Liliya Bernes-Bodrova - biography

Liliya Bernes-Bodrova was born in 1929 . She owes her fame largely to her second husband, Bernes.

The woman was born and raised in Moscow. Here she worked, studied and made plans for her life. Lilia liked the city, and after several attempts to leave Moscow to work in other cities, she decided that it would be much easier for her to build her life in her hometown.

Young Bodrova completed and shorthand courses For some time after the courses were completed, the woman worked in the secretariat. Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture. Then there was work at the State Supply Committee.

This period still falls on the time of the USSR. After some time, Lilia is sent to work in Hungary. However, her homesickness forces her to quit a promising job in a foreign country and return to her native Moscow.

First marriage

After some time, Bodrova meets her first husband.

Their acquaintance did not happen by chance. Lucien was a photojournalist , and once he saw Lilia, he could no longer live in peace, and began to look for her. His search was crowned with success only two years later.

However, he loved the woman very much and was ready to do many things for her sake. Some time after the marriage, the couple had a son .

They were very happy and tried to support each other in everything. Lucien was not an ordinary person, he was a kind of celebrity of that time, a book was even written about him.

Meet Bernes

The family lived in abundance; neither Lilia nor their son needed anything. In addition, the boy was sent to study in one of the most expensive schools of that time. In all of Moscow there was only one school with a French bias, so most of the stars preferred to send their children to it.

There the first acquaintance between Lilia and Mark took place. They brought their children to the same educational institution and did not meet immediately. Their first meeting was not entirely complete. The woman was not a fan of Bernes’s work and even confused him with another artist.

However, her husband quickly explained to his wife who Mark Bernes was, what he did, and then introduced Lilia to Bernes. In addition to the fact that Mark and Lilia’s children studied at the same school, they even sat at the same desk and could be considered friends.

After some time, the woman went to school for a parent-teacher meeting and there again met Bernes, who also came to the meeting, but not out of necessity. In order to see the woman with whom he fell in love at first sight, Mark interrupted his tour in another country and came to Moscow.

The woman was surprised by the questions from his daughter when she inquired about her health from her father, and was also amazed when she learned that Bernes was telling his friends that he had hopelessly fallen in love with Lilia Bodrova.

Mark Bernes began to actively pursue the woman for whom he had such strong feelings. He courted her, called her, made dates , arranged romantic walks.

After a couple of months, Bodrova gave up and decided to leave her husband. Their mutual friends were indignant. After all, everything was wonderful, a good life, a loving husband and child.

However, not everyone knew that Lucien was an incredible ladies' man. The woman tried several times to break off the relationship, but returned, believing in her husband’s love. Mark, having decided to use a trick, finally achieved his goal. And Lucien calmly let his wife go to his rival.

Mark Bernes's last love

A freckled boy with a sly squint and an amazing smile, born on October 8, 1911 in Nizhyn, and at the age of 17 moved from Kharkov to the capital, was not particularly gifted either in singing or acting, and yet he became the great Bernes, inseparable from the history of our country.

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“For three years I dreamed about you”

...They met on September 1, 1960 in the courtyard of the only French school in Moscow at that time, where the children of many famous people studied. He, the famous singer and film actor Mark Bernes, brought his daughter Natasha to first grade. She is the wife of the French journalist Liliya Bodrov, her son Jean. Seeing Bernes and not recognizing him, Lilia whispered to her husband: “There’s Kryuchkov with his daughter.” “Not Kryuchkov, but Bernes,” corrected his wife Lucien, famous for his unimaginably beautiful suede jackets and one Chevrolet car in the entire capital, and introduced Lilia to the singer, without thinking about the consequences. Bernes's first thought when he saw this woman was “I will take her away from the family”...

By the time he met Bodrova, Bernes had already been a widower for three years - his first wife, the same age as Mark, the Moscow beauty Paola Linetskaya, died of cancer at the age of 45. He couldn’t live without Paola at all, he suffered greatly alone - “Mark is not Mark without Paola,” friends said - but he never visited her in the hospital - he was afraid of getting infected. The housekeeper was ordered to wash all the things in the apartment that Paola touched. However, no one has ever managed to escape fate - Bernes also died of cancer.

