Katalin Lyubimova (Kunts) - wife of Yuri Petrovich Lyubimov: biography

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:55

Katalin Lyubimova, the 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 a mother. She says that she has never been a mother who only cares about children. For a long thirty-six years, Katalin was a faithful assistant in all Lyubimov's creative endeavors.

Ideal wife

Yuri Petrovich until the end of his days did not stop doing the work of his life - the theater. Although he said that he was tired of creativity in the 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.

Yury Lyubimov's wife Katalin worked at the Taganka Theater until he left. She did not hold any official position, but assisted in the management of economic affairs as a volunteer. The working day of both spouses continuedten to twelve o'clock.

Katalin Lyubimova also cooked for her husband herself. Even before the start 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 foods could adversely affect Yuri Petrovich's he alth.

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 such games that could disturb the peace of his father.

Most of all, Yuri Lyubimov valued peace and comfort in family life. He himself never answered journalists' questions about his personal life, following the rule "my home is my castle."

To questions about jealousy, Katalin replies that she has always been very jealous, but she tried not to give free rein to her emotions, and she never was 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 is bad for he alth

The only condition that Katalin Kuntz put to Lyubimov when she married him was that he would certainly quit smoking. At that time, Yuri Petrovich smoked up to three packs a day, which, of course, adversely affected his he alth. Katalin put the question point-blank: if you want to be with me, you need to forget about the addiction.

Yuri fulfilled this wish and never touchedcigarettes.

Indomitable Katerina

It is possible that it was then that the nickname "Indomitable Katerina" appeared, which Lyubimov endowed his wife with. She herself says that she agrees with this nickname, since she really has an incredibly strong character, thanks to which she was able to survive both years of wandering around the world and difficult times in our country. But she went through all the trials with dignity, helping both her husband in the implementation of his creative ideas, and her son Peter, making sure that he received a decent 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 some pieces of furniture and household items with her to a new place of residence. And if this did not work out, then she ran around the shops for a long time in search of similar things. This helped create the feeling that there was no move.

Hard times

One of the most difficult periods in the life of the director and his wife were a few days after the death of Vladimir Vysotsky. The Olympics were held in Moscow and the government instructed to bury the artist as inconspicuously as possible so as not to create unrest among the masses. But Yuri Petrovich could not allow the popularly beloved artist to be buried without proper honors, without giving numerous admirers of his work the opportunity to say goodbye to him. I had to run around many offices of high-ranking officials. During such visits, Catalin waited for her husband in the car. At her insistence, in the car alwaysthere was also a doctor, because Lyubimov often left such offices in a pre-infarction state.

Son of Yuri and Katalin Lyubimov. Biography of Peter Yurievich

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 subsequently did not lose interest in education and graduated from the University of Cambridge. But the boy's school years did not pass in the easiest conditions: for ten years of study, he changed more than twenty-five schools in America and Europe.

It used to happen that in one academic year he had to study in five educational institutions. Difficult conditions only strengthened his love for his parents. And when, after graduating from the university, great prospects opened up for the young specialist in the construction business in the West, he considered it necessary to postpone his own career for a while and move to Moscow to help his father and mother in their work in the theater.

Love and freedom

Katalin Lyubimova never interfered with her husband in his creative work. She was always with him, wherever he had to work: he staged performances in theaters in 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 neededgo home. At the same time, Katalin never interfered in the creative affairs of the theater and in matters relating to its management. When, in the early 2010s, endless gossip and speeches against the director began in the theater, which led to his dismissal of her own free will, 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 taking care of the improvement of the theater premises. Often she had to go to bed only at three in the morning. To the question: “How did you withstand such a frantic pace of life?”, She simply answers: “I loved my husband. This is the whole secret.”

