This article tells the story of another child abandoned by his parents. The lives of great people, actors and TV stars very often know no mercy. Neither to yourself, nor to others, including your closest and dearest people. The main thing is the audience...
Thorsons
The biography of Dmitry Vinogradov, the son of Valentina Leontyeva, the legendary TV presenter of the Soviet Union, originates in the northern lands of the homeland of the ancient Vikings - the Scandinavian Kingdom of Sweden.
Enterprising representatives of the glorious Thorsons family once paved their own path from the Varangians to the Greeks and settled in the northern capital of Russia - the city of Petrograd.
Dmitry's grandfather, Mikhail Grigorievich Thorsons, was twenty years older than his wife Ekaterina Mikhailovna. Both of them were accountants. Grandfather - chief accountant of Oktyabrskaya railway, and my grandmother - one of the city hospitals. There was always money in this family. Instilling European manners in his two daughters, Alevtina and Lyudmila, everyone in the house spoke exclusively French and very often organized home musical masquerade evenings, at which Mikhail Grigorievich played the violin, and all three of his young ladies - his wife and two daughters, along with the guests danced to his accompaniment.
In the thirties, on the initiative of grandfather Dmitry Vinogradov, who feared Stalinist repressions due to the current situation on the border with Finland, the whole family changed their surname. So the Thorsons became the Leontyevs. And their youngest daughter Alevtina, whom the boys teased with drying oil at school, became Valentina.
Leontievs
Mikhail Grigorievich did not survive the siege of Leningrad and died of hunger, giving his last crumbs to his family. After his death, Ekaterina Mikhailovna and her daughters managed to evacuate to the Ulyanovsk region, where her youngest daughter Valentina, the future favorite of all children of the Soviet Union without exception, graduated from the school of the village of Novoselki, where their family now settled.
Dmitry Vinogradov, the son of Valentina Leontyeva, said that my mother often recalled that time and that distant village to which she would be destined to return many years later to die. After the end of the Great Patriotic War The Leontyevs remained in Novoselki - grandmother Ekaterina Mikhailovna took up accounting for the village cooperative, and her eldest daughter got married and gave birth to a child. Valentina set off to conquer the capital.
Mother
Valentina Leontyeva became a TV presenter and an idol of millions of children across a huge country. For her little admirers, she was simply Aunt Valya, the kindest aunt in the world. On the programs " Good night, kids!”, “Visiting a fairy tale” and “Alarm clock”, which were hosted by Valentina Mikhailovna, several generations have grown up.
And her program “With all my heart,” which helps people who are lost or separated by fate to find each other again, has attracted the attention of adult audiences for fifteen years. At the same time, “With All My Heart” also became the pioneer of the talk show genre on domestic television.
Valentina Leontyeva, whose son Dmitry Vinogradov is the hero of this article, was born on August 1, 1923.
The titles and awards of this legendary TV presenter speak for themselves - Honored and People's Artist of the RSFSR, as well as People's Artist of the USSR, who was awarded the USSR State Prize and the TEFI Prize "For personal contribution to the development of domestic television" for her program "With all my heart."
Father
Dmitry Vinogradov's dad became Valentina Leontyeva's second husband, diplomat and personal translator of Nikita Khrushchev - Yuri Vinogradov, representative of the USSR diplomatic mission in New York.
Yuri was a cheerful, educated and intelligent person. He lived to the fullest, as if scooping up life with large spoons. Vinogradov did not divide the people around him into friends and strangers - for him everyone was his own, and he rejoiced at each of them. Therefore, in his circle one could equally meet both a boxer and an academician.
Dmitry Vinogradov, the son of Valentina Leontyeva, recalled his mother’s stories about how she met his father. Yuri Vinogradov met Leontyeva in a restaurant on a bet with his friend. The essence of the dispute was that Yuri would pretend to be a foreigner so skillfully that the girl would not suspect anything. The friend was supposed to play the role of translator.
