The fate of Stalin's descendants: why Alexander Burdonsky abandoned his grandfather's surname. Joseph Stalin's grandson Alexander Burdonsky: "grandfather was a real tyrant

MOSCOW, May 24 - RIA Novosti. Theater director, People's Artist of Russia and grandson of Joseph Stalin Alexander Burdonsky died in Moscow. He was 75 years old.

As RIA Novosti was told at the Central Academic Theater of the Russian Army, where Burdonsky worked for several decades, the director died after a serious illness.

The theater clarified that the civil memorial service and farewell to Bourdonsky will begin at 11:00 on Friday, May 26.

"Everything will take place in his native theater, where he has worked since 1972. Then a funeral service and cremation will take place at the Nikolo-Arkhangelsk cemetery," said a representative of the Central Academic Theater of the Russian Army.

"Real workaholic"

Actress Lyudmila Chursina called Burdonsky's death a huge loss for the theater.

"A man who knew everything about the theater left. Alexander Vasilyevich was a real workaholic. His rehearsals were not just professional activities, but also life reflections. He brought up a lot of young actors who adored him," Chursina told RIA Novosti.

“For me, this is a personal grief. When my parents die, orphanhood sets in, and with the departure of Alexander Vasilyevich, acting orphanhood has come,” the actress added.

Chursina worked a lot with Bourdonsky. In particular, she played in the performances "Duet for a soloist", "Eleanor and her men" and "Playing the keys of the soul", which were staged by the director.

“We had six joint performances, and have already begun to work on the seventh. But an illness happened, and he burned out in four to five months,” the actress said.

People's Artist of the USSR Elina Bystritskaya called Bourdonsky a man of unique talent and iron will.

"This is a wonderful teacher, with whom I happened to teach for ten years at GITIS, and a very talented director. His departure is a great loss for the theater," she said.

"Knight of the Theater"

Theater and film actress Anastasia Busygina called Alexander Burdonsky "a real knight of the theater."

“With him, we had a real theatrical life in its best manifestations,” the 360 ​​TV channel quotes Busygina as saying.

According to her, Bourdonsky was not only a great person, but also "a true servant of the theater."

Busygina first encountered Bourdonsky while staging Chekhov's The Seagull. She noted that the director was sometimes despotic in his work, but his "love united the actors into one team."

How Stalin's grandson became a director

Alexander Burdonsky was born on October 14, 1941 in Kuibyshev. His father was Vasily Stalin, and his mother was Galina Burdonskaya.

The family of the leader's son broke up in 1944, but Bourdonsky's parents did not file a divorce. In addition to the future director, they had a common daughter, Nadezhda Stalina.

From birth, Burdonsky bore the surname Stalin, but in 1954, after the death of his grandfather, he took his mother's, which he retained until the end of his life.

In one of the interviews, he admitted that he saw Joseph Stalin only from afar - on the podium, and only once with his own eyes - at the funeral in March 1953.

Alexander Burdonsky graduated from the Kalinin Suvorov School, after which he entered the directing department of GITIS. In addition, he studied at the acting course of the studio at the Sovremennik Theater with Oleg Efremov.

In 1971, the director was invited to the Central Theater of the Soviet Army, where he directed the play "The One Who Gets a Slap in the Face." After success, he was offered to stay in the theater.

During his work, Alexander Burdonsky staged the performances of The Lady of the Camellias by Alexander Dumas son, The Snows Have Fallen by Rodion Fedenev, The Garden by Vladimir Arro, Orpheus Descends to Hell by Tennessee Williams, Vassa Zheleznova by Maxim Gorky on the stage of the Theater of the Russian Army , "Your Sister and Captive" by Lyudmila Razumovskaya, "The Mandate" by Nikolai Erdman, "Last Passionately in Love" by Neil Simon, "Britanic" by Jean Racine, "Trees Die Standing" and "She Who Is Not Waited For..." by Alejandro Casona, "Greeting Harp " Mikhail Bogomolny, "Invitation to the Castle" by Jean Anouilh, "Duel of the Queen" by John Marrell, "Silver Bells" by Henrik Ibsen and many others.

