Legendary directors are sometimes on TV programs. Since the mid-1970s, only Kaleria Kislova, the chief director of the Vremya program, has filmed all the leaders of our country. Kislova forced the podium to be sawn down so that Brezhnev would be comfortable on it. She hid the camera in the ikebana so that at a meeting of the leaders of the CMEA countries, she could take a close-up of Gorbachev's face. Unaware of the reason for the call, she rushed to the Kremlin on December 31, 1999 to reshoot Yeltsin's New Year's address - and recorded his famous speech: "I'm tired, I'm leaving."

- Did I think, living in a Siberian village, from which it took two days to get to the nearest railway station in winter, that I would begin to live in Moscow and go to the Kremlin as to my home? .. Of course, I thought! When I was little, I loved looking at pictures in magazines that my mother subscribed to. One day, "Spark" came, on the cover of which there was a girl in a dark blue dress with a lace collar. Santa Claus handed her an outlandish fruit that I had never eaten or even touched - grapes. And all this against the backdrop of the shining lights of the palace! What kind of palace it was was clear from the caption: "On the Christmas tree in the Hall of Columns in Moscow." I cut out this drawing, pasted it on cardboard, put it on the table and admired it every day, thinking that someday I would live in beautiful Moscow. And at the age of 10, when a mobile collective farm and state farm theater came to our village with the play "Glory" based on the play Viktor Gusev, the grandfather of our football commentator, I told myself that I would be an artist. And she became her - she graduated from the theater studio in Novosibirsk, and then the Moscow GITIS. Only the first husband, Gennady, was far from the theater - he worked in the state security agencies, and he did not like that I was playing on stage. When he was transferred to Germany, he persuaded him to go with him to Berlin, but after a year and a half of a carefree, cheerful life, I realized that I wanted to work unbearably and really want to go home.

In my native Novosibirsk, where my family lived by that time, a director friend said that he had been appointed head of the newly opened television studio, and suggested that I try myself as an assistant. I went into the control room, saw a huge number of monitors - fantastic! I really wanted to stay in this novel from the future. Taking a large sheet of drawing paper, I drew where the buttons are, where are the mixers, where are the special effects, and at home I trained at night, commanded myself and pressed the drawn buttons. And a year later I went on a business trip to Moscow for the Day of Novosibirsk - then weekends were often devoted to different cities. Since they saved on assistants, I flew alone with all the programs and with the performance ...

I crossed the threshold of Shabolovka on January 30, 1961. It was a fairy tale! I'm in Moscow, I brought a whole plane with me ... And all day I rushed from studio to studio, from control room to control room and broadcast. Editor-in-chief of the youth edition Valentine Ivanovna Fedotov immediately asked: “How many assistants do you need?” - "Not at all." - "How?! I have a whole army ready!” “But there’s no point in taking them: your assistants won’t have time to find out anything - we’ll just push around.” And on the Day of Novosibirsk on Central Television, I didn’t go anywhere, I walked in a circle around the control rooms. Valentina Ivanovna was a new person on television - she came from the Central Committee of the Komsomol - and I just smitten her! She left me in Moscow. I worked in the youth editorial office for more than 10 years. Three months after my arrival Gagarin flew into space, and when he was met here, I was already working at one of the PTS, mobile television stations, although I was not on staff. There just wasn't enough people who didn't get lost on the air.

THE LESS WE LOVE A WOMAN…

- Even when I worked in the youth team, they began to invite me to broadcasts from Red Square - parades, demonstrations, on May 1, on November 7, on May 9, to congresses. And then a new editor-in-chief came to the information office Yuri Alexandrovich Letunov, who began to persuade me to go to them completely. But I got attached to the “youth team”, everything worked out wonderfully for me. Letunov persuaded me for a year and a half, wherever he met. And then he stopped. "Hi". - "Hi". And silence. And so the whole month. It hurt me! And somehow in the winter I came to work already in the evening, tortured: I ran all day, arranging my son Misha in kindergarten, - I not only managed to work, but also divorced Gena, got married a second time and gave birth to a child ... So, while I was running around with information, it turns out that they were looking for me all day: Letunov called. I go into his office, and he again says: “Lerka, I desperately need you !!!” I immediately told him: "Yuri Alexandrovich, I agree." He was taken aback. He said not to go anywhere, sit down and write a statement - he was afraid that I would change my mind.

Our editorial staff made the program "Vremya" and "News", which all went live, when in other editorial offices everything was already handed over on tape. This drive and the nerve of the live broadcast - you dive headlong into it, you dissolve in it without a trace ... Of course, the team accepted me ambiguously - it hurt a lot for me, the newcomer, there was trust. On the Vremya program, Letunov immediately began to send me to recordings and broadcasts to the Kremlin, to conduct congresses. After I was appointed the chief director of the Vremya program, I received the State Prize for it and began working with Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev.

STAND IS OUT OF SIZE

- In principle, I never climb where they don’t invite me, I don’t make friends with anyone. But I was treated very well by all the chiefs of the "Nine" - the Ninth Directorate of the KGB, and I always had an advantage over everyone.

In Minsk, Leonid Ilyich had to speak at an excellent podium with a coat of arms. But they made this podium under Masherova. Pyotr Mironovich Masherov, the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Belarus, was 1 m 84 cm tall, and Leonid Ilyich was almost 10 cm shorter! The operator who came with me Boris cypresses was as tall as Brezhnev. When we watched the hall and the cameras were set up, he said, having risen to the podium: “Reading here is uncomfortable, you can’t lean on your elbows - an uncomfortable podium, high.” I decided that I needed to file it. They answered me: “No way! We'll put up stairs." “What stairs? Leonid Ilyich may stumble!” Here the help of a colleague from the Ninth Directorate came in handy for me - the podium was shortened. I always took care of Leonid Ilyich ... I wore high-heeled shoes, and wherever we went, I went all the way that Brezhnev had to go, carefully shuffling my shoes - I checked for folds on the carpet paths so that it was impossible to catch my foot . Other directors said: "It's none of our business - as they bed, so they bed!" But after all, our broadcasts were received by the whole world, and if Brezhnev, God forbid, fell, everyone would certainly show it!

MISS TV
- Then there was an inviolable rule: only Grandfather, the chairman of the State Radio and Television, came to Leonid Ilyich or to one of the other first persons of the state Sergei Georgievich Lapin. And the operator, because he is standing by the camera. The directors sat in the PTS and did not see the leaders up close, but set up cameras in the office when no one was there. I personally met Leonid Ilyich only in 1978 in Baku. That year, I took leave from September 1 to go to first grade with my son. I am returning from school with a solemn line - the phone rings. Deputy chief Dmitry Andreevich Golovanov says: “Lera, I know that you have a vacation, but you need to go to Baku with the owner (they never gave names on the phone). Just for three days." And I flew to Azerbaijan on September 2. There, at first, they did not take it very well that a Moscow director had come to broadcast from the local Palace of Congresses. Heydar Aliyev, who was then the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan, said: “What, we don’t have our own?” At night, he gathered everyone who was involved in the preparation of the event at the Palace of Congresses. They entered the hall, I look: everyone is in dark suits, dark ties, only white shirts. All dark-haired and all men. I am alone in a white jacket - and in general a woman. As soon as they sat down, three minutes later Geidar Alievich appeared with his retinue. And immediately to me - good, I'm easy to figure out. He greeted me and said: “You rearranged our cameras. Why?" He even knew the placement of the cameras - that's what he delved into! I told him: “Heydar Alievich, the rearranged camera will work for Leonid Ilyich during the performance. It needs to be shown a little from a perspective, and not directly. "Then it's different." Leonid Ilyich fell ill, and we were detained in Baku for an indefinite period. Instead of September 3, he arrived on the 24th or 25th. As my business trip to Moscow lasted for a lifetime, so this one turned from three days into thirty.

