On September 25, 1911, Mark Neumann was born in the Ukrainian city of Nizhyn, but the whole country knows him under the name Mark Bernes, whose biography is unusual. A man who did not know musical notation conquered the country with the sincerity and thoughtfulness of singing songs. The best poets and composers considered it an honor to give their works to him.
Childhood
Naum Neiman served in an artel that collected recyclables, and his mother did household chores. It was customary in those days for a woman to stay at home.
In 1916, the whole family moved to Kharkov, where Mark graduated from the seven-year school. Parents dreamed that their son would become an accountant, but the teenager has other plans - he is attracted by the scene. He studies at the theater college and at the same time works as an extra in the theater. As in a fairy tale, one of the actors fell ill, and Mark was released onto the stage as a waiter in an operetta, for which he was praised by the director N. Sinelnikov. At the same time, the sonorous pseudonym Bernes appeared.
Moscow
In the provinces, he feels that he needs to move to Moscow for his creative growth. Bernes, unknown to anyone, arrives in the capital and begins working as an extra in several theaters at once. A year later, in 1930, he plays small roles in the Moscow Drama Theater. And in 1934 he received his first prize "For the best performance in work." Mark Bernes, whose biography is just beginning to rise, climbed the first step.
Cinema
Beginning in 1935, the charming and photogenic Bernes began acting in films. In 1938, the whole country would sing behind him the song "Clouds over the City of Steel" from the movie "The Man with a Gun", and he would receive the Order of the Badge of Honor (1939) for this performance. Not on the stage, but in the cinema, performing lyrical and soulful songs, the actor Mark Bernes will become famous. His biography includes roles where a solid male character was required, behind which one felt a calm will and mild humor.
In the film "Two Soldiers" two of his songs will become, as we would say, hits: "Dark Night" and "Scavs". They could be heard on the radio and on records. Bernes played a brave inhabitant of Odessa. In this role, he opened up with a comedic side. But for this he needed to learn how to speak like an Odessa. And then the inhabitants of Odessa were offended when he said that he was not from this city, they still continued to consider him their fellow countryman. For his role in this film, Bernes, as a real front-line soldier, was awarded the Order of the Red Star (1943).
After the war, Mark continued to act in films. Everyone was waiting for a new song from him, although his voice was weak,"home" so to speak. But Mark Bernes knew how to perfectly perform a song, whose biography with a smart approach to songwriting, sincerity and warmth will lead to the stage.
Estrada
For the first time at a public concert, Mark Bernes performed at the House of Officers in Sverdlovsk. This was in 1943. Then followed a trip with concerts in the Urals. And in the capital, he began to perform songs from the end of the forties.
Gradually a repertoire was formed, which Mark Naumovich Bernes approached very meticulously. The biography shows that these were not whims, but a manifestation of the high taste of the performer and his artistic intuition. He carefully selected songs that were important to him personally, worked a lot with both composers and poets. Therefore, he did not have "passing" works: any of them necessarily became important for the listener. In general, he created, tirelessly working on the stage, a repertoire of 82 songs. At the same time, he took an active part in the creation of more than forty compositions. Continuing to act in films in the 50s and 60s, Mark Bernes still worked with songs. His repertoire included such songs as “My dear Muscovites”, “If the guys of the whole earth”, “I love you, life.”
When nationality is not a hindrance
In Moscow in 1957, five French composers came to the festival of students who wrote songs, including for Yves Montand. Nikita Bogoslovsky had to take care of them, firstly, because he was a member of the Union of Composers, and secondly, he knew French very well. And this is how Zinovy Efimovich Gerdt told, he sees that the French and Bogoslovsky are standing and talking vividly, and Mark Bernes is lonely silent next to him. The biography, the nationality of the performer helped him a lot then. Someone withdraws the theologian, and everyone is awkwardly silent.
And then Bernes takes a deep breath and says something in Yiddish. The delight of the French was endless. "Are you a Jew?!" It turned out that the composers were French Jews. The conversation continued actively, and Bogoslovsky, who had approached, now did not understand a single word himself. And when he begged to translate the conversation, Bernes joked merrily: “And where were you brought up, Nikita? Why are you interfering in someone else's conversation?”
Difficult years
In 1958-60, the central press attacked Bernes with criticism that was more like persecution. The artist was excommunicated from both cinema and stage for vulgarity in music. New records were not recorded, he did not go on the air on the radio. But everything passes. In 1960, in the all-Union program “Good Morning,” Bernes’s soulful voice sounded again.