The children of Bodrova and Bernes sat at the same desk, and at the parent meeting they, naturally, also ended up together - the parents were seated in the seats of their children. Lilia came in a bad mood because she was sick, and Bernes flew in from a tour specifically to see her - with that meeting in the schoolyard, he told everyone that he fell in love. “Don’t you want to listen to Aznavour?” – Mark Naumovich unexpectedly asked Lilia (they were separated by an age difference of 18 years). He brought the record from a recent trip to France and invited Lilia to his friends at Kutuzovsky. Bernes was a famous conqueror of women's hearts, from which his first wife Paola suffered greatly. Returning home in the morning in the aroma of someone else's women's perfume, he said to his wife: “Hello!” She did the rest. As soon as Bernes put his hand on a woman’s shoulder, she could not refuse him. But in the case of Bodrova, Mark Naumovich was extremely careful and delicate, as if he was afraid to frighten away his unexpected happiness.

Mark Bernes. Photo: youtube.com

How Bernes lost at cards

After Bernes starred in the film “Night Patrol” as Ogonyok, breaking away from his criminal past, his life hung in the balance. The real criminals decided to take revenge on the “snapped” Ogonyok by identifying him with the artist. One late night, a short man rang Bernes’s doorbell and said that “a fellow artist” ... had lost at cards, and therefore had to be killed, but he did not name the killer.

The next morning, alarmed Bernes went to the Moscow Criminal Investigation Department. It's no joke - an armed criminal is seriously hunting you! While the bandit was being tracked down, security was assigned to Bernes, which included the former bodyguard of the Chairman of the Council of Ministers himself, Bulganin. From October 26 to November 1, 1958, Bernes sat in tension at home without leaving his apartment. All concerts and performances have been cancelled. The police managed to neutralize the killer, who was already on the trail of the artist, and after that Mark Naumovich no longer played criminals.

“Lilya, leave the house!”

Liliya Bodrova did not immediately fall in love with Bernes. He captivated her with his sincerity, nobility, and lack of posture, which is often characteristic of a celebrity. Her family was prosperous, but it only seemed so on the outside. Lucien was a real Don Juan and did not miss a single skirt. After each betrayal, he swore that this was the last time, and then everything was repeated all over again. Lilia was not the kind of woman who forgives going to the left. She needed to escape from the family where she was so humiliated, and Bernes did everything possible for this.

At first, Lucien was calm about the fact that every day a stranger sent flowers to his wife. This went on for three months, and one day Mark suddenly said: “Lilya, leave home.” Bodrova was just about to go to the hospital at that time. For a long time she did not dare to start a new life, consulted with a doctor, her friends shook their heads in bewilderment - to leave such a chic, prosperous man, and a Frenchman at that! – but still did it.

“I returned from the hospital and a few days later I told my husband that I was leaving,” Bodrova recalled. – Lucien said that this was out of the question, he would not allow it. He shouted at me for a long time, even called a friend so that he would not let me out of the apartment, and he himself went to talk with Mark. They met in the courtyard of the very house in which I live to this day, and began to sort things out. Mark suggested: “Well, why are we arguing here, let’s go to her, let Lilya decide everything.” And all this time I sat and waited. Finally, my husband returned and muttered, without looking at me: “Go, he’s waiting for you.”

Mark Bernes. Photo: youtube.com

"I love you, life"

By her own admission, Bodrova, who had a complex with her first husband, straightened out with Mark. He never told me: “Oh, how beautiful you are!” But I knew: he was happy because I was there,” Lilia recalled.

Mark Bernes called Lilia Bodrova his swan song. And in fact, they were inseparable. Not because Mark was jealous of his wife, but simply wanted to always be close. If his wife went to visit a friend, Mark would get ahead of her in the car and meet her at the door with his friend. They performed together everywhere - Bernes refused to give a concert without her, making Lilia his host. “Lily will announce me,” he always warned. If he was invited somewhere alone, Bernes refused to go. "Don't you know that I'm married?" - he said. We raised children together, without dividing them into ours and others. Bodrova’s son Jean was the first to call Mark Naumovich dad; no one forced him. And after him, Natasha, Bernes’s daughter, when Lilia followed her into school, joyfully ran towards her shouting: “Mommy!” True, having matured, Natasha left for America and stopped communicating with Bodrova, and Jean tried to sue his mother for Bernes’s apartment in Maly Sukharevsky Lane.