They walked up to young Valentina and started a conversation. Yuri won the argument, and at the same time won the girl’s heart, and he himself fell in love.
Family
Soon Leontyeva and Vinogradov got married. Valentina, who by that time already had several unsuccessful attempts to get a job in one of the Moscow theaters, one day accidentally saw a newspaper advertisement about a competition for a vacant position as a TV presenter. In those distant times, television was just beginning to develop, and the girl had little idea what it really was, but she was unemployed and decided to participate as a temporary option until something truly worthwhile came her way.
We all know that there is nothing more permanent than temporary. And that attempt of young Valentina grew into almost half a century of work on television. From now on, the blue screen became the main goal and meaning of Leontyeva’s life.
Husband Yuri initially had a favorable attitude towards the rapidly developing development of his wife’s career, considering it, rather, her pampering. He himself earned very well, they had no problems with money, and he increasingly did not like the fact that Valentina began to devote herself so deeply to her work. Moreover, soon their family was expecting a new addition.
Mitya
The date of birth of Dmitry Vinogradov, the son of Valentina Leontyeva, was January 26, 1962. The TV presenter was taken by ambulance to the maternity hospital straight from work.
After birth, Mitya actually became his grandmother’s son. Taking care of him fell on Ekaterina Mikhailovna Leontyeva.
Leontyeva rarely appeared at home, disappearing at work from morning to night.
Nevertheless, little Mitya saw his mother much more often than she saw him - looking at her on the TV screen, as if through a window. Here she is, mom - very close. But you won’t touch and warm up with the warmth of her hands.
Valentina usually saw her son sleeping. She was leaving for work - Mitenka was still sleeping. I returned at night - Mitya was already asleep. And between morning and night - television. One continuous television... On which Leontyeva at that time was the host of several programs at once - “Alarm Clock”, “Good night, kids”, “ Skillful hands", "Visiting a fairy tale", "With all my heart" and "Blue Light".
Mom put millions of other people’s children to bed every evening, and her dear Mitya at that time sat at home with his grandmother and father, deliberately not watching his mother’s program “Good night, kids,” because she was not his own mother there, but everyone’s. From then on he began to hate television.
And when Valentina Leontyeva one day brought home children’s drawings that were sent to her from all over the country in the “Visiting a Fairy Tale” program to show them to her son, Mitya had her first hysteria. Bursting with tears, he tore up all the drawings and ran away.
By that time, her marriage with Yuri Vinogradov was already approaching its logical conclusion. She literally lived on television. He is traveling on business trips. The husband began to drink a lot and started an affair. Valentina herself was not sinless.
They divorced in 1977.
Youth
Dmitry Vinogradov, the son of Valentina Leontyeva, whose year of birth was 1962, was already fifteen years old at the time of his parents’ divorce. And he grew up as a difficult teenager. His whole life was a challenge to the stereotype that he had to live up to his mother. And he wanted to correspond only to himself. And the more the teachers pressured him for his bad behavior, the worse he behaved, becoming the only one at school who was not accepted into the Komsomol.
After school, Dmitry worked for some time as a lighting technician at a television center, where Leontyeva assigned him. Then he entered the cinematography department of the All-Russian State Institute of Cinematography named after S. A. Gerasimov, which he later dropped out of in his third year. I struggled without a permanent job and unsuccessfully tried to start a business.
The height of Dmitry Vinogradov, the son of Valentina Leontyeva, was almost two meters. Oblique fathom at the shoulders and Scandinavian breed.
His mother tried to get him into Vyacheslav Zaitsev’s modeling agency, but Dmitry very soon left there too, since everyone around him treated him like the son of a famous TV presenter.
He closed himself off in his own world, just as he closed himself off from his mother in the room and in real life, not sharing any of his secrets with Leontyeva and hiding from everyone, even from his girlfriend, that he is her son.