On the day of Brezhnev's arrival, there was an informal dinner at the residence, and I was invited to it, although in general it was not accepted. A political observer could still be called to an appointment, but for a director, editor or cameraman ... Aliyev was the first to take such a step. When I arrived, all the invitees were already standing. I said, "Hello," and stood between them. Muscovites lined up on one side, Baku residents on the other, and I was in the middle. Brezhnev arrived with Aliyev, and Geidar Alievich began to introduce all of his people. He came up to me and laughed: "And this is Miss Television." And Leonid Ilyich thought that I was the chairman of the local television.

The next meeting with Brezhnev took place in Alma-Ata. And they decided that since I was given such an honor in Baku, it means that it was necessary. I was settled in a residence where none of the journalists lived. And then Leonid Ilyich saw me and recognized me. I was very surprised. It seemed to him that they brought me from Baku. I say: "Leonid Ilyich, but I'm yours!" She said that I was the main director of the Vremya program, and he was delighted: “So you are Kislova? When I signed papers for the State Prize, I imagined you as a formidable, serious lady ... ”And I always looked neither menacing nor monumental. And since then, Brezhnev began to call me Miss Television and communicate with me. This wasn't very good for me. If Lapin found out that I communicate directly with the General Secretary, he would not approve of this and would quickly replace him with someone. That is why I have no photographs with Leonid Ilyich. When he occasionally came to record performances at Ostankino, after that everyone took pictures with him, and I, on the contrary, did not leave the control room so that, God forbid, he would not talk to me in front of Lapin as with an old acquaintance.

TASHKENT DIVERSITY

- When Brezhnev arrived in Tashkent at the end of March 1982, there, in addition to the planned trips to the lemonarium and the tractor plant, they decided to arrange a meeting with the workers of the aviation plant. As always, the secret service helped me - I arranged for me and the operator to be put into their car. Other journalists are on the bus, and I am with the operator in the car that goes in front of the motorcade. Suddenly, Colonel Smirnov was told by radio to turn to the aircraft factory. He was surprised: “Wow, we didn’t clean it up.” Didn't check that is. The cortege drove up to a huge assembly shop where the plane was parked. There was a light mobile bridge at the top, which, probably, is needed to screw something on top of the plane. When we entered, the bridge was fixed close to the entrance - workers crowded on it, who wanted to greet Leonid Ilyich. But the bridge was not designed for such a large number of people and broke through. According to the law of meanness, Brezhnev was standing right under him, and people fell right on Leonid Ilyich! The guards managed to cover him with their bodies - but still Brezhnev's collarbone was broken. On someone's coat, he was carried out of the workshop. There were no journalists besides us - everyone was sent to the city, but our cameras were turned on and filmed the tragedy. In an eerie mood, we reached the television studio. I go to the chairman of the local State Radio and Television Burkhanov And he has such eyes! He asks: “What happened?! You received a call from the residence." But then they called again. Head Department of International Information of the Central Committee of the CPSU Leonid Mitrofanovich Zamyatin said: “Kaleria, I saw what you were filming. I instruct you to personally bring the film to Moscow and hand it over to me. You answer with your head. I say: “Okay, I’ll personally hand it over, I’m responsible for this with my head.” And the films were not on cassettes, but on healthy reels. I think: where can I hide it in the hotel? Burkhanov suggested: "Let's put it in my safe." If I knew where I would fall, I would spread straws ... We put the roll in the safe, closed it and sealed it. I should have taken the key, but I'm a delicate person - in this way I would have shown distrust to the owner. And he put the key on his desk.

In the evening, we went with the operator to set up cameras, and when I returned to the hotel, I immediately went to rest. The next day I went to the television to pick up the tape. Burkhanov is surprised: “So she’s gone, they took her away.” I ask: “Who? You heard Zamyatin say that I answer for her with my head. Probably, someone from the local authorities did this, arguing that there is no evidence - there is no incident. I don’t know... But then I rushed to the turntable to call the chairman of the local state security service - I had all the phones in my memory. The attendant replies that Levon Nikolaevich Melkumov in the country. I'm calling to the dacha. They tell me that the general is resting. I say wake up. Can not. Wherever I called, everything seemed to dissolve. And I already have a plane. She flew in at night empty-handed and immediately rushed to Ostankino to call the turntable. Our editor-in-chief was waiting for me there. “Did you have to bring some kind of film?” “Yes, but I didn’t bring her.” “Call Grandpa, he asks about you all the time.” I called Grandfather at the dacha, said that the film had been stolen from me. He immediately hung up. I sit like a wreck. Then I went home - of course, I did not sleep all night, in the morning I came to fly. And I look: there is a vacuum around me, I go - and no one greets me. Letuchka is led by the editor-in-chief. Not a word about our work, as if there was no visit to Tashkent. The door quietly opens, the secretary peeks in Mammadov, Lapin's first deputy for television. She beckoned me with her finger: "Lerochka, two generals have come to see you, let's go to us." Mammadov even left the office, saying that he could not be present at this beating.

I enter, there really are two generals - Storozhev and Tsinev, first Deputy Andropov. They stood up and shook hands with me. And I told them everything in detail. They ask, "Do you think it was pre-arranged?" “I think it was just curiosity, everyone rushed to look at Brezhnev. If our services had been there, if there had been a cleansing, then no one would have been allowed on this bridge.” Then I was summoned to the Lubyanka by lower ranks, and after that I visited Andropov.

After a conversation with Andropov, disgrace was removed from me. And everyone began to recognize me again, greet me and smile.

NIGHT IN THE POLONED HALL
- Since there were no mobile phones before, communication was only by ordinary phones. I had no right to go somewhere or leave without leaving my number. If I went to visit, I would definitely leave it to the duty officer, who was sitting on our “turntable”, and they often called me, sent a car and took me away. So on November 10, 1982, the whole family congratulated my father-in-law Nikolai Vasilyevich on his birthday. And they called me there, but they did not say that Brezhnev had died. Before that, I saw him on November 7, he was weak, but nevertheless he stood for the whole parade, then he was at a reception in the Kremlin ...

The people at home are already accustomed to my sudden disappearances; in general, I have always lived my own life. And now my son and husband and I all have a room, and not like normal people - a bedroom, a living room ... I live on my own, and it has always been like this ... But let's go back to November 10th.

