Veniamin Smekhov and Galina Aksenova: Sudden love and eternal spring

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

Veniamin Smekhov and Galina Aksenova love overtook suddenly and swiftly. And there was no strength to resist her pressure. Neither the past nor the future mattered, for them only the present existed, which was love.

Student love

Once a student at the Shchukin School Veniamin Smekhov gave himself his word that he would never marry an actress. They seemed too cutesy and mannered to him. Although the future actresses looked at him with obvious sympathy, he held on firmly.

And he married a charming girl Allochka, a student of the food institute. They met on vacation at a youth camp, and signed on the day when Benjamin Smekhov received his diploma of graduation.

A trip to Kuibyshev awaited him, where he asked himself, intoxicated by the romance of Aksenov's story "Colleagues". The young wife remained to wait for him in Moscow. The provincial reality was not at all what the beginning actor imagined. And no one was in a hurry to place a bet on him in the theater. A year later, after a tour in the capital, he came to the theater director Pyotr Lvovich Monastyrsky, with a request to let him go to Moscow. Pyotr Lvovich clearly understood the feelings of the young actor, so soon Smekhov was already looking for work in Moscow.

Finding Myself

It turned out to be not easy at all. The actor began to seriously think about changing his profession. In the end, he was admitted to the Taganka Theater. And all the same, for some time Smekhov was not confident in his abilities. When continuous rehearsals over poetic performances began, he finally felt himself in his place.

At the same time, there were changes in his family life. In 1963, their eldest daughter Elena was born with Alla, and in 1968 - Alika. He rushed home from rehearsal, took care of his girls. At that time, his wife worked a lot, and he took over most of the household chores. Then Helen became very ill, she periodically choked, suspicions arose that the girl had asthma. And Veniamin Borisovich, by hook or by crook, got a ticket for a full course of treatment for the girl in Feodosia.

There were many good, happy days in his family. But somehow it so happened that gradually he and Alla moved away from each other. Only daughters tied these two people already strangers to each other. Then he decided to live for the sake of his daughters and not expect anything more from life.

It was a sin for him to complain: his popularity was gaining momentum, and after the release of the film "D'Artagnan and the Three Musketeers" he became really famous. Now not only avid theatergoers recognized him on the streets. But fate was pleased to give him another chance to be happy.

Happiness named Galya

She came to the Taganka Theater as an intern at the literary part. The nineteen-year-old student of the Leningrad Institute of Performing Arts instantly attracted the attention of the entire male part of the troupe. Galina Aksenova, charmingly fragile, not fully aware of her own beauty, conquered even Vladimir Vysotsky.

Veniamin Smekhov did not even consider himself as a boyfriend. He was exactly twice as old and wiser for a lifetime. But what is wisdom and age when it comes to love? Love confused all his clever reasoning. She spun them both in an endless dance. And there was no strength to resist her pressure.

A romance for life

Of course, they tried to maintain maximum secrecy. But how can you hide happiness? Moreover, the lovers tried to spend every free minute together. She studied in St. Petersburg, but constantly flew to Moscow, where her parents lived. She passed the session ahead of schedule and went to where he was on tour. Of course, Smekhov's wife soon became aware of their romance.

The divorce was very difficult and very painful. It was not easy for all the participants in this difficult process. All the relatives suffered, the children were very worried. But Veniamin Borisovich knew that everything was for the sake of love. He loved and had no right to refuse love. He wanted to be happy again.

Not everyone accepted his decision. Many did not understand the actor. And then a difficult period began in the theater. Against the background of all the experiences, Veniamin Smekhov began to suffer from asthma. And Glasha, as he called his beloved at home, began to selflessly look after him. She was always on the alert with a thermos of hot tea, medicine and her own concern. And later it was Galina who found an amazing doctor, who helped Veniamin Borisovich get back on his feet.

When Smekhov was almost no longer given new roles in the theater, it was Galina who convinced the actor that there was no need to dwell on the past, you just need to close the door behind you in time.

Creative flight

Galina seemed to pushed him to develop further. And with youthful enthusiasm he began to master new types of activities for himself. Since the nineties of the last century, he began to stage performances in Russia and abroad, began teaching acting at an American university, released a large series of discs "Library of Russian Classics" in the United States, and recorded solo discs with audiobooks.

Galina Aksenova herself did not sit still, but developed together with her husband, adopted his experience, consulted. For many years she taught the history of silent cinema at a Russian summer school in the United States, then she was the deputy director of the same school. Galina Gennadievna is the author of many scientific works. She also collects vintage items, happily surrounding herself with items from the beginning of the last century.

It seems that fate brought these two people together in order for them to know what real happiness is. When one life for two.

It was a huge love that they have been living for 37 years. However, practice shows that marriages of convenience are no less strong. For example, like in a family Joseph and Nelly Kobzon.