A terrible illness fell on Bernes unexpectedly. Or rather, he was ill for a long time, he was diagnosed with sciatica, and then suddenly, when it became really bad, they diagnosed him with lung cancer. The same one he was so afraid of, and from which his father died. There was nothing more that could be done.

Mark Bernes spent fifty-one days in the Burdenko hospital, bedridden, and died on August 17, 1969. Three days later he was awarded the title of People's Artist of the USSR.

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Second marriage

Thanks to the care of her second husband, the woman blossomed, she began to help him in organizing his meetings. This helped them become even closer. They say that during the short but happy 9 years of marriage, the couple rarely fought, and most importantly, they did not separate for a long period of time.

Mark Naumovich treasured Lilia and tried not to let her go anywhere alone. He was also jealous of his wife, because she was an incredibly beautiful woman and many would like to be with her.

But the happiness of Liliya Bodrova-Bernes did not last long. After 9 years of their happy marriage, Mark died of lung cancer .

Life after the death of a loved one

After the death of her husband in 1969, the woman did not remarry, and she has no information about new relationships. She raised two children, gave them all her attention, and then she herself began to get seriously ill.

Unfortunately, there was no one to care for the sick woman, and strangers began to look after her, because Lilia’s health was very precarious. Despite this, in memory of her second and beloved husband, she achieved a memorial plaque for him. She stayed to live in her husband’s two-room apartment.

For some reason, the woman does not communicate with her son and daughter; the son even tried to sue for the apartment , but he failed.

It is known that the woman has a granddaughter who, although she does not remember her grandfather, gladly accompanied her grandmother in listening to the songs of Mark Bernes.

Biography

Source of information: CARAVAN OF STORIES magazine, November 1999.

Liliya Bernes-Bodrova photography

On September 1, we brought our son to school (it was the only French school in all of Moscow; the children of many famous people studied there).
Getting out of the car, I saw Mark: he was holding his daughter’s hand, a woman was standing next to her (later I found out that she was a housekeeper). His face seemed familiar to me, and I whispered to my husband: “Look, Kryuchkov is standing there.” “Not Kryuchkov, but Bernes,” the husband corrected. And introduced us to each other. Advertising:
- Were they friends?

Liliya Bernes-Bodrova photography

— No, of course, but my husband worked all his life as a photojournalist for Pari-Match and knew a lot of people.

- So he's French?

Liliya Bernes-Bodrova photography

- Half. Lucien's father is French, his mother is Russian.

— Isn’t this the same person Andrei Konchalovsky mentions in his latest book - Lucien No, the famous Moscow foreigner, playboy, owner of the unimaginably beautiful suede jackets?..

Liliya Bernes-Bodrova photography

— And the only Chevrolet in Moscow. Yes, that's him. When I left him, our friends were shocked. My friends, to whom I told that Mark proposed to me, did not want to believe that I was serious: “How? Are you ready to leave such a prosperous home?”

Best of the day

Mark knew what was happening in my family - many in Moscow knew about it, it was a noisy story.

Liliya Bernes-Bodrova photography

- I also heard something... They said that your first husband loved women so much that he could not miss a single one...

“Several times I tried to leave him, he brought me back, swore and swore that this would not happen again. But everything was repeated... Some women put up with this - I didn’t want to. I needed to break out of that family, and Mark did everything so that I would go to him.

When I came to pick up my son at school, Natasha Bernes always ran up to me to convey greetings from my father: “Dad called yesterday from Tashkent, asking if I had seen you, how you were feeling, what you looked like.” I didn't attach much importance to it. And then there was the first parent meeting. We were all seated in the seats of our children, and Bernes and I ended up at the same desk. And suddenly he said to me: “Don’t you want to listen to Aznavour?”