Mitya grew up as an ambiguous young man, very offended by his mother, and indeed by everyone during his childhood. He never even came to the grave of his grandmother, Ekaterina Mikhailovna, who raised him, never forgiving her for once reading his diaries.
Conflict with mother
The life path of Dmitry Vinogradov, the son of Valentina Leontyeva, is the story of a lonely man whose heart was not filled with filial love and care. Of the two parents, Dmitry preferred his father, whom he loved very much. When his father died, he went to his funeral. But mom doesn't. And this served as an additional irritant for him.
Consciously or not, he repaid his mother in kind, leaving her alone towards the end of his life.
However, Valentina Leontyeva’s son, Dmitry Vinogradov, connects this not with his attitude towards his mother, but with a long-standing hostility towards her relatives, who, as he believed, enjoyed his mother’s fame, connections and money.
One way or another, her older sister Lyudmila took care of Valentina Leontyeva, taking her to distant Novoselovka, where they once escaped from the war.
Her only son did not come to the funeral. As he later explained, because of his mother’s relatives.
I didn't come to the funeral because I wasn't sure I could control myself. I was afraid that I would kill one of these scoundrels, and then it would be a criminal case. But justice still prevailed: I wished them death, and they died. You could say that I cursed them...
Personal life
Dmitry Vinogradov, the son of Valentina Leontyeva, whose age today is fifty-six years old, lived only eleven of them independently. He got married when he was forty-five, and before that he lived with his mother and entirely at her expense.
His chosen one was a Frenchwoman. She is a professional makeup artist. At first he lived with her in Paris. There they had a son, whom Dmitry named Valentin in honor of his mother.
Now Dmitry has moved to Russia, to one of the old Russian cities. He has his own big house in the forest, in which he lives secluded from everyone, reading books, boxing, riding a bike and walking with his son when he comes to him on vacation. Then Valentin flies back to his mother in Paris.
In the house of Valentina Leontyeva’s son, Dmitry Vinogradov, there are no photographs of his parents. They are in his thoughts and heart, and he does not need posturing. He was offered huge sums of money many times for in-depth interviews about his mother and father, but he turned them all down.
In 2011, Dmitry returned to his hobby from his youth - he began to draw again. Now his paintings are bought for a lot of money. He is really very talented, this Viking-like, huge, strong and bearded man.
In the photo - Vinogradov's painting "The Hallucination of a Miner".
Today, Dmitry Vinogradov, the son of Valentina Leontyeva, is one of the brightest representatives of the Russian avant-garde, or rather Suprematism, who has managed to catch the pace of modern life without losing his own philosophy. His paintings have their own strong energy. They either like them or cause sharp rejection. However, Dmitry Vinogradov himself is of little concern about this.
After some time, when the hype around the death of Valentina Leontyeva subsided and the journalists calmed down, he, ex-boy Mitya, I came to my mother’s grave...
The small Volga region village of Novoselki has never seen such a crowd of people. The square near the local House of Culture was jam-packed with cars: admirers of the talent of the brightest Soviet TV star Valentina LEONTIEVA came here. We came to see her off on her last journey. To pay tribute to the memory of a person who was for some a kind storyteller Aunt Valya, for others - the beloved presenter of “Blue Lights” and the most popular program of Soviet TV “With all my heart.”
I still remember how the children in our yard, throwing toys in the sandbox, shouted “Aunt Valya! Aunt Valya! “We ran home to watch the program “Visiting a Fairy Tale,” says pensioner Margarita NESTERENKO, who came from Tolyatti. - We have lost such a sincere person! So sad!
Anatoly BELEVTSEV
Only three people who knew Valentina Mikhailovna closely from work came to the funeral: her former administrator Andrei Udalov and students Lyudmila Tueva and Andrei Orlov. The current TV bosses and broadcast stars, many of whom took their first steps on TV under the leadership of Leontyeva, limited themselves, at best, to telegrams of condolences.