I left the house, there was a car at the entrance - I sat down and drove off. I know that you should not ask questions, they will bring you where you need to. At the beginning of the twelfth we drive up to the Hall of Columns, it does not glow. The lobby is kind of dark, but the door is open. I go up to the second floor. The hall of columns is absolutely empty - there are no rows of chairs, not even a single chair! It's like they've set up a dance floor. I ask the question into the void: “Is there anyone?” Nobody responds. Went out to the lobby. Sat on a banquet. Sitting. Silence. I look out the window: the lights are starting to go out. One in the morning, the second ... I think: what if the metro will not work anymore - who will take me away? And if they don't, what do you do? I sit and wait. And after two o'clock in the morning the door slammed, and I heard men's voices on the stairs. I immediately got up, I looked: Storozhev, the head of the Ninth Directorate, was walking ahead, followed by a lot of people, including even an academician Evgeniy Chazov. They go in coats - no one undresses. Storozhev is the first to approach me: “Well, hello! Tell me, what are you going to put here? I ask: “Yuri Vasilyevich, what will happen?” And then, behind me, one of the guys from Brezhnev's personal guard says: "The owner is dead." We entered an empty hall, they showed me where the pedestal would be, a guard of honor on both sides. People will enter the stairs and exit through another door. I said: "I definitely need the highest point - to put the camera on the balcony." We groped our way up the dark stairs to the balcony, I chose a spot and waved my hand down, "There's going to be a camera here." Storozhev asked to send him a plan early in the morning: how many cells, where they would be. “Just don’t entrust anyone,” she says, “draw it yourself and send it to me through the First Department.” I arrived home at four in the morning, quietly went to my room and went to bed. I had to get up early in the morning to come to the First Department at nine in the morning with a drawn plan.

A NEW RITUAL FOR ANDROPOV

- Having become the head of the country, Andropov at first did not invite television at all: he did not want to often flash on the screen. And when they began to call us, it was very difficult to shoot him. Here Leonid Ilyich liked to meet guests at the airfield himself. He went to Vnukovo-2, walked across the field, waited near the gangway. Another ritual was devised for the sick Andropov: two flags were hoisted on tall flagpoles in the Kremlin courtyard. Andropov was sitting on a chair, which, of course, we did not show. When the motorcyclists drove into the Borovitsky Gate, they helped him to get up, and the chair was removed ... The negotiations were filmed very briefly and Andropov was shown very little.

On May 4 or 5, 1983, he presented the Order of Friendship of Peoples to the leader of the GDR Erich Honecker. They didn’t consult with us in advance, they didn’t come up with anything, but they decided that since Yuri Vladimirovich was not feeling well, this would take place not in the St. George Hall, but in the Red Drawing Room of the Grand Kremlin Palace. former bedroom Catherine II everything is decorated in red tones, and we thought that against this background his weakness would be less noticeable. But the cameras in this small living room could not turn around, and there were a lot of people - Japanese, Americans, Germans ... Andropov had very strong glasses, he held the paper close. He needed to lean on his elbows, and the table was set low - Andropov leans on the table with his left hand, and holds the text with his right, and the paper in his hand trembles. At least in general, at least on a close-up, you can see it everywhere. It is impossible to cut the text - he brought it almost close to his face. They yell at me from Ostankino: give me another plan! What's the other plan? Everything else is the same! I cannot close his entire speech with interruptions. Then we learned that for the sake of this award, he, the unfortunate one, was disconnected from the artificial kidney ... And again there was a trial with people from the organs and from the Central Committee: we proved to them that in those conditions Andropov could not have been removed better. And soon we filmed his funeral ...

GORBACHEV'S BODYGUARD

- How we rejoiced when Mikhail Sergeevich came! Young, energetic, walks briskly, speaks without a paper... I met him when he flew to Tyumen to meet with the leadership of the region. And it was not a planned acquaintance. Gorbachev was supposed to speak in the conference hall of the regional party committee. The PTS came to Tyumen from Chelyabinsk, because they didn't have their own, and the PTS was without operators. She put her cameramen, who were not accustomed to teamwork, to the cameras. I began to explain the plan of action to them, and then the guys from the guards said that Gorbachev had already arrived: I asked them to warn them so that I could run to the PTS - the conference room was on the second floor, and the PTS was on the first. I rush towards the stairs, suddenly it turns out that Gorbachev and the Tyumen leadership are already rising. You can’t run towards the Secretary General, and I ask: “Where can I hide?” They tell me: “They will go to the left from the stairs: take off your coat in the office of the secretary of the regional committee - that means, run in the other direction and stand behind the column.” There was a long corridor with semi-columns. I am standing behind the column in a jacket, and on the lapel is the badge of the laureate of the State Prize - it helped a lot to establish relations with local authorities, with security. And suddenly I hear the voice of Mikhail Sergeevich: “Where are we going - to the right, to the left? Let’s go straight to the presidium – is there a place to undress?” And they're coming at me. And I stand at attention. Mikhail Sergeevich saw a woman pressed against the wall with a badge of the laureate of the State Prize on the lapel of her jacket - she turns to the secretary: “What are these women hiding behind the columns?” And his head of the Ninth Directorate was a general Yuri Sergeyevich Plekhanov, which came under Andropov. And the general reports: "Mikhail Sergeevich, this is ours." Gorbachev looked at him in surprise and said: “Well, Yuri Sergeevich, you give!” He understood the word "our" quite different. I decided that the suit and badge were camouflage: Yuri Sergeevich recruited guards from women, like Muamara Gaddafi!

In London, Gorbachev liked that his faces and Margaret Thatcher showed close-up and straight. On the contrary, my bosses warned me: in no case should this be done - because of a birthmark. And suddenly he himself suggests this: "Don't let the stain bother you - I'm not ashamed of it." Because of my love for Gorby, even the UN allowed me to rearrange the cameras to his liking. And since then, my camera arrangement has remained there. At a meeting of the leaders of the CMEA member countries, in order to take a big picture of him, as he likes, he had to hide the camera in a huge ikebana. Then the tables were placed in a circle, and in the center stood a two-meter composition of flowers. The optics in the 1980s were not as good as they are now, and the table was huge. Unfortunately, I could not put the operator in the ikebana - we put a small camera there. They adjusted it to the place where Mikhail Sergeyevich was to sit, made marks on the floor for the legs of the chair. Gorbachev sat down in the right place, the chair was adjusted according to the marks - and then the waiters brought bottles of water and put a glass in front of him, covering half of his face. To remove him, I had to involve the head of the Ninth Directorate - and while the close-up rescue operation was being carried out, I was filming the heads of other states.

WITH YELTSIN ON ZAVALINKA

- I met Yeltsin in 1986, when he was the first secretary of the Moscow City Party Committee. And also informally. Mikhail Sergeevich went to a military plant in Zelenograd, but we were late - and we were not allowed to film in the workshop. It was a very hot July day, and I was in tights and heels, it’s good even without a jacket. She went out into the yard and sat down on the only bench. I look: Yeltsin comes out of the building with some man. He is also hot, he unbuttoned his jacket, fanned himself with a newspaper and suggested to his interlocutor: "Let's sit on the bench, there is at least a shadow here." They come up, he asks: “Can I sit with you?” I told him: "Of course, Boris Nikolaevich." He asks: “Are you not there?” - "They didn't let me in." - "Journalist, or what?" I answer that you can think so, but in general I am the main director of the Vremya program. And I myself ask: “Are you not there?” He says: “But I don’t like to walk in the crowd.” And we sat with him for a long time until we were called to dinner.

I worked with Mikhail Sergeevich until the very end. On December 25, 1991, he announced his resignation on the air. I escorted him to the table, showed him which camera would show him, and the Americans filmed our passage with him - now these shots are roaming from broadcast to broadcast. After that, I went to him and said goodbye. And since I was still the main director, when I had to go to shoot Boris Nikolaevich, I said Oleg Dobrodeev, who was then the chief editor of ITA Ostankino: “I feel embarrassed, I just recorded Mikhail Sergeyevich yesterday, and today I’m coming to him. Let another director work? He agreed, another woman went. And the next day, Dobrodeev calls again: “Lera, are you familiar with Yeltsin? He asks why Kislova didn't come." “We talked once five years ago. Over the years, there have been so many events in his life - more important than meeting with me. Does he remember me?!”

