The wife of Georgy Danelia is Galina Ivanovna Yurkova-Danelia, Soviet and Russian theater and film actress, director, gallery owner. Galina Ivanovna devoted her whole life to her husband, preferring a career to a quiet family life. The marriage of Danelia and Yurkova lasted more than 30 years.
Education and career of Galina Yurkova
Galina Ivanovna Yurkova was born on March 13, 1944 in Rudensk, Minsk region. In her youth, the girl was fond of gymnastics, studied at a ballet school, took piano lessons. Even at school, Galina participated in amateur performances, played in school plays. Her mother was a singer and supported her daughter's creative hobbies.
After graduating from school, the girl came to Moscow and entered the theater school. B. Shchukin. After graduation, having worked in 1970-1972 as an actress of the Moscow Academic Theater named after Vl. Mayakovsky, she decided to change her role and got a job as a correspondent for the Committee on Radio and Television.
In 1979, Yurkova graduated from the directing department of VGIK in the workshop of I. Talankin. The actress played small roles in the films "The Train Stopped", "Nerves, Nerves", "Kin-dza-dza", "Frenchman". Her directorial works were tapes: "Frenchman", "Joke ?!.." and "God's Creature".
Acquaintance and the beginning of a relationship with Georgy Danelia
Georgy Nikolaevich Danelia - Soviet and Russian film director, actor, screenwriter, People's Artist of the USSR at the time of his acquaintance with Galina had a marriage with Irina Ginzburg behind him and was in a relationship with Lyubov Sokolova.
The first meeting with Galina in the bar of the Rossiya hotel did not become fateful. Galina was then still a minor student at the Shchukin School, and Georgy was experiencing creative drama because of the ban on filming the dramatic film Hadji Murad.
Later, Yurkova, during her passion for journalism as a correspondent, interviewed Georgy for the radio. In her youth, Galina married her classmate in the directing department of VGIK, gave birth to a son, Kirill, but soon the marriage broke up.
The next meeting between the actress and Georgy Danelia was significant. Galina accidentally ran into him at Mosfilm and barely recognized him. The famous director, after a serious illness, barely resembled the George, whom she once met. Exhausted, worn out, emaciated, he was a pale shadow of himself.
Yurkova rushed to save the director, took him to doctors and hospitals, selflessly looked after. At the same time, her role as a sister of mercy gradually turned into the role of a beloved woman and a muse of a creative person.
By that time, Georgy Nikolaevich had left Lyubov Sokolova, finally falling in love with Galina Yurkova. It was the meeting with this merciful woman that turned the impetuous and ardent Georgian Danelia into an exemplary family man. Georgy Danelia himself became a warm dear person for her.
Family life of Georgy Danelia and Galina Yurkova
Georgy Danelia invited Galina to accept him as he is and put a silver ring on her finger, inherited from her mother. The marriage of a movie star with Galina Yurkova caused a lot of rumors in the acting environment, discussions and even tragedies. The Mosfilm team even tried to boycott the director. But all these passions subsided over time, and the love of two people remained.
Galina Ivanovna became a real wife of a genius, a keeper of the hearth and a wonderful friend to her husband. Even Danelia's skeptical colleagues later admitted that he made the right choice.
In their house, two talented people, two leaders, were able to get along in a bizarre way. At the same time, each of them turned out to be quite comfortable. George taught Galina's son Kirill to play the guitar and draw.
Immediately after the official marriage, Georgy Danelia showed himself to be a real house builder, forcing his wife to almost completely change her image. From a socialite, she turned into a modest housewife, buttoned up with all buttons. He categorically forbade her to make films as a director. Galina herself did not like the experience of cooperation with Danelia in the role of the second director in the film "Kin-dza-dza".
Since then, Galina Yurkova has been involved in the Georgy Danelia Foundation, and also owns one of the leading Russian art galleries, Pan-Dan. Georgy Danelia died on April 4, 2019 in Moscow at the age of 89, his loving wife was with him until the very end.