Enemies burned their own hut
Unusual heartfelt poems about a soldier on his wife's grave were written by Mikhail Isakovsky, and Matvey Blanter, having met them, created a song. But it was banned: it seemed too gloomy. The victorious people should not have such songs. The song lay for sixteen years. But when she got to Mark Bernes, he first performed it on the stage of the Green Theater in Gorky Park.
Everyone cameto relax, to have fun, and Bernes came out and somehow shyly, in a recitative, began to sing calmly without pathos. The hall froze, and then there was a storm of applause. But after all, Bernes retreated from the program, acted at his own peril and risk. Then letters from front-line soldiers came to him in bags, and censorship could no longer stop the song, which had become popular, because every single word in it was true: someone had medals for Budapest, someone came only to their native graves, someone it didn't stay at home. Isakovsky's poem performed by Bernes became popular. It is filled with the power of grief of the victorious people. But if it were not for the actor Mark Bernes, whose biography speaks of courage, then perhaps we would still not know her.
Family
In 1956 Bernes' first wife, Polina Linetskaya, died. She was an extraordinarily beautiful woman. They lived together for 24 years, and they had a daughter, Natasha. The girl who lost her mother was only three years old. And in 1960, Mark Naumovich brought his daughter to the first grade, and in the courtyard of the only French school in the capital he met a young woman who came here with her son Jean. It turned out that her name was Lilia Mikhailovna Bodrova, and she was married to a French photographer. The husband introduced his wife to a country-famous singer and actor. And Mark Bernes fell in love at first sight.
Their children sat at the same desk, and at parent-teacher meetings, Mark Bernes and Lilia were nearby. Very beautifully and delicately looked after a woman who was eighteen years younger than him, Mark Bernes. Biography, personal life of the performer is now outlined. He invited her to screenings of closed filmsFellini, Antonioni, Bergman or listen to Aznavour's new recordings. Mark was a very charming man: a smile, a squint of eyes acted almost irresistibly. It was comfortable and secure around him. And two months after they met, Lilia Mikhailovna moved in with Bernes.
All her acquaintances were only amazed: her French husband was a we althy man by Moscow standards and very fashionable, on whom women simply “hung themselves”. And next to Mark it was calm, and there was hope for a good upbringing of two kids.
Mark Bernes: biography, children
Mark suddenly became a happy father of two kids. Natasha and Jean immediately understood and accepted them. Lily spent so much time taking care of the children that Mark sometimes reproached her: “We don’t know how much we have been given, but they have everything ahead.”
Bernes's friends often visited their clean, cozy, cheerful house: Lidia Ruslanova, Olga Lepeshinskaya, film and theater actors, many foreign correspondents. Bernes, as on the first day of their acquaintance, treated his wife all the years. She always had her favorite fresh carnations. At the insistence of Bernes, they began to work together. His wife was his entertainer and held creative meetings. They lived together and did not part for nine years. Only grief separated them - the death of Mark Naumovich. Lilia Mikhailovna did not marry again - there was no one equal to Bernes. But it was necessary to raise children who were already sixteen years old.
Bernes and Paola's daughter Natasha graduated from Moscow State University and left for the USA. Her personal life isformed. She divorced her husband, and the second husband himself left her. The son of Lilia Mikhailovna Jean graduated from the camera department of VGIK, but did not work in his speci alty.
Work after marriage
Mark Naumovich worked hard and successfully. He went on tour both around the country and abroad. In 1961, a new song "Do Russians Want Wars" appeared. Yevtushenko himself said that Bernes made so many amendments that it is impossible to remember exactly what Mark Naumovich suggested.
He went on tour to Poland, and to Yugoslavia, and to Romania, and to Czechoslovakia, and to Bulgaria. Appeared on English television. His wife accompanied him on all his trips. Without her, he refused to perform. In 1968, everyone enthusiastically accepted the new film "Shield and Sword", and the song "Where the Motherland Begins" was performed by Bernes. Already being seriously ill, a month before his death, he recorded the song "Cranes" for the first time.
The popularly beloved artist died on August 16, 1969. He was buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery, performing four of his songs, which he chose himself.
These are “I dreamed of you for three years”, “Romance Roshchina”, “I love you, life” and “Cranes”. Thus ended the busy life of the artist we know as Mark Bernes. A brief biography of the artist is set out in the article.