We came to Yeltsin in a big company. The assistant began to introduce me, but Boris Nikolaevich interrupted him: “Why are you telling me about her! Back in 1986, Kaleria Kislova and I were sitting on a mound in Zelenograd. I nearly collapsed! I say: "Boris Nikolaevich, actually we were sitting on a bench." And he smiled: “It’s more romantic on the mound!” He hugged me, kissed me and went on to greet everyone. And all the years that he was president, I recorded him.

Before recording, he always greeted us all - with me, with operators, lighting, with some worker who drags the cable. He will talk to everyone, and then our make-up artist goes to powder him. At first he objected to makeup and powder: “I'm a man! Why powder me?" But I persuaded him, explained that it was necessary for shooting close-ups. But his hair always lay perfectly on its own ... After the recording, Boris Nikolayevich also never left right away. Stand with us, ask about this and that. And if it was before the New Year, March 8 or Victory Day, then after the recording, they would definitely bring us champagne, we would clink glasses and drink.

I'M TIRED, I'M LEAVING

- On December 27, 1999, we recorded his New Year's address. Everything seemed to be as usual, only without champagne and congratulations at the end. Yeltsin talked to us, looked at the Christmas tree that we put up in his office, and said: “Don’t take it apart yet, leave everything as it is. I think you will come to me." I answer: "Boris Nikolaevich, you said everything well." He: “No, you know, I’ll probably write the text myself, and you will come again.” We thought he didn't like the text. Well, they left ... The next day I edited a congratulation and sent him a cassette through the Feldsvyaz. December 28 passes, the 29th ... On the 30th afternoon, I thought: thank God, on New Year's Eve you can relax. But at seven o'clock in the evening I was summoned by the head of the directorate of information. Met with the words: "Tomorrow you have to go to the Kremlin and at 10 am to rewrite the appeal." Me: “What are you talking about, now the group cannot be assembled! We have a non-working day on December 31, people could already leave.” I rushed to my office and started calling the group: I was warned that people must be the same. In order to record at 10 am, we had to arrive at the Kremlin at six. Fortunately, everyone was at home, although some were already on vacation. Everyone has arrived. It's cold, it's dark, we're standing near the Spasskaya Tower. It's six o'clock, they're picking us up. We go upstairs, to the second floor, collect the camera. There is no text. Already the camera has been assembled for a long time, but there is no text. Nine in the morning! At the beginning of the tenth Valentine Yumashev, who later became Boris Nikolaevich's son-in-law, contributes the text. I rushed over to him and took the papers without even looking. She ran to Natasha, who was typing the text for the teleprompter: “Urgent print!” I'm worried: I have to be there before ten, because Boris Nikolayevich is as precise as a clock. The place is ready, the light is on. I went up to Yeltsin's chair to check the text on the teleprompter and read the first phrase: "I'm leaving ..." I stand and think: in what condition will he be released now? His daughter Tanya came, she was his assistant, and says: “The first broadcast is at 12 noon. Kaleria, just don't touch him!" It appeared when the text had not yet been printed. Tanya said: "Take it!" I let's spin around him: Boris Nikolaevich, we need to correct the fold here, but here is some kind of hair. Boris Nikolayevich said everything well, but at one point he wiped away a tear. We decided that this moment should be rewritten, but on the first broadcast at 12 o'clock in the afternoon there was an appeal with a tear.

When Boris Nikolaevich wrote everything down, I went up to him to talk. I have a photograph taken that day of both of us with tears in our eyes. I understood that he was tired, ill, but I thought: well, how strong he is - he left on his own, before the deadline ... Yeltsin said: “We will not change traditions. Where is the champagne? Immediately the waiter brought a tray with wine glasses on it. We were handed flowers, we congratulated each other, kissed, drank champagne, said goodbye ...

When I came to television, the theater ceased to exist for me, when I began to work in the information editorial office, other editorial offices and, in general, the rest of my life ceased to exist for me. My husband, seeing how I fell in love with this job, said: “Listen, how long have you been doing something other than your own!” Since I came to television, especially when I began to deal with information, I no longer belonged to myself in the full sense of the word. I never even planned a vacation. I resigned as chief director of the Vremya program in 2003. And now I work there as a director-consultant. This program means too much to me to take it like that and leave it for good.

Elena FOMINA, Telenedelya LLC, Moscow (specially for ZN), photo by Andrey Ershtrem

Born: April 20, 1926 in the village. Kargat of the West Siberian Territory (now the city of Kargat, Novosibirsk Region)
A family: husband - Yuri, TV journalist, pensioner; son - Mikhail, entrepreneur; grandson - Mikhail (16 years old)
Education: graduated from the Novosibirsk theater studio and GITIS
Career: in 1960 she came to the Novosibirsk television studio as an assistant director, since 1961 she worked as a director in the youth editorial office of Central Television, in 1975 she moved to the information editorial office, in 1978 she became the chief director of the Vremya program. In 1980, she broadcast the opening and closing of the Olympic Games in Moscow
Awards and titles: Laureate of the State Prize of the USSR, Honored Art Worker of the Russian Federation

Life to live - not a field to go

Over the last three years of Valentina Leontief's life, her son never visited her.

On August 1, the famous aunt Valya would have turned 84 years old
Her death caused a flurry of publications, from which we learned that the life of our beloved Aunt Valya was far from being as cloudless as it seemed to us on this side of the screen.

In the Soviet Union, few could compare with her in popularity. Several generations of Soviet children grew up on the programs that she hosted - “Good night, kids”, “Skillful hands”, “Alarm clock”, “Visiting a fairy tale”. Adults could not imagine “Blue Light” without her, and the TV project “From the bottom of my heart” was generally her hallmark. Her death caused a flurry of publications, from which we learned that the life of our beloved Aunt Valya was far from being as cloudless as it seemed to us on this side of the screen. For the fame and popularity that accompanied her all her life, she had to pay a high price: Valentina Mikhailovna was deprived of the main thing - the love of her only son Mitya. “She was unhappy and sacrificed her life to television,” the journalists write in vying. “She was happy,” say her colleagues. Today, those who knew her well talk about Valentina Leontieva.

KALERIA KISLOVA, DIRECTOR OF THE INFORMATION STUDIO OF THE CENTRAL TELEVISION: "THE BEAR CUB BITED VALYA'S HAND, BUT SHE DIDN'T EVEN SHOW"

We have never been friends with Valya. Real friends are only in youth, but with age, more and more acquaintances and friends appear. But we filmed a lot of one-time programs together. “News” and “Vremya” Valentina never hosted, in general she did not like the news format. But we often invited her to comment on parades and demonstrations...

- Television was then a new thing, TV people could be counted on the fingers ...

And we worked obsessively, not sparing ourselves. Valya was literally on fire with her work... Once a circus team came to our studio, they brought a lot of animals with them. There was an adorable little bear. And Valya loved children and animals very much, and she simply did not leave this bear cub. I just was the director of the broadcast and in the middle of the program I noticed that she wrapped a handkerchief around her wrist. It turns out that this teddy bear bit her hand. But she didn’t even show it and brought the program to the end - she understood that the whole Soviet Union was watching her live. And when the program ended, I had to call an ambulance - she was very ill.