In addition, the director directed several performances in Japan. Residents of the Land of the Rising Sun were able to see "The Seagull" by Anton Chekhov, "Vassa Zheleznova" by Maxim Gorky and "Orpheus Descending to Hell" by Tennessee Williams.

In 1985, Burdonsky received the title of Honored Artist of the RSFSR, and in 1996 - People's Artist of Russia.

The director also actively participated in the theatrical life of the country. In 2012, he took part in a rally against the closure of the Moscow Gogol Drama Theater, which was reformatted into the Gogol Center.

MOSCOW, May 24 - RIA Novosti. Theater director, People's Artist of Russia and grandson of Joseph Stalin Alexander Burdonsky died in Moscow. He was 75 years old.

As RIA Novosti was told at the Central Academic Theater of the Russian Army, where Burdonsky worked for several decades, the director died after a serious illness.

The theater clarified that the civil memorial service and farewell to Bourdonsky will begin at 11:00 on Friday, May 26.

"Everything will take place in his native theater, where he has worked since 1972. Then a funeral service and cremation will take place at the Nikolo-Arkhangelsk cemetery," said a representative of the Central Academic Theater of the Russian Army.

"Real workaholic"

Actress Lyudmila Chursina called Burdonsky's death a huge loss for the theater.

"A man who knew everything about the theater left. Alexander Vasilyevich was a real workaholic. His rehearsals were not just professional activities, but also life reflections. He brought up a lot of young actors who adored him," Chursina told RIA Novosti.

“For me, this is a personal grief. When my parents die, orphanhood sets in, and with the departure of Alexander Vasilyevich, acting orphanhood has come,” the actress added.

Chursina worked a lot with Bourdonsky. In particular, she played in the performances "Duet for a soloist", "Eleanor and her men" and "Playing the keys of the soul", which were staged by the director.

“We had six joint performances, and have already begun to work on the seventh. But an illness happened, and he burned out in four to five months,” the actress said.

People's Artist of the USSR Elina Bystritskaya called Bourdonsky a man of unique talent and iron will.

"This is a wonderful teacher, with whom I happened to teach for ten years at GITIS, and a very talented director. His departure is a great loss for the theater," she said.

"Knight of the Theater"

Theater and film actress Anastasia Busygina called Alexander Burdonsky "a real knight of the theater."

“With him, we had a real theatrical life in its best manifestations,” the 360 ​​TV channel quotes Busygina as saying.

According to her, Bourdonsky was not only a great person, but also "a true servant of the theater."

Busygina first encountered Bourdonsky while staging Chekhov's The Seagull. She noted that the director was sometimes despotic in his work, but his "love united the actors into one team."

How Stalin's grandson became a director

Alexander Burdonsky was born on October 14, 1941 in Kuibyshev. His father was Vasily Stalin, and his mother was Galina Burdonskaya.

The family of the leader's son broke up in 1944, but Bourdonsky's parents did not file a divorce. In addition to the future director, they had a common daughter, Nadezhda Stalina.

From birth, Burdonsky bore the surname Stalin, but in 1954, after the death of his grandfather, he took his mother's, which he retained until the end of his life.

In one of the interviews, he admitted that he saw Joseph Stalin only from afar - on the podium, and only once with his own eyes - at the funeral in March 1953.

Alexander Burdonsky graduated from the Kalinin Suvorov School, after which he entered the directing department of GITIS. In addition, he studied at the acting course of the studio at the Sovremennik Theater with Oleg Efremov.

In 1971, the director was invited to the Central Theater of the Soviet Army, where he directed the play "The One Who Gets a Slap in the Face." After success, he was offered to stay in the theater.

