Biography of Maria Mironova
The actor’s mother, Maria Mironova, graduated from school in 1925 and after that decided to study theater craft at the technical school. Lunacharsky. Shchukin advised her to start her career at the Moscow Art Theater, where she showed herself to be an actress with a strong character.
- 1927-1931 – served as an actress at the Moscow Operetta Theater, then at the Music Hall of the Central Theater of Transport.
- 1928 – first solo performance in the Column Hall of the House of Unions. The actress came up with a new genre of performances in the form of a telephone conversation, which she subsequently often declared.
- 1938 - became a leading actress at the State Variety Theater.
- 1939 – the emergence of the Theater of Two Actors. This was the name of the performance by Maria and her husband Alexander Menaker. The couple acted out several numbers of a quarreling married couple.
- 1990 – appointed as an actress at the Moscow Studio Theater.
- 1995 – benefit performance at the “School of Modern Play” theater.
The actress died in 1977. She was buried next to her son’s grave, and their house later became the house-museum of the Mironov family.
Maria loved her job, her husband, but most of all, her son
Biography of Alexander Menaker
Andrei Mironov's father, Alexander Menaker, was also an actor. He entered the acting department at the Bolshoi Theater in 1929, but the very next year he transferred to the directing department at the Institute of Performing Arts. He began working as an artist already in 1932, when he performed parodies and feuilletons.
- 1933 - worked in the music hall of Leningrad.
- 1934 – actor and director at the Kharkov Jazz Theater.
- 1935 - appointed artistic director at the same theater. His first marriage took place with ballerina Irina Lascari, from whom a son, Kirill, was soon born. He will become a famous choreographer in the future.
- 1936-1938 - work in the music hall of Leningrad.
- 1939 – Moscow Variety and Miniature Theater, beginning of joint performances with Maria Mironova. In the same year, Alexander marries Maria for the second time.
- 1941 – birth of son Andrei.
- 1942 – director of anti-fascist programs and feuilletons. During the war years he participated in front-line acting brigades.
- 1948 - the beginning of independent performances of the spouses.
- 1954 – actor at the Moscow Variety Theater.
Andrei Mironov's dad died suddenly of cardiac arrest in 1982 in Moscow. He had previously suffered a heart attack and seizures. The actor was buried at the Donskoye Cemetery in Moscow.
Menaker was already married before his marriage to Maria
Marriages and divorces in the Mironov dynasty
It was with Maria, who became an actress, that the Menaker-Mironov acting dynasty began.
Alexander Menaker
Mironov acting dynasty
The first in his pedigree, Alexander Semenovich Menaker mentioned his great-grandfather, who was a carpenter by profession and after the war of 1812 settled in St. Petersburg and opened a workshop on the Nikolaevsky market. In the spring of 1913, the first son Alik (Alexander) was born into the family of his grandson, St. Petersburg lawyer Semyon Isaakovich Menaker.
Alexander Menaker described his acting debut as follows: “At the age of three... my “historical” performance took place with a group of people in the Anichkov Palace in front of the royal family. ...I, as the smallest one, was entrusted with the role of a mouse. Of course, the performance was “responsible,” but I didn’t understand it then. However, there was such tension and fear in the voice of the teachers that from fear a small puddle formed on the stage around me, which, naturally, caused laughter from both the Emperor and his entire retinue...”
From the age of fourteen, Alik participated in performances of the then popular “living newspapers.” Having become a professional artist, he performed musical feuilletons, then decided to try his hand at directing.
In 1939, he visited friends in Moscow and received an invitation to perform a parody at the Variety and Miniature Theater. There he first saw Maria Mironova...
Maria Mironova
Mironov acting dynasty
Masha Mironova struck Menaker first of all with her amazing resourcefulness and... invincibility. At that time, she was married to the talented documentary director Mikhail Slutsky.
But Menaker still took the risk of making a date with Maria at the Ostrovsky monument, near the Maly Theater. Maria soon divorced her husband, Alexander, who was also married, with his wife. Alexander Semenovich had a son, Kirill Laskari, in his first family; in the future he was always very friendly with his half-brother Andrei.
On September 26, 1939, the loving artists got married. It was then that their famous theater of two actors was conceived and soon born.
Maria Vladimirovna was the first Soviet artist to organize concerts in favor of the children of front-line soldiers who did not return from the war. And for this she earned the gratitude of the leader of all times and peoples. A telegram with Stalin’s personal greetings came to Mironova. Maria Vladimirovna did not like to remember this, because both her parents and her husband’s parents were repressed under Stalin.
