Our article is about the actor, theater director, creator and former artistic director of the Taganka Theatre, whose centenary is celebrated in 2017.
Origin
Yuri Lyubimov, whose biography is discussed in this article, was born in 1917. It was a difficult time for the whole country. He was born on September 30 in the city of Yaroslavl. His father, Pyotr Zakharovich, was a merchant. He graduated from a commercial school and in 1922 moved with his family to Moscow. The merchant owned his own store in Okhotny Ryad. It sold various pickles: mushrooms, cucumbers, pickled apples, etc. Lyubimov's father was a real gentleman, he liked to live in a big way. There were many beautiful things in his house. He left a magnificent library, in which there were many good books. The independent and imperious nature of this man was out of place under Soviet rule. As a result, Petr Zakharovich was imprisoned and lost all his property.
Yuri Petrovich's mother's name was Anna Alexandrovna. Her father was half gypsy. After studying to be a teacher, she began teaching in the elementary grades. She was a strong-willed and determined person. After her husband's arrestshe was also sent to prison. The authorities sought to ensure that Yuri Lyubimov's parents gave away all their savings. A few months later, Anna Alexandrovna returned home, where three children were waiting for her: David, Yuri and Natasha. After the NEP, many trials awaited the family. However, they all survived, because they came from a large and strong family. The hardships of life hardened our hero. Therefore, he managed to find his way in life and take place as an actor, director and theater director.
Childhood and youth
Yuri Lyubimov's biography includes many interesting and difficult moments. What is worth only the story of his childhood and youth! Being not from a proletarian family, he was often persecuted. He even had to leave school ahead of time and enroll in an electromechanical college. The street dictated its own rules. There was a case when a guy was severely beaten. He lost two teeth and suffered a head injury. The next day, he took with him a finca and a single-shot pistol. But this time there was no disassembly. But Lyubimov was respected and no longer touched.
The parents of the future actor were passionate theatergoers. This fact played a decisive role in the life of our hero. From an early age he joined the theater and enjoyed the famous performances of Meyerhold - "The Forest", "The Government Inspector", "The Lady of the Camellias". As a result, the boy himself wanted to become an actor. In parallel with his studies at the technical school, he attended a choreographic studio. In 1934 he managed to enter the studio at the Moscow Art Theater. The very next year, he made his debut on stage in a cameo role in the production of Prayer for Life. However, a year laterthe authorities closed the studio. The reason was the "fight against formalism."
How did the biography of Yuri Lyubimov begin to take shape?
Films with his participation
In 1936, Yuri entered the Vakhtangov Theater. For three years, he played supporting roles. After that, he was drafted into the army. In 1941, he was involved in the Song and Dance Ensemble of the NKVD. In the same period, Yuri Petrovich was invited to act in films. He had a chance to embody on the screen more than thirty images. He was noted in “Robinson Crusoe” by Andrievsky, “Three Meetings” by S. Yutkevich and V. Pudovkin, “On the Stage Stage” by K. Yudin, “Kuban Cossacks” by I. Pyryev, “Restless Economy” by A. Zharov and many other paintings.
After returning from the army, Yuri Lyubimov continued to serve at the Vakhtangov Theater for twenty years. The biography of a wonderful actor indicates that he played a wide variety of roles. On his account, the restless Cyrano from Cyrano de Bergerac, Benedict from Much Ado About Nothing, Treplev from The Seagull, Romeo from Romeo and Juliet, etc.
Career advancement
Actor Yuri Lyubimov, whose biography many admirers are interested in, was a very versatile person. In particular, he began to try himself in directing. In 1959, he staged Galich's play How Much Does a Man Need? Not satisfied with the result, Lyubimov began attending the seminars of Mikhail Kedrov, a student of Stanislavsky himself. According to Yuri Petrovich, in those days it was the only place where in the 1960s it was possiblehear a living word about theater and acting. After that, the actor and director himself became a teacher in the famous "Pike". His active work in the field of art did not go unnoticed, so he was soon offered to head the Taganka Drama and Comedy Theater.
