Sergei Bondarchuk. The creative path of an actor and director

Theater student and aspiring actor

Sergei Bondarchuk on the set of his feature film "War and Peace". 1965. Photo: cont.ws

Sergei Bondarchuk was born on September 25, 1920 in the Ukrainian village of Belozerka. His mother Tatyana Bondarchuk worked on a collective farm, and his father Fyodor Bondarchuk was a worker. A few years after the birth of their son, the family moved to Taganrog and then to Yeysk. While still at school, the future director dreamed of becoming an actor and acting in the theater. He attended a drama club and participated in student performances, the first of which was the production of “Jack and the Golden Snuffbox” based on the English fairy tale of the same name.

In 1938, Sergei Bondarchuk graduated from school. His father wanted him to become an engineer, but Bondarchuk decided to enter the theater institute. He went to Moscow and submitted documents to the Moscow Theater School at the Theater of the Revolution (now the Moscow Academic Theater named after Vl. Mayakovsky). He was unable to enroll, but did not return home, but went to Rostov-on-Don. Entrance exams have already ended at the local theater school, but an exception was made for Bondarchuk. He received the highest mark from acting teacher Alexei Maksimov and became a student at the Rostov Theater School. There, the future director studied well and at the same time played in the local theater. Actress Nonna Mordyukova, who was friends with Bondarchuk’s sister, wrote: “We were still at school, and he was already a student at the theater school in Rostov and sent from there photographs in roles. I forgot which ones, but on the cards he always looked handsome and downright stunning.”

Sergei Bondarchuk - biography of the Soviet actor and brilliant director

Sergei Bondarchuk was born in the difficult post-revolutionary times into an ordinary peasant family in the Ukrainian village of Belozerki, Kherson region, on September 25, 1920. His father was a Red Army soldier and was in the service at the time of his son’s birth. Mom was a believer, baptized her son in the Annunciation Monastery and gave the name in honor of Sergei of Radonezh.

Sergei spent his childhood in Taganrog, where he began his theatrical activities, attending a theater club. After his family moved to Yeysk, he did not abandon his hobby and took part in performances of the Yeisk Drama Theater.

Entering VGIK, Sergei Fedorovich was essentially a professional actor, but at the regional level. Until 1942, he was an actor at the Red Army Theater in the city of Grozny and had a diploma from the Rostov Theater School. He had to finish his studies at VGIK after the war; the break in his studies did not depend on him, because, like all worthy men during the war, he defended his Motherland.

Sergei Bondarchuk at home, 1956 / © David Sholomovich / RIA Novosti

Sergei Bondarchuk - student of Sergei Gerasimov

Sergei Bondarchuk. Photo: imdb.com

Sergei Bondarchuk (left) with festival guests on the sidelines of the First Moscow International Film Festival. August 3–17, 1959. Moscow. Photo: Georgy Petrusov / Multimedia art museum, Moscow

Sergei Bondarchuk as Othello in the feature film “Othello” by Sergei Yutkevich (1955)

Sergei Bondarchuk did not have time to graduate from theater school - the Great Patriotic War began in 1941, and he was called to the front. He took part in battles in the North Caucasus, received medals and military orders, including “For the Defense of the Caucasus.” After the war, Bondarchuk continued his career in the army, serving near Moscow, but soon decided to return to acting. In 1947, VGIK announced an additional enrollment in the workshop of Sergei Gerasimov and Tamara Makarova. The future director came to the audition and read an excerpt from Nikolai Gogol’s poem “Dead Souls.” For his performance, he received excellent marks from the admissions committee and was enrolled in the third year of the institute.

“He read us Gogol’s “Three Birds” and captivated us with his voice: with tints, with shades. The richness, beauty of intonation and depth of his eyes instantly attracted you to him; it seemed to him that he didn’t need to do or play anything - just say a phrase, look, and you immediately believed him, you fell captivated by his personal charm.”
Actress Klara Luchko, “To whom shall we tell my sadness?..” (based on the book “Sergei Bondarchuk. His War and Peace”)

Sergei Bondarchuk was one of the best students on the course. He was often invited to play in student plays and perform at reporting concerts. Screenwriter Vasily Solovyov, who at the same time studied at VGIK, wrote: “The impression was amazing - he did not look like a student. He was a powerful man, although he was only twenty-seven years old.” At the same time, director Sergei Gerasimov decided to film Alexander Fadeev’s novel “The Young Guard”. Bondarchuk was not old enough to play the role of one of the members of the organization of the same name. However, Gerasimov allowed his student to choose any other role in the film.

After The Young Guard, Sergei Bondarchuk began to be invited to the cinema. At first he acted only in episodes, but in 1950 and 1951 he played the main roles in the films “Reider of the Golden Star” and “Taras Shevchenko”. For his second film in 1952, he received the Stalin Prize of the first degree and the title of People's Artist of the USSR. Vasily Lanovoy wrote: “By revealing the image of Taras Grigoryevich Shevchenko on the screen, Bondarchuk declared himself a winner and immediately entered the golden fund of our cinema.”

Over the next few years, Bondarchuk was often given leading roles. In 1955, he played Doctor Dymov in “The Jumper” by Samson Samsonov, a shipbuilder in Friedrich Ermler’s film “The Unfinished Tale” and Othello in the film of the same name by Sergei Yutkevich based on the play by William Shakespeare. The last film brought fame to the artist abroad. “Othello” participated in the main competition program of the Cannes Film Festival and received the prize for best director.

Sergei Bondarchuk. The creative path of an actor and director

There is a big event in Russian cinema - September 25, 2020 marks the hundredth anniversary of the birth of Sergei Bondarchuk, author of the films “The Fate of a Man” (1959), “War and Peace” (1967) and “They Fought for the Motherland” (1975). Many film screenings and events are planned for the solemn date, and documentaries will be released. VATNIKSTAN recalls the biography of the master of the Soviet film screen and tells for what role he received the Stalin Prize of the first degree, with whom he competed for the right to film “War and Peace” and why because of Bondarchuk Stanley Kubrick had to abandon the film about Napoleon.

To the war from drama school

Sergei Bondarchuk was born on September 25, 1920 in the village of Belozerka, now in the Kherson region of Ukraine. His father, Fyodor Petrovich Bondarchuk, was a twenty-five thousandth communist. He was one of the leading urban volunteer workers who were sent to do auxiliary work on collective farms and MTS. After the birth of their son, the family moved to Taganrog and then to Yeisk, where Bondarchuk graduated from high school. From 1937 to 1938 he performed at the Yeisk Drama Theater. In 1937, Sergei entered the Rostov Theater School. Actress Nonna Mordyukova, who closely communicated with Bondarchuk’s family, wrote about the beginning of his creative career:

“We were still at school, and he was already a student at the theater school in Rostov and sent photographs from there in roles. I forgot which ones, but on the cards he always looked handsome and downright stunning.”

In 1941, Sergei Bondarchuk volunteered for the Red Army. Until 1942, he worked as an actor at the Red Army Theater in Grozny. Irina Skobtseva recalls her husband’s stories from the front:

“There was a terrible high-explosive attack on Grozny. It seemed as if the earth was burning and the iron was melting. There was a terrible smell of burnt human flesh. Sergei took refuge in a trench, which at any second could become his grave. Suddenly, a dog approached the edge of the trench, singed, covered in ulcers, with a broken tail. “He’ll definitely attack now,” Seryozha decided. They met their eyes and looked at each other for a long, long time. Sergei Fedorovich remembered the look of this dog, full of horror, for the rest of his life. Later, in one of the scenes of War and Peace, he filmed the eyes of a wolf, who also looked at people as monsters.”

