The biography of Valentina Leontyeva's son is the story of an abandoned boy who, when he grew up, repaid his mother with the same coin. During the childhood years of loneliness, St.

From Masterweb

17.11.2018 20:00

This article tells the story of yet another child abandoned by his parents. The lives of great people, actors and TV stars are very often without mercy. Neither to yourself, nor to those around you, including the most dear and close people. The main thing is the audience ...

Thorsons

Biography of Dmitry Vinogradov, son of Valentina Leontyeva, the legendary TV presenter Soviet Union, originates in the northern lands of the homeland of the ancient Vikings - the Scandinavian Kingdom of Sweden.

The enterprising representatives of the glorious Thorson family once made their own way from the Varangians to the Greeks and settled in the northern capital of Russia - the city of Petrograd.

Dmitry's grandfather, Mikhail Grigorievich Torsons, was twenty years older than his wife Ekaterina Mikhailovna. They were both accountants. Grandfather is the chief accountant of the October Railway, and grandmother is one of the city's hospitals. Money in this family has always been found. Instilling European manners to their two daughters, Alevtina and Lyudmila, everyone in the house spoke exclusively in French and very often arranged home musical masquerades at which Mikhail Grigorievich played the violin, and all three of his young ladies - his wife and two daughters, along with guests danced to his accompaniment.

In the thirties, on the initiative of Dmitry Vinogradov's grandfather, who feared Stalinist reprisals due to the current situation on the border with Finland, the whole family changed their surname. So the Thorsons became the Leontievs. And their youngest daughter Alevtina, whom the boys teased with drying oil at school, became Valentina.

Leontievs

Mikhail Grigorievich did not survive the blockade of Leningrad and died of hunger, giving the last crumbs to his relatives. After his death, Ekaterina Mikhailovna, together with 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 in the village of Novoselki, where their family has 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 in many years to die. After the end of the Great Patriotic War The Leontievs remained in Novoselki - grandmother Ekaterina Mikhailovna took up the accounting department of the village cooperative, and her eldest daughter got married and gave birth to a child. Valentina went to conquer the capital.

Mama

Valentina Leontyeva became a TV presenter and idol of millions of children of a huge country. For her little adorers, she was just Aunt Valya, the kindest aunt in the world. On the programs " Goodnight, kids! ”,“ Visiting the Fairy Tale ”and“ Alarm Clock ”, hosted by Valentina Mikhailovna, several generations have grown up.

And her program "From the bottom of my heart", which helps people lost or separated by the will of fate to find each other again, for fifteen years has attracted the attention of an adult audience. At the same time, "From the bottom of my heart" also became the pioneer of the talk show genre on Russian 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, for her program "With all my heart" she was awarded the State Prize of the USSR and the TEFI Prize "For Personal Contribution to the Development of National Television."

Father

The second husband of Valentina Leontyeva, a diplomat and personal translator of Nikita Khrushchev, Yuri Vinogradov, a representative of the USSR diplomatic mission in New York, became Dmitry Vinogradov's dad.

Yuri was cheerful, educated and smart person... He lived to the fullest, as if scooping up life with big spoons. Vinogradov did not divide the people around him into friends and foes - for him everyone was his own, and he rejoiced in each of them. Therefore, in his environment, one could equally meet both a boxer and an academic.

Dmitry Vinogradov, the son of Valentina Leontyeva, recalled the stories of his mother 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 was so skillfully pretending to be a foreigner that the girl would not suspect anything. The friend was supposed to play the role of translator.

They walked up to young Valentina importantly and started a conversation. Yuri won the argument, and at the same time won the girl's heart, and he himself fell in love.

A family

Soon Leontyev and Vinogradov got married. Valentina, who by that time had already several unsuccessful attempts to get a job in one of the theaters in Moscow, once accidentally saw a newspaper advertisement about a competition for a vacant TV presenter. In those distant times, television was just beginning its development, and what it really was, the girl had little idea, but she was out of work and decided to participate as a temporary option until something really worthwhile turned up for her.

We all know that nothing is more permanent than temporary. And that attempt by young Valentina grew into almost half a century of work on television. From now on, the blue screen has become main goal and the meaning of Leontyeva's life.

At first, her husband Yuri was supportive of the rapidly starting development of his wife's career, considering it, rather, her pampering. He himself earned very well, they had no problems with money, and the fact that Valentina began to devote herself so deeply to her work, he no longer liked. Moreover, their family was soon to be replenished.

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 hospital right from work.

After birth, Mitya actually became a 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 did with him - looking at her on the TV screen, as if through a window. Here she is, mom - very close. And you will not touch and warm with the warmth of her hands.

Valentina usually saw her son asleep. She went to work - Mitenka was still asleep. She returned at night - Mitya was already asleep. And between morning and night - television. One continuous television ... On which at that time Leontyeva 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 was sitting at home with her grandmother and father, deliberately not watching her mother's program "Good night, kids", because she was not his own mother there, but a common one. Since then, he began to hate television.

And when Valentina Leontyeva once brought home children's drawings that were sent to her from all over the country to the program "Visiting a Fairy Tale" to show them to her son, Mitya had the first hysteria. Bursting into tears, he tore up all the drawings and ran away.

By that time, her marriage with Yuri Vinogradov itself was already coming to its logical conclusion. She literally lived on television. He is on the road on business trips. The husband began to drink a lot and started an affair on the side. Valentina herself was not sinless either.

They divorced in 1977.

Youth

Dmitry Vinogradov, the son of Valentina Leontyeva, whose year of birth was 1962, at the time of the divorce of his parents was already fifteen years old. 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 pressed 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 for some time worked as an illuminator in a television center, where Leontyeva attached him. Then he entered the cinematography department of the All-Russian State Institute of Cinematography named after S. A. Gerasimov, who then dropped out in his third year. I lost my permanent job and tried unsuccessfully to do business.

The growth of Dmitry Vinogradov, the son of Valentina Leontyeva, was almost two meters. Oblique fathom in the shoulders and Scandinavian breed.

Mom tried to arrange him in modeling agency Vyacheslav Zaitsev, but Dmitry very soon left from there, because everyone around him treated him like the son of a famous TV presenter.

He closed himself in his world, as he closed himself 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 at his mother, and indeed at 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 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. Mom didn't. And this served as an additional irritant for him.

Consciously or not, he repaid his mother in kind, leaving her alone by the end of his life.

However, the son of Valentina Leontyeva himself, Dmitry Vinogradov, connects this not with his attitude towards his mother, but with a long-standing dislike for her relatives, who, as he believed, enjoyed the fame, connections and money of his mother.

One way or another, but her older sister Lyudmila took care of Valentina Leontyeva, taking her to the distant Novoselovka, in which they once escaped the war.

Her only son did not attend the funeral. As he later explained, because of the 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 can say that I cursed them ...

Personal life

Dmitry Vinogradov, the son of Valentina Leontyeva, whose age today is fifty-six years old, only eleven of them lived on their own. He married when he was forty-five, and before that he lived with his mother and completely 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 also had a son, whom Dmitry named after his mother - Valentin.

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 in seclusion from everyone, reading books, boxing, cycling and walking with his son when he comes to him on vacation. Then Valentine flies back to his mother, to 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. Many times he was offered big money for detailed interviews about his mother and father, but he turned them down.