Life after fame
For the last three years, Valentina Mikhailovna lived in the Ulyanovsk village with her sister, where she bought an apartment. She moved to Novoselki after a serious conflict with her son.
There were rumors that Dmitry severely beat his mother: that’s why she ended up in the hospital, where doctors barely saved Leontyev. Relatives took care of Aunt Valya, but her son never came - he only called occasionally. But fans did not forget their favorite TV presenter: she received letters and parcels from all over the country every day. Valentina Mikhailovna was invited to visit and offered financial assistance.
Since the end of last year, Leontyeva’s health has deteriorated sharply. She almost stopped getting up; doctors diagnosed “progressive senile insanity.” “She can’t even move around the room on her own, we feed her with a spoon,” Leontyeva’s older sister Lyudmila Mikhailovna complained to Express Gazeta correspondents at the time. “Valechka lies and moans all day long: she gets terrible headaches after a concussion. She also suffered a mini-stroke.
I had a presentiment of my death
In mid-May, Valentina Leontyeva asked her sister:
Lucy, bury me in the local rural cemetery. No Moscow, no Novodevichy! You won’t be able to travel to the capital often, but here I will be under supervision... Lyudmila Mikhailovna tried to laugh it off: they say, Valya, it’s too early for you to talk about death! But Valentina Mikhailovna took her relative’s hand and said: “I feel, Lyusenka, I don’t have long left.” The Lord will soon take it to himself... Alas, that’s what happened. A few days later, Valentina Mikhailovna developed pneumonia and her temperature rose to 40 degrees. The doctor who arrived said that he was unable to help.
All night long in delirium she called her son: “Mitenka... Mitenka...” When Valya passed away, I called my nephew on his cell phone,” Lyudmila Mikhailovna could not hold back her sobs. “He took the news of his mother’s death very dryly, as if it didn’t concern him, and said that he was abroad on important matters, and asked not to wait for the funeral. They say he will come later somehow. Although I don't think he will come. While Vali was alive, he didn’t find the time. What now?
All day people called the Leontyevs' house: to express condolences, to ask how they could help. Bouquets of flowers were brought to the entrance where the TV presenter lived - sincerely, with all their hearts. Aunt Valya was buried according to Orthodox customs: the small village church where she was buried could not accommodate everyone who wanted to attend the ceremony. - On a bright day they bury Valentina. To Nikola! - the old women gossiped. - Means, good man was. May the kingdom of heaven rest with her! ...When the coffin was lowered into the grave, applause rang out. Only great artists are seen off this way.
BY THE WAY
A month before her death, Leontyeva donated her belongings to the Ulyanovsk Museum of Local Lore - photographs, letters, an evening dress, in which she received the TEFI television award on her 75th birthday. All of them took pride of place in the exhibition.
After the death of the famous TV presenter Valentina Leontyeva, her son, famous artist Dmitry Vinogradov found himself in the spotlight of journalists. For a long time, the man refrained from communicating with correspondents, trying not to share details of his personal life with the public. However, Vinogradov recently broke his silence and spoke frankly about his relationship with the famous parent, and also answered questions that had accumulated among her fans. An interview with Dmitry was shown on Tuesday, May 16, in the “Live” program.
The host of the program, Boris Korchevnikov, went to the man’s home. During a conversation with a journalist, Dmitry clarified speculation that he was allegedly indirectly involved in the death of his mother. Vinogradov made it clear that they were not true.
“When Aunt Nyusya breaks her hip, no one is interested. But if the Queen of England broke it, then that’s a different matter... This is a classic injury elderly woman, and not men - due to the location of the pelvis, the excretion of calcium... Well, she fell. At home,” said the TV presenter’s son.
On the TV show, Vinogradov explained how it happened that his famous mother died in the wilderness - in the village of Novoselki, Ulyanovsk region. According to the man, he made this decision based on the interests of a loved one. “When my mother fell and broke her hip, we got her a job at Kremlevka. When she came out, she required some care. Relatives from Ulyanovsk suggested that her rehabilitation period should take place there. I thought that it would be better for her to go to her own sister than to some nurse,” said Dmitry.