Bondarchuk celebrated his victory in Tallinn. After the war, he continued his career in the army, served near Moscow, but soon decided to return to acting - he needed to study. In 1947, Sergei Bondarchuk passed the entrance examination to Sergei Gerasimov’s workshop at VGIK. For excellent marks from the admissions committee, he was immediately enrolled in the third year. Actress Klara Luchko, who was present at the audition, recalls:

“He read us Gogol’s “Three Birds” and captivated us with his voice: with tints, with shades. I would compare his voice to good wine, which just smells and the aromas alone can make you dizzy, and it’s not for nothing that tasters say: bouquet. And Seryozha Bondarchuk had such a “bouquet” in his voice. The richness, beauty of intonation and depth of his eyes instantly attracted you to him; it seemed to him that he didn’t need to do or play anything - just say a phrase, look, and you immediately believed him, you fell captive of his personal charm. But he is an unsociable person, from the breed of silent people, he answered questions in monosyllables, and muttered more.”

At the same time, Sergei Gerasimov, whose name is now VGIK, decided to film the novel by Alexander Fadeev “The Young Guard”. Bondarchuk was not old enough to play the role of one of the members of the organization of the same name. However, Gerasimov allowed the student to choose any other role in the film. Sergei chose the role of Valko, and the film “Young Guard” (1948) became the first in his cinematic career.

People's Artist of the USSR

Bondarchuk became famous after the main role in the film “Taras Shevchenko” (1951). For it he received the Stalin Prize of the first degree. Vasily Lanovoy recalls:

“By revealing the image of Taras Grigorievich Shevchenko on the screen, Bondarchuk declared himself a winner and immediately entered the golden fund of our cinema.”

In 1952, Sergei Fedorovich was awarded the title of People's Artist of the USSR. He was personally patronized by Joseph Stalin, who was impressed by his acting skills. That is why Honored Artist of the RSFSR Sergei Bondarchuk, bypassing the title “People’s Artist of the RSFSR,” immediately received the status of “People’s Artist of the USSR.”

A semi-mythical plot is associated with this page of his biography. One day after the production, Vasily Stalin called the theater. On the phone, he told Bondarchuk to prepare “half a liter for a surprise” and go to the Aragvi restaurant. Sergei thought it was a joke, but he went to the famous restaurant on Tverskaya Square. There he was taken to a separate room, where Vasily Stalin and football player Vsevolod Bobrov were actually sitting. Vasily put the Ogonyok magazine on the table, where on the first page there was a portrait of Sergei Bondarchuk in the stage image of Shevchenko. At the bottom there was the inscription “Honored Artist of the RSFSR Sergei Bondarchuk.” This title was crossed out with a pen, and “People’s Artist of the USSR” was written on top. And the signature is “I. Stalin."

Sergei Fedorovich was then 31 years old. He became one of the youngest holders of the title “People's Artist of the USSR”. The government's mercy illuminated the filmmaker's life for a long time. The number of enemies began to increase.

In 1956, Mikhail Sholokhov published the story “The Fate of a Man” in the Pravda newspaper. After some time, Sergei Bondarchuk was invited to voice him for a radio program. Sholokhov himself heard the artist’s performance and enthusiastically wrote to Bondarchuk:

“Now I can’t imagine another artist who could read like that: you read better than I wrote.”

At the same time, Sergei Bondarchuk was looking for a suitable directorial script and eventually decided to settle on “The Fate of a Man.” The film was released in 1959, became a box office hit and the best film of the year according to a poll by the Soviet Screen magazine, won awards at the Moscow International Film Festival, Karlovy Vary and Melbourne, and Sergei Fedorovich received the Lenin Prize.

The triumph of War and Peace

In the early 1960s, two circumstances coincided: the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Borodino was approaching, and in 1959 the American film “War and Peace” was released on USSR screens. The enormous success of the Hollywood film forced the leaders of Soviet cinema to think about adapting the novel to a film, because the only cinematic production of War and Peace in Russia had been carried out before only in 1915 by director Yakov Protazanov.

The classic of socialist realism, founder of the Union of Cinematographers of the USSR Ivan Pyryev competed with Sergei Bondarchuk for the right to carry out the state order. The choice was to be made by a commission of the USSR Ministry of Culture headed by Ekaterina Furtseva, but Pyryev withdrew his candidacy in advance. Subsequently, a disagreement arose between the two directors, and until the end of Pyryev’s life they did not greet each other.

The tailoring of the costumes was supervised by the USSR Ministry of Light Industry, horses and military units for the film crew were provided by the USSR Ministry of Defense. While working on the film, a separate cinematic cavalry regiment of about 1,500 horsemen was formed, which subsequently starred in many other domestic films: “White Sun of the Desert” (1970), “Running” (1970), “Battle for Moscow” (1985), "The Barber of Siberia" (1998).

Episodes of the Battles of Shengraben and Austerlitz in 1805 were filmed in Transcarpathia, and location shooting of the Battle of Borodino was filmed near the city of Dorogobuzh in the Smolensk region, not far from the real Old Smolensk Road. Filming of the battle began on August 25, 1963 - on the day of the 151st anniversary of the Battle of Borodino. About 15 thousand infantry were involved in the crowd; the cavalry had a regiment of 950 sabers. To stage the battle, 23 tons of explosives and 40,000 liters of kerosene, 15,000 hand smoke grenades, 2,000 bombs and 1,500 shells were used.

While working on the film, the creators resorted to innovative techniques. Some scenes of the Battle of Borodino were filmed using a camera mounted on a 120-meter-long cable car stretched over the field. Flying at altitude, the camera filmed “from a flying cannonball.” To immerse himself in the atmosphere of Natasha Rostova's first ball, cameraman Anatoly Petritsky stood on roller skates, and an assistant moved him among the waltzing couples. These techniques were included in a documentary about the filming of the film, which is still used as training material for cameramen.

Twice while working on the epic film War and Peace, Sergei Bondarchuk experienced clinical death. The first time was in July 1964, when studio filming was underway. The second heart attack occurred in June 1965, when the first two episodes were hastily prepared for the premiere at the Kremlin Palace of Congresses. On March 14, 1966, the premiere of the first episode of the film “War and Peace: Andrei Bolkonsky” took place at the Rossiya cinema. At the 1966 box office, it attracted an audience of 58 million viewers.

On April 15, 1969, at the 1968 Academy Awards in Los Angeles, War and Peace won the award for Best Foreign Language Film, beating out the works of Milos Forman and François Truffaut. In June 1969, at the height of the US release, American film critic Roger Ebert wrote:

“Bondarchuk managed to stay on the fine line between the spectacular, the humane and the intellectual. Even the longest and bloodiest battle scenes do not tire, but attract your attention. Bondarchuk conveys to the viewer all the details of the epic drama, without losing in entertainment and at the same time constantly returning to Tolstoy’s fundamental theme - people caught in the millstones of history.”

Sergei Bondarchuk was absent from the award ceremony; the award was received by the fragile Lyudmila Savelyeva, who played the role of Natasha Rostova. Sergei Fedorovich was busy working on a new project - Italian producer Dino De Laurentiis invited him to make a historical film about Napoleon. The film managed to attract a whole constellation of actors from different countries - the USSR, Italy, France, Canada, Great Britain and the USA. Even small episodes feature star actors. There are only two truly major roles in the film - Napoleon (Rod Steiger) and Field Marshal Wellington (Christopher Plummer); all other characters receive roles only in small, often separated from each other, episodes.