Liliya Bernes-Bodrova photography

At that time, no one in Moscow had heard of such a singer: Montana, Edith Piaf, and probably everyone knew. And Mark had just returned from a trip to France and brought back a record that was circulating from hand to hand - he was very passionate about Aznavour. “Let's go to my friends, on Kutuzovsky, and listen there.” For some reason he didn’t invite me to his place.

Liliya Bernes-Bodrova photography

We went, and from that day on Mark started calling me. We talked for a long time, went to some closed screenings at Mosfilm. There were endless flowers - almost every day there was a messenger on the doorstep with roses.

“Didn’t your husband try to find out who was showering you with flowers?”

“He didn’t ask me anything, he pretended not to notice. Moreover, this did not last very long - three months. At the beginning of November, Mark told me: “Lilya, leave home.” It was so unexpected... I was confused, I began to say that I don’t know - I have a son, and then I have to go to the hospital, my health is not all right... “Great,” Mark said, “you’ll leave the hospital - and leave".

And so my husband takes me to the hospital, we drive out onto Leningradskoye Highway, and suddenly I see the flashing headlights of an oncoming car. It was Mark - he had already reached the hospital, found out that I was not there yet, and went to meet me - he wanted to see me off... Then there was a hospital ward, a doctor I knew, from whom I asked for advice on what to do - I have a son and a husband, with whom I lived for so many years, and I don’t know Mark at all, I just feel that he really needs me. His girl is growing up without a mother...

- Bernes must have been a very charming person.

“Very, and in his youth he is simply beautiful.” When we met, he was already forty-seven - he is eighteen years older than me, but his amazing smile, his cunning squint - all this remains. He could come up, put his hand on her shoulder - and the woman was ready for anything. True, he didn’t do this to me - he was very careful, apparently, he was afraid of scaring me away.

At first I wasn't in love with him. I just felt some kind of warmth and tenderness - he treated me very touchingly, carefully, attentively. His patient courtship and promise of a calm, happy life with two children were more important to me than the most ardent confessions. I returned from the hospital and a few days later I told my husband that I was leaving. Lucien said that this was out of the question, he would not allow it. He shouted at me for a long time, even called a friend so that he would not let me out of the apartment, and he himself went to talk with Mark. They met in the courtyard of the very house in which I live to this day, and began to sort things out. Mark suggested: “Well, why are we arguing here, let’s go to her, let Lilya decide everything.” And all this time I sat and waited. Finally, my husband returned and muttered, without looking at me: “Go, he’s waiting for you.”

- How did he let you go?

“Everything was decided on the road.” They drove along the Garden Ring to Leninsky each in their own car and exchanged remarks from window to window. At the first intersection, Lucien asked: “Did you send the roses?” “I am,” Mark replied. Next traffic light. “Did you sleep with her?” “Yes,” said Mark. It was a little lie, but he really didn't want to lose me.

That's how it all happened. In the evening, at about five o’clock, Mark took me away, and the next day he and his daughter and I came to pick up my son from school. Natasha was sick that day, missed classes, he ran up to her and started telling her about school, what happened there... When I told him: “Jean, I’ll go get our things now,” his eyes widened. But he was the first to call Mark dad; no one forced him. Natasha didn’t call me anything for quite a long time. Then she started saying “mom.” I came to school, she ran towards me and shouted loudly: “Mommy!” - so that everyone can hear.

Mark's friends accepted me immediately. The only people who didn’t like me were Nikita Bogoslovsky... and the housekeeper. She was an evil woman and, moreover, was accustomed to consider herself the mistress of the house. And then a young woman appeared, and with her son at that... Natasha grew up without a mother for four years and got used to eating sausages every morning. And I fed my son semolina porridge in the morning. So the housekeeper, out of spite, began to give Jean the sausages he hated, and began to stuff Natasha with semolina porridge, which the girl could not stand. When our evil aunt went away on Sundays, I climbed into corners and raked out mountains of dirt.

Mark moved into this apartment after the death of his wife - so as not to remain in the same house with people who saw her get sick and die.

— I think her name was Paola?