A place in history
In the biography of Yuri Lyubimov, it is noted that the director significantly improved the position of the Taganka Theater, which, unfortunately, was not popular with the audience before his arrival. He updated the troupe, inviting graduates from his native school to join it. And already in 1964 he released the premiere performance - "The Good Man from Sezuan" based on the play by Bertolt Brecht. The production thundered throughout Moscow and has since been considered a cult. And the theater became a kind of "island of freedom", from the stage of which truths about truth, goodwill and humanity were broadcast.
The legendary "Taganka" united unique artists under its wing. The actor himself, Yuri Lyubimov (the biography noted all the milestones of his theatrical activity) knew who to choose. Nikolai Gubenko, Alla Demidova, Zinaida Slavina, Veniamin Smekhov, Vladimir Vysotsky, Nina Shatskaya, Leonid Filatov - all these celebrities became famous on the stage of the unforgettable Taganka.
In 1976, the theater received the highest award at the BITEF festival in Yugoslavia. The award was given to the production of "Hamlet" based on Shakespeare's play. In 1980, Yuri Petrovich was awarded a prize for personal merits in art at the Warsaw Theater Meetings. In 1975, the director managed to stage the first opera performance at the Teatro LaRock in Milan. It was called "Under the hot sun of love" and enjoyed great success with the public. Since then, opera performances by Yuri Lyubimov have become the hallmark of the theatre. During his professional career, he has created more than thirty productions of this format.
Deprived of citizenship
In the biography of Yuri Lyubimov (the theater still remained his permanent place of work) it is indicated that difficult times came in the early 80s. The first blow was the death of Vysotsky, who worked for a long time at the Taganka Theater. Then a production dedicated to the poet and actor was banned, and later the same fate awaited Boris Godunov. Yury Petrovich found out about the deprivation of citizenship while in London. It was 1984. The reason was active citizenship, which runs counter to official policy.
In the West, the performances of Yuri Lyubimov (we continue to get acquainted with his biography) were received enthusiastically. Israel, Italy, France, Germany, USA, Finland - the actor and director had a chance to work in these and other countries. And all his productions were successful and received numerous theater awards.
Return
After returning to their homeland (1988), they were given previously banned works (we are talking about "Boris Godunov" and "Vladimir Vysotsky"). Among the new staged performances are Feast in the Time of Plague, Elektra, Suicide, Doctor Zhivago. The troupe often went on foreign tours.
Distinctive features of the leadership of Yuri Lyubimov are alwayswere strictness and predilection for strict discipline in the team. In his opinion, communication with actors should be built similarly to communication with trained circus animals: you should always have a whip and a carrot with you.
Leaving the theater
In December 2010, Lyubimov spoke about his resignation and his intention to leave the post of artistic director of the theater. The reason for this decision, he called the conflict with the Moscow Department of Culture.
Literally six months later, in the summer, Yuri Lyubimov (biography and photos are offered to the reader in this article) was embroiled in a scandal. Actors on tour in the Czech Republic demanded to pay the fee immediately after the end of the performance. The artistic director was offended by this situation, and on July 6, 2011 he left the Taganka Theater. There was no farewell to the troupe, and yet Yuri Lyubimov had worked in this theater for more than forty years…
But there was another reason for his departure - his wife Katalina Kunz, a journalist from Hungary. At the Taganka Theater, a woman worked as a deputy director. According to many actors, she was unjustifiably rude, swearing and allowed acts that humiliated their honor and dignity. Yielding to the insistence of the team, Yuri Lyubimov fired his wife (we will not touch on her biography). And soon he left the theater himself.
In 2012, Yuri Lyubimov staged the play "Demons" based on Dostoevsky. This four-hour production was positively received by both critics and fans of his work. And here is the premiere of the opera "Prince Igor",planned for December 2012, unfortunately for fans, has been postponed indefinitely.