The 1970 film Waterloo was a box office failure, grossing $3 million against a budget of $25 million. Such a major failure forced international producers to turn away from producing costume battle films. For this reason, another prominent director, Stanley Kubrick, was forced to cancel work on a film about Napoleon.

“They Fought for Their Motherland” and other later works

In 1975, for the 30th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War, Sergei Fedorovich filmed Mikhail Sholokhov’s novel “They Fought for the Motherland.” The film starred Vasily Shukshin, Vyacheslav Tikhonov, Sergei Bondarchuk himself, Georgy Burkov, Yuri Nikulin, Nonna Mordyukova.

Vasily Shukshin passed away right during filming. In the three unfilmed scenes, it was necessary to use another actor instead - Shukshin's fellow student Yuri Solovyov. Local residents who participated in the episodes recall the difficult period of filming, the forty-degree heat and the behavior of the film crew:

“The conditions were terrible. Chalk dust, heat. At first everyone was surprised that the actors turned out to be simple in life. Never complained about anything. Somehow there was a short break in filming. Boys with fishing rods trotted past towards the Don. Yuri Nikulin and ask to go with them, they say, they will give you a fishing rod. So they walked in a line. Only soon the guys threw all the gear and grabbed their stomachs - it was Nikulin who began to tell them jokes. Then it’s the same when fishing. He was the only one sitting with a fishing rod - the rest were rolling around laughing! What kind of fishing is there!”

The style of the film in many ways ran counter to the accepted pompous and official depiction of the war. The film “They Fought for the Motherland” showed the bitter and dramatic retreat of Soviet troops in 1942 from the point of view of the soldiers themselves.

Constant filming, traveling, and film processing took away Sergei Bondarchuk’s time for his family and children. Irina Skobtseva recalls what he was like in family life:

“Our life was nomadic: all the time on set, the children Alyonka and Fedya were under the care of my parents. Once Sergei Fedorovich went to the market and bought red apples. At night he climbed a tree under the window and tied them to the branches with strings. It's like they grew up overnight. He was a man of amazing talent, no matter what he touched. Absolutely unpretentious in everyday life. He didn't make anyone uncomfortable."

The turning point in the fate of Sergei Bondarchuk came after the historic fifth congress of the Union of Cinematographers, which was held in May 1986 in the Kremlin. Film critic Andrei Plakhov, a delegate to the congress and its youngest speaker, assesses the results of the congress this way:

“The press began to wonder why status Soviet films were not popular with audiences: ideologically correct, they turned out to be commercial failures, soldiers or schoolchildren were driven to watch them, and postscripts were practiced in the reporting attendance figures. The Fifth Congress of Cinematographers of the USSR, the attitude towards which was and remains ambiguous, changed the leadership of the union, actually put an end to party censorship in cinema, removed dozens of films from the shelf and announced the transition of distribution to the market."

The course of history replaced old filmmakers with fresh talents; Sergei Bondarchuk, along with the rest of the authors of the “old school,” was forced to leave the path of young creators. The forces of filmmakers, led by the new chairman Elem Klimov, were thrown into restoring “shelf” films that had previously not been allowed through censorship.

The idea for the third film adaptation of Sholokhov arose from Sergei Bondarchuk a long time ago. It was necessary to bring it to life in difficult times. Soviet viewers remembered the brilliant work of Sergei Gerasimov “Quiet Don” in 1957. Actor Evgeny Samoilov recalls the dialogue between teacher and student:

“Let me die in peace, Seryozha, and then film it the way you think.”

Little was known what Bondarchuk did with the novel Quiet Don. Work on the series, which lasted two years, was interrupted by a change of power in Russia and the bankruptcy of the Italian producer. All property of the production center was seized, including 160 thousand meters of film. Konstantin Ernst managed to buy film materials from Italy for Channel One only in 2005, the film was completed by Fyodor Bondarchuk.

In his last lifetime interview, Sergei Fedorovich Bondarchuk seems very alive, he is really full of strength. He tries not to scold his contemporaries for pushing him off the silver screen, for booing him. The director speaks measuredly, briefly shares the details of working on the scripts, and jokes.

Sergei Bondarchuk died on October 20, 1994 in Moscow from a myocardial infarction. Before his death, Hieromonk Tikhon (Shevkunov) confessed and gave him communion.

Directorial debut - the film “The Fate of Man”

Sergei Bondarchuk as Andrei Sokolov and Pavel Polunin as Vanyushka in the feature film “The Fate of a Man” by Sergei Bondarchuk (1959)

Filming of Sergei Bondarchuk’s feature film “The Fate of a Man.” 1958. Photograph: Viktor Ruikovich / Multimedia Art Museum, Moscow

Sergei Bondarchuk as Andrei Sokolov in his feature film “The Fate of a Man” (1959)

In 1956, Mikhail Sholokhov published the story “The Fate of a Man” in the Pravda newspaper. Soon Sergei Bondarchuk was invited to voice him for the All-Union Radio program. Sholokhov himself heard the artist’s performance and sent Bondarchuk a telegram in which he wrote: “Now I can’t imagine another artist who could read like that: you read better than I wrote.” At this time, Bondarchuk just decided to try his hand at directing. He looked for a suitable script and ultimately decided to settle on “The Fate of Man.”

“I read [“The Fate of Man”] - and then, no matter what I did, no matter what I thought, I saw only Andrei Sokolov, his little boy, his wife, the flood of the Don, the war, the fascist concentration camp. Making this film became more than a “creative plan” for me. More than a dream. This became the goal of my life"
Sergei Bondarchuk about Mikhail Sholokhov’s story “The Fate of a Man” (according to the magazine “Soviet Screen”, 1987)

Bondarchuk could not obtain permission to film for a long time. The Union of Cinematographers considered him a good actor, but they did not think that he could make a decent film himself. However, the director soon received permission and began filming in July 1958. The film was shot quickly - in just seventy-four days. The main role in “The Fate of Man” was played by Bondarchuk himself. The film was released the following year in 1959 and became very popular. About 40 million people watched it. “The Fate of a Man” received awards at Soviet and international film festivals, including prizes at competitions in Moscow, Melbourne and Sydney. In 1960, Sergei Bondarchuk received the Lenin Prize for this film.

“The first film by Bondarchuk the director received the Lenin Prize. Moreover, "The Fate of Man" stunned the whole world. Bondarchuk in his film answered the questions: why and how we won. But for me, who went through the front and then spent two years in hospitals, “The Fate of a Man” is dear because it clearly shows: the Patriotic War was a people’s war, which was won by both the front and the rear. This seems to be the fate of one person, but the content of this person’s life, this national character, is comprehensive.”
Screenwriter Vasily Solovyov, “War and Peace” and Us” (based on the book “Sergei Bondarchuk. His War and Peace”)

Oscar-winning director - the epic “War and Peace”

Sergei Bondarchuk on the set of his feature film "War and Peace". 1964. Photo: yablor.ru

Filming of the Battle of Borodino in Sergei Bondarchuk’s feature film “War and Peace.” 1963. Photo: yablor.ru

Sergei Bondarchuk (second from right) on the set of his feature film “War and Peace.” Photo: museikino.ru

Soon after the success of “The Fate of Man,” USSR Minister of Culture Ekaterina Furtseva invited Sergei Bondarchuk and Ivan Pyryev to film Leo Tolstoy’s epic novel “War and Peace.” Ivan Pyryev refused to shoot the film. And Bondarchuk postponed work on the film adaptation of Chekhov’s story “The Steppe” for the sake of this film.