- With friends. In fact, she was Polina Semyonovna. Mark never told me about her, but the housekeeper gossiped that he behaved quite freely around Paola, Polina Semyonovna was worried...

— There were rumors about his affair with Lyudmila Gurchenko...

- This is an absolute lie. She rented a room in our building and didn’t know him for a long time. In her book, Lucy herself tells how she once rode with Bernes in an elevator, but he did not pay attention to her. Then, when hard times came for her, there was no work, she simply came to us and said: “Mark, I feel very bad.” And then Mark invited her to perform in the first department of his creative meetings so that she could earn a little money. They didn’t have any romance, it was all gossip.

- Liliya Mikhailovna, why were your friends so sad that you left a prosperous home? Didn't Mark Bernes have a good life? The most popular person, a symbol of Soviet song, winner of the Stalin Prize...

“He went through very difficult times. This, however, was before me, before we met. His wife died, and almost simultaneously a press campaign began that almost destroyed him. The article “Vulgarity on the Stage” appeared in Pravda, and the feuilleton “Star on the Volga...” appeared in Komsomolskaya Pravda.

— Something to do with the car, I think? It seems Bernes hit someone...

- Nothing of the kind, he just didn’t stop, he violated the policeman’s order. This article was organized by Khrushchev's son-in-law Adzhubey, who was then the editor-in-chief of Komsomolskaya Pravda. He and Mark once did not share the lady they were both courting.

At this time, the Komsomol congress was taking place. Mark was invited to speak at the closing ceremony. At that time, everything was regulated, the concert program was determined in advance: let’s say you can perform two songs, and no more, no matter how much you are called for an encore. Mark sang his two songs, but they didn’t want to let him go: the audience chanted for Mark while standing. He is backstage - and there is no one from the authorities there so that he can ask permission to stay on stage. As Mark was later told, Khrushchev, who was sitting in the box, said with displeasure: “Look, you can’t satisfy the needs of young people, sing an extra song.” This was enough to start persecuting Bernes. For several years he had no concerts, no films, he was not released anywhere.

Then Adzhubey confirmed that this campaign was provoked. At the beginning of the 2000s, Mark and I traveled to Bulgaria on the same ship with a group of journalists who were heading to Algeria. When everyone in Constanta began to be transferred to buses, Adzhubey came up to us and apologized for everything that had been done then. Mark said: “Well, Alyosha, you shouldn’t remember this.” In fact, he was very painfully worried that he was not filming, that some songs were banned, that he was not included in any official film delegation...

- Did you feel sorry for him?

— Mark gave no reason for pity. But I saw how difficult it was for him. Cinema was already a thing of the past, all that remained for him were concerts, creative evenings, they paid pennies for them...

When we met, I was taking a French language course, but Mark said: “No courses, you will work with me.” At first I was scared: how would I go on stage, I had never come close to it! But from the first trip she began to host his concerts, and then, wherever Mark was invited to perform, he always warned: “Lily will announce me.”

These were incredibly interesting concerts. At night after the performance, everyone gathered in the room - Lidiya Ruslanova, Zoya Fedorova, Garkavi - and long conversations began. These were not the social gossip that I was used to in that past life with Lucien, but memories of prisons and camps, how people returned after rehabilitation, how they were greeted in Moscow. And no complaints: “Oh, how unfortunate we are - we were in a punishment cell!” (Zoya Fedorova, in my opinion, sat in the punishment cell all the time because she resisted.) The attitude towards all this was: this is behind us, now we are moving on, our whole life is still ahead. Zoya recalled how she arrived in Moscow after liberation. Her daughter Vika lived all this time somewhere in Kazakhstan with Zoya’s sister and was sure that she was her mother. When they met, Zoya began to cry, but the girl could not understand what was the matter and was surprised: “Aunt Zoya, why are you crying?”

Fedorova and Ruslanova met during transit at the Vladimir Central. Lydia Andreevna was an amazing woman, a Tsar-Baba. She came to Kremlin receptions luxuriously dressed, wearing diamonds, and once Stalin - I heard this from her myself - asked: “Is all this real?” “A Russian woman,” answered Ruslanova, “must be real in everything!”