Death of a director
Yuri Lyubimov (his biography was full of interesting events) celebrated his 95th birthday on September 30, 2012. Less than two weeks after this festive event, he ended up in the hospital. He was diagnosed with a heart attack. At the end of October, the director fell into a coma for a day. The director spent the summer of 2013 recuperating, resting and preparing for the new season. In autumn, his new opera project was presented in Italy. The spring of 2014 for the director was marked by the premiere of the buff opera School for Wives. In the autumn of the same year, Yuri Lyubimov was again taken to the hospital. On October 5, Yuri Lyubimov died. He was 97 years old. The director's funeral took place three days later at the Donskoy cemetery.
Private life
Speaking about the biography of Yuri Lyubimov, his wives and children should also be mentioned. The female environment of the director has always consisted of bright and beautiful companions. His first wife was the ballerina Olga Evgenievna Kovaleva. They met at joint performances in the NKVD ensemble. The couple had a son, Nikita (b. 1949). This marriage did not last long. The woman left for another man.
If we talk about Nikita Lyubimov, then after graduating from school he studied for some time at the theological seminary. In the future, he chose the path of a writer. The play he wrote was staged at the Taganka Theatre. And today he is just as religious. He often visits the church, spends the summer with his wife and three children in his house in a village near Velikiye Luki.
The director and Lyudmila Tselikovskaya met during their studies at the theater school. Schukin. Their life together lasted fifteen years. The reason for the breakup was his affair with Catalina. Tselikovskaya had her own opinion about Lyubimov's genius. She did not classify him as a genius. Undoubtedly recognizing the talent of Yuri Lyubimov, she was aware that the creation of the theater was his success, but the choice of repertoire was largely her merit.
A kind of "jumping girl", a charming but dim-witted girl on the movie screens, in life the actress was a very educated person. She loved reading, was well versed in foreign literature, and enjoyed all-Union fame. Due to her popularity, she could open doors in the highest offices. There is an opinion that Lyubimov's acquaintance with the "correct" environment took place with her direct participation.
Also, Yuri Lyubimov is credited with an affair with the Pashkov sisters. The acquaintance of Lyubimov and the Hungarian journalist and translator Katalina Kunz took place in 1976, during the Hungarian tour of the Taganka Theater. Later, the woman ended up in the capital as her own correspondent for one of the Hungarian magazines. The wedding of the 61-year-old director and 32-year-old Catalina took place two years later. In 1979, the couple had a long-awaited son in Budapest. They named him Peter. According to Catalina's memoirs, she spent her pregnancy listening to Bach's fugues and watching old films in which the tall and slender handsome Yuri Lyubimov played (the biographies of the creator's sons are also described in the article). So she dreamed of the birth of a son,looking like an outstanding spouse.
After receiving a matriculation certificate at Cambridge, Peter was engaged in improving the Italian language in Italy, worked in a construction company. With the onset of his father's illness, he quit his job and moved to the Taganka Theater.
Director's Centennial Anniversary
In February 2017, at a press conference held at the TASS Press Center, a presentation of the program of events was held, called the "Century of Yuri Lyubimov". It was planned that most of the events will take place in cities such as Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yaroslavl (in the homeland of Lyubimov), and in other Russian regions.
The creation of an interactive museum in memory of the outstanding director is planned at the Taganka Theater. On the birthday of Yuri Lyubimov, an open day was held here, which included a visit to the memorial zone, excursions, watching the play “The Good Man from Sezuan” (it was from him that the history of this theater began). In August, the Museum of Moscow opened an exhibition (the biography of Yuri Lyubimov is presented in detail) en titled “Lubimov and time. 1917-2017". The project "Yuri Lyubimov's Century" can rightfully be considered one of the largest events in the cultural life of our country. More detailed information about the events held throughout the year can be found on the official website of director Yuri Lyubimov.