Bondarchuk wrote the script for the epic together with Vasily Solovyov. The director said: “We need everyone to understand that we don’t want to show ourselves with the help of Tolstoy, but with the help of cinema we want to express the unique thing that Tolstoy discovered in literature.”

The director spent a long time selecting actors for the film, turned down famous artists and arranged lengthy auditions. To find a performer for the role of Natasha Rostova, he even published an advertisement in the newspapers. However, screenwriter Vasily Solovyov noticed a suitable candidate at the Leningrad Ballet School, and Lyudmila Savelyeva was approved for the role. Sergei Bondarchuk himself played Pierre Bezukhov in War and Peace. Vasily Solovyov recalled: “Sergei was convinced that Pierre was the painting. He is her sound. Tolstoy’s entire understanding of both life and God comes through Pierre. As a result, he had to play Pierre himself and read Tolstoy’s text “from the author.”

Bondarchuk worked very carefully on the film adaptation: he traveled to Yasnaya Polyana several times, studied Tolstoy’s manuscripts, consulted with scientists in order to accurately reproduce the outfits, uniforms of the troops, and the furnishings of the estates. The film adaptation used both original objects from the early 19th century and copies that were made specifically for the film.

Filming of Sergei Bondarchuk's feature film "War and Peace". Photo: pastvu.com

Sergei Bondarchuk as Pierre Bezukhov and Vyacheslav Tikhonov as Andrei Bolkonsky in Sergei Bondarchuk's feature film "War and Peace" (1965–1967)

From left to right: actresses Lyudmila Savelyeva and Irina Gubanova and Sergei Bondarchuk on the set of Sergei Bondarchuk’s feature film “War and Peace.” Photo: interest.pics

Filming of the epic lasted about six years. A separate cinematic cavalry regiment was created especially for the film. About one hundred thousand soldiers took part in the scenes of the Shengraben, Austerlitz and Borodino battles, among whom were one and a half thousand horsemen. Over five hundred thousand blank cartridges were produced for the episodes.

“Plants, factories and workshops throughout the Soviet Union participated in the creation of all these historical costumes, military equipment, equipment and props. Our entire, then huge, indestructible country worked with skill and inspiration for the film epic “War and Peace”
Director of the film “War and Peace” Nikolai Ivanov (based on the book “Sergei Bondarchuk. His War and Peace”)

Sergei Bondarchuk spent a long time looking for a composer for the film. Aram Khachaturian, Dmitry Shostakovich and Georgy Sviridov applied for this place, but the director chose conservatory student Vyacheslav Ovchinnikov. Vasily Solovyov wrote: “A composer, as a rule, appears on a film when a significant part has been filmed, looks at the material, and, in accordance with what he sees, writes music. In our country, on the contrary, Bondarchuk filmed some episodes to music composed by Ovchinnikov.”

Filming was difficult for Bondarchuk; he even experienced clinical death from stress. The management of Mosfilm demanded that the first episode be urgently prepared in order to show it at the 1965 Moscow International Film Festival. The film crew had to stop working on the film and start editing and dubbing. During the process, Bondarchuk’s heart stopped; doctors barely saved him.

The first episode of the epic was released in 1966 and became a box office leader. The next three parts of War and Peace were shown in 1967. The film was very popular. The four episodes of the epic were collectively watched by over 135 million viewers. The film won recognition abroad as well. “War and Peace” received several prestigious awards, including an Oscar, a Golden Globe and the US National Board of Film Critics Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

The fate of Bondarchuk. To the 100th anniversary of the most titled director of the Soviet Union

His father was a worker and former sailor, sent among the “25 thousand people” to raise collective farms. These were communist workers whom the Bolsheviks sent to Soviet villages and villages in order to win the peasantry over to their side. Bondarchuk later said more than once that the fate of his father had many similarities with the fate of Semyon Davydov, the main character of Mikhail Sholokhov’s novel “Virgin Soil Upturned.”

Sholokhov played a decisive role in the fate of Sergei Fedorovich.

A day in history. September 11: a classic of Soviet cinema, who fought for the Petliurists, was born

RIA Novosti, Georgy Petrusov / Go to photobank

Already in the first grade in the school drama club, Sergei played his first role on stage - an old man whose beard was represented by a washcloth. The whitish “gray hair” was given to her by the tooth powder with which she was thickly sprinkled. The theater completely captured the boy.

After the famine of 1932, the family left for Taganrog, and then to Yeisk. Here in 1938 Sergei graduated from school. His father wanted him to become an engineer, but Bondarchuk Jr. was drawn to the theater stage - he went to Moscow and applied to the Moscow Theater School at the Theater of the Revolution. However, the young man did not pass the competition.

It was a shame to return home without slurping, and Sergei went to Rostov-on-Don. At the local theater school, the entrance exams had already ended, but, thanks to the highest mark he received from acting teacher Alexei Maksimov, an exception was made especially for him. The war found Bondarchuk in Rostov.

He was mobilized in the spring of 1942. After the Barvenkovo disaster that occurred near Kharkov, the Germans rapidly advanced towards Stalingrad and the Caucasus. The young recruit Sergei Bondarchuk had to fight in the area of Mozdok, Armavir, and Grozny.

Sergei Fedorovich did not leave detailed memories of the war years. Judging by the fact that he was not awarded military orders and medals, he did not distinguish himself with any special military exploits, but some impressions of the war still sometimes slipped into his conversations with his loved ones.

At the end of September, fierce battles broke out in the Grozny direction in the bend of the Terek.

The city was subjected to terrible bombardment, and the defensive positions on the immediate approaches to it were subjected to massive artillery fire. Oil fields were burning. Bondarchuk found himself on the defensive precisely on this section of the front.

"Communist Christ". How Alov, Naumov and Lanovoi were tempered in Kyiv

RIA Novosti, / Go to photobank

He recalled the terrible, sickening smell of burnt human flesh, the wall of his trench, into which he desperately pressed himself. And suddenly a striped Caucasian hyena appeared from above, looking down - all covered in ulcers, singed, with a broken tail. Sergei thought that she would now rush at him. He met the eyes of the wild beast, and saw in his gaze the horror of a living and mortally frightened creature who did not understand anything. This look became perhaps the most powerful impression for Bondarchuk during the entire war.

Later, in one of the scenes of “War and Peace,” remembering that Grozny hyena, he filmed the gaze of a wolf, whose eyes reflected two-legged monsters committing senseless murders.

Bondarchuk celebrated the end of the war in Tallinn. Victory Day almost became the last day of his life - he was seeing off a familiar actress on the concert field when a shot rang out and a bullet, ricocheting off the wall of the house, whistled a millimeter from his face, singeing his eyebrows. According to documents stored in the archives, he was demobilized on the same day.

In 1947, VGIK announced an additional enrollment in the workshop of Sergei Gerasimov and Tamara Makarova. This was the period when many retired military personnel came to Soviet cinema: yesterday’s lieutenants and sergeants, who were destined to make it truly great. The experience gained at the front imparted to the people who possessed it their own indescribable understanding of life, which distinguished front-line student students from their colleagues who had never smelled gunpowder.