- They say that it was for the diamonds that she was imprisoned...

- This is all talk. She was imprisoned as the wife of an enemy of the people after her husband, General Kryukov, was repressed. I remember how indignant she was: “They told me there that Kryukov was so rich - he took half of Germany. He didn’t bring me anything as a dowry except his daughter!” Moreover, all this was said in front of Garkavi, who was once her husband - after all, Ruslanova left Garkavi for Kryukov.

She was a colorful woman and had incredible strength. One day the camp management wanted to arrange a concert for her. She refused for a long time, then agreed, went on stage, looked around the audience: “Where are my comrades? If they aren’t allowed in, I won’t sing.” We had to gather the prisoners. At her first concert in Moscow, Ruslanova knelt in front of the audience...

She also told how she collected her belongings from Moscow houses and her paintings from museums: the property of the repressed was usually confiscated and then sold off. At Mikhalkov’s, for example, she discovered her own carpet. I turned the corner - and there was a familiar brand: “Seryoga, this is my carpet!”

Mark was surrounded by worthy people, it was interesting to listen to them. And our house was cheerful, hospitable, people loved to come to us - I cooked well, and a lot.

I remember how after dinner, ballerinas Olga Lepeshinskaya and Lyusya Yutkevich stood on one leg near the table - they had to take care of their figure. The then American Ambassador Thompson often visited us, and I received him. A lot of foreign correspondents - French, Yugoslavs... And there was laughter, jokes, and dancing - whatever you want.

- And the songs? Did Mark Naumovich sing when the guests gathered?

- Never. I remember once in Odessa (there were always rich people there) they suggested to him: “Mark, could you go to the dacha and sing, they’ll pay you well for it.” Mark replied: “I never sing at the table.” He was a proud man. In France, when we had already traveled around the entire coast and returned to Paris, he was offered to stay for another week and appear on television. Mark asked: “What time?” - "At five o'clock". - “When are the performances of Montand and Aznavour broadcast?” - "At seven o'clock". He winked at me: “You know, let’s go home.” And we left that same day.

— Was Bernes so well known in France?

— We had many friends there, acquaintances of journalists, they brought Mark’s records. Yves Montand sang his song “When a Distant Friend Sings” in French. Therefore, we often received letters from somewhere in Marseille from complete strangers who invited us to visit.

I remember once we were in Cannes during the film festival. From the entire Soviet group, Zhanna Bolotova, Mark and I, and Chukhrai’s wife were invited to the reception. I felt a little awkward because I didn’t have a special toilet. Jeanne found herself in the same situation - her luggage was delayed in Paris. We were sitting at tables... And in our group there was a Georgian actor, who, by the way, remained in France several years later. Nobody invited him to the reception, but he somehow got there and ended up at the same table with the Americans. And suddenly he comes up to us:

“Mark, with your help I can win the bet. That American guy just told me that he would give everything in the world to see Mark Bernes. I’ll bring him now.” And he brings an elderly man to our table. He hugs Mark, kisses him, excitedly says something to him in French... Mark doesn’t understand anything. Then, when the translator approached, it turned out that this man was an American producer who distributed “Two Fighters” during the war.

- They say that Bernes was terribly jealous of you, did not let you go for a minute...

“It wasn’t even jealousy, but a desire to always be close.” Sometimes things got funny. I remember I was going to visit a friend, Zhenya Arkanova. Mark said: “I’m reluctant. I’d rather lie down at home.” Zhenya lived not far from us, on Samotek. I ring her doorbell, she opens it, and I see Mark: he arrived by car. He had to participate in everything.

He was jealous of me even towards my children. In the evening they did their homework, I went into their room to help. And Mark opened the door, took me by the hand and led me away: “They have their whole life ahead of them, and you and I don’t know how much is left...” I should have belonged only to him.

But the most important thing is that he could not work without me. Once he was sent to Poland - in my opinion, together with Maya Kristallinskaya. My passport was not ready, and I stayed at home. Mark arrives in Warsaw - and three days later a call from the ambassador asking that I be immediately sent to Bernes. They brought my passport home and almost pushed me abroad. It turns out that Mark announced: “I won’t perform without Lily!” If he was invited somewhere alone, he refused: “Don’t you know that I’m married?”