When I worked in “Come on, girls!”, Next to me another team was filming “With all my heart”, and 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 near Stalingrad, and then never saw each other again. There were several stories in each episode of the program, and all of them had to be memorized to the smallest detail. The presenter had no right to pick something up, because people trusted the program with especially precious moments of their lives.

- As far as I remember, during this program everyone was crying ...

- Leontieva herself was worried along with everyone. No wonder the program was jokingly called "Cry with us, cry like us, cry better than us." So Valya received the title of People's Artist of the USSR quite deservedly, she really was both beloved and popular.
- Excuse me, but how was this work rewarded?

- She did not receive any special material benefits. Valya lived for a very long time with her mother in a communal apartment. A house was built opposite the television center on Shabolovka, and many television people were given rooms in it, including her. What an event it was! True, when foreign journalists arrived in 1962 (I think from the German Spiegel), a funny story came out. They wanted to film Leontiev as a star of Soviet television at home: how she manages, where she spends her free time. Valya was very worried then: you can’t receive such guests in a communal apartment! And some friend of hers, in order to splurge, offered her just renovated one-room apartment.

Valya later said: “I came, washed my hands in the bathroom, then fried eggs in the kitchen - I pretended to be a skilled housewife.” 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 ate me!” Valya lived in a communal apartment for a long time. She got married, gave birth to a child, went to America, returned from there, divorced. And only after a good ten years, she finally got a separate apartment.

- Yes, at that time it was a pipe dream for Soviet people to leave for the USA. Was she happy?

- Vice versa. I can talk about it, because all these events took place before my eyes. Her husband was a diplomat, worked as Khrushchev's personal translator, then he was sent on some kind of diplomatic mission to New York, I think, to the UN. And then there was such a law (however, it seems that it exists now) that it was necessary to go with your wife. Valya pulled as much as she could. And then she had to leave. I remember how she came to our office to say goodbye. “I don’t know how I will live there,” she said with tears in her eyes, “without work, without television!”

However, she did not live overseas for long: they removed Khrushchev, and soon Valya's husband was also recalled. Somehow I come to work - she sits. We had a large room, and everyone gathered for her “lecture about America” - authors, editors, directors. According to her, everything seemed foreign there. Mothers walking in the park with their children made a particularly strong impression on her. “I was amazed,” she said, “that a child can fall, hit, cry, and my mother won’t even raise an eyebrow: “Nothing, he will rise!” Such is their education 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.

rare photo

- Judging by her relationship with her son, she nevertheless adopted something from American women. They say that Valentina Mikhailovna did not deal with them at all?

- It is not true! She loved him very much, perhaps even too much. Maybe that's why she spoiled her so much. Synulya was sure that his mother was omnipotent and would get him out of any trouble, but it turned out that she was an ordinary woman who also sometimes needs help. Yes, her mother, who lived with her, helped her in many ways: she led the house and looked after Mitya. But Valya also did all this with pleasure.

In those years, there was nothing in the stores, as soon as we did not excel in order to buy something in short supply. I remember how happy Valentina was when she got wallpaper and parquet varnish from somewhere. “Can you imagine,” she laughed, “I was dragging all this on myself today. And some people stopped and looked at me with surprise. They must have thought I was white-handed!” She was generally a very simple and easy-to-communicate person, she never starred. Although, unlike many current fledgling stars, she had the right to do so.

- You can’t call Leontief a beauty, but there was some kind of zest in her. What do you think is the secret of her attractiveness?

- She had very good thick hair, which she, despite the early graying, never dyed. Valya dressed elegantly and tastefully. Very tall, to match the men, she always, no matter how tired, walked in heels - I don’t remember her in slippers. She had a slender, toned figure, although Leontieva never followed any diets, on the contrary, she loved to eat, she could eat a plate of potatoes or porridge at night. I saw this when we went on business trips together. But the main thing in it is charm.

- Did she leave television herself or did they leave her?

Nobody left her. Just a lot in our lives has changed. They disbanded the announcer's department, in which she had recently been listed as a mentor, closed the program "With all my heart" ... And the Youth Edition, which did it, also died. But all the same, Valya went to work for a long time. For her, they arranged meetings with the audience and off-air issues of "From the bottom of my heart." When she fell ill, she was still on the staff of Channel One and was brought every month for a salary. Everyone treated her with great respect. But age is age. It is the law of life to give way to the young. You saw how she looked in recent years. Was it possible to run the program in such a form?

Mitya

Dmitry

Why she left for Novoselki can also be understood. She could no longer serve herself, and her loving relatives live there. The nieces and sister, who is older than her, took care of everything. They created the Museum of Valentina Leontyeva, the local governor took great care of her ... So Valya was happy and kind to the very end of her life. Yes, on a personal level, she did not work out: she divorced her husband, he left for another city. But this happens all the time.

What about her relationship with her son?

“Unfortunately, there are many such examples. How many children leave their parents, hand them over to nursing homes ... And Leontieva is a famous person, which is why her tragedy has become public property. Now they write a lot about the fact that she, they say, sacrificed her family to television. But this is not true. Without television, there would not have been the happiness that it brought her.

LYUDMILA LEONTYEVA, SISTER OF VALENTINA LEONTYEVA: “THE WANTED TO SEND VAL TO A NURSERY HOME, BUT I DID NOT ALLOW”

- Yes, almost everyone who knew us in those years is no longer in the world. We have a woman in Novoselki who studied with Valya in the same class, but only she, perhaps, remained. And Valya was very restless and capricious, almost screaming. True, she graduated from the primary classes here, at the state farm, with honors. Then she and her mother returned to their homeland, to Leningrad, and I stayed here. After all, we are, in fact, native Leningraders, we left for the Ulyanovsk region at the beginning of the war, and dad died in the blockade ...

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 all schools in Leningrad.

Did she dream of becoming an actress?

- She didn’t talk about it directly, but she always had a craving for art. After school, Valya entered the Institute of Chemical Technology, but did not study there for long: she left and went to enter the Stanislavsky Theater Studio. Mom did not dissuade her, on the contrary, supported her in every possible way.

- And how did Valentina Mikhailovna get on television?

- After graduating from the studio, she ended up in the Tambov Regional Theater by distribution. 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 will 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 that she entered into everyone's soul - such a talent she had from God.

- What was wrong with her?

- She had a serious injury: she fell in her Moscow apartment, hit her head hard and broke her femoral neck. And here's what's a shame: she never got sick, she didn't even have an outpatient card. Well, except that a couple of times she turned to her local doctor about the banal flu. And then suddenly this. The doctors did everything they could and warned us that she would have serious problems with her head. They wanted to give Valya to a nursing home, but I did not allow it.

Mom raised us in love for each other, we were friends all our lives. I always divided my vacation into two parts: I spent half in Leningrad, and half at Valya's in Moscow. Yes, and she, when it was difficult for me (after all, I had three children), helped as much as she could. So would I really give my own person to strangers?!

By the way, Valya herself said: “Only to Lucy!”. We provided her with excellent conditions, such as she would not have anywhere else: we took care of her and prepared everything that she asked for. Valya loved pasta. The first channel 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. Here was her bed, and her chest of drawers, and her dressing table, and books, knickknacks, albums with photographs that she treasured. When we took her away, the doctors warned that she would not last more than a year, but she still lived for three years.