During his work, Alexander Burdonsky staged the performances of The Lady of the Camellias by Alexander Dumas son, The Snows Have Fallen by Rodion Fedenev, The Garden by Vladimir Arro, Orpheus Descends to Hell by Tennessee Williams, Vassa Zheleznova by Maxim Gorky on the stage of the Theater of the Russian Army , "Your Sister and Captive" by Lyudmila Razumovskaya, "The Mandate" by Nikolai Erdman, "Last Passionately in Love" by Neil Simon, "Britanic" by Jean Racine, "Trees Die Standing" and "She Who Is Not Waited For..." by Alejandro Casona, "Greeting Harp " Mikhail Bogomolny, "Invitation to the Castle" by Jean Anouilh, "Duel of the Queen" by John Marrell, "Silver Bells" by Henrik Ibsen and many others.

In addition, the director directed several performances in Japan. Residents of the Land of the Rising Sun were able to see "The Seagull" by Anton Chekhov, "Vassa Zheleznova" by Maxim Gorky and "Orpheus Descending to Hell" by Tennessee Williams.

In 1985, Burdonsky received the title of Honored Artist of the RSFSR, and in 1996 - People's Artist of Russia.

The director also actively participated in the theatrical life of the country. In 2012, he took part in a rally against the closure of the Moscow Gogol Drama Theater, which was reformatted into the Gogol Center.

The news that the director of the Theater of the Russian Army, the People's Artist of Russia, the grandson of Stalin, has died Alexander Burdonsky instantly flew around all the news sites. A person has passed away, to whom I will be grateful for our conversation 20 years ago until the end of my days. Until now, I often think about Alexander Vasilyevich, mentally thanking him for his sincerity, talent, and for the fact that he, a little slave of a terrible time, knew Tsvetaeva's poems.

— Hello. Yes it's me. It is a pity that you are leaving Moscow. I will arrive at the station. What time does your train leave?- this modest, intelligent, subtle, some very, in my opinion, European man asked me on the phone.

Then I specially went to the capital to see him again. The Smolensk tour of the theater, where Alexander Vasilyevich worked, did not go out of his head. In the newspaper “Vse!” (we also had such a publication) my strip interview with Bourdonsky had already been published, but this conversation seemed to me unfinished.

We didn't see each other then. He didn't come to the station, or we got lost in the crowd - I don't know. I didn't call again. But all subsequent years, she closely followed the frequent appearances of Alexander Vasilyevich in various media. Alas, he became almost a TV star. And I saw him for the first time at the beginning of the winter of 1997, when a production of Bourdon's "Charades of Broadway" was brought to the Smolensk Drama Theater.

Burdonsky in Smolensk. Photo by Sergey Gubanov, 1997

Then Alexander Vasilyevich had just publicly revealed the secret of his relationship with Joseph Stalin, which he kept all his life, and our interview with him was one of the first. After that, he didn't talk about much of what he told me. Fortunately, a newspaper strip with this interview, yellowed from time, has been preserved, which is not and was not on the Internet.

Well, now it probably will.

Shadow of Stalin

Alexander Burdonsky turned out to be a short man in a hand-knitted sweater and a long scarf. He stood with the actors backstage and gave the last orders before the performance. It was surprising that he immediately agreed to an interview with an aspiring provincial journalist. It is doubly surprising that almost the entire performance, smoking one cigarette after another, we sat in the absolutely dark dressing room No. 39 of the Smolensk Drama Theater - the light bulb burned out. Alexander Vasilyevich's voice was quiet and calm. The light from the cigarette now and then illuminated his dark deep eyes. And only for brief moments I was taken aback: the shadow of Stalin was present somewhere nearby and determined the main direction of the conversation.

I will remove my questions from that old interview, let it be Alexander Vasilyevich's monologue.