In 2011, Dmitry returned to his youthful hobby - he began to paint again. Now his paintings are bought for a lot of money. He is really very talented, this Viking-like, huge, strong and bearded man.

The photo shows Vinogradov's painting "Hallucination of a Miner".

Today Dmitry Vinogradov, the son of Valentina Leontyeva, is one of the prominent representatives Russian avant-garde, or rather Suprematism, who managed to catch the pace modern life and not lose your own philosophy at the same time. His paintings have their own strong energy. They either like them or cause a sharp rejection. However, Dmitry Vinogradov himself is of little concern.

After some time, when the hype about the death of Valentina Leontyeva subsided and the journalists calmed down, he, ex boy Mitya, came to the grave of his mother ...

Kievyan street, 16 0016 Armenia, Yerevan +374 11 233 255

The small Volga village of Novoselki has never seen such a crowd of people. The square near the local House of Culture was packed with cars: admirers of the talent of the brightest Soviet TV star Valentina LEONTYEVA came here. We came to see her off on her last journey. To pay tribute to the memory of the man who was for some a kind storyteller Aunt Valya, for others - the beloved host of "Blue Lights" and the most popular Soviet TV program "From the bottom of my heart".

I still remember how children in our yard, throwing toys in the sandbox, shouting “Aunt Valya! Aunt Valya! " they ran home to watch the program “Visiting a Fairy Tale,” says Margarita NESTERENKO, a pensioner who came from Togliatti. - We have lost such a sincere person! So bitter!

Anatoly BELEVTSEV

The funeral was attended by only three people who knew Valentina Mikhailovna closely at work: her former administrator Andrei Udalov and students - Lyudmila Tueva and Andrei Orlov. The current TV bosses and broadcast stars, many of whom made their first steps on TV under the leadership of Leontyeva, limited themselves, at best, to telegrams of condolences.

Life after glory

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 got to the hospital, where doctors barely saved Leontyev. Relatives took care of Aunt Valya, but the son never came - only occasionally called. But the fans did not forget their favorite TV presenter: every day she received letters and parcels from all over the country. Valentina Mikhailovna was invited to visit and offered material assistance.

Since the end of last year, Leontyeva's health has deteriorated sharply. She almost stopped getting up, the doctors diagnosed her with progressive senile marasmus. “She can't even move around the room on her own, we feed her from a spoon,” Leontyeva's elder sister Lyudmila Mikhailovna complained to the Express Gazeta correspondents at the time. - All day long Valya lies and groans: after a concussion, she has terrible headaches. She also suffered a minor stroke.

I had a presentiment of demise

In mid-May, Valentina Leontyeva asked her sister:

Lucy, bury me at the local village cemetery. No Moscow, no Novodevichy! You won't be able to go 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 a relative by the hand and said: - I feel, Lyusenka, I don't have much time left. The Lord will soon take care of himself ... Alas, that is what happened. A few days later, Valentina Mikhailovna developed pneumonia, and her temperature rose to 40 degrees. The doctor who arrived said that he could not help.

All night, in her son's delirium, she called: "Mitenka ... Mitenka ..." When Vali was gone, I called my nephew on my cell phone, - Lyudmila Mikhailovna could not hold back her sobs. - He took the message about the death of his mother very dryly, as if it did not concern him, said that he was abroad on important matters, and asked not to wait for the funeral. They say, then somehow he will come. Although, I think he will not come. During his lifetime, Vali did not find time. What now.

All day long, 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, from the bottom of their hearts. Aunt Valya was buried according to Orthodox traditions: the small village church, where she was buried, could not accommodate everyone who wanted to get to the ceremony. - Valentina is buried on a bright day. On Nikola! - the old women gossiped. - So she was a good person. The Kingdom of Heaven to her! ... When the coffin was lowered into the grave, applause was heard. Only big artists are seen off like that.

BY THE WAY

A month before her death, Leontyev presented her belongings to the Ulyanovsk Museum of Local Lore - photographs, letters, an evening dress, in which she received the TEFI television award for her 75th birthday. All of them took pride of place in the exposition.

Private bussiness

Valentina Leontyeva (real name - Alevtina Mikhailovna Torsons, 1923-2007) was born in Petrograd. Her father, Mikhail Grigorievich Torsons, had Swedish roots, worked as a chief accountant at the October Railway. Mother Ekaterina Mikhailovna worked as an accountant in a hospital. The family was creative, children were often taken to museums and theaters, they organized home concerts for Alevtina and her older sister Lyudmila.

The TV presenter said: “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 contests, balls and masquerades in our house when my father played the violin. "

During the blockade of Leningrad, Leontyev and his sister served in an air defense detachment. Once, while parsing furniture for firewood, their 60-year-old father injured his arm and soon died of hunger and blood poisoning.

In 1942, when the Road of Life was opened, the family left Leningrad for the village of Novosyolki, Ulyanovsk Region. “Me, mother and sister Lucy were saved. Lyusin's son, whom she gave birth to at the beginning of the war, died on the road, his sister was not even allowed to bury him. She buried the baby's body in a nearby snowdrift, ”Leontyeva recalled. In Novoselki, she graduated with honors from the tenth year.

In 1945, Alevtina moved to Moscow with her mother, while her sister remained in the village, where she lived until the end of her life, working as an economist on a state farm. In the capital, Leontyeva wanted to enter the acting department, but was late with the submission of documents. She submitted documents to the Institute of Chemical Technology, but soon left it, began to work as a cleaner in a polyclinic. Later she entered the Shchepkinsky School and at the same time the opera and drama studio at the Moscow Art Theater, which she graduated in 1948 (course of the actor, Stanislavsky's student Vasily Toporkov).

The TV presenter's sister said: “After graduating from the studio, she was assigned to the Tambov Regional Theater. She played a lot, her role was "heroine". And then a young director [Yuri Richard] came there, he put on his graduation performance there. They liked each other, got married, and [in 1954] he took Valya to Moscow. She somehow did not work out with Moscow theaters, and then a competition for television was announced. She decided to try: all of a sudden it will work out - as a result, she found herself a job for life. "

The TV presenter's first marriage broke up three years later. After that, she married a diplomat, Khrushchev's personal translator, Yuri Vinogradov. In marriage, a son, Dmitry Vinogradov, was born, with whom Leontyeva had a difficult relationship.

In 1965-1967 she lived with her family in New York, where her husband was in diplomatic work.

Returning from the United States, she again went to work on television, where she hosted the program "From the bottom of my heart", festive concerts "Blue Light", as well as the popular children's programs "Good night, kids", "Alarm clock", "Skillful hands", "Away at the fairy tale ". In children's programs, she was introduced as Aunt Valya.

In the early 1970s, the TV presenter's second marriage broke up, she never married again. She recalled: “My Vinogradov fell ill in the male part, I got him in the best clinic in the Gulf of Finland. And he very soon recovered, having fallen in love with a young nurse ... I also had romances on his side. My husband drank a lot, but sometimes I wanted to be a woman. So there was every reason for treason. "

In another interview, she noted: “Very quickly our marriage became a formality. Yura did not file for divorce because it would put an end to his career. My husband was constantly offended at me and said that he got a TV box as his wife. "

In 1989, all Leontyeva's programs were closed, she herself was transferred to the position of a speaker-consultant. In the same year, the TV presenter's autobiography "Declaration of Love" was published.