Bondarchuk decided to try his luck. The excerpt he told from Nikolai Gogol’s poem “Dead Souls” about the “three bird” earned the highest marks, and he was enrolled in the third year of the institute.

War of Pyotr Todorovsky. How front-line experience forged a classic of Soviet cinema

RIA Novosti, Dmitry Korobeinikov / Go to photobank

In Gerasimov's workshop, Bondarchuk became one of the best students. He was constantly invited to perform at student reporting concerts, and even then Sergei Fedorovich was distinguished by the fact that he tried not to play his role, but to live it on stage. In his attitude towards the profession, this 27-year-old student did not at all resemble a student.

It was during this period of time that Sergei Gerasimov began filming the landmark film “The Young Guard” for Soviet cinema about the tragic events of the wartime hard times in the mining town of Krasnodon. Bondarchuk played the underground fighter Andrei Andreevich Valko. The Germans buried the prototype of his hero alive for refusing to work in a mine.

After his talented performance in this role, Bondarchuk was noticed and began to be invited to other films. His career took off almost immediately.

At first there were supporting roles and episodes. But already in 1951, the honored director of Ukrainian cinema Igor Savchenko, who directed such a landmark film as “Bogdan Khmelnytsky”, offered Bondarchuk the main role in another very important film for Ukrainian cinema, “Taras Shevchenko”. The director died at the very end of filming; 12 edits personally made to the film by Stalin were made by his students - Alexander Alov and Vladimir Naumov. But the film did not lose anything because of this, and Bondarchuk’s reputation as a deep actor, capable of talentedly playing any character, was strengthened.

The leading roles poured in, including Othello and Ivan Franko. But Bondarchuk wanted to make films himself. Even as a child, he drew frames on paper strips, which he then pulled through a homemade apparatus in which a bottle filled with water served as a lens. His friends looked through it at the pictures that quickly replaced each other. Now that fate had brought him so far in Soviet cinematography, he dreamed of taking directing seriously. Soon an opportunity presented itself.

In 1956, the Pravda newspaper published Mikhail Sholokhov’s story “The Fate of a Man.” A few weeks later, Bondarchuk was invited to voice him for the All-Union Radio program. At that time, often in the evenings, famous actors read excerpts or entire well-known works of Russian poets and writers live.

Sholokhov himself heard Bondarchuk’s performance and sent a telegram to the actor: “Now I can’t imagine another artist who could read like that: you read better than I wrote.” After this incident, Sergei Fedorovich, who dreamed of his own directorial project, “fired up” with the idea of adapting the story to a film. The story of a simple Russian man, Andrei Sokolov, exhausted by a terrible military fate, could not help but touch the viewer’s soul. Making this film became Bondarchuk’s goal in life.

The Union of Cinematographers did not give permission to film for a long time - Bondarchuk was considered a good actor there, but this did not mean at all that he could make a decent film. However, the peaks are conquered by the persistent, and in 1958 permission for filming was finally given.

Bondarchuk met with Mikhail Sholokhov, the writer was skeptical that Bondarchuk would play Andrei Sokolov. He told him the story of how in the First World War doctors could not give an injection to one Cossack - the needle did not penetrate the skin, hardened by hard physical labor, and broke. After which Sholokhov, nodding at his hands, said to Bondarchuk: “Sokolov’s hands are different...”.

But Bondarchuk did not give up. Of the 74 shooting days, a significant part of the filming took place in Veshenskaya, the village in which Sholokhov lived. The director settled in the writer’s house and walked across the entire village to work every day. Soon the locals, who constantly visited the writer and were actually friends with him, accepted Bondarchuk as one of their own.

Once Sergei Fedorovich came to Sholokhov’s house from the set directly in the image of the main character, after which the writer did not raise the issue of Sokolov’s hands, and when the film “The Fate of a Man” turned out to be a resounding success, he became friends with Bondarchuk. This friendship continued until the last days of the writer’s life.

“The Fate of Man” was watched by about 40 million people. The film won prizes in Moscow, Melbourne and Sydney. The director was awarded the Lenin Prize for it. But most importantly, the film stunned the whole world. Bondarchuk showed why the Russians won the war - this question tormented the Western man in the street, and even now he cannot really answer it. We ourselves, unfortunately, are gradually forgetting the answer to this question, which then leads to the events taking place in Ukraine or now shaking Belarus.

The film “The Fate of a Man” became the most important milestone for Bondarchuk in his work for another reason. He amazed the USSR Minister of Culture Ekaterina Furtseva, and she suggested that Sergei Fedorovich and the second director, Ivan Pyryev, film the epic novel by Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy “War and Peace.” Pyryev, afraid of responsibility and inevitable organizational difficulties, refused. For his sake, Bondarchuk postponed work on the film adaptation of Chekhov’s story “The Steppe” for a decade.

Bondarchuk wrote the script for War and Peace together with screenwriter Vasily Solovyov. In the collection of Tolstoy's works, which was kept at his home, the text of the novel was covered with many comments and notes. Bondarchuk considered Pierre Bezukhov to be the main character, reflecting the writer’s point of view on the events unfolding in the epic, and decided to play him himself, as well as to voice the author’s voiceover. He saw his goal crystal clear:

“We need everyone to understand that we don’t want to show ourselves with the help of Tolstoy, but with the help of cinema we want to express the unique thing that Tolstoy discovered in literature.”

A cinematic cavalry regiment was created in the USSR Armed Forces specifically for filming the film. In total, about 100 thousand soldiers were involved in filming the battles, and over 500 thousand blank cartridges were used. Many plants, factories and workshops throughout the Soviet Union worked on the creation of costumes, weapons and props. The enormous financial resources poured into the filming placed a huge responsibility on the director, which constantly weighed on him and with each year of filming, which lasted six years, it increasingly affected his health.

At some point, Mosfilm management demanded that filming be stopped in order to urgently edit the first episode for screening at the 1965 Moscow International Film Festival. The schedule flew by, huge financial resources were lost, and mental stress caused Bondarchuk to have a heart attack. He experienced clinical death - at a critical moment his heart stopped beating for four minutes, but, fortunately, the doctors saved him.

The first episode was released in cinemas in 1966 and became the box office leader (58 million viewers). The remaining three parts were released the following year, 1967.

The film has earned many international awards, including an Oscar, a Golden Globe and the US National Board of Film Critics Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Not a single Soviet film or film from the post-Soviet countries can boast of such worldwide recognition and number of international awards as War and Peace.

In 1969, Italian producer Dino De Laurentiis invited Sergei Bondarchuk to jointly produce a historical film about Napoleon's last battle - the Battle of Waterloo. World stars of the first magnitude were involved in the filming, such as Rod Steiger, Christopher Plummer, Orson Welles, Andrea Cecchi, Evgeny Samoilov. Unfortunately, the film failed at the worldwide box office, which did not prevent it from entering the golden fund of world cinema.

In 1975, Bondarchuk returned to the work of Mikhail Sholokhov and filmed his unfinished novel “They Fought for the Motherland.” At the end of filming, the great Russian actor, writer and director Vasily Shukshin, who played one of the main roles in the film, died. However, fortunately, the group had already filmed most of the material. In the few remaining shots, Shukshin was replaced by an understudy, Yuri Solovyov, and doubled during the dubbing by Igor Efimov.