On childhood: "It's a bitter paradox"

“My childhood is a bitter paradox. On the one hand, I lived in exceptional conditions. But I had neither the rights nor the means. We had to be quieter than water, lower than grass. It dragged on for a long time and broke a lot in my life.

With parents - Galina Burdonskaya and Vasily Stalin

In May 1945, the parents separated. Me and my sister Nadia, who is 1.5 years younger than me, remained with my father. Mother was forbidden to see us. One stepmother appeared, then another, and this lasted until Stalin's death, 8 years. Then my mother wrote Beria to give us to her. But Beria was arrested before this letter reached him. Helped us connect Voroshilov. It was already 1953.

When I was at school in Moscow, my mother and I met one day. Some elderly woman led me to the entrance opposite the school. Then I found out that it was my grandmother. We had a conversation with my mother only that I would not forget her. But, apparently, some security guard followed me. My father found out about this meeting, and he beat me up. And then I sent it to the Suvorov Military School, where I stayed for 2 years. It was like a punishment. Already from there, when life changed, my mother took me.

Until I went to school, I lived without a break in the country, in the middle of nature. I was brought up on my own, no one messed around with me, they didn’t really teach me anything. There was a very nice person there. Nikolai Vladimirovich Evseev. Looks like the commandant of the house. He understood my loneliness, often talked about bees and flowers. It was through this person that the beauty of nature was revealed to me. My father also had a groom - Petya Rakitin. I also thank him for a lot.

When I went to school, I felt like I was in another world. I really liked that my classmates live in wooden houses, in small rooms. Later I realized that it was a longing for the family, for affection. After all, until the age of 4 I was raised by my mother, grandmother and nanny, I was a gentle creature. I no longer had enough emotions and impressions. And now the almost rural boy was brought to the Bolshoi Theater. There was a "Red Poppy", Ulanova danced. It shocked me so much that I cried. Then I saw the colorful performance "Dance Teacher" at the Theater of the Soviet Army. It never occurred to me then that I would work in this theater for so many years ...

When I was taught to read and write, I read a lot. At the age of 11, already at the school, he read Maupassant, Turgenev, Chekhov. A military career was absolutely contrary to my nature. I was forced into the school. When my mother took me from there, I could choose what I want. There was only one desire - to go to the theater.

About his father: “People who interfere with their death do not die in Russia”

- His character was not easy, the war spoiled it very much. Now I feel sorry for him, in many ways I understand why he played tricks a lot, lived this way and not otherwise. He always told my mother that his life would end with the life of Stalin. And so it happened. After the death of my grandfather, literally a month later, my father was arrested and spent 8 years in prison. First in Vladimir, then in Lefortovo in Moscow. When he came out Khrushchev he asked for forgiveness, returned everything - the house, the car. But over the years of imprisonment, the father could not come to terms. He behaved, to put it mildly, defiantly.

In his last years, Vasily Stalin drank a lot

And then he was offered to leave Moscow for any city. He chose Kazan, where he died a little over a year later. Is it your own death? I always say that I don't know. But I think that I know Russia quite well, and people who interfere with it do not die by their death. The diagnosis is nonsense. Shortly before this father was seen by a famous doctor Alexander Bakulev. He treated him since childhood. He said that his father had an iron heart, although bad blood vessels came from smoking and a sedentary lifestyle.

Vasily Iosifovich shortly before his death

They buried him in Kazan, they did not allow him in Moscow. My sister and I were at the funeral.

I must say that I never loved my father. Probably because he did not understand the reasons for his actions. It happened much later... He wrote a lot from prison. All letters, more than a thousand, were stolen from our house in the late 60s. This is the only time I've been robbed.

My father received the rank of general in 1945. Those people who served with him say that he really was an ace, a brave man. My mother told me how one day, when the Germans broke through the front line and a panic began, my father sat her next to him, drove around the airfield and yelled like a cut: “Next to me is a woman, and you are cowards and bastards!” Mom was in a nightgown and was dying of fear. But he raised the regiment into the sky.