According to Vinogradov, he constantly sent money to relatives. And once a man allocated an impressive amount of 15 thousand dollars for an apartment that she had his eye on in the Ulyanovsk region. Vinogradov claims that in fact that side was not entirely honest with him and misled him. The artist believes that those close to her mother were jealous of her - this was the main reason for the disagreements in their family. Discussing the current situation, some program experts said that everyone in this story has their own truth.
In the 90s, they began to discuss the disappearance of Valentina Leontyeva. The presenter's son stated that he deliberately tried to protect his mother from crooks who tried to take advantage of her fame and position. At that time, the presenter found herself out of work and got involved with people who, in Dmitry’s opinion, were suspicious. “Unique things happened in our house - some healers, numerous children from orphanages. We still didn’t have enough of a Bulgarian with a bear... Naturally, after I cut off the oxygen and did not give them the opportunity to earn money, they hated me,” shared Vinogradov.
In addition, Dmitry Vinogradov explained why he was not present at the funeral of a loved one. According to the man, this is how the circumstances developed. The artist believes that the presenter should rest where she wanted - at the Vagankovskoye cemetery next to her mother. Therefore, he is thinking about reburying the remains of his mother.
“I assumed that she would still come. I talked to her on the phone, I realized that my mother was old. Of course, she missed me, I missed her. During the year that she spent there, I was not able to visit her due to a number of circumstances. Of course, I regret it... Five years ago I went there for one day. I was near the grave for no more than 15 minutes. I didn’t visit my relatives. A wretched place, a wretched monument, my mother doesn’t deserve this. I do not exclude the possibility that I will exhume the body and transport it to where she wanted,” the presenter’s son said.
Dmitry Vinogradov’s friend Alexander Kudryashov noted that the artist gives the impression of a man who sincerely loves his mother. A friend of the heir to the presenter denied information about the tense relationship that, according to some sources, reigned between him and Valentina Leontyeva. “When it came to his mother, it seemed to me that they were very great friends. He treated her with great respect. I knew who his mother was, but we never raised this issue,” Kudryashov said.
During a conversation with the host of the program, the artist also denied the information that she allegedly deprived him of her attention. “Many people say that I didn’t get something from my mother, that she was a busy woman... God forbid. I received so much from both my mom and dad. Talk about mom being at work all the time is complete nonsense. Mom found time for me, we talked with her, did homework,” said Vinogradov.
Vinogradov considers the birth of his son to be his main achievement. The grandson of Valentina Leontyeva is now 10 years old, he was named after the famous presenter. The boy appeared in the program studio. “Dad said that grandma was good, everything was always fine with them... I saw her on TV, a singer sang for her. I thought she was beautiful, young and smart,” said Valentin.
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On August 1, Valentina Leontyeva, People's Artist of the USSR, television announcer, host of the programs “Good Night, Kids!”, “Visiting a Fairy Tale,” and “With All My Heart,” would have turned 93 years old, but in 2007 she passed away. Charming Aunt Valya was adored by little TV viewers and their parents; Bulat Okudzhava and Arkady Raikin were in love with her; she was married twice, but called television her greatest love. She had to sacrifice a lot to this love.
Valentina Leontyeva
Valentina Leontyeva in the first studio of the program *Good night, kids!*, 1960s
Valentina Leontyeva was born on August 1, 1923 in Leningrad. During the Second World War, the family had to endure a blockade and famine, which she could not forget about until the end of her days. They made jelly from wood glue and soup from a leather belt cut into small pieces. To distract her daughters from thoughts about food and curb their appetite, the mother taught them to smoke. Valentina was a heavy smoker all her life and gave up this habit only a year before her death.