Mironova was listed as a character actress, along with Faina Ranevskaya and Rina Zelena. Especially after she invented “a certain Capa” on the stage, who chattered endlessly on the phone, and then created a whole gallery of telephone chatter: Dusya, who suffered from a chronic runny nose and terribly distorted her words; Kisa, a fan of Kozlovsky. A lot of idiots, jealous women, promoted women, bureaucrats, cocottes, gossips and philistines, whom Mironova outplayed in the theater and on the stage, smoothly migrated to the cinema with the light hand of Alexandrov, although he cut out almost the entire role of Mironova from Volga-Volga in order to There weren't two prima donnas in the film. By and large, there was only one phrase left: “I just want to tear and throw! Tear and throw!”
Andrey Mironov
Mironov acting dynasty
He was born on March 7, 1941, immediately after the concert in which Maria Vladimirovna participated.
Little Andryusha discovered the attraction of the theater at the age of three. During his parents' first visit to the play, he ruined their performance by identifying his father in the actor and sharing this discovery with the audience. The boy liked the audience’s reaction so much that for a long time he asked every day: “When will I go to the theater again?”
For the first time, Andrei Mironov found himself on the same set with his parents in the 1966 New Year's TV show “Tales of the Russian Forest,” where a group of advanced Soviet youth spent a festive night in the forest. Andrei played a suspicious-looking taxi driver who accidentally brought an intelligent married couple, Mironov and Menaker, into this forest. The couple were not going to a New Year's party and therefore wanted to get out of the forest as quickly as possible.
The incident ended happily.
Maria Vladimirovna was very skeptical about the abilities of her own son, did not see any special talents in him, and at first did not go to performances with his participation, so as not to be completely disappointed. At the Shchukin School, according to the recollections of teachers, Mironov really did not stand out for anything extraordinary. Teacher Yuri Katin-Yartsev was even surprised: could this really be the son of Mironova and Menaker? They did not take Mironov to the Vakhtangov Theater, where there was a direct road from Shchukinsky, again not seeing anything outstanding in him.
And only the chief director of the Satire Theater, Valentin Pluchek, saw something special in Mironov, which allowed him to become one of the main actors of the troupe. The point is Mironov’s workaholism, which has long become the talk of the town. In the end, you can learn to sing without having an ear for music, to dance without having plasticity, and even to play beautifully without being marked by genius talent. But a bewitching glow and boundless charm cannot be learned. No matter what scoundrels, scoundrels, or adventurers he played, and without sparing evil irony towards the characters, they all not only aroused the audience’s sympathy, but literally captivated them. Women fell in love with Mironov at first sight. Andrey was also very amorous.
But Maria Vladimirovna, who kept her son’s personal life under constant control, agreed to only two marriages. Mironov’s first wife was actress Ekaterina Gradova, radio operator Kat in Tatiana Lioznova’s series “Seventeen Moments of Spring.” The second wife is actress Larisa Golubkina, Shurochka Azarova in “The Hussar Ballad” by Eldar Ryazanov.
Ekaterina Gradova
Mironov acting dynasty
Ekaterina Gradova was born in 1946. Katya studied at the Institute of Foreign Languages and thought that she would become a translator or teacher. But then she decided to dramatically change her life and become an actress, entering the Moscow Art Theater School. “We had the famous graduation performance of The Marriage of Figaro, I played Rosina,” Gradova later recalled. — And Valentin Pluchek asked his actors to choose the best graduates. That’s when I encountered Andrey for the first time. He watched “Figaro” and with Valentin Gaft ran to Pluchek: “There is Rosina for your performance!” But then I still started thinking about the transition. And just as I entered the theater, I ran into Andrei. And he said: “Well, finally, we have been waiting for you for a long time. Are you talking about the transition? - "Yes". - “Well, let me help you.” “There’s no need to help,” I say. But, nevertheless, he went in front of me to Valentin Nikolaevich, talked to him, came out and said: “Go, but then don’t run away, find me.”
I went to Pluchek, he gave me a brotherly blessing, kissed me on the forehead and said that he would take me. And he warned: they say, we have such luxurious young people as Alexander Shirvindt, Mikhail Derzhavin, Andrei Mironov. “So, my girl,” he said, “be careful, stay away from them.”