Back then, this was not accepted - even members of the government traveled everywhere without their wives. And I should have always been there. But half a step behind him. Once we were invited to the House of Cinema - a celebration, a feast, and, as usual, one of our friends greeted us and started a conversation. Some lady comes up to us: “Mark, what a lovely wife you have!” Mark took my hand and said dryly: “Goodbye!” He didn't communicate with her anymore. Everyone knew not to compliment me - Mark could respond very harshly.

— Did you celebrate the anniversary of your acquaintance?

- No, we just believed that we had always been together.

“But you essentially married a complete stranger.” And they weren’t in love with him...

- What is love, who can say? I never understood how you can fall in love at first sight. What? In silhouette, voice, face? To love a person, you need to feel him.

When we met, I was so embarrassed by my first husband that I was afraid to raise my head. And I straightened up with Mark. He never told me: “Oh, how beautiful you are!” But I knew: he was happy because I was there.

I remember one funny incident: we celebrated Zyama Gerdt’s 50th birthday. And before that there was Utesov’s anniversary, for which specially prepared stuffed fish was delivered from Odessa. Zyama also bought fish and brought it to me: “Lily, cook it!” At the banquet, Odessa administrators began to ask: “Who stuffed this fish? It tastes better than ours from Odessa!” Then Mark proudly announced: “It was my goat who cooked!” (meaning Russian).

He had an explosive temper, and I often had to smooth things over, call people and explain: “Well, Mark got carried away, let’s not aggravate the relationship.” Sometimes one of our children would piss him off, and then plates would fly around the house. All this happened. But I knew the main thing - he couldn’t live without me. And during the days of his illness, Mark literally could not breathe without me: he did not allow the doctors to put on an IV, he did not allow them to give injections until I came.

His illness hit me like a collapsed house. He began to feel unwell and complained that he had no strength. Of course, he had been ill for many years. He was persistently diagnosed with sciatica, and as a result it turned out that it was lung cancer. But it was too late, nothing could be done...

When he died, my life ended. I was left alone with two sixteen-year-old children who had to be put on their feet. Sixteen is a terrible age if children don't have a father. I had to be both mom and dad, think about how to make sure they didn’t feel orphaned, so that the family didn’t fall apart. All this was very difficult. I got behind the wheel and fixed the old car that had been sitting there since Mark had an accident. I've never driven a car before. Many of our friends said: “If only Mark would open his eyes and look!”

- Did he consider you helpless?

- And that’s how I was. In front of him, I didn’t even know how much bread cost. Mark took care of everything, decided everything for me. It seemed to him that I couldn’t do anything without him. But you see, I managed... Books about him were published, CDs with his songs were published. True, they don’t pay anything for them...

—What was the fate of your children?

— Natasha graduated from Moscow State University, Faculty of Oriental Languages ​​(ISAA), then went to America with her husband, who really wanted to emigrate and persuaded her. Now she works in some company, lives well, but, unfortunately, Natasha’s personal life still doesn’t work out. She left her first husband on her own, the second left her. But forty-six years is no longer an infancy, and she, of course, suffers greatly from loneliness.

And Jean graduated from VGIK, the international cinematography department, but never worked as a cameraman. So, he walked around with a camera... I don’t know what he’s doing now, I have no contact with him. Two years ago, he tried to take away Bernes’s apartment, removed from the wall and took away the photographs that Mark had once hung... As a child, Jean adored him, he simply prayed for his father, and Mark was proud that he had such a son. No one could even imagine what kind of man he would grow up to be...

Now all my hope is for my granddaughter - Lyusenka is twelve years old and she loves listening to Mark’s songs. When they called me from St. Petersburg and told me that a planet was named after him, she was only four. She opened her eyes wide and whispered: “Grandma! How famous Mark is!”

Lilya Bernes-Bodrova
Nicole
06.28.2006 12:13:30

Everything is very embellished. LILYA Mikhailovna learned to knit quickly, but cooking was a big challenge. She and Mark tried to live in a foreign style without Russian hospitality.

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