The cinematic Bondarchuk clan is known to all, and it has something to be proud of. However, like many families, they also have relatives they try to forget about. Among these outcasts is Aleksey Sergeevich Bondarchuk, the son of Sergei Bondarchuk from his second marriage.
Two muses of a famous director
Many fans of Sergei Bondarchuk's work believe that the master was legally married twice: with the magnificent Inna Makarova, who was remembered by the audience for the paintings "Young Guard", "My Dear Man", "Height", etc., and with one of the most beautiful women of Soviet cinema Irina Skobtseva, who became famous after the roles of Desdemona, as well as Helen Bezukhova in the film "War and Peace". However, in the life of the famous director there was another woman with whom he tied the knot under rather unusual circumstances. This story, which could well have become the basis of the soap opera script, was little known until Inna told reporters in one of her interviews. Makarova.
Zhenya from Rostov-on-Don
As you know, Bondarchuk was born in Yeysk and studied the basics of acting at the Theater School of Rostov-on-Don. There he met Evgenia Belousova, who was a student of the vocal department. This was a beautiful girl from a well-known and we althy family with great connections. When the war began, Sergei and Evgenia traveled to the fronts together and gave concerts in front of the Red Army. Then Bondarchuk went to fight, but after the victory, the young people settled in a luxurious apartment located in the center of Rostov. Their happiness did not last long, and they never registered their relationship with the registry office.
The capital and new perspectives
In 1946, Sergei Bondarchuk left for Moscow. At that time, Evgenia was already pregnant. When Alexei Bondarchuk, the son of Sergei Bondarchuk, was born, the future famous director was already in love with Inna Makarova, whom he met while studying at VGIK. In 1947, young people played together in the famous film by Sergei Gerasimov "The Young Guard" and decided to get married. This picture made the actors, who embodied the images of the Young Guard on the screen, the stars of the first magnitude.
Resentment
When the "Young Guard" began its victorious march through the cinemas of the USSR, gathering full houses, Evgenia Belousova realized that Sergei, who had tasted loud cinematic fame, would not return to it. She bitterly told her friends that Bondarchuk lived with her "with an eye", hinting that the former locksmith from Yeyskused the position and connections of her family to quickly break out "into the people." As a single mother, she nevertheless did not experience financial problems, since the father, the prosecutor, provided for her daughter and grandson. However, Evgenia was tormented by the fact that her son was not officially recognized by Bondarchuk.
Foundling
As Inna Makarova later said, once returning home, she found a completely lost husband, next to whom a little boy was sitting. It turned out that this is the son of Bondarchuk Alexei. He was brought to the capital by his mother, who thus wanted to remind Sergei of his obligations to the child. Makarova, who at that time did not yet have children, accepted the baby and was even ready to take up his upbringing. But Evgenia Belousova had completely different plans. The woman sought to achieve official recognition of the child, and maybe secretly hoped to return Bondarchuk to the family.
Divorce
After some time, when Makarova and the eldest son of Sergei Bondarchuk, Alexei Bondarchuk, became friends, the boy's mother came to their apartment with a commission demanding that paternity be recognized as a fact that does not require proof. Moreover, Belousova went to court and stated that she and Sergei were “painted”, but the documents were lost during the war. On this basis, she demanded that the marriage between Makarova and Bondarchuk be declared invalid. In the fact that the case was set in motion, the connections of Yevgenia's family in the prosecutor's office played an important role. Be that as it may, Sergei Fedorovich decided to recognize paternity. ThoseAt times, this could be done only by entering into an official marriage with the mother of the child. Bondarchuk had to divorce Makarova and go to Rostov-on-Don. There he entered into a fictitious marriage with Belousova and registered Alexei "for himself." For a whole year after that, Evgenia did not give Sergei a divorce, hoping that he would come to his senses and return to her with his son. However, for Bondarchuk, their relationship was a long-passed stage, and he dreamed of forgetting about them.
Growing up
After the divorce from Belousova, Bondarchuk and Makarova signed again and raised their daughter Natasha. Although Sergei no longer went to the boy, he regularly sent money, and a lot of it, to support him. At least that's what Belousova's friends say.
Those who knew Alexei Bondarchuk, the son of Sergei Bondarchuk, in childhood, remember that he grew up as a quiet and downtrodden boy. Perhaps this was due to the fact that the child often heard from his mother about how his father had treated him unfairly, and realized that he did not need him. His mother worked in the House of Culture of the helicopter plant and often brought the boy to rehearsals. Nevertheless, Alexey did not follow in the footsteps of his parents and chose a career far from the world of art.
Meeting with Bondarchuk Sr
While the boy was growing up, Inna Makarova kept in touch with him. This was not even prevented by the fact that the actress and director divorced in 1959. The master's new wife, Irina Skobtseva, did not encourage her husband's relationship with his former family. Even Natalya Bondarchuk (daughter of Sergei Fedorovich and InnaMakarova) saw her father extremely rarely, although she lived with him in the same city. Perhaps she did not know about the existence of Alexei Bondarchuk. At least the members of the film crew of the film "War and Peace" claimed that the appearance of a guy was a real surprise for her. And the father did not immediately recognize his first-born. At first, he even demanded that an outside young man be taken away from the set, and was confused when he realized that Alexei Bondarchuk was in front of him.
