What Porthos cannot forgive himself from the cult film "D'Artagnan and the Three Musketeers": The Tragedy of Valentin Smirnitsky

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

He learned the taste of fame early and was able to fully enjoy the benefits of his fame. Valentin Smirnitsky does not hide: there were many hobbies in his life, he received a lot from life, but fate was not always favorable to the actor. He was not used to pouring out his soul into the public and lamenting his losses. He knows what it means to lose loved ones, but one of the losses still makes Valentin Smirnitsky's heart shrink with pain.

Escape to another life

Georgy Ivanovich, the father of Valentin Smirnitsky, was a screenwriter, was engaged in documentaries, but the future actor in childhood was very little interested in cinema. He, like all the boys of that time, preferred to learn about life in the post-war Moscow courtyards. Valentin studied without much zeal, but he was engaged in amateur performances with pleasure. When Valentin Smirnitsky was expelled from school for a fight, he switched to evening and at the same time began to attend a theater studio in Zamoskvorechye.

The decision to enter the theater became quite natural, and Valentin Smirnitsky took the path of least resistance: he submitted documents to the Shchukin school, which was located next to the house where he lived. He plunged headlong into student life, thus trying to escape from the bleak reality.

By the time Valentin Smirnitsky entered the school, his father fell seriously ill, he was diagnosed with cerebral sarcoma, followed by his grandmother, who lived with them. All the worries of housekeeping, caring for loved ones and raising a ten-year-old daughter fell on the shoulders of the mother. And besides, she became the only breadwinner in the family. The actor admitted in one of his interviews: at that time he ran away from home at every opportunity. The feeling of guilt came to him later, when his father had already passed away.

In his student years, he had an affair with Lyudmila Pashkova, the daughter of Anatoly Kolevatov, director of Lenkom. Marrying Lyudmila seemed like a good chance to start an independent life.

In 1973, Valentin Smirnitsky got married, the bride's parents helped the newlyweds with an apartment, but this did not save the marriage. After only two years, the family broke up, as the actor admits, only through his fault. Too overwhelmed by his bohemian life. After the divorce, Valentin Smirnitsky moved to a theater hostel.

An irreparable loss

The second time, the actor got married pretty quickly, especially since he had a relationship with the translator Irina Kovalenko during his first marriage. The actor made friends with his wife's daughter from his first marriage, and after the birth of his son Ivan, it seemed to him that life had finally improved. But Irina Kovalenko could not cope with the glory that had befallen her husband.

After the release of the film "D'Artanyan and the Three Musketeers", the fans did not give the actor a pass, and he himself did not deny himself the pleasure. The attention of the fair sex flattered him, but his wife was not at all ready for the fact that she would have to share her husband with thousands of fans. As a result, the family broke up when his son Ivan was six years old.

For the most part, his grandmothers were involved in his upbringing, and his father, due to constant employment in the theater and cinema, communicated very little with the heir. The ex-wife in every possible way protected Ivan from meetings with his father, and Valentin Smirnitsky himself was content with occasional meetings with him and rare phone calls.

The actor found out that his son was using drugs too late, when Ivan first got into intensive care with an overdose. Irina Kovalenko knew about the problem, but hid it from her ex-husband. Valentin Smirnitsky rushed to save his son, withdrawing all his earnings for his treatment. He was able to arrange Ivan in a youth camp for the rehabilitation of drug addicts in France, from where the young man returned six months later refreshed.

Then he entered the Timiryazev Academy, which, however, never finished his studies. He got married and seemed to be able to get rid of the addiction. But three years after the death of his mother, who died of a heart attack, he broke down. Valentin Smirnitsky learned about the death of his son from an overdose when he was on tour in America. He did not have time for the funeral …

Ivan Smirnitsky was only 26 years old, and the actor still cannot talk about him calmly, although two decades have passed.

Happiness on the fourth try

In the third marriage with art critic Elena Shporina, Valentin Smirnitsky had a daughter. Elena already had an adult daughter, and when the latter gave birth to baby Martha, the father of the newborn had already disappeared in an unknown direction. Valentin Smirnitsky helped educate Martha, and the girl, having started talking, suddenly began to call the actor dad. And even when I grew up and understood all the complexities of family ties, I still asked Viktor Smirnitsky for permission to continue to address him as a father.

Relations with Elena Shporina went wrong while Valentin Smirnitsky was engaged in saving his son, but he continues to communicate with Martha to this day.

After the divorce, the actor could not come to his senses: the death of his son, divorce, life in a hostel completely unsettled him. The difficult 1990s were in the yard, he was already more than 50 years old, and very vague prospects loomed ahead. As you know, at that time theater and cinema were not in the best position.

Lydia Ryabtseva then worked as deputy director of the Theater of the Moon, where Valentin Smirnitsky came. Her marriage was already cracking at all the seams, in her arms were two daughters, 14 and 11 years old. Porthos was once Lydia Nikolaevna's favorite hero, and Valentin Smirnitsky was her favorite actor. It seems that feelings between them arose on the very first day of meeting.

At first, they hid their relationship from everyone, after they lived together for 4 years, and for more than 15 years Valentin Smirnitsky and Lydia Nikolaevna have been married. Happy and calm. Lydia Ryabtseva leads the house and the whole family, she has a strong-willed character and a talent for organizing.

It is next to her that the actor feels calm and confident. It seems that on the fourth attempt he found that very quiet harbor, from which one does not want to leave anywhere.

For what the critics did not scold this film: for an uncomplicated plot, for pretense, for misrepresenting historical facts and even for the operetta voices of the actors. As a result, this Soviet three-part adventure film with Mikhail Boyarsky in the title role has become a classic of Soviet cinema, beloved by the audience.