Valentina Leontyeva – host of the program *Good night, kids!*
*Aunt Valya of the Soviet Union*
Valentina dreamed of becoming an actress and in the post-war period she graduated from the Opera and Drama Studio. Stanislavsky at the Moscow Art Theater, worked at the Tambov Drama Theater, and then came to television. She first appeared on screen in 1954. Her debut as an announcer was unsuccessful: she had to read a message on a New Year's tree in Central house Soviet army, and she got so excited that she started stuttering. But this was the only mistake. 10 years later, not a single holiday program on central television took place without her participation.
Announcer and TV presenter Valentina Leontyeva
There were many romantic stories in her life. One day, in 1945, immediately after the Victory, Valentina saw a captured German who was digging a trench, and he asked her for bread. She obtained permission to feed him dinner, and 10 years later he returned to the USSR to thank her and propose to her. She refused him, as well as another suitor - an Arbat boy who sang songs to her and dedicated poems. It was Bulat Okudzhava. They met 40 years later, when Leontyeva was asked to invite the poet to a TV show. And a month after this meeting, Bulat Okudzhava died. Valentina said: “I now terribly regret that we lost these forty years without seeing each other - how many things could have been different!”
Leontyeva with female miners on the set of the program *With all my heart*
She got married for the first time during her student years. This marriage was short-lived and broke up due to her husband’s infidelity. For the second time, Valentina married diplomat Yuri Vinogradov, with whom she fell in love at first sight. They lived together for 28 years, but then separated. Two years after the birth of their son, Valentina became the host of the program “Good night, kids!” Her son was very jealous of all her children, to whom she paid more attention than him, and was worried that his mother was “everyone,” and not just him.
Valentina Leontyeva – host of the program *Good night, kids!*
Leontyeva devoted 50 years of her life to television and called it her greatest love. She admitted: “Television was my number one home. I left for work and my son was still sleeping. When I came back I was already asleep. She didn’t swaddle her or even feed her.” Perhaps this became the reason for their discord in the future. The son rarely communicated with his mother, and in last years, didn’t see each other at all, didn’t even come to her funeral.
Valentina Leontyeva on the set of the program *Good night, kids!*
At the same time, millions of Soviet children adored Aunt Valya and waited for new releases of “Spokushki,” as they called “Good night, kids!” She was also the host of the programs “Visiting a Fairy Tale”, “Alarm Clock”, “From the Theater Box”, the holiday “Blue Lights” and the search program “With all my heart”. She was lovingly called Aunt Valya of the Soviet Union, and became the only female announcer on Central Television to be awarded the title of People's Artist of the USSR.
People's Artist of the USSR Valentina Leontyeva
In the 1990s. The most difficult period began for Valentina Leontyeva: all her programs were closed, the new management did not see her as an announcer or presenter. She was transferred to the position of assistant director, and later - a consultant in the sign language translation department. At the same time, health problems began. In 2004, after an unsuccessful fall, Leontyeva developed memory lapses and her vision deteriorated. She spent her last days with her sister in the village of Novoselki in the Ulyanovsk region, where she was buried.
Announcer and TV presenter Valentina Leontyeva
In her declining years, Leontyeva lamented: “Television now is not what it was before. Then there was more sincerity in people, we loved our work. That’s why the programs turned out to be sincere and kind. What now? Endless games and shows in which greed, immorality and thirst for profit reign.”
Monument to V. Leontyeva in Ulyanovsk
USSR television rarely indulged its viewers with entertainment programs, especially for children. “Alarm clock”, “Visiting a fairy tale”, “Good night, kids” - this is the whole short list of programs that the children looked forward to every week. Therefore, all the children of the Soviet Union knew the host of these television programs - Valentina Leontyeva, whose biography is closely connected with Soviet television. They knew and loved.
Scorched by war
The date of birth of Valentina Leontyeva, or Alevtina Mikhailovna Thorsons (this is her real name and surname), is August 1, 1923. My father had Swedish roots, so, fearing reprisals, he changed his last name to Leontyev. The Leontyev family was friendly and intelligent. Father and mother worked as accountants at Petrograd enterprises, and in addition, they were creative people. They loved their girls - the eldest Lyusya and the youngest Alya - and introduced them to art.