Among the actors there were many who went through the war themselves, including Bondarchuk. That is why the film was able to convey that feeling of soldierly brotherhood, which helped the Soviet soldier survive in the most difficult conditions of the summer retreat of 1942 and ultimately defeat the enemy.

The next decade was rich in new creative successes for Sergei Fedorovich - he finally filmed Chekhov’s “The Steppe”. In 1981-82, based on the books and records of the famous American communist writer John Reed, he shot the epic film “Red Bells”, about the events of the revolution in Mexico of 1910-17 and the October Socialist Revolution. In 1986, “Boris Godunov” was filmed; Bondarchuk also starred in this film...

And then Perestroika began.

In 1986, the leadership of the Union of Cinematographers was re-elected, but Bondarchuk was not included in the updated composition. A wave of criticism fell upon him in the Soviet press. Envious people unleashed formal persecution against the director. The state stopped allocating funds for his projects.

Sergei Fedorovich passionately wanted to make a television adaptation of Sholokhov’s novel “Quiet Don”; since the mid-80s he worked hard on the script, but the cinematic authorities actually mocked him. At first he wrote a 20-episode version: he was told that 18 episodes were needed. He rewrote the script, but when he put the finishing touches on it, it turned out that 16 episodes were already needed. When their number was reduced to 13, they told him: “...The money allocated for “Quiet Don” would be better spent on agriculture.”

Unable to find funds for the film adaptation in his homeland, in 1990 Bondarchuk signed a contract with the Italian company International Cinema Company and nevertheless began filming Quiet Don. English actor Rupert Everett was invited to play the role of Grigory Melekhov (he himself later considered his performance of the role of the Russian Cossack to be a mistake by the producers). Natalya Melekhova, the wife of the main character, was played by Bondarchuk’s daughter Alena. The 10-episode series was filmed in eleven months - it was ready by August 1992. The director managed to edit it, but no one has seen this version of the film until now.

When editing and dubbing of the film began, the Italian company declared itself bankrupt, and all materials from the film were seized by the creditor bank.

The famous director could not bear this blow. He began to have serious health problems and on October 20, 1994 he died in Moscow.

An anti-Semitic Jew came out into the Donetsk steppe

RIA Novosti, / Go to photobank

The First Channel company, with the direct participation of the Russian Minister of Culture Mikhail Shvydkoy, was able to buy the working materials of “Quiet Don” - about 160 thousand meters of film, only in 2005. A new editing of the film, which was reduced to seven episodes, was carried out by the director’s son Fyodor Bondarchuk. He also filmed several minor scenes, mainly nature shots. The series premiered on Channel One on November 6, 2006, 12 years after the death of its creator.

Thus, having begun his career as a director with a film adaptation of the work of Mikhail Sholokhov, the famous director also ended it with this film adaptation, which became his last.

“Good creative comrade”: films of the 1970s and 1980s

Sergei Bondarchuk (left) with his wife Irina Skobtseva with VGIK students. 1962. Moscow. Photo: Sergey Vasin / Multimedia art museum, Moscow

Actor Evgeny Samoilov (left) and Sergei Bondarchuk (second from right). 1960s Moscow. Photo: Pavel Manych / Multimedia art museum, Moscow

Sergei Bondarchuk and actress Irina Korotkova on the set of Yulia Solntseva’s feature film “Such High Mountains.” 1974. Novgorod-Seversky, Chernigov region, Ukrainian SSR. Photo: family archive of Maria Kosareva / russiainphoto.ru

In 1969, Italian producer Dino De Laurentiis invited Sergei Bondarchuk to make a historical film about Napoleon together. Its theme was the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. Bondarchuk agreed and wrote the script for the film that same year. Together with Laurentiis, he managed to attract famous actors from the USA, Canada, Italy and the USSR to work on the film, including Rod Steiger, Christopher Plummer, Andrea Cecchi and Evgeny Samoilov.

“When working with actors, director Sergei Bondarchuk is a good creative comrade. A brilliant artist himself, he never divided the actors into main and secondary ones, he was equally attentive to everyone: it doesn’t matter whether you are the main character or playing an episode with one line. It was gratifying to observe with what genuine interest and respect such great masters of world cinema as Rod Steiger, Orson Welles, and Christopher Plummer, who starred in the film “Waterloo,” listened to his comments.”
Evgeny Samoilov, “Nutryak” (based on the book “Sergei Bondarchuk. His War and Peace”)

Despite Bondarchuk's efforts, the film failed at the box office. But the director did not give up creativity. Over the next five years, he acted a lot - he played leading roles in the films “Such High Mountains” and “Choosing a Target.” During these same years, Bondarchuk became a professor at VGIK and secretary of the board of the Union of Cinematographers of the USSR.

In 1975, Sergei Bondarchuk returned to directing and filmed Mikhail Sholokhov’s novel “They Fought for the Motherland.” The main roles in the film were played by Vasily Shukshin and Vyacheslav Tikhonov. Actress Zinaida Kiriyenko wrote: “In my opinion, he passed this Sholokhov novel through his heart, through his worldview and assembled wonderful actors, all real guys, very reliable.” Right during filming, Vasily Shukshin died and in the remaining scenes with the participation of his hero it was necessary to use another actor - Yuri Solovyov, and then re-voice all his lines. The music for the film was again composed by composer Vyacheslav Ovchinnikov at the invitation of Bondarchuk. The film became one of the most popular in 1976, the film was awarded the State Prize of the RSFSR.

Still from Sergei Bondarchuk’s feature film “They Fought for the Motherland” (1975)

Cameraman Vadim Yusov and Sergei Bondarchuk (right) on the set of Sergei Bondarchuk’s feature film “Red Bells”. 1981. Photo: m24.ru

Delegates of the Third Congress of the Union of Cinematographers of the USSR Mark Donskoy and Sergei Bondarchuk (right). May 11–13, 1976. Moscow. Photo: Yuri Sadovnikov / Multimedia art museum, Moscow

The following year, 1977, Bondarchuk returned to the film adaptation of Chekhov's story "The Steppe", in which he played the main role - the singer Emelyan. He took a break from directing for several years and concentrated on acting - he starred in the films “The Velvet Season” and “The Gadfly.” In 1981, the first part of the director’s new epic, the film “Red Bells,” entitled “Mexico on Fire,” was released, and in 1982, its sequel, “I Saw the Birth of a New World,” was released. Bondarchuk decided to film the collections of reports by the American writer John Reed, “Mexico Rising” and “Ten Days That Shook the World.” They were dedicated to two revolutions - Mexican and Russian. For “Red Bells” Bondarchuk received the USSR State Prize.

In 1986, the director filmed the tragedy of Alexander Pushkin “Boris Godunov”, in which he played the main role. The artist Alexander Shilov wrote: “I believe that he played the tragedy of Tsar Boris primarily with his own eyes. The depth in his eyes is bottomless." The image of Boris Godunov was one of Bondarchuk’s favorites. He dreamed of playing this character for many years and prepared a lot for the role.

“They said that he spent the whole day preparing for Tsar Boris’s monologue on the Godunov. And anyone who tried to come up, ask about the props, or clarify the schedule for the next day of filming, received such a rebuff that he was afraid to show up all day. Although it was his responsibility as director to answer production questions. But he was in character! He strictly demanded understanding. And this is not the actor’s egoism and not a manifestation of his cool character. Sergei Fedorovich treated the work of an actor with reverent exactingness.”
Actor Andrei Rostotsky, “Candle” (based on the book “Sergei Bondarchuk. His War and Peace”)

The film “Boris Godunov” was Bondarchuk’s last directorial work, which was released during his lifetime.