I left the office, I didn’t see Andrei anywhere and I thought why should I look for him, it’s ugly, and even after such parting words I went home. Pluchek, having enrolled me in the theater, allowed me to continue filming, and I immediately went to Germany to film “Seventeen Moments of Spring.” And when I arrived a month later, Andrey called me. He scolded me, how could I not have found him that day when I was at Pluchek’s. "But we agreed!" He was the only one who made the deal. I didn’t even remember, a month has already passed. Moreover, a month in Germany. Nevertheless, we met, walked, and went for a drive. It was June 22, 1971. And a week later we decided that we would get married on November 30th. At first they chose a different date, October 22, but his parents were very offended - they were going on tour and would not be able to come to our wedding.”
Ekaterina Gradova said about Mironov that he was a man with secular manners. And with clear moral criteria. After the application was submitted to the registry office, Mironov brought Ekaterina to meet her mother. Maria Vladimirovna knew nothing. “She was sitting in her room, holding her legs in a basin, and the pedicurist was busy around her,” recalls Ekaterina. - Andrey, blushing, and I, turning pale, came in. I was holding a giant bouquet of roses. Maria Vladimirovna said: “Hello, young lady, come in. What is the reason for so many roses in broad daylight?” Andrei quickly grabbed me with these roses, pushed me into the next room: “I beg you, just don’t be nervous, don’t pay attention to anything, everything is very good,” and he was left alone with my mother. I only heard her quiet question, his whisper. Then suddenly she said: “What?!” And deathly silence. I was shaking with fear. He was still explaining something. And she invited me in. He says: “Andrey, sit your bride down, let her put her feet in the basin.” I sat down without saying a word. I didn’t understand anything, and Zinochka gave me a pedicure. If at that moment they had cut off not my nails, but a whole piece of my leg, I don’t think I would have felt it. Maria Vladimirovna walked past me and glared at me. Then we quickly ran away..."
The lovers met secretly for a long time, and when they announced their marriage, it was like a bomb exploded in the Satire Theater. Andrei was thirty years old and married for the first time. According to Gradova, Andrei was very conservative in marriage. Brought up in the best traditions of the “family business,” he did not tolerate it if he saw his wife smoking or intending to drink a glass of wine.
Soon a daughter was born, who was named after her grandmother Maria. She was long-awaited, Andrei really wanted a child. He was a gentle and caring father. I really loved the beautifully decorated house. He loved to take guests home and listen to music, especially jazz. I cleaned the apartment myself. He was unpretentious in food: it was enough to put berries in oatmeal or make fresh juice - and he was happy. He loved dogs very much: once he brought a small fox terrier in a basket. They called it Marfusha. The dog was terribly harmful, but he adored it.
According to the memoirs of Ekaterina Gradova, Mironov was not self-confident and narcissistic. Unlike many actors, he loved to listen to advice and sometimes even asked to be told something.
Andrey never said a bad word about a single person.
I didn’t like passive rest. But he loved to travel around the world. And he always said that he couldn’t travel alone. He wanted to travel with loved ones so that they could share his delight and joy.
The divorce was not based on hostile feelings for each other, Ekaterina Gradova recalled. “Most likely, it took place at the height of some kind of possessive impulse: the most important chord for both was touched,” she added.
Gradova and Mironov divorced in 1976, having lived together for five years. Larisa Golubkina
Mironov acting dynasty
A year later, Mironov married actress Larisa Golubkina and adopted her daughter, whose name, like her own, was Maria.
“Katya (Ekaterina Gradova) and I didn’t have any special friendship, but there weren’t any special quarrels, thank you, God,” the actress recalled. “It’s not at all the case that I took him away from her. Andryusha first went to his parents and lived with them. Back in 1974, I received a warrant for the apartment, and already in February he moved here. Moreover, Andrey is Andrey. It was incredibly funny. He rushed over in a truck and brought me an imported toilet (shortage!), a green leather chair and an antique lamp. I laughed so hard!”
Larisa and Andrey lived together for fourteen years. After the death of Andrei Mironov, Golubkina never married again. “I never got married again,” she says. - After Andryusha it’s even funny... And I didn’t touch anything at home, I didn’t change anything. The way Andryusha arranged it, so it is.”
In the last years of his life, Andrei became a director. “I played with him in Phenomena,” Golubkina, in turn, said. — And in “Mad Money” we both played the main roles. I love this job. But Rozina, with whom my alliance with the Satire Theater began, I never played there. And for Andrei Figaro it became the last role.