Dad was 20 years older than mom, I loved him madly. Years later, both my sister and I, when we got married, kept our maiden name in memory of him. I remember wonderful musical evenings with competitions, balls and masquerades in our house, when dad played the violin.
When the war came in 1941, Alevtina was 18 years old. In besieged Leningrad, everyone who could provided all possible assistance in the defense of the city. So the Leontyev sisters served in the air defense detachment. My father regularly donated blood to feed his family. And he divided the meager rations so that his wife and children got more. I ate practically nothing myself. One day, while they were collecting firewood, he injured himself. Blood poisoning began, plus physical exhaustion - all this led to death.
The women were left alone. In order for the girls to survive, the mother forced them to do physical activity so that they would not freeze, and shook them when in the cold they just wanted to lie down, fall asleep and never wake up. She also taught them to smoke to relieve hunger. Already in adult life, two packs of cigarettes a day will be the norm for Valentina Leontyeva.
Thanks for my son
In 1942, Alya and her family were evacuated to the mainland along the Road of Life. Until the end of the war they will live in the village of Novoselki, Ulyanovsk region. In 1945, Leontyeva and her mother moved to Moscow, and her sister would remain in the village, because she had her own family, and she was a sought-after specialist.
There was an incident in the biography of Valentina Leontyeva that well demonstrates her character. One day Alevtina was walking along the street where German prisoners of war were digging trenches. Literally from underground a hand reached out to her: “Bread! Of bread!" The young girl was amazed by her fingers: they were thin and long, like a pianist’s. Leontyeva begged permission from the guards to feed him lunch.
They brought him to our house, I poured him some soup. At first he ate very slowly, he didn’t even look up at me - he was afraid. Then he became a little bolder and asked where my parents were. I told him that my father died during the Leningrad blockade from hunger psychosis, and my mother was left with us alone (she saved us by forcing us to smoke so that we would feel less hungry). The German had tears in his eyes, he didn’t finish his lunch, got up and left.
Imagine Ali’s surprise when two years later the same guy stood with his mother on the threshold of her house. He came to propose marriage to Leontyeva. But she refused, citing the fact that she could not throw in her lot with the enemy.
Then his mother began to cry and said to me goodbye: “Baby, you don’t even know what you mean to me. You saved my son from starvation. I will thank you all my life.”
Life goes on
Alevtina wanted to become an artist since childhood, but she got into acting school only the second time, after studying a little at the Institute of Chemical Technology. She simultaneously studied at the Shchepkinsky Theater School and at the opera and drama studio at the Moscow Art Theater. After completing her studies, she is sent to the Tambov Regional Theater, where she plays roles in the role of the heroine. And here she meets her first love.
Young director Yuri Richard came to the theater for an internship. He staged his graduation performance. The young people fell in love and soon got married. Upon completion of his work in Tambov, Yuri leaves for Moscow with his newly-made wife. This was in 1954. Their marriage did not last long - only three years - and broke up due to banal betrayal. As in a bad joke: one day early from a business trip he returns... no, not a husband, but a wife, and finds her beloved sleeping peacefully in an embrace with another woman. Valentina didn’t even make a fuss because she was tired, she took the cot and went to the kitchen to sleep. And in the morning I packed my things and left. Forever.
I bet she won't guess
In the biography of Valentina Leontyeva you can find a funny moment: the day she met her second husband. This happened in a restaurant. The attractive Valentina was approached by two young men who introduced themselves as an Englishman and his translator. The Englishman charmed the young girl all evening, and the next morning he called her and apologized in pure Russian for yesterday’s prank. The “Englishman” turned out to be diplomat, Nikita Khrushchev’s personal translator Yuri Vinogradov. It turns out that he bet with his friend that he could portray a foreigner in such a way that, for example, that pretty girl wouldn’t guess.
