Why Sergei Bondarchuk avoided his eldest son throughout his life

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

When they talk about the great Soviet director Sergei Bondarchuk, they often think of his two wives - Inna Makarova and Irina Skobtseva, talented actresses. In two marriages of Sergei Fedorovich, three children were born: Natalya, Alena and Fedor. Almost no one knew about the director's eldest son Alexei. Sergei Bondarchuk never particularly sought to communicate with him, moreover, he had reasons to avoid his son.

A son

Inna Makarova claimed that Alexey, the director's eldest son, was born as a result of an accidental relationship. Allegedly, Sergei Bondarchuk spent only one night with the mother of his child. But there is another version of events. In some sources, you can find information that young people studied together at the Rostov Theater School, then went to the front together as part of concert brigades. Mutual sympathy arose between Evgenia Belousova and Sergei Bondarchuk, as a result of which a son, Alexei, was born in 1944.

Whatever it was, but Sergei Bondarchuk learned about the birth of his son a few years later, when he was already married to Inna Makarova. Evgenia Belousova arrived in the capital with a two-year-old baby and brought him to the apartment where the director lived with his wife. The actress later recalled how little Alyosha touched her. She was ready to raise the son of a loved one.

But this was not part of Evgenia Belousova's plans. Most likely, she hoped that the spouse would throw a scandal to Bondarchuk, and there it was not far before the divorce. When it was not possible to quarrel Sergei Fedorovich with his wife, Evgenia demanded that Bondarchuk recognize his son. At the same time, she did not need money, since her parents were quite wealthy people. But Sergei Bondarchuk was already known, and this could be beneficial.

In Soviet times, there was only one way to recognize a son as one of our own: creating a family with the child's mother. And Sergei Bondarchuk, for the sake of his son's surname, divorced his wife for a while and married Alexei's mother, whose marriage was terminated immediately after the completion of all the bureaucratic delays.

Evgenia Belousova remained to live with her child in Rostov-on-Don, Sergei Bondarchuk paid alimony for the maintenance of his son, and for some time the situation was settled. But after Sergei Bondarchuk's marriage to Irina Skobtseva, he almost stopped communicating with children from previous marriages. I rarely saw even Natasha, let alone Alexei, who lived far away. But the son grew up and wanted to meet dad, for which he came to Moscow at the age of 19.

Bad acquaintance

While the shooting of the film "War and Peace" was in progress, Sergei Bondarchuk spent 24 hours at work. Alyosha came to Inna Makarova, whom he remembered from childhood, and she already ordered a pass to the site for him. Immediately, the director did not even understand who was standing in front of him, and wanted to expel Alexei from the set, mistaking him for an outsider. Lyosha approached his father, introduced himself, and Sergey Bondarchuk was simply discouraged by this meeting. Alexey was very upset by the rather cold reception from his father. He later told Inna Makarova about the failed conversation, and it was clear how much the guy was worried.

Subsequently, Sergei Bondarchuk himself wrote out passes to the site for his son. True, in a conversation with Inna Makarova he admitted: he is incredibly ashamed of Alexei. While the father was busy, his son did not show much interest in the process of making the film, but he was rude to everyone right and left, and also molested young actresses. True, Sergei Bondarchuk did not find sympathy from his ex-wife. She only asked him who was to raise his son, if not himself?

Alexei left home with a huge grudge against his father. He realized that dad was not too happy with him and was not going to take him into his arms at all. Later, he came to Moscow several times, but always stayed with Inna Makarova, who tried to somehow warm the guy up. It cannot be said that she fully succeeded.

At the bottom

Alexey Bondarchuk graduated from the Institute of Foreign Languages, but he never worked in his specialty. However, it is not known whether he worked at all. At one time, he still called up with Inna Makarova, even wrote letters to her, but later he completely stopped communicating. Then Inna Makarova herself made an attempt to find the son of her ex-husband.

In 2010, she went to Rostov-on-Don, determined to find Alexei, no matter what it cost her. She was able to communicate with the wife and son of Alexei Bondarchuk, but they did not know where he disappeared. Alexey rarely appeared at home, preferring to spend time for his own pleasure. The son of the great director simply wandered. Inna Makarova was never able to help Alexei, it was simply not possible to find him.

Some mass media reported that Aleksey Bondarchuk had repeatedly come to the attention of law enforcement agencies, including for petty hooliganism, however, there was no information about bringing him to justice. Until her death, Inna Makarova believed that Alyosha grew up like this due to the absence of a father in his life. And Sergei Bondarchuk's refusal to accept his son aggravated the situation, which ultimately led to such a deplorable result.

Unfortunately, nothing else is known about the fate of the director's eldest son. His trace was lost somewhere in the streets of his native Rostov-on-Don.

Inna Makarova, who passionately wanted to help Alexei, was one of the most famous and sought-after actresses in the Soviet Union. She played many bright roles and devoted herself entirely to the profession. Her first marriage to director Sergei Bondarchuk, unfortunately, lasted only 12 years, and the divorce made a lot of noise at the time. Inna Makarova lived with the famous surgeon Mikhail Perelman for over 40 years. But the actress never officially became his wife.