4 women in the life of Vasily Shukshin: Why the director called his family life scabies

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

Vasily Shukshin was one of the brightest directors, actors and writers in Soviet times. Surprisingly, this seemingly quite ordinary person had some incredible charisma. He was very popular with women and never lacked their attention. Usually his name is associated with Lydia Fedoseeva, who became his last wife and mother of two daughters. Before meeting with the actress, Vasily Shukshin managed to be married three times, but he even called his life with his last wife "scabies".

Maria Shumskaya

Masha was considered one of the first beauties in the village of Srostki, Altai Territory, where Vasily Shukshin was born and raised. Boys fell in love with a girl and even fought over her. One of Maria's admirers even threatened to commit suicide, because she did not accept his courtship.

But the villagers did not even know that Maria was meeting with Vasily Shukshin. Everyone thought about a simple friendship, although her friends noticed: the girl was always looking forward to his return, and invariably refused the offers of other guys.

In 1954 Vasily entered VGIK. By that time, he had already served in the navy, worked as a mechanic, teacher and even director of a rural school. And after completing the first year, Shukshin came to Srostki and immediately married Maria. True, in the very first minutes after marriage, the newlyweds quarreled violently. From the registry office, the future actor returned alone and, according to the recollections of relatives, complained for a long time and distressed that he had married unsuccessfully. And soon he went to the capital again, leaving his young wife at home.

As it turned out, Maria Shumskaya flatly refused to go with her husband to Moscow. He could not even imagine such a turn of events. And three years later, Maria received a letter from her husband. The writer informed his wife that he had another woman and asked Maria for a divorce. The wife answered him with a categorical refusal.

Subsequently, Vasily Shukshin lost his passport and received a new one, which no longer had a marriage stamp. And his first wife kept her passport for many years, in which she was still listed as the wife of Vasily Shukshin. But he already had a completely different life and a different wife.

Victoria Sofronova

He often had novels, and Vasily even brought the girls to his native village to introduce him to his mother. But Maria Sergeevna did not approve of a single candidate, she generally considered the young ladies of the capital too frivolous.

Victoria Sofronova was the daughter of the famous writer and poet Anatoly Sofronov, she served as the editor of a popular magazine, and was engaged in literary criticism. According to Victoria Sofronova herself, she became the reason for the separation of Vasily Shukshin from Bella Akhmadulina.

They met in the Central House of Writers, where the writer came along with the poetess, the romance with whom had almost come to its logical end. Ironically, Vasily Shukshin found himself at a table directly opposite Victoria and did not take his eyes off her all evening.

Sofronova did not look away, although she usually did not differ in courage in relationships with men. After that evening, Shukshin himself found Victoria, began an affair, and soon they already lived together. In 1965, their daughter Catherine was born, although at that time Vasily Shukshin had already parted with Sofronova and married actress Lydia Alexandrova.

However, their relationship continued for quite some time. Ekaterina Vasilievna, Shukshin's daughter, told how her father returned to her mother several times. But they could not live together. Vasily Shukshin was painfully quick-tempered, and he also had a weakness for women.

Lydia Alexandrova

The second official wife of Vasily Shukshin was Lydia Alexandrova (Chashchina by her second husband). Their marriage lasted three years, but from the very beginning it was neither simple nor cloudless. Already being the husband of Lydia Alexandrova, the writer continued to visit Victoria Sofronova, and he had other hobbies on the side. However, Vasily Shukshin himself at that time wrote to his mother that he was completely entangled in women. Indeed, in the same year, when he married a second time, he met Lydia Fedoseeva.

The second wife recalled more than once that the years of her life with the writer turned into one big test for her. They rented an apartment in which she often remained completely alone. The husband then went to Victoria Sofronova, then to his new friend Lydia Fedoseeva. The parting as a result turned out to be stormy and ugly.

Even the joint photographs and letters addressed to her by Shukshin, Lydia Aleksandrova tore into small pieces and threw them right in the face of her husband. The only thing that the actress regrets is that she never gave birth to a child, got rid of pregnancy, fearing disorder.

Lydia Fedoseeva-Shukshina

It seems that in a marriage with an actress Vasily Shukshin found the long-awaited peace, warmth and comfort, to which he strove all his life. Two daughters, Maria and Olga, were born, and the writer himself, after their birth, seemed to have calmed down, became more restrained in displaying emotions, for a while he even quit drinking.

In general, he was touchingly gentle with Olga and Maria, did not hesitate to tell them about his love, and he did not leave the elder Katya with his attention. Even when he was shooting his films and was ready to disappear at work day and night, if his wife called and said that one of the girls was sick, Vasily Shukshin dropped everything and went home.

Of course, there were quarrels in their lives, but Vasily Makarovich loved the family. Director of photography Anatoly Zabolotsky, with whom the writer and director worked together on the films Stove Benches and Kalina Krasnaya, recalled how once Vasily Shukshin came to him with a folding bed and lived for several days. And then the call rang and Lydia Fedoseeva handed the phone over to Masha and Olya. After that, Vasily Makarovich was getting ready to go home.

Every time, grumbling and calling his family life "scabies", Vasily Shukshin went home. And he could not have lived for a long time without his wife and children.

After the sudden death of Vasily Makarovich, his widow did not leave the house for almost a year, unable to come to terms with the loss. Subsequently, she was more than once married, but today she calls Vasily Shukshin her main love.

The last film work and the pinnacle of the creative path of Vasily Shukshin was the film "Kalina Krasnaya", which received several prizes at Russian and foreign film festivals. There are many interesting details left behind the scenes: the audience did not know that one of the heroines was a resident of the village in which the shooting took place, and real bandits became the director's consultants.