The wife of Arkady Raikin - Ruth Markovna Ioffe - was born in 1915 in Romny in the Sumy region of Ukraine. A little later, her family moved to Leningrad. Here the daughter of the famous doctor Mark Ioffe and met her future famous husband.
Arkady Raikin was a very charming and charismatic person. There were always women around him. Happened to the actor and novels on the side. However, his only and greatest love has always remained only his wife - Ruth Ioffe.
Acquaintance
Drew attention to the attractive, very serious girl Ruth Arkady Raikin, while still studying in high school. Already in his youth, the future great actor was truly in love with the theater. And of course, Arkady also participated in school amateur performances.
Once the theatrical circle of the future all-Union celebrity was invited to perform at a nearby school. For the first time in the audience, Raikin saw Ruth or, as everyone around her, Roma. Later, the young man met a girl he liked several times on the street. However, out of modesty, he did not dare to approach her then.
Arkady invited Ruth to the first date only when the young people were already studying at the Leningrad College of Performing Arts. Raikin accidentally saw Roma in the cafeteria of the college and finally decided to talk to her, inviting the girl to the cinema.
Wedding
A stormy romance between young people began from the very first meeting. However, the girl's parents, unfortunately, opposed the relationship between Arkady and Ruth. In their opinion, the daughter of a famous doctor, who is also the brother of academician-physicist Ioffe, should not meet with the future "circus clown".
In order to drive Raikin away from Ruth, her father and stepmother even took her away from the city - to their dacha. But such a trifling obstacle, of course, could not stop the young lover Raikin. Somehow - on carts and cross-chairs, the future actor got to Ruth's dacha.
All the way, Raikin rehearsed a heated speech, with the help of which he intended to win the favor of his beloved's parents. However, in the end, the young man was not even allowed to enter the door.
Whatever it was, but after Ruth's return to Leningrad, young people began to meet again - this time in secret from their parents. Ultimately, Roma's stepmother and father were forced to come to terms and stopped interfering with the relationship of lovers.
There is a legend in the theatrical world about how, graduating from the technical school, Raikin invited Ruth's parents to his graduation performance. Having admired the talent of the daughter's chosen one, the stepmother and father of Roma, allegedly, immediately agreed to the marriage of young people.
The wedding of Arkady Raikin and Ruth Ioffe took place in 1935. Immediately after the wedding, the young couple moved to live in the rich house of Roma's parents.
Turmoil
Raikin's relationship with the parents of his beloved did not work out right away. The actor, who was then gaining popularity, did not like the fact that Ruth's stepmother treated him like a child. In addition, Arkady, who was born into a poor family, was annoyed by the eternal talk about new acquaintances, fashion and prices for expensive clothes.
Due to constant tension and quarrels with Ruth's stepmother, Arkady Raikin soon even suffered health problems. At the age of only 26, the artist suffered a heart attack. At the same time, the parodist's illness was so severe that doctors practically did not give him a chance. It was after a heart attack that Raikin had his famous gray strand in his hair.
Tired of constant scandals, at one point Arkady simply took the daughter Katya, who was already born to the couple, from his mother-in-law's house and went with her to his parents. As soon as Ruth found out about what had happened, she immediately followed her husband.
Raikin's parents received the young couple very warmly. In addition, the actors were soon given their own room in a communal apartment. Ruth and Arkady subsequently lived in this small room for many years.
War
During the Second World War, Arkady Raikin toured a lot on the fronts, speaking in front of the soldiers. Ruth Ioffe accompanied him on these trips, taking part, among other things, in his performances and numbers.
Daughter Katya, who was not yet 3 years old, was left by her parents to be raised by a strange woman in Tashkent. Unfortunately, Katya was not well taken care of in this house. The woman hid her husband and sons hiding from mobilization in her basement and spent all the money sent by the Raikins mainly on them.
Katya got practically nothing and in the end she became very weak. However, the war soon ended, and the parents took the emaciated girl home.
Hobbies
The charming Raikin has never been a too exemplary family man. The actor had a lot of hobbies throughout his life. Ruth Markovna, as a wise woman, treated her husband's intrigues calmly, knowing that Arkady both easily catches fire and cools down quickly.
Only once did Raikin start a serious affair with the dazzlingly beautiful actress Garen Zhukovskaya and even wanted to leave the family. Ruth Markovna, at that time already carrying a second child under her heart, was very worried about her husband's betrayal and cried a lot. However, in the end, Raikin still decided to stay in the family.
The son Kostya, who was born soon after, reconciled the couple altogether. Subsequently, Ruth Markovna never reminded Raikin of his novel.
At one time, Roma herself gave the actor a reason to worry. The fact is that before the war, Leonid Brezhnev himself began to look after Raikin's wife, although he had not yet been appointed to the post of general secretary. For some time, Ruth Markovna, out of politeness, accepted the advances of Leonid Ilyich, but nevertheless she always remained faithful to Raikin.
Roma Ioffe and Arkady Raikin lived a long and happy life. Ruth Markovna outlived her husband for several years and until her death spoke of him with great warmth and love.
