bondarchuk.
Personal life
Personal life Irina Skobtseva presented not only happy occasions. Each of them had to be sought, to go through incredible difficulties, to experience pain and unbearable losses. When Irina Skobtseva was 88 years old, she starred in the children's mystical adventure film "The Secret of the Dark Room." The role was central, it was played vividly. Even at an advanced age, the actress perfectly feels the world of childhood, everything is familiar to her there, everything is authentic. That was all my life and now remains the mother of Fedor Bondarchuk. Photos of recent years in no way indicate her age - she is still beautiful.
As then, as a student at Moscow State University, participating in student theater productions, when Ajubey appeared in her life. Yes, that one. The future son-in-law of Khrushchev. He studied at the faculty of journalism then, but he already had his first education, and it was theatrical. Alexei managed to fall in love with Irina both in the scene and in himself. They got married in 1945, and four years later he met with the daughter of Nikita Khrushchev - Rada. It must be said that Nikita Sergeyevich still had many more years left until the post of General Secretary - about five years. Ajubey filed for divorce. You can imagine how Irina Konstantinovna felt. But fate led her along an even more difficult path.
Sergey and Inna
And then came the 1955th, when Irina became the Desdemona and beloved woman of Sergei Bondarchuk. It was true love, complicated by the fact that Sergei was married. And not on anyone, but on the already legendary Inna Makarova, who for the role of Lyubka Shevtsova alone received the Stalin Prize of the first degree, and also the film "Height", the film "Girls" …
That is why it took four whole years for the female name to sound a little different in the formula "Sergey + Inna". But then, in the next thirty-five years, everything was fine with them. They were not bothered by speculation, nor by the numerous and sometimes simply ridiculous rumors about their personal life, about building a career that accompanied their every step for a long time, not only on the sidelines, even in the press.
Losses
Everything was fine until the death of Sergei Bondarchuk in 1994, which was very difficult to survive. Irina did not close from the audience. And only at work this loss was not felt so hard. Together with her son, Irina built an exposition of the museum of her beloved husband.
Three years after the beginning of their life together, daughter Alena was born, in the future also a film and theater actress. In 2009, Irina Skobtseva survived another blow of fate - Alyona died of oncology. The actress did not hide her grief this time - even from journalists. We saw these tears. Such grief is really the worst thing - when you have to survive your own children … It does not go away, it cannot be cured. And it never gets smaller or lighter.
Fedor Bondarchuk
In 1967, five years after the birth of Alena, Bondarchuk and Skobtseva had a son, Fedor, who also followed in the footsteps of his parents, becoming no less a celebrity. The creator of the cult film "9 Companies" (and many others, no less interesting) is especially pleased that he is not afraid to develop new layers formed by modernity in this profession. For example, Fedor began to shoot advertising and music videos, which he was very successful at, and the Art Pictures Studio he created quickly grew and turned into a film company.
While Sergey Fedorovich was still alive, Irina Skobtseva almost always had to check with the directors and producers who asked Bondarchuk for the phone, which they wanted to hear Bondarchuk. The younger pretty quickly caught up with his fame with his parents. Now Fedor already has many grandchildren, and Irina Konstantinovna has great-grandchildren: mother of Fedor Bondarchuk is already ninety.
Not old age
In 2016, another misfortune happened to her: Irina Konstantinovna fell in the dark right at home, in a familiar room, and broke her thigh neck. Moved two heavy operations. However, there is still so much life in it that many young people fit to envy the famous actress. Irina Konstantinovna collects a library about cinema - memoirs, stories, letters, any literature, and now about actors and the acting profession you can find here if not all, then almost everything.
In the spring of 2017, a memorial office of Sergei Bondarchuk was opened in Glavkino, organized by the efforts of Fedor and Irina. Here, each item speaks of a famous master. The main theme of the exposition is “War and Peace”, the most famous of many director’s paintings. Here are his personal belongings, his desk, his chair, his cameras, which were used for filming. A lot of video and photo chronicle is presented, where the biography and creative work of Sergey Bondarchuk is displayed.