From 1996 to 1998, together with Dmitry Krylov and Igor Kirillov, she hosted the Telescope television program.

In 2004, she received a fracture of the femoral neck and a concussion - according to the official version, she fell at home. There were also rumors that her son had beaten her. After leaving the hospital, she moved to the village of Novoselki, where her older sister and sister's children took care of her.

Sister Lyudmila said: “The doctors did everything they could and warned us that she would have serious head problems. They wanted to give Valya to a nursing home, but I didn’t let her. Valya herself said: "Only to Lyusa!" We provided her with excellent conditions, she would not have such anywhere: we looked after, and prepared everything she asked. Valya loved pasta.<...>When we took her away, the doctors warned that she would not last more than a year, but she still lived for three years. "

Valentina Leontyeva passed away on May 20, 2007 at the age of 83. She was buried at the Novoselok cemetery, as she herself bequeathed. Leontyeva's son has not seen his mother in recent years, he also did not come to the funeral.

Leontyeva's older sister died in September 2013 at the age of 93.

What is famous for

Legendary Soviet TV presenter, "Aunt Valya" for millions of people who grew up on her programs "Good night, kids!", "Visiting a fairy tale", "Alarm clock". The most noticeable in terms of creativity was her program "From the bottom of my heart", which Leontyeva led for 15 years. The show became the prototype of the modern TV project "Wait for Me" and was dedicated to finding people who had lost contact with each other for many years. The filming of the program was conducted throughout the country - the presenter traveled with her to 54 cities of the USSR. In the episodes of "From the bottom of my heart," Leontyeva became the discoverer of the talk show genre on Soviet television.

What you need to know

Leontyeva loved her job and put it above everything else. Her friend Lyudmila Tueva said: “Valya wanted a child, but she had no time for everything - the television sucked in. At 39, not everyone decides to give birth. And three days after giving birth, she went on the air. The upbringing of little Mitya fell on the shoulders of his mother, Ekaterina Leontyeva. "

In 1982, the TV presenter's mother died. Valentina Leontyeva recalled those days: “I came to her dying hospital. “I’m cold, hug me,” my mother asked. And so, in my arms, she died. And the next day I had to fly to the shooting of the program "From the bottom of my heart" in Komsomolsk-on-Amur. And on the way I have a heart attack. And after the transfer - fainting. So I didn’t bury my mother ”.

The son of the TV presenter was offended because she did not pay attention to him in childhood. Leontyeva explained: “I raised the children of the entire Soviet Union, but there was not enough time for my baby. Mitya hated TV. Once, with tears in his eyes, he threw me in a completely grown-up way: "You are not my mother, you are everyone." Probably, he has the right to take offense at me ... Mitya's life did not work out, in his 40s [at the beginning of the 2000s] he was never married, higher education did not receive, always interrupted by odd jobs. In fact, he's just used to sitting around my neck. "

Direct speech:

About life after the war:“My mother and I moved in 1945, immediately after the Victory, to Moscow from Leningrad. The city was - solid catacombs: everywhere there were barriers from tanks, destroyed houses, trenches that were dug by captured Germans. Once I was walking near such a trench. Suddenly, literally from the ground, dirty thin hands stretched out. The German looked at me with pleading eyes: "Bread, give me bread!" I looked at his hands and was stunned: such thin, long, beautiful fingers are found only in pianists and violinists. I begged the guard to let me feed this German. They brought him to our house, I poured him some soup. At first he ate very slowly, he didn't even look at me - he was afraid. Then he grew a little bolder and asked where my parents were. I said that my father died during the Leningrad blockade from starvation psychosis, and my mother was left with us alone (she saved us, forcing us to smoke so that we would less want to eat). The German had tears in his eyes, he didn’t finish his dinner, got up and left. And two years later they rang at our door. The same German stood on the threshold. True, now he was not at all grimy and skinny, but washed, combed, dressed in a ceremonial suit, quite a handsome young man. An elderly woman was standing next to him. He smiled at me and said: "I could not forget you, so I came with my mother to propose to you." I refused him, because I could not marry the enemy. Then his mother cried and said to me at parting: "Baby, you yourself have no idea what you mean to me. You saved my son from starvation. I will thank you all my life."

About bad romances:“When you fall in love, you take a basin, do hara-kiri for yourself, dump your insides there and put it all under the nose of your boyfriend. And he turns back. There must be some kind of mystery in the woman. And from the first day I was afraid of losing a man. I gave them gifts, and they gave me only flowers, and then only occasionally. I took out their phones, helped them "knock out" apartments. Sometimes I was in such a hurry for a date that I waited at my own entrance for half an hour so as not to be the first to come. "

On oblivion on TV (TV producer Vitaly Zaikin):“The director, who came to television during the perestroika years, shot all of her programs in one day:" Good night, kids! "," Visiting a fairy tale "and" From the bottom of my heart. " He invited Valentina Mikhailovna to his office and invited her to retire. To which he immediately received the answer: "I will now hang a sign on my chest with the inscription" Blame the chief for my death "and lie under the tram at VDNKh!" Then she was transferred "off-screen" to the position of assistant director. And when we met her, we were appointed a consultant in the sign language translation department. "For this, I have been grinding my tongue all my life, so that in my old age I can explain myself with gestures," Aunt Valya sneered. "

Leontyev on old age and TV (on the occasion of his 80th birthday in 2003):“I love television, I love colleagues with whom I have lived side by side for decades, I love my viewers, who still write me letters and greet me on the street. I love my life and do not feel age at all, although some constantly hint at it to me. They write that I don't see anything, I don't leave the house, that I'm going to die. This is all a lie! When they sent me an invitation to the next TEFI ceremony, at first I didn't want to go, but when I read about my imaginary illness, I packed up and went so that the people could see: Leontyeva is alive and well. She got out of the car and said to the assembled spectators: "Look, my dears, at me, please, and tell me, do I look like a dying woman?" Everyone burst out laughing. "

6 facts about Valentina Leontyeva

• As a child, she played in a drama club. In the sixth grade she took first place in the reading competition among the schools of Leningrad.
• During the blockade, Leontyev and her sister were taught by their mother to smoke in order to kill the feeling of hunger. So the TV presenter got into the habit of smoking two packs a day.
• The first husband of Leontyeva, director Richard, was fond of erotic photography. In memory of him, the presenter left several candid pictures for which she posed.
• In 1982 she received the title of People's Artist of the USSR. Throughout history folk artists Only two announcers became the union - Valentina Leontyeva and Igor Kirillov.
• In 1975 she was awarded the State Prize of the USSR for the programs "From the bottom of my heart".
• In 2000 she received the TEFI award "For personal contribution to the development of national television".

Materials about Valentina Leontyeva:

Soviet 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 kids were looking 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 Torsons (this is her real name and surname), is August 1, 1923. His father had Swedish roots, therefore, fearing reprisals, he changed his surname to Leontiev. The Leontyev family was friendly and intelligent. Father and mother worked as accountants at Petrograd enterprises, and besides, they were creative people. They loved their girls - the elder Lucy and the younger 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 contests, balls and masquerades in our house, when my father played the violin.

When the war came in 1941, Alevtina was 18 years old. In besieged Leningrad, all who could, provided all possible assistance in the defense of the city. So the Leontyev sisters served in the air defense detachment. Father, in order to feed his family, regularly donated blood. And he divided the meager ration so that his wife and children got more. Himself practically did not eat anything. Once, when they were stocking up firewood, he got hurt. Blood poisoning began, plus physical exhaustion - all this led to death.