Did the son visit her?

- Kaleria Venediktovna, you graduated from GITIS. Do you regret not making a career as an actress?

In general, many such events happened in my life, when you decide something temporarily, but it remains for life. This is exactly what happened to the theatre. I worked in the theater, and my husband worked in Austria, then in Germany. I did not agree to go with him, because I could not leave the theater. But then I still had to go, and I went. Without work, I could not live there, no matter how good it was there. I lived there for almost 1.5 years, and when it became simply unbearable for me, and my husband's business trip there ended, we went to Moscow. Later I returned to my place in Novosibirsk. Probably, from the fact that I broke away from the theater for these 1.5 years, I looked at it with different eyes. When I saw how they were slandering each other, gossiping ... This insincere communication caught my eye when I looked at all this from the outside.

I played a lot. I have a good memory, and I remembered the role from the first time. When it was necessary to replace an actress, even in another theater, I had to do it. In Novosibirsk, I worked in the theater "Red Torch", this is a kind of Siberian Moscow Art Theater. Since after my return to work in the middle of the season they could not hire me, they offered to work on a one-time basis and promised to hire me from the beginning of the season. Promising to think, I left the theater. I was walking around the city and met my friend, who used to work as a director in our theater. He was appointed chief director on local television. He offered me to work for them. In the evening we met and discussed everything. And the next day I went to see the TV studio.

- What attracted you to work on television?

They took me to the control room and then I saw something cosmic: a lot of buttons and monitors. It was love at first sight. I have carried this love throughout my life. They took me and promised to teach me everything. I was so captivated by all this, bewitched. At home, I drew buttons, a remote control, mixers on a large drawing paper and imagined how I would switch and manage the process. I worked there for only a year, but many people remember me there. In the winter of the following year, I flew on a business trip to Moscow for City Day, where we were supposed to broadcast all day. We brought with us performances, a socio-political program, all live. The artists came with us, the design and other programs too. The film crew was represented by me alone.

Most of all I love live live broadcast, and work without assistants, I do everything myself. When I sit down at the remote control, I no longer see or hear anyone. I worked all day without a break at the console, starting from 14:00 in the afternoon until 1:00 in the morning, running from the control room to the control room. We were supervised by the youth edition of the Central Television, and its editor-in-chief, Valentina Fedotova, looked at all this as if it were some kind of circus, she looked at me as if spellbound. She was surprised that the whole process was managed by one person. And she decided to invite me to work for her. She offered me to work for them on her vacation, and I gladly agreed. I worked there for 1.5 years for free, because I did not have a Moscow residence permit. I started in Moscow with youth programs, and I did everything that others refused - when the program "burned", a short time, the design was not ready, etc. I took on everything. I had mass programs, I even helped prepare KVN. They had an "Exit competition", and then fate brought me together with the Azerbaijani team. According to their idea, in the restaurant "Baku" in Moscow, the artists of "Zucchini - 13 chairs" dressed in national costumes and danced and sang to the soundtrack of Azerbaijani singers. Aroseva surprised me very much - she came in and articulated with her speech apparatus in such a way that there was a feeling that she was really singing.

It was my first meeting with Azerbaijan.

Then I began to work in the Vremya program, its editor Yuri Letunov is a very interesting person. It took him a long time to persuade me to go to them. And I was interested in "youth". And here is an unknown team. And after much persuasion, he fell silent. Somewhere he will see me, talk to me, ask about everything, but no longer touches on the topic of switching to the Vremya program. Here, apparently, something feminine leapt up in me: “So, I’m not needed?”.

Once I was absent from work all day, I had to transfer a child from one kindergarten to another. I came to work, and they told me that Letunov was urgently looking for me. I called him, he called me to his place. I came and he didn't let me go. That's how I switched to the "Time" program. And I never regretted that I left the "youth team" for information, just as I did not regret that I left the theater. At first I thought it was uninteresting, but it turned out the opposite. I filmed all official visits to Moscow, congresses, military parades, filmed the Olympics in Moscow in 1980. I knew every one of the 46 cameras installed. I worked for more than a year at rehearsals, I knew everything by heart. The foreigners who took the whole picture from us were very surprised. Now technical capabilities have increased, in 1980 this was not the case, we were not allowed a helicopter, because the entire leadership of the Soviet Union was present.

After some time, I received the State Prize, rather quickly became the chief director of the information editorial. In addition, I constantly began to work with Leonid Brezhnev.

- Serious events were broadcast under your leadership. Have there been incidents?

There were no incidents. Probably because there were no such serious mistakes. And that's why I stayed in my place for so long. Editors-in-chief, chairmen, even state leaders have changed, the country itself has changed, despite the fact that each new secretary general, coming to his place, changed everyone, starting with the guards. So it was accepted. But it didn't affect me. I recorded the abdication of Mikhail Gorbachev, worked with Boris Yeltsin, and managed to work with Vladimir Putin.

- What was difficult for you when working with the first persons of the state?

There were no special complications when working with the first persons of the country. There were, of course, but minor ones. Relations with everyone were very good. Despite the fact that in life I am a shy person, but in my work I am brave, and I did not get lost in front of anyone. For example, I asked Andropov why he does not like video filming, but prefers photography. He replied that the society was overfed by filming with Brezhnev. Of course, it was more difficult with someone, it was easier to work with someone.

- As part of your service, you have had to visit Azerbaijan more than once. What is Azerbaijan for you?

For the first time I arrived in Baku on September 3, 1978. At that time, I took a vacation. I was often pulled while on vacation. When it was necessary to urgently go somewhere with Brezhnev, I quickly packed up and left. Leaving work, I had to leave my coordinates, phone number, etc. I decided to take a vacation in September to take my son to first grade. On September 1, I was at my son's holiday, and in the evening they called me and said that I should fly with Brezhnev to Azerbaijan for three days.

And so, on the morning of September 3, we flew to Baku. We were met by Elshad Guliyev, then he was the deputy chairman of AzTV, he brought us to the Intourist hotel. I went to see the Heydar Aliyev Palace, which then bore the name of V. Lenin. We went to the Lenin Palace, where I saw that the cameras were not the way I needed them, and I rearranged them. Then we went to the chairman of the KGB, V.S. Krasilnikov, his deputy was Z.M. Yusifzade. I asked for an appropriate pass, a car, and a person from their office to help me. They fulfilled all my requests. Until now, Z. Yusifzade and I keep in touch, we have been friends for many years. After that, I returned to the hotel and in the evening the group and I went to a restaurant. There, a man comes up to me and says that they ask me to answer the phone. E. Guliyev tells me on the phone that I need to be downstairs in order to go somewhere. At the scheduled time, we met with him and went to the Lenin Palace. There were a lot of people there - Heydar Aliyev met with all the press who will cover the event. I was the only woman there, and even in a white jacket. Exactly at midnight, the entire leadership of the republic and the city, headed by Geidar Alievich, entered.

- And it was there that you personally met Heydar Aliyev.

Yes. Heydar Aliyev came up to me and said: "Kaleria, let's get acquainted." And then he asked me a question: "Why did you rearrange the cameras?". To be honest, I was just dumbfounded. No one in my position has ever asked me such questions. I explained that this was due to the fact that L. Brezhnev would be speaking, and due to some features of his face, we did not shoot him full face. He agreed. And then he asked me to show what each camera shoots. We reviewed together. Then he asked if I had time to see the city, and said that I must do it, because the city is very beautiful. In general, he always spoke about Azerbaijan and Baku with such love. He always spoke with such an attitude, when words are not even needed, and everything is clear from his facial expression, emotions.

