Acting dynasty Menglet: Why the family of the stars of the film "It Was in Penkovo" does not speak Russian

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

They say that talent is not inherited, but the example of this family testifies to the opposite - there are exceptions to every rule. Three generations of the Menglet family have been associated with the world of cinema and theater, and they all have achieved considerable success in the acting profession. However, they are rarely remembered at home: the name of the founder of the acting dynasty has long been forgotten, and his daughter and grandchildren have hardly been mentioned since they left the country. For what Maya Menglet, who played the main role in the film "It Was in Penkovo", could not forgive her father, and how her son changed her fate - further in the review.

They owed their rare surname to their father's ancestor: the French captain of the Napoleonic army, Louis Menglet, after the war of 1812, decided to stay in Russia. He converted to Orthodoxy, married Fyokla Grozhitskaya, achieved admission to the Russian army, and in 1830, together with his wife and son, was included in the genealogy book of the nobility of the Podolsk province. The grandson of Ludovik Menglet, Vladimir Antonovich, moved to Voronezh. One of his six children - Pavel - became the father of George Menglet, the founder of the acting dynasty.

Georgy Menglet grew up in Voronezh. Back in his school years, he began to study in a theater group and perform on the stage of an amateur theater in a local recreation center. Paying attention to his talent, the teachers advised him to go to Moscow and enter a theater university. The mother of his classmate, who was Stanislavsky's own niece, wrote him a letter of recommendation, but Georgy did not use it - he wanted to be convinced of his own strength. In 1930 he was enrolled in CETETIS (later - GITIS). Already in his student years, Menglet began performing on the theater stage.

Even in his youth, Georgy Menglet received the title of Honored Artist of the Tajik SSR - he founded the Russian Drama Theater in Stalinabad (Dushanbe), on the stage of which he played over 20 roles, and then became artistic director of the First Front Theater of the Tajik SSR. After the war, the actor returned to Moscow and was accepted into the troupe of the Theater of Satire, where he performed until the end of his life. On the screens, Georgy Menglet appeared mainly in films-performances, he did little in films, since he considered theater to be his main vocation. "" - he said.

After graduation, Georgy Menglet married actress Valentina Koroleva, the couple had a daughter, Maya, who later said: "". After marriage and the birth of a child, the Queen devoted herself to her family, pushing her own acting career into the background. And when, due to the infection, she recovered greatly, she was fired from the theater, and she was left without work. Maya recalled that they had a real cult of their father in their family - even in the cold, the girl had to walk on the street, and when she froze, she ran to her friend, because her father was resting at home before the performance, and he could not be disturbed.

At the age of 8, Maya Menglet first came to the set, starring in an episode of the film "Lermontov", in which her father played. And after 10 years she entered the Moscow Art Theater School, after which she became an actress of the Stanislavsky Theater. All-Union fame came to her at the age of 22, when Maya Menglet played the role of livestock technician Tony in the film "It Was in Penkovo", which became one of the leaders of the box office in 1958. This film was a success at international film festivals, and together with Vyacheslav Tikhonov and Svetlana Druzhinina Maya Menglet visited many countries. Abroad, everyone was delighted with her non-classical beauty and nicknamed her the Soviet Sophia Loren.

However, the joy of success in the profession was overshadowed by the events that took place in their family. In 1961 Georgy Menglet left Valentina Koroleva for another actress of the Theater of Satire, Nina Arkhipova. Maya took this as a betrayal, because her mother devoted her whole life to him. For many years she did not communicate with her father, unable to forgive him for this choice. In addition, Maya felt guilty about the divorce of her parents: "".

Maya gave birth to her son Alexei at the age of 18, in her first marriage, which did not last long. Soon she married a second time, to the actor Leonid Satanovsky, they had a son, Dmitry. Neither after the first nor after the second marriage, the actress changed her last name. Her sons also bear the surname Menglet - the dynasty was to continue.

In the 1960-1970s. Maya Menglet continued to act in films, but none of these films were as popular as "It Was in Penkovo." However, she received offers infrequently, which she explained as follows: "". This did not bother her as long as she had the opportunity to perform on the stage. But in the 1990s. with the arrival of the new leadership, both she and her husband began to have difficulties in the theater, and in 2000 both of them were left without work.

At that time, both sons of the actress emigrated abroad. Back in the 1970s. the eldest son Alexei married a student at Moscow State University from Germany and left for Hamburg. Prior to that, he managed to graduate from GITIS and play in several Soviet films. A few years later, his family moved to Australia, where Alexey successfully continued his acting career and is still acting in films, performing on the theater stage, working on radio and television. The youngest son Dmitry graduated from Moscow State University and devoted his life to science. In the 1990s. he also decided to move to Australia.

Sons have long suggested that their parents move to them in Melbourne, but they doubted for a long time. But, left without work, the couple found themselves in a hopeless situation and decided to move. This choice was not easy for them, the actress said: "". Maya's grandchildren, to her great regret, are real Australians, they hardly speak Russian anymore …

And this beautiful melodrama still does not lose popularity in the homeland of the actress: Behind the scenes of the film "It Was in Penkovo".