The women were left alone. For the girls to survive, their mother forced them to practice physical activity, so as not to freeze, disturbed them when in the cold they just wanted to lie down, fall asleep and never wake up. She also taught them how to smoke to fight hunger. Already in adulthood, two packs of cigarettes a day for Valentina Leontyeva will be an everyday norm.

Thanks for son

In 1942, Alya and her family were evacuated to 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, since she had her own family, and she was also a sought-after specialist.

In the biography of Valentina Leontyeva, there was a case that well demonstrates her character. Once Alevtina was walking down the street where German prisoners of war were digging trenches. Literally from the ground, a hand reached out to her: “Bread! Of bread!" The young girl was struck 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 at me - he was afraid. Then he grew a little bolder and asked where my parents were. I said that my father died during the Leningrad blockade from starvation psychosis, and my mother was left with us alone (she saved us, forcing us to smoke so that we would less want to eat). The German had tears in his eyes, he didn’t finish his dinner, got up and left.

Imagine Ali's surprise when, two years later, the same guy with his mother stood on the threshold of her house. He came to make Leontyeva a marriage proposal. But she refused, arguing that she could not tie her fate with the enemy.

Then his mother cried and said to me at parting: "Baby, you yourself have no idea what you mean to me. You saved my son from starvation. I will thank you all my life."

Life goes on

Since childhood, Alevtina wanted to become an artist, but she got into an acting university only the second time, having studied a little at the Institute of Chemical Technology. She simultaneously studied at the Schepkin Theater School and at the opera and drama studio at the Moscow Art Theater. After graduation, she is sent to the Tambov Regional Theater, where she plays the role of the heroine. And here she meets her first love.

A 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, along with his newly-made wife, leaves for Moscow. 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 earlier he returns from a business trip ... no, not a husband, but a wife, and finds his beloved peacefully sleeping in an embrace with another woman. Valentina didn't even throw a scandal out of fatigue, took a cot and went to sleep in the kitchen. And in the morning I packed my things and left. Forever and ever.

I bet she won't figure it out

In the biography of Valentina Leontyeva, you can find a funny moment: the day of meeting her second spouse. It happened in a restaurant. Attractive Valentina was approached by two young men who introduced themselves as an Englishman and his translator. The whole evening the Englishman fascinated the young girl, and the next morning he called her and apologized in pure Russian for the yesterday's joke. The "Englishman" turned out to be a diplomat, personal translator of Nikita Khrushchev, Yuri Vinogradov. It turns out that he argued with his friend that he could portray a foreigner in such a way that, for example, that pretty girl would not guess.

That evening, Yuri Vinogradov not only won the argument, but also won the heart of the beauty. Soon, Yuri and Valentina got married, they had a son - Dmitry. Along with the establishment of her personal life, Valentina Leontyeva's career as a TV presenter was born and strengthened. Leontyeva could not get a job in the theaters of the capital and therefore was in search of work. Seeing an advertisement in a newspaper about a competition for the place of a TV presenter, Valentina decided to try until something worthwhile came along.

The main love of all life

Television work, which was seen as a temporary means of income, would become main love Valentina Mikhailovna. In the life of a woman who begins her career, a choice arises: family or work. Because either one or the other will suffer. Few people manage to combine these two poles. At first, Leontyeva had the same throwing. She finally confirmed her choice when she and her husband left for New York for two years. There she yearned for work and toiled from idleness. Therefore, when I returned to Moscow, I eagerly plunged into work. Valentina made her choice.

She disappeared at work all day. Son Mitya saw his mother only on TV. As the presenter herself admitted, she saw Mitenka only asleep: she went to work, he was still asleep, 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 is on TV day and night, he is on business trips abroad - the relationship has become formal. Leontyeva did not hide that she had affairs on the side.

And so the logical conclusion was the divorce in 1970. Soon, the husband of Valentina Leontyeva married a nurse who looked after him while he was in the hospital. On this family life ended, the famous TV presenter was then 54 years old.

Blow in the gut

35 years old 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 the State Prize for the TV show "From the bottom of 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, other 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 spend the 65-year-old star of the air on a well-deserved rest. But Valentina Mikhailovna just didn't want to give up and threatened to commit suicide in front of Muscovites. They left her, but they took her out, as they say, “out of frame”. She was a consultant speaker in the sign language department. After this, Leont'eva could not come to her senses for a long time: the meaning of life, or even life itself, was taken from her.

Time to pay the bills

All subsequent years will be years of bitterness and reckoning for mistakes. The biography of Valentina Leontyeva's son is the story of an abandoned boy who, when he grew up, repaid his mother with the same coin. For the childhood years of her son's loneliness, Leontyev paid with years of loneliness in old age. As Dmitry was not needed by anyone while growing up, so Valentina Mikhailovna was not needed by anyone in old age and illness. Shortly before her death, she began to suffer from senile insanity.

Valentina was taken care of by her older sister. She took Valya to her village, where, at the age of 83, in 2007, “Aunt Valya” died. Many people came to see her off on her last journey: fans, colleagues, fellow villagers, relatives, only a son was not there. He could not forgive his mother.

In her last photo, Valentina Leontyeva covers her face with her hands. She didn't want to be seen old and sick. She has remained in the memory of millions of TV viewers as a fabulous sorceress with kind eyes.

Leontyeva Valentina Mikhailovna

People's Artist of the RSFSR (1974)
People's Artist of the USSR (1982)
Laureate of the USSR State Prize (1975)
Laureate of the "TEFI" award in the nomination "For personal contribution to the development of national television" (2000)
Chevalier of the Order of the Badge of Honor (1973)
Commander of the Order of Friendship (1998)
Awarded the medal "For the Defense of Leningrad"

At school, Valya always participated in amateur performances, played in a drama club, in the sixth grade she won first place in a reading competition, which was held among Leningrad schools. During the war, Valentina Leontyeva survived the blockade of Leningrad. About her parents, who were native Leningraders, Valentina Mikhailovna said: “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 contests, balls and masquerades in our house, when dad played the violin ... "

After the war began, Valentina Leontyeva and her sister enrolled in an air defense detachment during the blockade. But food shortages soon became scarce in the city, and their 60-year-old father became a donor to receive additional rations to save their daughters from starvation. Once, during the parsing of furniture for firewood, Mikhail Leontyev injured his hand and he began to get blood poisoning. His daughters took him to the hospital, and there he died. Valentina Leontyeva told about that time: “In 1942, the Road to Life was opened, and we decided to leave. Me, mother and sister Lucy were saved. Lyusin's son, whom she gave birth to at the beginning of the war, died on the road, his sister was not even allowed to bury him. She buried the baby's body in a nearby snowdrift ... "