That evening, Yuri Vinogradov not only won the argument, but also won the beauty’s heart. Soon Yuri and Valentina got married and had a son, Dmitry. Along with establishing her personal life, Valentina Leontyeva’s career as a TV presenter was emerging and strengthening. Leontyeva could not get a job in the capital's theaters and therefore was in search of work. Having seen an advertisement in the newspaper about a competition for a position as a television presenter, Valentina decided to try until something worthwhile came along.
The main love of my life
Working on television, which was seen as a means of temporary income, will become main love Valentina Mikhailovna. In the life of a woman who begins career growth, she faces a choice: family or work. Because either one or the other will suffer. Rarely does anyone manage to combine these two poles. At first, Leontyeva had the same tossing. She finally confirmed her choice when she and her husband left for New York for two years. There she missed work and suffered from idleness. Therefore, when I returned to Moscow, I greedily plunged into work. Valentina made her choice.
She disappeared from work all day long. Son Mitya saw his mother only on TV. As the presenter herself admitted, she only saw Mitenka sleeping: she went to work, he was still sleeping, she came home from work, he was already asleep. And at work life was in full swing. Valentina Leontyeva was in great demand. She simultaneously hosted several programs: “Alarm Clock”, “Good Night, Kids”, “Skillful Hands”, “Visiting a Fairy Tale”, “With All My Heart”, “Blue Light”.
Dark side of the Moon
Despite the apparent prosperity, Leontyeva’s marriage was bursting at the seams. Due to constant separations - she spends days and nights on TV, he goes on business trips abroad - the relationship became formal. Leontyeva did not hide the fact that she had affairs on the side.
And therefore logical conclusion There was a divorce in 1970. Soon, Valentina Leontyeva’s husband married the nurse who looked after him when he was in the hospital. This was the end of family life; the famous TV presenter was then 54 years old.
Punch in the gut
For 35 years, Valentina Leontyeva, or, as all the children of the Union affectionately called her, Aunt Valya, worked on central television. She had honorary titles: “Honored Artist of the RSFSR”, “People’s Artist of the RSFSR”, “People’s Artist of the USSR”. She was awarded a state prize for the TV show “With All My Heart,” the Order of the Badge of Honor, the Order of Friendship and the medal “For Valiant Labor.” But the time has come, and, as follows from the biography of Valentina Leontyeva, a sharp turn took place in her life: the fairy-tale world in which Aunt Valya was a good sorceress collapsed overnight.
New times came, new people came, and television changed its format. Therefore, in 1989, the new director closed all Leontyeva’s television programs on one day, and tried to see off the 65-year-old broadcast star for a well-deserved rest. But Valentina Mikhailovna simply did not want to give up and threatened to commit suicide in front of Muscovites. They left her, but took her, as they say, “outside the frame.” She was a consultant speaker in the sign language interpretation department. After this, Leontyeva could not come to her senses for a long time: the meaning of life, or even life itself, had been taken away from her.
Time to pay the bills
All subsequent years will be years of bitterness and retribution for mistakes. The biography of Valentina Leontyeva's son is the story of an abandoned boy who, when he grew up, repaid his mother in the same coin. For her son's childhood years of loneliness, Leontyeva paid for years of loneliness in old age. Just as no one needed Dmitry while he was growing up, so no one needed Valentina Mikhailovna in her old age and illness. Shortly before her death, she began to suffer from senile insanity.
Her older sister took care of Valentina. She moved Valya to her village, where “Aunt Valya” died in 2007 at the age of 83. Many people came to see her off on her last journey: fans, colleagues, fellow villagers, relatives, the only one missing was her son. He was never able to forgive his mother.
In her last photo, Valentina Leontyeva covers her face with her hands. She didn't want to be seen as old and sick. She remains in the memory of millions of television viewers as a fairy-tale sorceress with kind eyes.