The meeting that changed my life

They met in the mid-seventies. Then the Taganka Theater was on tour in Hungary. Even before they met, 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 were held to a full house. Sometimes it was simply impossible to get a ticket. People were ready to resort to various tricks, up to hanging on the chandeliers to watch the performance of the famous troupe. Katalin was terribly happy when she was sent to work as an interpreter for the director of this theater, Yuri Petrovich Lyubimov. The list of her duties included, including the mitigation of sharp, politically incorrect, withthe point of view of the Hungarian government, the statements of Lyubimov. Katalin was married at the time. 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 in her a love for Russian literature, who strongly recommended that she read Russian classics: Pushkin, Dostoevsky, Gogol and many others.

Yuri Petrovich was also married at the time of their acquaintance. His wife was theater and film actress Lyudmila Tselikovskaya.

When the Taganka Theater returned to Moscow from a Hungarian tour, Lyubimov staged the play "Master and Margarita" dedicated to Katalin.

Wedding and birth of a son

Fate decreed that two years later Yuri Petrovich and Katalin got married. I had to register the marriage in Hungary, since there were many obstacles for this in the Soviet Union. 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 Yuri Petrovich's father. Katalin decided to give birth in Hungary. Lyubimov with great difficulty managed to obtain permission to travel to Hungary. They wanted to refuse him, explaining the refusal by the fact that he had recently been to Hungary on tour. But thanks to the help of the Hungarian ambassador, Yuri Petrovich, neverthelessreleased. After some time, the family, now consisting of three people, returned to Moscow.

Moments of happiness

Those short three years before going abroad Catalin remembers as an amazing and very happy time. Then she happened to meet the most interesting people of her time, who were among the close friends of Yuri Petrovich: Alfred Schnittke, Sergei Kapitsa and his family, Andrei 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 his citizenship. The authorities reminded him of the incident with the funeral of Vysotsky, and other unpleasant acts of the wayward director.

Wandering

From that time on, the family's long wanderings around different countries began. Catalin remembers this time as terribly difficult, but at the same time very fruitful. For Yuri Petrovich, the opportunity opened up for himself to choose which performances to stage and which not, with which theaters to conclude a contract, and with which not. There was much more creative freedom than in the Soviet Union. Two states immediately gave him citizenship: Hungary, with which he had a long-standing creative friendship, and Israel, where Lyubimov was invited as a director of one of the drama theaters. Katalin says that she was happy to live in Jerusalem for a while, surrounded by people of her nationality. CatalinLyubimova, as already mentioned, did not mind when her husband was offered to return to his homeland.

Where is Katalin Lyubimova now and what is she doing?

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 various events that will be of interest both to professionals in the field of theatrical art (among them are lectures on the specifics of the master's directing) and to numerous fans of the work of the 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 lifetime of the artist. It is awarded not only to theater directors and actors, and not only to artists in general, but to people who have achieved high professionalism in any branch of human activity. The idea of creating such an award seemed interesting to the famous director. The award is relevant at the present time for the reason that there are very few examples of such awards that can be awarded to people whose activities are not related to art compared to the huge number of theatrical, musical and cinematographic awards.

Lubimov and time

Since August 2017, an exposition called "Lubimov and time" has been held in Moscow. Katalin Lyubimova was directly involved in organizing the exhibition. She explains the name of the exhibition in this way: the work of Yuri Petrovich Lyubimov can only be considered inthe context of the time in which he happened to live. He was a witness or a direct participant in almost all significant events in the history of Russia in the twentieth century: he was the same age as the October Revolution, participated in the Great Patriotic War, was expelled from the country, during Perestroika his citizenship was restored, and so on and so forth. The exhibition is also built on drawing parallels between historical events and facts from Lyubimov's biography. And the biography of Katalin Lyubimova is forever connected with the biography of her husband. She still proves her love for him today by participating in events held in his memory. She still serves the cause of her life - to contribute to the work of Yuri Lyubimov. And this adds vigor and vitality to her, despite her considerable age (Katalin Lyubimova does not hide it, she celebrated her seventieth birthday last year).