Valentina with her mother and sister Lyudmila were taken from besieged Leningrad to the village of Novosyolki in the Ulyanovsk region, from where Valentina, after graduating from school with honors, came to Moscow with her mother. Valentina Leontyeva said: “My mother and I moved in 1945, immediately after the Victory, to Moscow from Leningrad. The city was - solid catacombs: everywhere there were barriers from tanks, destroyed houses, trenches that were dug by captured Germans. Once I was walking near such a trench. Suddenly, literally from the ground, dirty thin hands stretched out. The German looked at me with pleading eyes: "Bread, give me bread!" I looked at his hands and was stunned: such thin, long, beautiful fingers are found only in pianists and violinists. I begged the guard to let me feed this German. They brought him to our house, I poured him some soup. At first he ate very slowly, he didn't even look at me - he was afraid. Then he got a little bolder and asked where my parents were. I said that dad died during the Leningrad blockade from hunger psychosis and mom was left with us alone (she saved us by forcing us to smoke so that we would less want to eat). The German had tears in his eyes, he didn’t finish his dinner, got up and left. And two years later they rang at our door. The same German stood on the threshold. True, now he was not at all grimy and skinny, but washed, combed, dressed in a ceremonial suit, quite a handsome young man. An elderly woman was standing next to him. He smiled at me and said: "I could not forget you, so I came with my mother to propose to you." I refused him, because I could not marry the enemy. Then his mother burst into tears and said goodbye to me: “Baby, you yourself have no idea what you mean to me. You saved my son from starvation. I will thank you all my life. "

In Moscow, Leontyeva entered the Mendeleev Institute of Chemical Technology, but soon stopped studying there and began working in a polyclinic. And later she entered the Schepkinsky School, and at the same time - the Stanislavsky Opera and Drama Studio at the Moscow Art Theater. In 1948, the aspiring actress Valentina Leontyev interested the chief director of the Tambov theater Vladimir Galitsky with her spontaneity and sincere openness. Leontyeva told Galitsky at the meeting: “I am a graduate of the Moscow Art Theater School, a student of Vasily Osipovich Toporkov. I graduated this year and I want to go to the periphery. " Vasily Toporkov was a student of the great Stanislavsky, and it cost a lot. Vladimir Aleksandrovich suggested that the aspiring actress come to Michurinsk, where the Tambov theater was on tour at that time. Valentina Leontyeva took advantage of the director's invitation and joined the troupe of the Tambov theater, where she served for several years.

In 1954, Leontyeva returned from Tambov to Moscow, and having successfully passed the competitive tests, she was hired to work on television. Vitaly Zaikin said: “At the audition, Valentina Mikhailovna was asked to read the libretto of Swan Lake. "Why do I need a piece of paper, I can speak myself!" - answered Leontyeva. The commission was amazed at how well Leontyev spoke, and she was hired as an announcer. But since all the posts of announcers were occupied, Leontyev was appointed to the position of assistant director.

Leontyeva barely overcame the constraint in the frame and about her first live recalled with a shudder. On that day, as a young intern, she was urgently summoned to the studio and instructed to read the message. Leontyeva said: “The director solemnly counted out into the microphone:“ There are three minutes left before the transmission… two minutes, ”and I was dying of fear. As a result, the audience saw my face twisted with excitement. With difficulty, stammering, I read the text. Then I was told that an hour later some large television chief called: “What was that ?! he shouted. - So that I don't see this on the air again! " But the announcer of the All-Union Radio Olga Vysotskaya stood up for me. "

The troubles of the young presenter did not end there. So, for example, during the conduct of one of the "Lights", the heel of Leontyeva's shoes was firmly stuck in the floor during a live broadcast, putting Leontyev in a very difficult position. But there were other, more dangerous situations with Leontyeva. During one of the programs about animals, Leontyev was bitten by a bear cub. Director Kaleria Kislova, who worked with Valentina Mikhailovna on Shabolovka for many years, said: “Once a circus team came to our studio, they brought a lot of animals with them. There was an adorable little bear. And Valya was very fond of children and animals, and she simply did not leave this bear cub. I was just the director of the broadcast and in the middle of the program I noticed that she had wrapped a handkerchief around her wrist. It turns out that this bear bit her hand. But she didn't even show it and brought the program to the end - she understood that the entire Soviet Union was watching it live. And when the program ended, I had to call an ambulance - she was very bad. "

And yet, the new profession was mastered by Leontyeva quickly enough, and the audience soon began to respond with attention and love to the new presenter of various programs, and very soon Leontyeva became the universal favorite of the Soviet Union. She regularly hosted "Blue Lights" and reports from Red Square, cycles of journalistic programs "From the bottom of my heart", which gathered the entire adult population of the country near the TV, and with which she traveled more than fifty cities in Russia. Leontyeva has earned the trust and respect of the head of the State TV and Radio Sergei Lapin. And thanks to this, she could afford a lot that was impossible for others. For example, Leontyeva refused to conduct the main news program - "Time". Actually, there was no particular need for this. The program "From the bottom of my heart", which told about human destinies, was no less exciting than the movie. Meetings of people after many years of separation, relatives and friends who suddenly appeared in front of the TV camera, who were scattered by life, gathered millions of TV viewers in front of the screen.

Kaleria Kislova said: “I saw how Valya took everything seriously, how she memorized names, surnames, dates and facts. In no case could she confuse that this is Ivan Ivanovich, and this is Maria Petrovna, he is from Moscow, she is from Tambov. And during the war, they met at Stalingrad, and then never saw each other again. Each episode of the program had several stories, and all of them had to be memorized to the smallest detail. The presenter had no right to screw something up, because people trusted the program for especially dear moments of their lives. Leont'eva herself was worried along with everyone. No wonder the program was jokingly called "Cry with us, cry like us, cry better than us."

The heartfelt manner of broadcasting Valentina Leontyeva, indeed, more than once caused tears of joy, and for this the audience loved Valentina Mikhailovna more than any other announcer or presenter. When one day Valentina Mikhailovna was driving in a taxi to Shabolovka and took out the money to pay off, the driver, turning around, said: “I don’t take money from my money. When it’s my birthday, you are my guest; when I’m sick, you visit me. My children want to listen to the fairy tale, and you come again ... "And it was true - the children were looking forward to the appearance on the screen of Aunt Vali in the programs" Skillful hands "," Alarm clock "," Good night, kids! " and especially - "Visiting a fairy tale", which she led almost half of her life.

Bulat Okudzhava dedicated a very touching poem to Valentina Leontyeva.

Your heart,
like a window in an abandoned house,
Locked it tight
now no longer close ...
And I followed you
because I am destined
I am destined for the world
look for you.
The years go by
the years are still wandering,
I believe:
if not this evening,
A thousand years will pass -
I'll find it anyway
Somewhere, on some
I'll meet you on the street ...

Valentina Leontyeva said: “After moving from Leningrad, our family settled on the Arbat. Once, while visiting friends who lived in one of the neighboring houses, I met Bulat Okudzhava. He was then an inconspicuous boy, vertically challenged and rather shy. He even wrote one poem especially for me, but there was nothing personal, intimate there. He and I were very good friends, nothing more. Then fate divorced us different cities... After graduating from the Moscow Art Theater School, I went to the Tambov Theater, where I worked for two years, and Bulat went to look for happiness in Leningrad. We met with him only after fifty years. " This happened in the early nineties, when in one of the programs the editor asked Leontyeva: "Valentina Mikhailovna, we need Okudzhava for the program - call him, after all, you seemed to know each other once?" “How so - suddenly call ?! We haven't seen each other for so many years! To impose on a person who has long forgotten about me! I don’t even have a phone! ” - denied Leontyeva. But she decided to call. Bulat answered the phone. "Bulat ... Excuse me, I do not know what to call you: for you, for you .." - "Who is this?" Okudzhava asked irritably. “Just don't hang up, listen to me for at least a minute and a half,” and she read a poem dedicated to her by Okudzhava, never published. A few days later, Leontyeva had a concert at the Central House of Arts, and in the first row she saw Bulat Okudzhava with his wife. She stepped off the stage and sat down in front of him. Later Leontyeva said: “I had no idea that he would come - and suddenly! .. We just looked at each other and almost cried. In his last book, he wrote to me: "We met in 50 years." I am terribly sorry now that we have lost these forty years without seeing each other - how many things could have been different! " But Bulat Okudzhava died a month after they met with Leontyeva.

