"Return of Budulai" 33 years later: How the fate of the actors

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

On July 1, the most popular actress Clara Luchko could have turned 93, but she has been dead for 13 years. One of her most striking roles was Klavdia Petrovna in the films "Gypsy" and "Return of Budulai". After that, she continued to act in films, unlike many of her colleagues - for example, Budulai himself (actor Mihai Volontir) was no longer seen by viewers on the screens, like the gypsies Nastya (Matlyuba Alimova).

One of the main cultural events in 1980 was called the release of the film "The Gypsy", and 5 years later its success was repeated by the continuation - "The Return of Budulai". Initially, no continuation was supposed, and the hero of Volontir was supposed to die at the end of the 4th episode of "The Gypsy". Clara Luchko told: "". 33 years have passed since then, some of the actors are no longer alive, and for many these films became the only triumph in cinema, followed by years of oblivion …

The Moldovan actor Mihai Volontiru gained fame in adulthood - after he played Budulai. For this role, Nikolai Slichenko and Armen Dzhigarkhanyan passed tests, but Klara Luchko insisted on the candidacy of Mihai Volontir. The gypsies took the actor for their own and, wherever he appeared, approached and thanked him for this role. After filming, the actor returned to Balti (Moldova) and avoided communicating with journalists - the incredible fame rather frightened him than pleased him. In the 1990s. he stopped acting in films, serious health problems began. Due to diabetes, Volontir has undergone dozens of surgeries over the past 20 years. On September 15, 2015, at the age of 82, Mihai Volontir died.

Clara Luchko played her 40-year-old heroine Claudia when she was already under 60. But the audience did not notice this age difference - the actress looked great in her mature years. Together with Volontir, they looked so organically on the screens that they were immediately "married" in real life. For a very long time, Klara Luchko was called "Budulikha" on the streets, and she never tired of repeating that the affair with Budulay did not go beyond the redistribution of the set: "".

After filming, Klara Luchko and Mihai Volontir did not communicate for a long time and did not see each other until the actor began to have serious health problems. Back in the 1980s. he developed diabetes mellitus, due to complications of the disease, Volontir began to rapidly lose his sight. They needed money for an expensive operation, and upon learning of this, Klara Luchko initiated a fundraising campaign to help Volunteer. As a result, he underwent surgery, and he called the actress his guardian angel. After her triumph in cinema, Klara Luchko continued to act, but none of her works repeated the success of Budulaya. In the mid-1990s. the actress decided to leave the cinema. On March 26, 2005, Klara Luchko passed away. The cause of death was a detached blood clot.

While the audience was discussing the romance between Luchko and Volontir, on the set with him was his wife Efrosinya, who even starred in "Gypsy" in one of the episodes. The volunteer remained a monogamous person all his life, and Efrosinya devoted herself entirely to her family and caring for her husband and daughter. She never acted in films again.

When Alexei Nikulnikov was offered to play the role of Budulai Vanechka's son, he studied at the Rostov School of Arts. He was given a condition: either study, or shooting, and he wrote an application for expulsion. After filming, the actor stayed in Moscow, entered the Moscow Art Theater School. And during the crisis of cinema in the 1990s.he was forced to leave the acting profession, became a sailor, went on long-distance ships, worked on seiners, and lived for some time in New Zealand. Then he returned to Moscow, studied bardic songs, wrote music and poetry, gave concerts and worked on television. In the 2000s. Nikulnikov returned to cinema, played in several films and TV series.

Olga Zhulina, who played the daughter of Claudia Nyura, for some time continued to act in films and performed on the stage of the Mayakovsky Theater, and then graduated from directing courses and shot several films. In addition, Olga was engaged in advertising activities.

Nina Ruslanova got the role of Katerina's widow. Both before and after this film, she successfully acted in films, but these shootings left her with special memories: "".

By order of the "above", the real gypsies were not taken on the role. But there were also exceptions to the rule. For the filming of the wedding, the gypsies Nastya invited the inhabitants of a real camp. At the local bazaar, 20 of the most colorful gypsies were chosen, but the next day they came to the shooting together with relatives - only about 100 people. After they checked out of the hotel, it turned out that along with them they took towels, sheets and glasses for which the film crew had to pay. Sonya Timofeeva, who played Sheloro in the film, was also a real gypsy. She was an artist of the "Romen" theater and a soloist of the Mosconcert - she performed with gypsy songs and Russian romances. Timofeeva starred in several films, but the most famous work was "Gypsy".

Rudik Hovsepyan, who played the role of the gypsy Yegor, emigrated to America, where he worked as a journalist for the Armenian Vremya newspaper, and hosted programs on politics and art on television. He confessed that the films "Gypsy" and "Return of Budulai" were loved by local emigrants and all the actors who played there were called Budulai, including himself, an Armenian by nationality.

But for Matlyuba Alimova, who played the gypsy Nastya, this role became the only cinema triumph: Why the star "Budulaya" disappeared from the screens.