The wife, and now a widow, of Sergei Bondarchuk is the famous actress Irina Skobtseva. She was considered one of the most talented and beautiful actresses in the USSR, and in her creative biography there are about seventy works.
Biography
Irina was born in Tula in 1927, in an ordinary family, far from creativity. Dad was a research assistant, and mom worked in the city archive.
Initially, the family was quite wealthy, but then the situation changed. After the birth of the girl, the parents had to take turns with her, which greatly affected the family budget. Irina's grandmother and aunt volunteered to help the parents with the child; it was with them that the baby spent a lot of time and learned to read.
Since childhood, she was an active, lively and gifted child, was interested in theater, music and painting. Irina studied music and vocals, went to the drawing circle and often asked her grandmother to take her to the theater.
When the girl was thirteen years old, the terrible Great Patriotic War began. Very early, Ira learned what fear, pain, death and hunger are.
She mastered the ninth and tenth grade programs almost independently. After receiving a certificate, Irina entered the Moscow State University at the Faculty of History with a degree in art history.
As a young student at Moscow State University, Skobtseva participated in almost all student performances, performances and amateur art competitions. Theatrical life so captivated the girl that after graduating from university she entered the Nemirovich-Danchenko Studio School at the Moscow Art Theater, where she studied until 1955.
After successfully graduating from the Moscow Art Theater, Irina played at the Film Actor's Studio Theater. In 1971 she was invited to teach acting at VGIK. After six years of working with students, she became an assistant professor of the department.
Creation
During her final year at the Moscow Art Theater, Skobtseva starred with Sergei Yutkevich as Desdemona in the film adaptation of Shakespeare's world-famous tragedy Othello.
The director made a tough selection, and Irina was chosen among several hundred applicants. This role made her famous all over the world. At the Cannes Film Festival, the young actress received the title of "Miss Charm of the Cannes Film Festival."
After Skobtseva's first success, many proposals began to come from various directors. She has played over seventy roles in motion pictures. Most often, these were lyrical and characteristic images in popular films.
Her iconic works were the films: "War and Peace", "An Ordinary Man", "They Fought for the Motherland", "White Nights", "Gadfly", "Quiet Don", "Unique Spring" and others.
Being in a venerable age, Irina Konstantinovna does not stop working, although, of course, not as actively as before. The actress took part in many projects, including "Inhabited Island", historical drama "White Guard", melodramas "Family Dinner", "Heirs" and others.
One of the last works of Skobtseva was shooting in the children's mystical adventure film "The Mystery of the Dark Room" and in the film "Dangerous Vacations".
In 1965, Skobtseva was awarded the title of Honored Artist of the RSFSR, and in 1974 she became a People's Artist. The actress also has the Order of Friendship.
In January 2017, Skobtseva held a personalized creative evening at the Moscow Art Theater. The event was attended by famous actors, cinema, theater and literature figures. The artists took the stage and shared interesting memories of their favorite heroine of the evening.
Personal life
Back in her student years, Irina Skobtseva met Alexei Adzhubeev. He was a student at the Faculty of Journalism, and earlier the young man had already received a theater education.
Young people fell in love with each other and in 1945 they formalized their relationship. However, four years later, the family broke up. Adzhubeev left Irina for Rada Khrushcheva.
In 1955, while filming Othello, Irina had an affair with Sergei Bondarchuk, her main film partner. But the relationship was not easy, because Bondarchuk was officially married to another woman.
Only four years later, Irina and Sergei managed to become a real family. They lived for more than thirty years, until the death of Sergei Fedorovich.
The marriage could not be destroyed neither by rumors of the spouses' infidelity, nor by speculation that their union is a real Semitic conspiracy.
Irina and Sergei had two children - daughter Alena and youngest son Fedor. The children continued the work of their famous parents. Alena became a famous actress, and Fedor followed in his father's footsteps and is now a director and makes films.
Parents are proud of their children and are glad that they saw their successful creative implementation.
Unfortunately Irina Konstantinovna had to endure two grievous losses. Her husband and daughter have passed away. Daughter Alena, a popular theater and film actress, died of cancer in 2009.
Irina Skobtseva is reluctant to speak to the press about her losses. She bitterly declares that it is simply impossible to cope with such pain to the end.
Irina Konstantinovna has favorite grandchildren - Konstantin Kryukov, Varvara and Sergey Bondarchuk, as well as great-granddaughters Margarita, Julia and Vera. The eldest grandson Kostya continued the creative dynasty and chose the acting path.
Literature is one of Skobtseva's hobbies. The artist collects memoirs of famous people and books about cinema and theater.
In the spring of 2017, Irina Skobtseva and her son opened the memorial office of Sergei Bondarchuk in the Glavkino complex. The exhibition is based on the world famous painting by Bondarchuk "War and Peace". The room contains the director's real table and chair, as well as his other things related to the world of cinema.