The theater toured Riga, performances were performed on the stage of the Riga Opera House. Masha and I were vacationing nearby, at the Bulduri boarding house. That day, August 14, 1987, Masha and I were waiting for him after the performance for dinner. Masha suddenly became very nervous and asked to be taken to Riga to see a performance. It seemed to her that dad was feeling bad. So she said: “He is dying.” She was sitting in the hall. When he fell, she burst onto the stage. Then she was somehow pushed back, but simply animal strength awoke in her. She was riding in the car with her father when he was being taken to the hospital...”
Maria Mironova - junior
Mironov acting dynasty
Maria Mironova today is very active in films and plays in Lenkom. Mark Zakharov is confident that he will make her a theater star.
According to Mironova Jr., she first went to the Shchukin School, according to family tradition. “I entered here immediately after graduating from school, studied for a year and a half, and then Andryusha was born, I went on academic leave and returned to VGIK,” says the representative of the illustrious dynasty. — Completed the course of Mikhail Gluzsky. As a child, I acted only once, in 1982, when I was nine years old. She played Becky Thatcher in Stanislav Govorukhin’s film “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.”
When I came to Mark Anatolyevich, he immediately offered me the role of Fanchetta in The Marriage of Figaro. This was a great gift for me, I began to learn all the dances with passion. Everyone helped me, I was greeted wonderfully at the theater.
To be honest, at first I was very tormented by the thought that I would not live up to the name of my father, the name of my dynasty. But the further you go, the clearer it becomes that there is simply some kind of bar inside: what is good and what is not so good. And if I indulge myself, then I feel very bad.”
The youngest Mironova was married twice. The first husband was Igor Udalov, a television businessman. From this marriage the son Andrei Mironov was born. Masha wanted her son to have the same first and last name in honor of the father she loved so much.
Maria’s second husband was federal official Dmitry Klokov. After breaking up with him, Maria began dating actor Alexei Makarov, the son of actress Lyubov Polishchuk. But now they have separated.
Maria Golubkina
Mironov acting dynasty
After graduating from the Shchukin School, Masha Golubkina began her career in the theater in which Andrei Mironov once played - in the Satire Theater.
Maria made her film debut at the age of sixteen. Her first role was Nastya in the film Adam's Rib. Maria truly revealed herself as a film actress after the role of Sveta in Pavel Lungin’s melodrama “The Wedding” (by the way, in this film she starred with her half-sister Maria Mironova). Since that time, she has acted a lot in films and TV series.
Maria Golubkina was married to the popular actor and showman Nikolai Fomenko until 2008. The couple had two children - daughter Nastya and son Vanya.
Last summer, one of the glossy magazines published a mini-interview with the actress about her new marriage: “My husband is Andrei, a pilot, but perhaps someday he will fly into space. Now he should receive the rank of lieutenant colonel. We are parishioners of the same church, so we met. Two months ago I didn’t even think about getting married. One day he gave me an interesting ring with a pearl, which became an engagement ring. My mother-in-law insisted on a white dress. She wanted everything, like people do - she was marrying her son for the first time. We performed the wedding ritual of all the pilots and cosmonauts - we laid daisies at the monument to Yuri Gagarin in Star City. We live separately: my husband lives in a service apartment, but I don’t want to leave my home. I come to him, he comes to me. Nikita Mikhalkov sent a basket of flowers for the wedding.”
Love story
Andrei Mironov's parents met in 1938 after Alexander's debut performance at the Moscow Miniature Theater, where he was greeted by a crowd of actresses. One of them modestly introduced herself as Mironova. This is how their first meeting happened. Alexander was 26 years old at that time, and his future wife was 29.
Gradually, mutual acquaintances began to notice the pair of lovers, and the director of the theater even thought about creating a joint performance for the inseparable artists, but his plans did not include this until the fall, after the end of the tour.
Not only did their decisive meeting take place in Rostov-on-Don, Andrei’s father had already fallen in love with Maria. It was here that their first quarrel occurred.
This event was easily justified by all the common acquaintances of the artists. Legends still circulate about Mary's character. They say that she was an eccentric, proud and wayward woman. And yet, this did not stop Alexander from falling in love.
After leaving Rostov, Alexander sent telegrams daily for Maria, and in return received dry answers. He began to worry, he thought that he had not made the right impression, and only one of the last telegrams before his departure forced the young man not to give up hope.
Maria wrote to him: “Happiness is just around the corner.” A little later, Maria wrote again with a personal request to purchase some things for her in Moscow. Alexander realized that his sympathy had been answered, and waited for his return to Rostov.
He bought for his beloved not only cream and tea, as she asked, he bought a huge basket and filled it with various sweets. He telegraphed Maria in advance about the time of his arrival and did not sleep all night. When the train arrived at the platform, no one met it.