After the war, Stalin fired his father from the post of commander and forced him to study at the Kursk Academy. But the father could no longer descend from such heights to the state of a simple cadet. He was twisted, his life was over.

About grandfather: “The time of the real Stalin has not yet come”

How do I remember him? No, I don't remember him! Several times from afar, from the guest podium on Red Square, I saw him at parades. During the war, he was not up to the family and was not up to us. No one could come to him without a call or without special permission. Svetlana, nor father.

I never used my grandfather's name in my life, few people knew about my relationship. In the world of theater and art, this became known after the famous "Look". I then released the sensational performance "Mandate", and Vlad Listiev in the program spoke about this success. And suddenly he asks me a question about my family tree. Since Vlad disposed to himself, I answered. Everything went on the air, and since then many have known about it, including crazy foreigners who flocked to me from all over the world. I really regret that I allowed myself to talk a lot.

I subconsciously had a long and strong feeling of fear, which only lets go in recent years. Animal feeling, it cannot be explained. And then I thought: such a coup in the country, let them know something about me better. Maybe it will save me, help not break my neck.

For me, Stalin was never a grandfather who could sit on his lap in a loving manner. He was a monument to me. I knew that there was a comrade Stalin, I treated him as a kind of ruler, master. Never at the mention of his name did anything resonate in my soul.

The most interesting books about Stalin, oddly enough, are written by the French, the British and the Americans. But there is no truth anywhere. Neither where he is praised, nor where he is scolded. He was neither a monster nor an angel. He was a complex, talented man. Maybe brilliant. He built, as he understood, his empire. He does not cause sympathy in me, but I never wanted to belittle him, humiliate him. Someday I will write a book about him.

Stalin did not tolerate drunkenness at all. Now they write a lot about libations at his dacha. Although he liked to drink at his table. But he himself, except for dry wine, did not use anything. And then diluted with water.

I think that Stalin directed Trotsky, very subtly and skillfully playing on such huge shortcomings as suspiciousness. But Stalin was never paranoid, all this is crap. The time of the real Stalin has not yet come.

Now, when life is coming to an end, I think: what a blessing that I was already formed without him!

- Immediately after school, I went to Oleg Efremov in "Contemporary" at the acting department. There was no particular desire to play, I dreamed of becoming a director, creating the world. And at GITIS she took courses Maria Osipovna Knebel. Efremov recommended me to her for directing.

I consider the meeting with this woman to be the main one in my life, it determined everything. My spiritual, spiritual, mental gateways opened. In addition to all her great talents, she knew how to help us speak with her voice. We began to understand who we are, what we are. She was a student Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko, co-director and actress of their theater. Efros, Efremov many others are her students. There isn't a day in my life that I don't think about her. She and my mother are the two most important people for me.

I was very lucky with my mother, because we were friends. She had a smart heart, she was surrounded by a lot of people, she was loved ... Her parents were somewhat similar - the lives of both were mutilated.

Galina Burdonskaya in her youth

In her youth, her mother wrote poems and stories. She studied at the editorial and publishing department at the Polygraphic Institute, but did not finish, because I was born. And after she divorced her father, she entered law school. She wanted to get the truth. My naive! But my mother could no longer study, for 2 years she did not leave the house at all, she cried and yearned without us.

Mental wounds, like physical wounds, are healed from within by a bulging thirst for life. This thirst, probably, helped her to survive all this. And a difficult moment after the XX Congress, and life from hand to mouth. After all, Stalin did not leave any wealth to anyone. I do not complain about it, I even thank fate. God forbid, I would grow up to be some kind of spoiled prince.

After studying at GITIS there was a theater. The happiest years of study are over. Life was not easy. They didn't want to give me a job in Moscow, they didn't know what to do with me. With such a pedigree, the devil pulled me to choose a public profession! Maria Osipovna took me to a performance at the then Soviet Army Theater, where I am to this day.