Bondarchuk, Sergei Fedorovich

Born on September 25, 1920 in the village of Belozerka (Kherson province of the Ukrainian SSR, now Kherson region of Ukraine) in a family of peasants Fyodor Petrovich Bondarchuk and Tatyana Vasilievna Tokarenko.

As a child, he lived with his parents in Taganrog and Yeisk (now Rostov region and Krasnodar region, respectively). At school I attended a theater club in 1937-1938. performed at the Yeisk Drama Theater. In 1938-1941 Sergei Bondarchuk studied at the theater school in Rostov-on-Don. In 1941-1942 was an actor in the front-line theater in Grozny. In 1942 he was drafted into the Red Army. Participated in the Great Patriotic War, defended the Caucasus. He was demobilized in 1946 with the rank of private. In 1946, in Moscow, he was accepted into the third year of the All-Union State Institute of Cinematography (now the All-Russian State Institute named after S. A. Gerasimov). Graduate of the workshop of teachers Sergei Gerasimov and Tamara Makarova.

In 1948, Sergei Bondarchuk made his debut as a film actor, playing the role of underground fighter Andrei Valko in the film adaptation of Alexander Fadeev’s novel “The Young Guard” (directed by Sergei Gerasimov). He became widely famous for his role as the poet Taras Shevchenko in the historical and biographical film of the same name by Igor Savchenko (1951). Subsequently, Bondarchuk starred in more than 30 films. Among his roles: Dmitry Korostelev in the melodrama “Seryozha” (1960, Igor Talankin and Georgy Danelia), Doctor Astrov in the film adaptation of Anton Chekhov’s play “Uncle Vanya” (1970, Andrei Konchalovsky), Father Sergius in the film of the same name based on the story by Leo Tolstoy (1978 , Igor Talankin), Cardinal Montanelli in the drama “The Gadfly” based on the novel by Ethel Lilian Voynich (1980, Nikolai Mashchenko). Sergei Bondarchuk was one of the most famous Soviet film directors. His first film was the drama “The Fate of a Man” based on the story by Mikhail Sholokhov (1959), in which he played the main role - Andrei Sokolov. The film adaptation of Leo Tolstoy's epic novel "War and Peace" (1965-1967; in 1969 it was awarded the American film awards "Oscar" and "Golden Globe" in the category "Best Foreign Language Film") brought him worldwide fame. He also played the role of Pierre Bezukhov. In 1970 he directed the historical drama “Waterloo” (USSR - Italy; in 1971 it was awarded the Italian national film award “David di Donatello” in the category “Best Film”). In 1975, Sergei Bondarchuk directed the war film “They Fought for the Motherland” based on the novel by Mikhail Sholokhov, in which he played the role of Private Ivan Zvyagintsev. In 1977 he directed the drama “The Steppe” based on the story by Anton Chekhov. In 1982, the premiere of Sergei Bondarchuk’s dilogy “Red Bells” took place, filmed in collaboration with Italian and Mexican filmmakers. The first film, Mexico on Fire, is about the 1910 revolution in that country. The second part, “I saw the birth of a new world,” tells about the events of 1917 in Russia. The films were based on the books of American journalist John Reed, Mexico Rising and Ten Days That Shook the World. In 1986, Sergei Bondarchuk made a film adaptation of Alexander Pushkin’s historical tragedy “Boris Godunov” (USSR - Poland - Germany - Czechoslovakia), and played the title role in it. In the same year, he staged Pyotr Tchaikovsky's opera Mazeppa at the State Academic Bolshoi Theater. The director's latest work was the dramatic television series "Quiet Don" based on the novel by Mikhail Sholokhov. Filming took place in the early 1990s. with the participation of filmmakers from Russia, Great Britain and Italy. Due to the bankruptcy of the Italian producer's company, the filmed footage was outside Russia for more than ten years. In 2005, they were bought by Channel One, and the final editing of the series was carried out by the director’s son, Fyodor Bondarchuk. The premiere of “Quiet Don” took place in 2006 on Channel One. Since the 1970s taught at VGIK, was a university professor. Sergei Bondarchuk died on October 20, 1994 in Moscow at the age of 75. He was buried at the capital's Novodevichy cemetery.

In 1963-1990 Sergei Bondarchuk was a deputy of the Supreme Council of the RSFSR. In 1971-1986 was the secretary of the board of the Union of Cinematographers of the USSR.

Hero of Socialist Labor (1980). People's Artist of the USSR (1952).

He was awarded the Order of Lenin (1967, 1980), the Red Banner of Labor (1970), the October Revolution (1974), the Patriotic War, II degree (1985), and medals. Laureate of the Stalin Prize, 1st degree (1952), Lenin Prize (1960), State Prize of the RSFSR. Vasilyev brothers (1977), State Prize of the Ukrainian SSR named after. T. G. Shevchenko (1982), USSR State Prize in the field of literature, art and architecture (1984).

In 1981 he published the book “The Desire for a Miracle.”

Was married three times. The first wife is Evgenia Belousova. Son - Alexey (born 1944, mathematician). The second wife is People's Artist of the USSR Inna Makarova (1926-2020). Daughter - Honored Artist of the RSFSR, actress and director Natalya Bondarchuk (born 1950). The third wife was People's Artist of the RSFSR Irina Skobtseva (1927-2020). Daughter - actress Elena Bondarchuk (1962-2009). The son is actor and director Fyodor Bondarchuk (born 1967).

Personal life

Sergei Bondarchuk’s second wife, Inna Makarova (left), on the set of Sergei Gerasimov’s feature film “The Young Guard.” 1948. Photo: molodguard.ru

Sergei Bondarchuk as Othello and Irina Skobtseva as Desdemona in the feature film Othello by Sergei Yutkevich (1955)

Sergei Bondarchuk with his wife Irina Skobtseva. 1960s. Photo: Oleg Mertsedin / Multimedia art museum, Moscow

Sergei Bondarchuk was married three times. His first wife was Evgenia Belousova, whom the director met while studying at the Rostov Theater School. They separated after the war, when Bondarchuk went to enroll in a theater institute in Moscow. The marriage produced a son, Alexey.

The second wife of Sergei Bondarchuk was a classmate in Gerasimov’s workshop at VGIK, Inna Makarova. They married while filming The Young Guard in 1947. The actress recalled: “With him, I felt like a foolish girl - after all, when we got married, Sergei was already a grown man, who had gone through the front, who had once been married.” In 1950, Sergei Bondarchuk and Inna Makarova had a daughter, Natalya. The director and actress separated in 1958 during the filming of My Dear Man in 1958.

A year later, Bondarchuk married for the third time. His wife was actress Irina Skobtseva. They met on the set of the film Othello. In the film, Bondarchuk played Othello, and Skobtseva played Desdemona. They lived together for more than thirty years. Bondarchuk often featured his wife in his films, including War and Peace. Actress Klara Luchko wrote: “She was his inspiration, his muse. And these are not nice words. We, close friends, always noted how united they are, how they breathe the same air.” Their family had two children - daughter Alena and son Fedor. Alena Bondarchuk was a theater and film artist, and Fedor, in addition to acting, was involved in directing.