And millions of viewers continued to love her, and she reciprocated them, since she herself loved working on television like no one else. She was convinced that she was very lucky in life: “More than forty years ago, I pulled out this win-win lottery ticket on which was written“ TV ”. And having given fifty years of my profession, I am absolutely convinced that there is only one purely “human” profession on television, whose representatives communicate directly only with the audience - announcers. ”

Vitaly Zaikin said: “Valentina Mikhailovna had a unique memory. She might not remember what she was doing a minute ago, but if we asked her what was the name of the woman who had been looking for her son for a long time, she immediately, without hesitation, could remember even a complex name like Kamshat Kobdozimovna Dudynbaeva. "

Valentina Leontyeva said: “I never slept on the eve of the show. I spent only fifty-two nights in agonizing thoughts. I was afraid to forget something, thought over options in case something went wrong. And every time the most unexpected puncture occurred! For example, I never knew how to find the heroes of the program who were supposed to sit in the auditorium. They gave me a piece of paper with the numbers of the seats, but I couldn't go live and look behind the backs! Then I stopped near the row where the "decoy duck" was, and talked about the fate of this person, looking from one viewer to another. Almost always by the eyes I could identify my hero! "

For all her immense popularity, Leontyeva did not consider herself a star at all, she worked a lot, and in an interview she admitted: “I have never had a star fever, it was inconvenient for me to enjoy some privileges. I remember once standing in a store in a queue for groceries, and it was at a time of total shortage - then they still put numbers on my palms. The people recognized me and began to push me to the counter. The crowd rolled: "Leontyev, Leontyev." The director of the store runs out and almost forcibly takes me to the warehouse. What was not there! They put two bags on me, but I refused to take them. How would I look into the eyes of hungry people if they saw that I was leaving the back porch with two string bags? "

But Leontyeva was very fond of helping. Once the elder sister of Valentina Leontyeva Lyudmila, who worked as the chief economist at the state farm, conveyed to Valentina the request of the director of the state farm to somehow assist in obtaining the seeders that had just appeared and were distributed strictly according to the funds. Valentina Mikhailovna went to the Minister of Agriculture of the USSR. The minister accepted it at once: “Valentina Mikhailovna, dear, how can I finish this flashlight? My tomboys overlooked something and now they do not give rest, ”the official asked the host of the program“ Skillful Hands ”. Leontyeva explained. As a result, the minister and the TV presenter parted, very pleased with each other. The minister learned how to teach grandchildren to make flashlights, and 20 scarce seeders went to the state farm.

Kaleria Kislova said: “She did not receive any special material benefits. Valya lived with her mother in a communal apartment for a very long time. A house was built in front of the TV center on Shabolovka, and many TV crews were given rooms in it, including her. What an event it was! True, when in 1962 foreign journalists arrived (it seems, from the German "Der Spiegel"), funny story... Leont'ev, as a star of Soviet television, they wanted to film at home: how he manages, where he spends free time... Valya was very worried then: you can't receive such guests in a communal apartment! And some of her friends, to show off, offered her just renovated one-room apartment. "

Leont'eva herself also talked about this case: “I came, washed my hands in the bathroom, then fried eggs in the kitchen - pretending to be a skillful hostess”. And everything seemed to be fine. But before leaving, the Germans asked: "Valentina Mikhailovna, where do you sleep?" It was not clear to them how this famous TV presenter could live without a bedroom. “Oh, girls, can you imagine,” she laughed, “I thought that I would show them the class, but they left me!”

Only ten years after this story, Leontyeva was allocated a separate apartment. And in 1982, Valentina Leontyeva was awarded the title of People's Artist of the Soviet Union. In the same year, her mother died. Valentina Leontyeva said: “I came to her dying hospital. “I'm cold, hug me,” my mother asked. And so, in my arms, she died. And the next day I had to fly to the shooting of the program "From the bottom of my heart" in Komsomolsk-on-Amur. And on the way I have a heart attack. And after the transfer - fainting. So I didn't bury my mother. Therefore, I still believe that she is alive and near. There is a human tribute - to go to the funeral. I understand that this is sinful, but I cannot follow it. When I see the coffin, I immediately turn and walk away. I'm not ready to come to terms with death. "

Valentina Mikhailovna was married twice. She met her first husband, Yuri Richard, Leontyeva at the Tambov theater, and he also brought Leontyev to Moscow. In less than three years, their marriage broke up. Later Lyudmila Leontyeva (sister) said: “After graduating from the studio, she was assigned to the Tambov Regional Theater. She played a lot, her role was "heroine". And then a young director came there, he staged his graduation performance there. They liked each other, got married, and he took Valya to Moscow. She somehow did not work out with Moscow theaters, and then a competition for television was announced. She decided to try: suddenly it would work out - as a result, she found herself a job for life. Valya quickly became popular. She took the audience with sincerity, simplicity of communication, it seemed, she entered into the soul of everyone - such a talent she had from God. "

Valentina Leontyeva met her second husband under funny circumstances. She said: “In one of the Moscow restaurants a tall, handsome, dark-haired man approached me. His friend introduced this handsome man as Eric's English guest. I chatted with the so-called Englishman (through the "interpreter") and danced all evening. The next day, the "overseas guest" Eric called me at home and in pure Russian asked for forgiveness, said that he had a bet with a friend that I would buy his joke. In fact, his name is Yura, he works as a diplomat, so he knows so well English... After a long apology and explanation, Yura said that he would like to meet with me again in his real image. Soon we got married with him. "

They lived together for 28 years. Yuri moved to her small room in a communal apartment, where there was only a bed, a chair and a few nails on which the famous TV presenter's belongings hung. And on January 26, 1962, Valentina Leontyeva was taken from work in an ambulance to the maternity hospital, where she had a son, whom she named Dmitry.

Valentina Leontyeva's friend, Lyudmila Tueva, said: “Valya wanted a child, but she had no time for everything - the television sucked in. At 39, not everyone decides to give birth. And three days after giving birth, she went on the air. The upbringing of little Mitya fell on the shoulders of his mother - Ekaterina Leontyeva. Mom will always support Valya: help her memorize texts at night, do her homework for her, settle conflicts with her husband. "

Two years after the birth of his son, the program "Good night, kids!" “Because of work, I almost lost my son,” Valentina Mikhailovna later admitted. - Television was my number one home. She left for work - my son was still asleep. I came back - I was already asleep. I didn’t swaddle, and I didn’t even feed ”.