Heydar Aliyev traveled with us throughout the entire program of Brezhnev's stay in Baku and closely followed how we set up the cameras. That struck me about him. H. Aliyev agreed with our leadership that our group would remain in Baku until Brezhnev's arrival. During my stay in Baku, I made stories about Baku factories, oil workers, agriculture, made study trips to the regions of Azerbaijan.

In general, that vacation was the most interesting in my life. They created excellent conditions for me, they were attentive to us. It was amazing. In general, I consider Baku my second homeland, because the countdown from September 1978 in my work activity completely changed my life.

Admission to such people as H. Aliyev, I began just after a visit to Baku. H. Aliyev knew everyone personally on local television, he knew all the journalists of Azerbaijan. He just couldn't help it.

I did not personally meet with Brezhnev, I just did my job and left. H. Aliyev introduced me to him. During our stay in Baku, during a gala dinner, G. Aliyev introduced me to Brezhnev, calling me "Miss Television", and then Leonid Ilyich decided that I was the head of Azerbaijani television. And when Brezhnev later realized that I was from Moscow, and that "that same Kislova" was me, he was very surprised. He said he didn't imagine me like that.

By the way, you happened to personally know not only Geidar Aliyevich, but also his wife. Please tell us about this acquaintance.

I met Zarifa Aliyeva in Kazakhstan at the country dacha of Politburo member, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Kazakh SSR Dinmukhamed Kunaev. She received me very affectionately and warmly, from our first meeting she won me over to her. It was the first acquaintance that lasted a lifetime. In general, we met with her many times, and she was for me a model of a smart, subtle and wise woman. A month before her death, there was an evening dedicated to Women's Day at the Bolshoi Theater, Geidar Alievich made a big report. And all his performances, wherever they were, showed only me. I came into the hall and watched the situation. A man approached me and asked me to go to Zarifa Azizovna. We stayed with her alone, and this was our last meeting. Until now, with great regret, I perceive her untimely departure, which deprived all of us of communication with such a sensitive and pleasant person. This kind of softness, femininity, modesty, friendliness emanating from her attracted those around her. I filmed the entire process of her funeral.

Genuine grief on the faces of people who came to say goodbye to her was not staged shooting, everyone was extremely saddened.

In the period from 1985, Raisa Gorbacheva hosted so-called bachelorette parties at the reception house on the Lenin Hills, where the wives of Politburo members and members of the CPSU gathered. The boundless charm, affection, kindness, sociability inherent in Z. Aliyeva naturally attracted all those around her. And she was always extremely embarrassed at these events, because all those present gathered around her and talked with her, despite the fact that Raisa Gorbacheva was the hostess of these evenings. Everyone was drawn to Zarifa Aliyeva.

In general, I had many meetings with different people. But with Heydar Aliyev, we started not just business, but purely human relations. He invited me to Azerbaijan for a holiday. And, starting from 1982, I spent all my holidays in Zagulba, at dacha No. 2. I came here with my son, so my son grew up here. And when he came to Moscow from Baku, he even had an accent, he came to school, people around noticed it.

In the winter of 1982, at one of the meetings with leading architects, H. Aliyev was asked to talk about Azerbaijan. And he went up to the podium, spoke without a speech prepared in advance. It was such a "bomb" for our people, because no one saw the head of the republic speak without a piece of paper for more than an hour. He talked about his republic in figures, covering all areas. I filmed it all.

L. Brezhnev died in 1982, everyone came to the funeral. And after the funeral, H. Aliyev was elected a member of the Politburo and the first deputy chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR. I accompanied him on all his travels.

In this regard, I would like to note that H. Aliyev was one of those who first introduced active work with journalists into practice - at all events held with his participation, journalists had direct access to him and covered all his unplanned outings to the people. During the period of perestroika and democracy, Gorbachev and Yeltsin were credited with primacy in the application of this practice, allegedly they organized unscheduled visits to clinics, shops, and travel by public transport. But during such "unscheduled" visits, by some miracle, television workers turned out to be nearby. It turns out that there was a camera in every clinic or store in advance. As a professional, I can say that this is impossible. So it all looked like populism, both on the part of Gorbachev and Yeltsin.

At the end of the 70s, the practice of an unplanned exit to the people was carried out in Azerbaijan by G. Aliyev. Subsequently, after 1982 in the USSR, I constantly took part in them. Even footage of the chronicle has been preserved, where the guards put Geidar Alievich into the car with great difficulty.

He treated journalists with special care and attention. Once I had to fix it. Although he was fluent in Russian, unlike many Russians. But sometimes it happened that he put the accent wrong. So, he, reading the text on the record, said "leisure" with the stress on the first syllable. I fixed it. And he even thanked me for correcting him. And he had a big section in his speech about youth, and this word came up more than once. And when he spoke, he said everything absolutely correctly and never made a mistake.

Once I had such a story: my son was 14 years old and he had an attack of appendicitis, he was taken to the Sklifosovsky Institute, where they put ice on his stomach, and when the pain subsided in the evening, he was told that he was feigning, and they let him go home. And on the second day, when I was filming another event in the Kremlin, his appendix burst. He was unconscious, his friends called an ambulance and he was taken to the hospital. When I arrived at the hospital, my son was already on the operating table, the operation lasted 5 hours. The doctor told me that people do not live with such a diagnosis, but because of the young body, everything can end well. Then they said that the son should be in intensive care for several days, and it is also unknown when he will come to his senses.

In the evening, we talked with Sasha Ivanov, the head of Heydar Aliyev's personal security (9th Directorate of the KGB of the USSR) at work, and in the conversation I told him about my misfortune. Geidar Alievich already knew about it the next day. If a person from his inner circle could easily discuss personal issues with him like that, it means that this was initiated by H.Aliyev himself. He instructed that the receptionist report to him on the state of my son's health several times a day. I still wonder how they found their son. After all, I didn’t tell anyone which hospital he was in, besides, we have different surnames with him. A year or two passes, I get sick. I lie with a temperature of 40 for several days in a row, the temperature does not fall. I was treated by doctors from the clinic. Talking to me on the phone on business matters, H. Aliyev asked why I had such a voice. Having learned about my condition, he sent Lev Kumachev, H. Aliyev's personal doctor, to see me. Kumachev cured me in three days. And I have the World Youth Festival ahead of me. When I went to work, everyone was happy because they were worried about how to deal with the event in my absence.

Another case that characterizes Geidar Alievich. One day I got a call from the Administration of the Council of Ministers of the USSR, and they said that an apartment had been allocated to me. And the apartment in which I lived was very uncomfortable, located on a noisy and dusty street. And the new apartment was located near Ostankino, which was convenient for me. Then Kumachev told me in confidence that when he returned from me, Aliyev asked him how serious everything was. It was Kumachev who told Geidar Alievich the conditions in which I live.

So I just idolized the person who accelerated my work, saved my child, helped me when I was sick. Never and none of all the representatives of the leadership with whom I worked did so much for me as H. Aliyev did. He was an extraordinary man, a statesman. When Gorbachev came to power, it was clear that he was a short-sighted politician. A feeling of envy for Aliev guided Gorbachev. There was even an impression that he was afraid of H. Aliyev. Gorbachev understood that Aliyev was much stronger than him.