The conversation between the star dad and son went wrong. The dejected young man returned to Makarova's apartment, where he stayed a couple of times when he came to the capital. Nevertheless, Bondarchuk Sr. wrote out a pass to the set for his son so that they could chat.
Subsequently, the man complained to Makarova that the guy was behaving obscenely and pestering actresses. In response, she asked him: “And who was supposed to educate him?”, Reproaching thereby for the lack of due attention to children born before marriage with Skobtseva.
Later life
Aleksey Bondarchuk, the son of Sergei Bondarchuk, whose photos regularly appeared in the newspaper chronicle, returned to his hometown with a grudge against his father. The young man realized that they were strangers and that he would never be accepted into the family. The director himself chose to forget about his offspring, especially since at that time he worked hard and was at the top of his cinematic career.
Meanwhile, Aleksey Bondarchuk, although he did not live in luxury, could hardly be called a distressed one. He continued to live with his mother inone of the most prestigious Stalin-era apartment buildings in Rostov-on-Don, where the party elite traditionally settled. The young man graduated from the faculty of foreign languages of the local university. He spoke excellent French, taught for a while and managed to get married twice. His first wife was a student at a local music school, but this marriage did not last long. Then Alexei entered into a second marriage with a girl from a "nomenklatura family." She gave birth to his son, who is one of the eldest grandchildren of the great director Sergei Bondarchuk.
Everything hidden becomes clear
For the first time before the general public, Alexei Bondarchuk appeared at his father's funeral. Neither Inna Makarova nor Evgenia Belousova were present. According to Natalia Bondarchuk, during the funeral service in the church, Alexei even wanted to say something unpleasant about Sergei Fedorovich, but she did not let him do it. In any case, it was clear to everyone that he harbored a grudge against his father, which did not fade away even with his departure. By the way, at the funeral of Alexei, his younger brother Fedor first saw him. Then they could not talk and communicate. However, many years later, in 2006, the son of Skobtseva and Bondarchuk once visited a Rostov relative. This happened during Fedor's trip to Rostov-on-Don to shoot the film "Vice". The famous director did not stay long with his brother and his mother. Apparently, he did not have the most pleasant impressions about communicating with a relative, so in the future Fedor always tried to avoid questions about the Rostov branch of the Bondarchuks.
Rejection of inheritance
And at the time of Sergei Bondarchuk's death, and today, according to Russian law, after the death of a citizen, the wife and all children in respect of whom the paternity of the deceased can be claimed in equal shares. However, Alexei Bondarchuk did not apply in order to receive part of his famous parent's property due to him. Apparently, the man needed his father's love all his life more than his money or patronage, although according to those who knew his family, he always lacked finances. Moreover, Alexei never sought to advertise who he was the famous directors Sergei and Fyodor Bondarchuk. At the same time, he was rapidly sliding down the social ladder and even twice found himself in the field of view of law enforcement agencies. The first time Aleksey Bondarchuk, whose photo was not published anywhere, was fined for petty hooliganism, and the second time - for selling fruit right on the street in 1999.
Scandal
A few years after the death of his father, Alexei Bondarchuk again came to the attention of journalists. Representatives of the yellow press became aware that the offspring of a famous cinematic dynasty became a vagabond. Prior to that, he, along with his mother and wife, lived on their meager pensions and barely made ends meet.
The man had a tendency to such deviant behavior before, especially since he was often seen in a tipsy state, when he did not understand what he was doing.
In general, in the biographyAlexei Bondarchuk (see photo with his sister above) has a lot of white spots. The man led an extremely secluded life, so none of the neighbors could say for sure where and by whom he had ever worked. Those around him only knew that he had a very intelligent son who became a mathematician. As for the wife of Bondarchuk Jr., the woman who repeatedly tried to cure her husband of alcohol addiction worked for many years at the Cinema House.
In one of her interviews in 2011, actress Inna Makarova told reporters that during a trip to Rostov-on-Don she wanted to meet the son of her ex-husband, with whom she always sought to maintain warm relations. However, this did not happen, as it turned out that her failed stepson had fallen and was practically never at home. Makarova was very sorry that she could not see the man and at least somehow help him. She blames Sergei Fedorovich for all the troubles of "Alyosha", who did not accept his son, as well as Alexei's entourage, who inspired him from childhood that he was the son of a great man and should correspond to the status of his father. Such a moral burden turned out to be too much for Bondarchuk Jr., and he began to seek solace in wine. What this leads to is known to everyone.
Now you know the biography of Alexei Bondarchuk. It is extremely difficult to find any information in the public domain about personal life, children, and even about the career of the son of the great director Sergei Bondarchuk. Perhaps he would have become no less famous than his star brother Fedor. However, the man did not have the paternal support thatother children of the director, or maybe the reason is the victim complex inspired by his mother. No one can say for sure today. One thing is clear - each person is the blacksmith of his own happiness, so no one should be blamed for his failures.