Valentina Leontyeva's family life with her second spouse also did not work out. Leontyeva said: “My Vinogradov fell ill in the male part, I got him in the best clinic on the Gulf of Finland. And he very soon recovered, having fallen in love with a young nurse ... I also had romances on his side. My husband drank a lot, but sometimes I wanted to be a woman. So there was every reason for treason. "

Kaleria Kislova said: “Her husband was a diplomat, worked as Khrushchev's personal translator, then he was sent on a diplomatic mission to New York, I think, to the UN. And then there was such a law (however, it seems that it still exists) that it was necessary to go with his wife. Valya pulled as much as she could. And then all the same I had to leave. I remember how she came to our editorial office to say goodbye. “I don’t know how I’ll live there,” she said with tears in her eyes, “without work, without television!” However, she did not live overseas for long: Khrushchev was removed, and soon Valina's husband was also recalled. Once I come to work - she is sitting. Our room was large, and everyone gathered for her "lecture on America" ​​- authors, editors, directors. According to her, everything seemed strange there. Mothers who walked with their children in the park made a particularly strong impression on her. “I was amazed,” she said, “that a child can fall, hit, cry, and my mother will not even lead an eyebrow:“ Nothing, he will rise by himself! ”. This is their upbringing system. And since I rushed to Mitya all the time, they looked at me, to put it mildly, with surprise. " And she never spoke English, unlike her son, who very quickly found a common language with American children. "

Sister Lyudmila Leontyeva said that at one time Valentina was in love with the presenter Yuri Nikolaev. And once he was fined on the air - he appeared drunk in front of millions of viewers. He was immediately removed, but Leontyev asked for him, and Nikolaev was restored. But later he did not help Aunt Valya in return. She said: “When you fall in love, you take a basin, do hara-kiri for yourself, dump your insides there and put it all under the nose of your boyfriend. And he turns back. There must be some kind of mystery in the woman. And from the first day I was afraid of losing a man. I gave them gifts, and they gave me only flowers, and then only occasionally. I took out their phones, helped them "knock out" apartments. Sometimes I was in such a hurry for a date that I waited at my own entrance for half an hour so as not to be the first to come. "

Vitaly Zaikin said: “Only to me and my brother Valentina Mikhailovna confessed that Arkady Raikin was madly in love with her. They met at one of the "Blue Lights" in St. Petersburg and after filming went to wander along the embankments. Raikin did not take his admiring eyes off her all the way and was very much embarrassed. “I always liked you on the screen, but in life, Valya, you are a hundred times better,” the actor admitted. Within a few days he arranged for himself a "business trip" to Moscow. And he was waiting for her after each broadcast in the corridors of Ostankino with a huge bouquet of flowers. Then Raikin began to literally pursue the TV presenter, constantly torn between Moscow and St. Petersburg. Between family and obsession. Valentina, too, was already married to Vinogradov, raised her son Mitya. And Arkady never achieved reciprocal feelings, although he went for desperate actions for her. After all, it was only because of Leontyeva that he achieved the opening of his theater in the capital (and, by the way, “knocked out” a building not far from Ostankino, on Sheremetyevskaya Street). In general, all this went on for ten years. From the side of Valentin Leontyev, Arkady Raikin looked like good friends. “It was just not mine, it was a man! It was interesting to communicate with Arkasha, but as a man he can’t be my way! ” - explained Leontyeva. However, the actor's wife has long suspected something was wrong in this strange friendship. Finally, tired of making up, she cut off all their communication, leaving her husband with a choice: "Either I, or Leontyev." And Raikin dropped his hands. "

Since 1989, Valentina Leontyeva has become a television announcer-consultant, and also wrote the book "Declaration of Love". This book was very popular among readers, since millions of viewers were interested to know what the famous aunt Valya was interested in in life. For example, it became known that Valentina Leontyeva's favorite reference book was the tale of Alexander Milne "Winnie the Pooh and everything, everything, everything." She loved the never-discouraging nature of the teddy bear, who infected others with his optimism.

She had the same character herself, and very much helped her out in difficult situations. So, for example, once two radio correspondents played a cruel joke with Valentina Leontyeva. They argued for a box of champagne, figuring out which rumor - about Vysotskaya or Leontyeva - would fly from Moscow to Vladivostok faster. Word of mouth was chosen as a means of communication. As a result, the news got on the air that the wife of diplomat Valentin Leontyev, while in America, entered into a criminal relationship with the CIA. And she had to make excuses for this wild trick later in each interview and in front of her superiors. But Valentina Mikhailovna treated such rumors with humor: “I and a CIA agent! What could be more ridiculous ?! I had another vacation, and I decided to visit my husband, who was working in the States at the time. It was just that the program “From the bottom of my heart” was closed at that time: one boss decided that this program had outlived its usefulness. And, apparently, since no explanation was given, the people came up with the idea that "With all my heart" was closed because of my connections with American intelligence. "

But this was an innocent trifle compared to the surprise Russian television prepared for Leontyeva during perestroika. Vitaly Zaikin said: “The director, who came to television during the perestroika years, shot all her programs in one day:“ Good night, kids! ”,“ Visiting a fairy tale ”and“ With all my heart ”. He invited Valentina Mikhailovna to his office and invited her to retire. To which he immediately received an answer: "I will now hang a sign on my chest with the inscription" Blame the chief for my death "and lie under the tram at VDNKh!" Then she was transferred "off-screen" to the position of assistant director. And when we met her, we were appointed a consultant in the sign language translation department. “For this I have been grinding my tongue all my life, so that in my old age I can explain myself with gestures,” Leont'eva sarcastically.

In 1999, with a new script for the program "From the bottom of my heart," Leontyeva again came to television. Vitaly Zaikin said: “We wanted to revive all Leontyeva's programs. At first, she, and when it became uncomfortable, we already knocked down the thresholds of the directorate of the television center. “If you are ready to pay for your performances on the air at advertising prices, then please: a minute - five thousand dollars,” the former boss stunned Leontyev. She was ashamed to admit that for the sake of ethers she was ready to change even her appearance. After all, everyone was ready to write off Valentina Leontyeva from television. Once we were at a banquet together, and in the midst of the holiday Naina Yeltsina approached Valentina Mikhailovna. She kissed her on the cheek, inquired about her health and pressing matters. And when she heard about the problem of aging, she said that she would recommend the best doctors in the field of plastic surgery. Naina kept her word, and soon Valentina Leontyeva went under the knife. But only in order to return to the screens. She, using a unique technology, burned the upper layers of the skin along with wrinkles. At that time, this procedure cost us a tidy sum - fifteen thousand dollars. When she was brought in, she had a plaster mask on her face; in the early days, Valentina Mikhailovna had to feed almost through a pipette. "The main thing is that the cigarette goes through the hole in the plaster mouth!" - our inveterate smoker warned in advance. When the mask was removed, the face looked burned. And it healed for about a month. Valentina Mikhailovna looked amazing - she was twenty years younger. But she strictly forbade us to reveal the miracle of transformation, even her own sister, with whom they were very close, did not know anything. "What have you done with our aunt Valya?" - Dmitry Dibrov jumped up to us. "They have nothing to do with it, I just got burned in the sun!" - snapped Leontyev. " The rejuvenated aunt Valya was never offered new positions. Then she despaired and recorded on a cassette an appeal to President Boris Yeltsin, which we sent to his administration. Apparently, some orders were given, because after that they began to invite Valentina Leontyev for interviews. First Ernst, then Dibrov. Then they thought about returning the program "Visiting a Fairy Tale" and changed Leontyeva's image. Dressed in a funny outfit - like Mary Poppins, from which Valentina Mikhailovna was horrified. But why can't you do it for the sake of art! Then she was given new scenario"Heartily". Leont'eva tried to teach him and six months later stated: "Nothing will work for me, the memory is not the same." In 1997, the Telescope program was published, which was hosted by Leontyeva, but it did not last long in the rating either. Finally, Valentina Mikhailovna was taken on the radio for a while, where she was broadcasting her own program. "

“Vladimir Pozner saved me from humiliating poverty,” Leontyeva later said. “He procured for me from general director ORT Konstantin Ernst salary for life ”.