Alexander found out which room Maria was staying in and, deciding not to disturb her, handed over his gift through the maid. After making sure that Maria had received the basket, he remained in his room, waiting for an answer that never came. During the day, the artist was worried, angry and made corresponding entries in his diary.
The performance with the number “Telephone Conversation” is what Andrei Mironov’s parents remembered most
By evening, the decision was made to leave everything in the past, and Alexander himself went to Mironova to have a heart-to-heart talk. He put on a suit that was tailored specifically for this trip, and Alexander chose the sand color of the material because Maria liked it.
Maria let him in and wondered why he dressed warmly in such hot weather. When asked how she received the gifts, Maria returned the wine, saying that she didn’t drink, and found the French cheese worse than the Russian one. However, the next day the artist invited her colleagues to her room and praised the contents of the basket, treating everyone.
That evening Alexander stayed with his beloved and they never parted again. At this moment, both artists were not free. The next day, Maria wrote to her husband that she was filing for divorce and asked Alexander to do the same. Soon after receiving the divorce, Maria and Alexander got married.
They began performing together with the humorous number “Telephone Conversation” and its variations on this theme. This genre was invented by Andrei Mironov’s mother herself, and the performances were highly appreciated by the public. Maria herself considered her abilities to be mediocre, but this act seemed very successful to her; she loved to travel around cities with similar performances.
Personal life
The first romantic feeling overtook Maria as a child. She studied at the mathematics school with Alexander Lanov, the son of Irina Kupchenko and Vasily Lanov. She sat at the same desk with a classmate and walked around holding hands.
Married to Igor Udalov, president of the World Fashion Channel Russia television company, the actress gave birth to a son, Andrei Udalov. The young man graduated from the Shchukin School and now serves in the E. B. Vakhtangov Theater and acts in films. His credits include the war drama “Save Stalingrad” and the historical series “Godunov.”
There are rumors on the Internet that Andrei's real father is Anton Yakovlev, the son of actor Yuri Yakovlev. Allegedly, Maria became pregnant at the age of 17, but the young couple did not have time to sign - they had a fight. Soon, Ekaterina Gradova’s daughter got married, and Igor accepted the boy as his own. True, Mironova categorically denies everything.
Posted by Nadya Kurochkina on Monday, February 15, 2021
Maria Mironova and Alexey Makarov
Dmitry Klokov, the second husband of the movie star, served as an adviser to the President of the Russian Academy of Sciences on a voluntary basis. The couple lived together for 5 years. They say that Udalov and Klokov managed to become friends, and after her divorce from Dmitry, Maria briefly returned to Igor. But these rumors about the artist’s personal life were not supported by facts.
For some unknown reason, the actress denies official relations with Alexei Makarov, the son of Lyubov Polishchuk, although the media learned that the celebrities lived as one family for a year and separated in July 2013.
In 2019, subscribers to Mironova’s Instagram account learned about further changes in her personal life. The artist gave birth to a son, who was named Fedor. The mystery with which Maria surrounded herself played a cruel joke. One tabloid wrote that a daughter was born.
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Maria Mironova and her eldest son,
Haters, did not believe in the very fact of pregnancy, saying that the star was no longer young and had probably resorted to the services of a surrogate mother. Those who liked to slander argued: that’s why the birth took place in Greece, away from prying eyes. According to the artist, in Europe they treat women giving birth after 40 years of age more easily, although pregnancy at this age is more difficult.
Legends are being made about the father of the second child, and the actress herself indulges this. Either as a joke, or to “dispel any remaining doubts,” she published a photo with a comment in which she explained that her husband works as a development director for a medical company and has nothing to do with “neither shipbuilding nor acting.”
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Maria Mironova and her youngest son
The last fact remained outside the field of view of journalists, who suggested that Mironova was happy with her son’s age, artist of the Moscow Provincial Theater Andrei Soroka. The only thing left in doubt was Mary’s confession about the official marriage. Later it turned out that the artist’s new husband’s name is really Andrei, he is engaged in the development of a Russian-Japanese company.
According to the singer, the wedding took place on the island of Santorini in 2021, after a 2-year romance. Together with her husband and youngest son, Maria spends a lot of time abroad. The family's favorite place is the Maldives. From her vacation, the artist posts selfies in exotic outfits, as well as beach photos without makeup.
In February 2021, Maria Andreevna announced on Instagram the death of her mother Ekaterina Gradova. People's Artist of the RSFSR died at the age of 75.