SHORT:

It was about the work on the Kislova TV channel that I did not find anywhere. Only all sorts of extracts from interviews, eulogies and interesting details from her work. Since Utilova loves to fuck, I think many facts from Kislova's life to tell her would be normal. I have reduced, left all the most interesting.

Kislova Kaleria Venediktovna was born on April 20, 1926. In 1974, at the invitation of the Chief Editor Ch. ed. Yu.A. Letunova went to work in the main editorial office of information (program "Time")

Director of demonstrations of workers and parades on Red Square, "Blue Lights", New Year's addresses of the Presidents of the USSR, chief director - head of the department of directors of the Directorate of information programs of ORT OJSC.

Mikhail Gorbachev felt confident in front of the camera only if she was sitting under the lens.

And Leonid Brezhnev, with the light hand of Heydar Aliyev, called her "Miss Television" and broke into a smile at the meeting.

Kaleria Kislova is a legend for everyone associated with television. For almost 30 years he has been the main director of the main program of the country. The country saw all the parades and demonstrations, party congresses and trips of top officials through her eyes. TV presenter Tatyana Mitkova came to TV as her assistant.

She broadcast the funeral of the general secretary, after which rumors spread throughout the country that the coffin seemed to have been dropped into the grave with a crash.

She filmed Gorbachev's abdication from power. And the very next day I recorded Yeltsin. She will be the first to read the famous words "I'm leaving" on the teleprompter screen. And the first Russian president will look at her for the last time with absolute trust.

But the main work of her life is the Olympics-80. And the famous shots of the 20th century - a flying bear.

Exactly at 21 o'clock for everyone who makes the program "Time", her signature team, like Gagarin's "Let's go!" - "The program has started!"

Strictly according to the charter, the duties of the chief director:

1. The main task of the chief director is the unconditional and high-quality implementation of this instruction, as well as the requirements of the director related to labor functions,

2. Organizes and directs the creative and production process of creating television programs at a high artistic level,

3. Defines the creative concept of the activity; participates in the development of long-term and current thematic and production-financial plans of the department and the television and radio company, develops project estimates, promo, ensures the implementation of approved plans,

4. Improves forms of feedback with viewers, with the creative community,

5. Generalizes and introduces into everyday practice the best domestic and foreign experience in creating television programs, improving the types and forms of broadcasting, organizing production, labor and managing creative teams, reveals production reserves,

6. Leads the film (creative) teams, ensures the correct interpretation of the author's programs by the creators, controls the complex of works related to the production of television programs, coordinates the work of art and production personnel,

7. Develops scenario plans for programs, as well as promotional videos, according to the application for the production of promos,

8. Controls the readiness of film (creative) teams for recording and editing; participates in the reception of transmissions,

9. Controls the use of technical means, accounting for the workload of artistic and production personnel,

10. If necessary, directly prepares responsible broadcasts,

11. Makes proposals on tariffication, hiring, dismissal and encouragement of distinguished employees, as well as the imposition of disciplinary sanctions on violators of labor and production discipline, monthly draws up fee statements.

The heroine of our reportage was born just a day earlier than the Queen of England, and for many years she also had a huge empire in her hands - the information television of the USSR, and then Russia.

The chief director, Honored Art Worker Kaleria Kislova witnessed and participated in the most important, interesting and dramatic events that took place in the country. It was she who showed the whole world the Olympics-80, she was the only one who knew what would happen to the Olympic bear, she built the first ever teleconference between the Soviet Union and America. Before the broadcast, she knew what the first president of Russia, Boris Yeltsin, would say on December 31, 1999.

Our editors love her very much. And Kaleria Venediktovna is a real symbol of all domestic television.

She remembers the time when buttons were big, cameras were heavy, and all programs were only live - recording was not invented right away. All general secretaries and presidents listened to this modest and still impeccably elegant woman. Mikhail Gorbachev felt confident in front of the camera only if she was sitting under the lens.

“He said: I can’t look into this glass, sit under the camera!” - says TV director, Honored Art Worker of the Russian Federation Kaleria Kislova.

“She knew how to help him very subtly, unobtrusively and somehow imperceptibly, so that he knew exactly who he was talking to,” notes Igor Kirillov, an announcer of the Central Television of the USSR.

And Leonid Brezhnev, with the light hand of Heydar Aliyev, called her "Miss Television" and broke into a smile at the meeting.

"Oh, Mrs., Miss. Somehow he was funny there. And I always hugged, ”says Kaleria Kislova.

Kaleria Kislova is a legend for everyone associated with television. For almost 30 years he has been the main director of the main program of the country. The country saw all the parades and demonstrations, party congresses and trips of top officials through her eyes. TV presenter Tatyana Mitkova came to TV as her assistant.

“Someone is sitting at the console, someone is pressing the buttons, moving the mixer, and Kaleria, as a conductor, is standing in the control room and commanding her orchestra - now this camera, now this camera, the sound is quieter, the sound is louder,” says the TV presenter, deputy Director General of NTV Tatyana Mitkova.

Half a century ago, she was the first to enter the building of the Ostankino television center. On the day of the move from Shabolovka, she was asked to be in place of the cat. She personally checked Brezhnev's path to the podium.

“Still, they covered it with carpets everywhere, and these carpets were butted. And if he falls in my frame? - says Kaleria Kislova.

And the speech of Leonid Ilyich Kislov often corrected literally according to the words.

“Instead of “socialism” he will say “capitalism”! From another completely different speech, we were looking for where he said the word we needed, ”recalls Kaleria Kislova.

She broadcast the funeral of the general secretary, after which rumors spread throughout the country that the coffin seemed to have been dropped into the grave with a crash.

“There was not a single microphone in the vicinity! It was a salvo from several guns, it coincided that when it was lowered,” says Kaleria Kislova.

She had to film the infirm general secretary Chernenko right in the hospital ward, which was turned into a polling station for the duration of the reportage.

“They put an urn there, decorated everything as it should. All the same, of course, it was clear that the person was very sick, he lowered the ballot, looked, and that’s all, ”says Kaleria Kislova.

She filmed Gorbachev's abdication from power. And the very next day I recorded Yeltsin. She will be the first to read the famous words "I'm leaving" on the teleprompter screen. And the first Russian president will look at her for the last time with absolute trust.

“The only one he allowed to correct himself, replant, set the light correctly, it was her,” says Ekaterina Andreeva, host of the Vremya program.

But the main work of her life is the Olympics-80. And the famous shots of the 20th century - a flying bear.

“I was the only one on television at that time who knew that he would fly away, I was ready for this! I even put an additional two-chamber PTS on the Lenin Hills, ”recalls Kaleria Kislova.

When the whole world was crying, she alone was not up to tears. After all, 50 television cameras had to be controlled at once.

“Be sure to show the reaction of the audience. From the huge amount that all the cameras gave me, I chose, in my opinion, some of the most emotional moments, ”says Kaleria Kislova.

Her fate is like a fairy tale. A girl from a Siberian village has always dreamed of being in the Kremlin. And out of love for television, she left the theater, the main roles, and for many years she was a Kremlin director. She still cannot live without work. And exactly at 21 o'clock for everyone who makes the program "Time", her signature team, like Gagarin's "Let's go!" - "The program has started!"