Sergei Bondarchuk has an eldest son. Why I avoided him all my life and what happened to Alexey

Until recently, it was believed that the famous film director Sergei Bondarchuk was married twice: to Inna Makarova, and then to Irina Skobtseva. And only a few years ago, journalists learned that in his youth Bondarchuk had another wife, who gave birth to his son Alexei.

Moreover, the circumstances of this marriage are so complicated and unusual that they could well serve as a plot for a series.

Military service cooled feelings for his young wife

Bondarchuk met Evgenia Belousova in the late 30s, when he studied at the Rostov Theater School. Evgenia worked at the Helicopter Plant’s House of Culture and, due to her line of work, often met with future artists.

Soon Sergei and Evgenia began to live together. True, they did not have time to formalize their relationship - the war began.

In 1943, Bondarchuk was drafted into the army. Leaving for the front, he did not know that he was leaving Evgenia not alone, but with their unborn child.

Sergei Bondarchuk in the film “Reider of the Golden Star” / Mosfilm

Apparently, military service cooled Sergei’s feelings for his young wife. In any case, after being demobilized in 1946, he did not return to Rostov, but went to Moscow and entered VGIK.

“She gave birth to Leshenka when Sergei was no longer around”

At the institute, Bondarchuk began an affair with his classmate Inna Makarova, and immediately after receiving his diploma he proposed to her.

At the same time, Sergei did not dare to admit to Inna that he still had another woman in Rostov. The future famous director simply erased that period from his life.

But the secret nevertheless became a reality. And quite unexpectedly.

One day, returning home from the theater, Makarova noticed from the threshold that her husband was somehow confused and frightened. Walking into the room, she saw a little boy on the sofa.

It turned out that this was Alyosha, Bondarchuk’s son, whom Evgenia Belousova brought to Moscow and left at the theater entrance.

“She gave birth to a son, Leshenka, when Sergei was no longer with her. Perhaps she hoped he would return. But this didn’t happen, and she gave him Alyosha,” said Makarova.

Much to Sergei’s surprise, Inna was delighted with the boy and said that she would raise him as her own son. And, indeed, Alyosha lived with them for some time.

“Seryozha went to Rostov for a long time”

But a few months later Belousova suddenly appeared. And not alone, but with members of the commission who demanded that Bondarchuk sign a document stating that he is Alexei’s father. When Sergei fulfilled this requirement, Evgenia immediately took the child.

About six months passed and Belousova again made herself known. It turned out that the paper signed by Bondarchuk was not enough to recognize paternity. In order for a boy to fully bear the surname Bondarchuk, it is necessary for Sergei and Evgenia to officially marry.

And a long epic of going through the courts began. After all, in order to marry Belousova, Sergei needed to divorce Makarova.

Inna Makarova in the film “Height” / Mosfilm

“Seryozha and I divorced, he registered a fictitious marriage with Evgenia, and only then was Lesha registered as him. All this lasted for several years. But then Serezha went to Rostov for a long time - Evgenia didn’t come to court, she didn’t want to get a divorce!” Makarova said.

By the time Sergei and Inna became spouses again, their daughter Natalya was already almost five years old.

“Seryozhenka, I can’t go on like this”

Marrying Bondarchuk for the second time, Makarova could not even imagine that two years later she would be divorcing him again.

This time the reason was not Belousova, but the young actress Irina Skobtseva, whom Bondarchuk met on the set of the film Othello.

According to Makarova, after the release of the film, Skobtseva did not give Bondarchuk passage - she kept watch near his house and theater, bombarded him with love letters.

“At first, Sergei and I threw away all these notes, but they kept coming. And I said: “Seryozhenka, I can’t go on like this.” We didn’t quarrel, but I couldn’t stand it and said that we needed to break up,” Makarova recalled.

In 1959, Bondarchuk and Skobtseva became husband and wife. In 1962, their daughter Alena was born, and in 1967, their son Fedor.

“Skobtseva immediately sent her husband to some sanatorium”

Around the mid-60s, Alexey unexpectedly arrived in Moscow and came straight from the station to Makarova. He said that he had finished school and decided to consult with his father about where to go.

Irina Skobtseva in the film “Othello” / Mosfilm

But Bondarchuk was not at all happy about his son’s arrival. He was just filming War and Peace and was busy all day on the set. Therefore, the famous director could not pay attention to Alexei.

For several days, Alexey wandered around the set, waiting for his father to have a free minute for him. But it never came.

Bondarchuk did not dare invite his son to his home - Skobtseva was categorically against it. Moreover, she forbade her husband to see not only Alexei, who came occasionally, but also Natasha, who lived in Moscow.

“Then Lesha still came, but as soon as he was going to meet his father, Skobtseva immediately sent her husband to some sanatorium. She also removed Sergei from my daughter,” Makarova said.

Alesya was never able to establish contact with his father. When he was in Moscow, he always stayed with Makarova, who accepted the guy as a family member. Alexey told her that he graduated from Foreign Languages in Rostov, got married, and had a son.

The last time Alexey came to the capital was in October 1994 for the funeral of Sergei Bondarchuk. After a while, Inna Makarova tried to find Alexey, but to no avail.

“I went to Rostov-on-Don last year and made every effort to find Alexey, who hasn’t called or written to me recently,” says Inna Vladimirovna. “But it turned out that even his own wife and son don’t know where he is!” His wife is good, she works at the local Cinema House, his son became a mathematician, a very smart guy. And Alexey himself hangs out, wanders and often does not live at home. Got down. I was very upset to hear this,” Inna Makarova said in an interview with Sobesednik in 2011.

Since then, nothing has been known about Bondarchuk’s eldest son.

Comments

Recent years: “Quiet Don”

Still from Sergei Bondarchuk’s feature film “Quiet Don” (2006)

In 1986, the leadership of the Union of Cinematographers was re-elected. Sergei Bondarchuk was not included in the updated composition. His work began to be criticized in the Soviet press, and no money was allocated for new projects. Since the mid-1980s, Bondarchuk has been working on a film adaptation of Mikhail Sholokhov's novel Quiet Don. He wanted to start filming the epic in 1986, but did not receive funds from Goskino.

“In the initial times of perestroika, there was not a single article in the press about cinema that did not vilify Bondarchuk. He wasn’t even chosen as a delegate to the USSR Cinematographers’ Congress. The perestroika “wind of change” slammed his film “Quiet Don,” which he was supposed to make for television. He wrote a script for 20 episodes, they said he needed 18 - he rewrote it, then they asked to leave 16 - again he rewrote everything completely. When it came to 13 episodes, he was told: the money allocated for “Quiet Don” would be better spent on agriculture.”
Directed by Georgy Danelia, “My Bondarchuk” (based on the book “Sergei Bondarchuk. His War and Peace”)

In 1990, Bondarchuk signed a contract with the Italian company International Cinema Company and began filming Quiet Don. The director invited English actor Rupert Everett to play the role of Grigory Melekhov, and Bondarchuk’s daughter Alena played Natalya Melekhova, his wife. “Quiet Don” was filmed in eleven months - by August 1992 it was ready. Editing and dubbing of the film began, but at the same time the Italian company declared itself bankrupt, and all the materials of the film were seized by the creditor bank. Work on “Quiet Don” stopped, and Bondarchuk began to have serious health problems. The director never saw Quiet Don in theaters. He died on October 20, 1994 in Moscow. The cause of death was serious illness. Sergei Bondarchuk was buried at the Novodevichy cemetery.

“Quiet Don” was completed by Fyodor Bondarchuk twelve years after his father’s death. A seven-part television film was released in 2006.