The last love of Georgy Danelia: How did Galina Yurkova conquer the king of comedy

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

The famous director was considered loving in a Caucasian way and not inclined to create a stable family. He broke up with his first wife a year after the marriage, and even the high position of his father-in-law did not stop him. Lyubov Sokolova, whose attention he had been seeking for a long time, Georgy Danelia never took to the registry office, although she was almost an ideal wife. And only Galina Yurkova, who never dreamed of marriage with Danelia, made him an exemplary family man.

She walks through life laughing …

It seems that everything and has always been given to her with incredible ease. In the Minsk school where she studied, Galina always played the role of Cinderella. And no one dared to contradict the girl, although her external data did not at all correspond to the image of a miniature heroine. And the schoolgirl just liked this role, which she tried on herself, knowing for sure: time will pass, and she will turn from a simple schoolgirl into a queen.

After receiving the certificate, she went to Moscow, easily entered the Shchukin school and immediately made a lot of useful acquaintances, without even thinking about it even once. One of her first friends in the capital was Misha Kalinin, the grandson of the “all-Union headman”. Misha did not harbor any romantic feelings about her, but at the same time invited the unfamiliar girl to settle in his huge apartment on Alexei Tolstoy Street, where Galina subsequently lived for several years.

Galina Yurkova was only 18 when Georgy Danelia first appeared in her life. It was at the film festival in the bar of the hotel "Moscow". The director instantly noticed a pretty girl and immediately decided to meet her. But she reacted to the signs of attention from him very categorically. Galina asked him to stay behind, since Danelia was not very sympathetic to her.

Then they met some time later, when Galina worked as a radio journalist and interviewed Danelia. And then they constantly crossed paths, met at events and visiting mutual acquaintances.

Galina got married, gave birth to a son, divorced and still did not consider George Danelia as a man. When she was going to enter VGIK, he, seeing Galina among the applicants, immediately offer to enroll not in his course, but in the course to Igor Talankin.

By that time, even the legendary Marcel Marceau had fallen victim to the beauty and charm of Galina Yurkova. He often offered the girl his hand and heart, wrote touching letters to her and considered him his guardian angel. True, Galina did not respond to his advances, although she received letters from France almost until the last day of the life of the great mime.

However, the circle of men conquered by Galina was very wide. Foreign journalists, diplomats, cameramen, even Andrei Tarkovsky himself, with whom Galina Yurkova had a short affair. And only Georgy Danelia walked somewhere along the edge for a long time, without straining and not particularly reminding about himself.

Love that never ends

Once she met him at Mosfilm and was literally horrified by the appearance of Georgy Danelia. He has grown very thin, aged and seemed to be shorter. Shortly before this meeting, the director had his gallbladder removed, and Galina realized that he needed to be urgently saved. She was generally a sister of mercy and rushed to help everyone who needed her. This time she took Georgy Nikolaevich to Djuna, who at that time was at the peak of her popularity and tirelessly treated the mighty of this world.

True, Danelia Juna did not help, but the joint campaigns of the two people contributed to their rapprochement. Galina and Georgy Nikolaevich began to communicate a lot, gradually getting closer, after they already began to meet. He came to her after filming, even when she was not at home herself, played with her son, sang songs with a guitar … And one day he came, laid out his simple belongings on the table and told him to accept him as he is. And only later, as if in passing, he said: I forgot to tell her to marry him. And put a silver ring on her finger, inherited from her mother.

Galina felt sorry for Lyubov Sokolov like a woman, but she did not want to sacrifice herself to other people's feelings, and even more so, pity. Danelia made his choice himself, without any pressure from Galina. For some reason, the director's decision to marry most of all hurt Victoria Tokareva, who convinced Georgy Nikolaevich of the erroneousness of his choice. However, Danelia himself was not going to listen to anyone.

He knew everything about this woman, and even a little more. And everything suited him in her: extraordinary attractiveness, willingness to be a submissive wife, the desire to reach the heights in the profession. She was not like anyone else and turned out to be the best of all whom Danelia knew before her.

At first, their family looked like a stronghold of Georgian traditions, with the most building patriarchy. Danelia told his wife to look modest, and she put on tightly buttoned suits with skirts. No high heels, no flashy makeup, and most importantly, no movie shoots. But Galina Danelia by the time of her marriage had already established herself as a promising director!

As a result, for some time she was an obedient wife, after which she tried to work with her husband as the second director on the film "Kin-dza-dza", instantly appreciating the futility and even destructiveness for the relationship of such a family contract. The strict husband had to give in, and Galina began to make films. And then she opened her own recording studio, became the owner of an art gallery and vice president of the film studio.

In a marriage with Galina, Danelia gave up alcohol, became an almost ideal husband, but his family, wife and children were never in the first place for him. He had a job, and everything else was just optional parts of life. Galina Ivanovna was not going to deny her husband the right to engage in work with enthusiasm and did not insist on her leadership in his life. However, she also had a different life, in which there was work, passion and, of course, family.

They could argue and prove their case, they could go about their business, but the most important thing in their life was: they were with each other and for each other. It never occurred to Galina to take offense at the strange actions of her husband. For example, he could take a bouquet from her hands, which he himself gave her five minutes ago, and immediately give it to a random acquaintance. However, this applied to everything: flowers, books, gifts, even weddings.

But this did not stop the two talented people from loving each other for 37 years. But who said that feelings disappear with life? Georgy Nikolaevich passed away in April 2019, and Galina Ivanovna continues to talk about him in the present tense. All with the same love and tenderness, as in the year when she agreed to become the wife of a genius.

Georgy Danelia is one of the leaders of Russian cinema, who can rightfully be called a “legendary director”. He directed the comedies beloved by millions of "Mimino" and "Kin-dza-dza", wrote scripts for the famous "Gentlemen of Fortune", played small roles in his films, and many directors and actors gratefully call him a teacher.