When Valentina Mikhailovna turned 80 in 2003, she said in an interview: “I love television, I love colleagues with whom I have lived side by side for decades, I love my viewers, who still write letters to me and greet me on the street ... I love my life and do not feel age at all, although some constantly hint at it to me. They write that I don't see anything, I don't leave the house, that I'm going to die. This is all a lie! When they sent me an invitation to the next TEFI ceremony, at first I didn't want to go, but when I read about my imaginary illness, I packed up and went so that the people could see: Leontyeva is alive and well. She got out of the car and said to the assembled spectators: "Look, my dears, at me, please, and tell me, do I look like a dying woman?" Everyone burst out laughing. "

In 2004, Leontyeva moved to the village of Novosyolki in the Ulyanovsk region, where her sister lived. The move was required after Valentina Leontyeva was injured during a fall in her apartment on Bolshaya Gruzinskaya Street. The pain in the spine that appeared after the fall, she at first did not give of particular importance, but after two weeks on the street she lost consciousness. Fortunately, a man passing by saw that the woman was ill and called an ambulance.

Waking up at the Central Clinical Hospital, Valentina Mikhailovna learned the diagnosis - a compression fracture of the 12th vertebra. “When I was discharged from the hospital, I suddenly discovered that I had some kind of memory gaps,” Leontyeva recalled. She could not get used to the apartment, confused rooms, at times did not recognize her son. “Mitya was very annoyed that I confused him with other people,” recalled Valentina Mikhailovna. "My helplessness pissed him off."

After the troubles she experienced and the difficult operation, Leontyeva needed constant care, and her sister Lyudmila took her to her in the Ulyanovsk region. In Novoselki, Valentina Mikhailovna settled in a one-room apartment with a glazed loggia in an ordinary village five-story building. Her sister Lyudmila lived on the floor above. Leontyeva admitted that, leaving the capital, she hoped to return soon, but this never happened.

“Valentina needed constant help,” said Lyudmila Mikhailovna’s sister Leontyeva, “and her son Dima is a busy man, he could not take care of his mother properly ... She had a serious injury: she fell in her Moscow apartment, hit her head hard and broke the neck of her thigh. And here's the thing that is insulting: she never got sick, she didn't even have an outpatient card. Well, perhaps a couple of times I turned to my local doctor about a banal flu. And then suddenly this. The doctors did everything they could and warned us that she would have serious head problems. They wanted to give Valya to a nursing home, but I didn’t let her. Valya herself said: "Only to Lyusa!" We provided her with excellent conditions, she would not have such anywhere: we looked after, and prepared everything she asked. Valya loved pasta. Channel One helped us a lot. For example, they brought here all the furnishings of her Moscow room so that she would not feel lonely in a strange place. There was her bed, and a chest of drawers, and a dressing table, and books, trinkets, albums with photographs that she held dear. When we took her away, the doctors warned that she would not last more than a year, but she still lived for three years. "

Kaleria Kislova said: “You can also understand why she left for Novoselki. She could no longer serve herself, and her loving relatives live there. Nieces and sister, who is older than her, took all the trouble. There they created the Museum of Valentina Leontyeva, the local governor took great care of her ... So Valya was happy and kindly until the very end of her life. Yes, on a personal level, it did not work out for her: she divorced her husband, he left for another city. "

What Leontyeva saw on TV often genuinely upset her: “Television is no longer what it used to be. Then there was more sincerity in people, we loved our work. That is why the programs were sincere and kind. What now? Endless games and shows in which greed, immorality and greed reign. I recently turned on the TV and came across Windows. What a disgusting program! This is not how television should be. And what did they do with the "Spookushki"! It is disgusting for me to look at the mediocre, through and through fake beauty Oksana Fedorova! "

When Leontyeva lived in Novoselki, her eyesight deteriorated greatly, and she did not leave the house. Vitaly Zaikin said: “In her old age Valentina saw very badly, she was diagnosed with cataract. To protect herself from blindness, Leontyeva had to undergo an operation at the Institute of Eye Microsurgery. Fedorov himself volunteered to operate on it. And she suddenly demanded an ordinary doctor from the assembly line, who does forty operations a day. “Your Fedorov is both a politician and a teacher, but he probably forgot how to cut people! But how to say this without offending him, I do not know. I'd better stay blind, "said Aunt Valya."

For the last two months of her life, she did not get out of bed. Protecting Leontyeva from undue anxiety, her sister protected her from interviews and visits to journalists. “I don’t want to be seen like this - sick and old, - said Leont'eva herself, - let me be remembered young and beautiful, like on a television screen ...”

Lyudmila Leontyeva said: “I saw that she did not have enough people, communication. Well, in Last year there was no time for that: she was getting worse and worse, she already did not always recognize me and her daughter. And then she fell ill with pneumonia and burned out in just a few days.

“I have always considered myself her student, considering it an honor and happiness to work with Valentina Mikhailovna,” said Igor Kirillov, Leontyeva's partner on the air. - I remember her first of all as an ideal and sensitive partner on the air. It was always reliable with her, even on the air. She could help at any time, pick up and save the situation in the most severe force majeure. She became beloved, close and dear - in a word, hers for millions of viewers. Because she was on the screen by herself - natural and emotional. "

The leadership of Channel One took over the organization of the funeral. The sister refused the offer to transport the body to Moscow, and Valentina Leontyeva was buried in the village cemetery. About a thousand residents of the village came to say goodbye to the TV presenter, from Moscow came Alexander Orlov - Leontyeva's student, actor Andrei Udalov and Leontyeva's friend Lyudmila Tueva. Leontyeva's relatives received telegrams of condolences from a huge number of people - from the President of the Russian Federation to ordinary TV viewers. Eduard Sagalaev told about Leontyeva: “This is a whole era in Russian television, the appearance in those years of a fundamentally new profession of TV presenter is associated with her name”.

Once in Volgograd, in the places where there were battles and trenches remained, Valentina Leontyeva saw a small birch and said: "She grew up on blood." The last request of Valentina Mikhailovna - her trees should grow at her grave ...

A monument to Valentina Leontyeva was erected in Ulyanovsk.

In 2006, about Valentina Leontyeva was filmed documentary“Valentina Leontyeva. Life after glory. " In it, Valentina Leontyeva talked about what forced her to leave Moscow at an advanced age and settle in the Ulyanovsk region. This was the last interview with Valentin Mikhailovna Leontyeva.

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The text was prepared by Andrey Goncharov

Used materials:

The text of the interview "Valentine's Day" with Vitaly Zaikin "
Text of the article "Valentina Leontyeva: I don't watch TV anymore", author V. Oberemko
Text of the article "Valentina Leontyeva: Bulat Okudzhava and the captured German asked for my hand", author S. Shaidakova
Publication about Valentina Leontyeva in "Gordon Boulevard", author R. Malinovsky
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