I live a rather interesting creative life, but I understand very well that all my peaks do not really allow me to raise my head. They hit me on the head in time with a fist, sometimes it hurts ...

When I staged "Titanic", it caused misunderstanding even in the theater, among a number of people of an administrative order. Set hard. Nero, permissiveness, understanding of freedom... I am amazed when I hear from people of my age: “We lived in such a terrible time, we didn’t know who Tsvetaeva was”. But why did I know?! I didn't have a library, but I was curious and I knew. I felt in my own skin that you can be happy in one small room and be unhappy in the middle of marble slabs. But no one could forbid me to think freely.

I don't have a desire for fame already genetically - it's closed. I live like everyone else. I have enough for food, rent and smoking - I smoke a lot. Buying socks - you already need to think.

Not so long ago, my mother died, with his wife Daloy Tumalavichute we broke up. She is Lithuanian, a lovely woman, we studied together.

Looking back at my childhood, I never wanted children. I don't think Stalin's name brings happiness...

Unfinished conversation

Some time later I went to Moscow to look for Bourdonsky. I was hooked, touched to the quick. I wanted to talk to this person more.

The theater of the Russian army is huge. On that day, the birthday of either the director of the theater, or the chief director, was celebrated, and Alexander Vasilyevich was at these gatherings. The guards informed him of my arrival, and he asked me to tell me to wait for him at the service entrance.

There were no cell phones back then. I wandered around the theater, talked to someone, drank with someone in a theater bar. Then she got lost, looking for a service entrance. The guards said that Burdonsky waited for me and went home. Damn it! I missed the one for which I went! But they gave me the home phone number of Alexander Vasilyevich, which he himself wrote on a piece of paper.

He said he would come to the station. I was waiting for him already quite in the dark, on the platform. Then I was ready to run after this man even to the ends of the world. But not fate. I didn't call him again.

And then Alexander Vasilyevich began to appear more and more often on the television screen, huge interviews with him were published on spreads of federal newspapers.

Alexander Burdonsky at one time filled the television screens

In March 2003, in connection with the 50th anniversary of the death of Stalin, many television programs and articles were being prepared in the media, but very little was written and shown about the grandson of the leader of the peoples. Bourdonsky's quiet voice was almost lost in this scandalous and noisy background. It seems to me that by that time he had already spoken out and was tired of all sorts of questions.

And after a long illness, Alexander Vasilyevich's already weak heart stopped. Tomorrow, May 26, at 11:00 am, a civil memorial service and a farewell ceremony will take place at the Central Academic Theater of the Russian Army, after which Bourdonsky will be buried.

Farewell, Alexander Vasilyevich, and low bow to you.

On May 23, Stalin's grandson, director Alexander Burdonsky, died. For 45 years he worked at the Theater of the Russian Army. In memory of the People's Artist of Russia, Izvestia publishes an interview that he gave at the evening in memory of Marshal Zhukov. Another director was responsible for directing the event, but Bourdonsky could not ignore the premiere of his native theater.

- Why didn't you stage the performance for the Marshal's anniversary? After all, this topic is very close to you.

They offered me, but I refused.

- Why?

Why talk about him. Everything has been said about his role as a commander and military personality. And about him as a person, I read a lot of material and know too well some things that I would never talk about. Director Andrey Badulin made a nice, very tactful production, bypassing many corners. He collected memories, some documents, it turned out to be enough for a memorable performance. If I had taken matters into my own hands, I would have made everything much tougher. But why is it necessary...

Rather inaccurate. For example, there is a story that Stalin offered Zhukov to host the parade. Like, Iosif Vissarionovich sat on a white horse and he threw him off. Therefore, Zhukov hosted the Victory Parade. This, of course, is nonsense. There was nothing like it. All these stories are linden, linden, linden. After two strokes with a hand that did not move, Stalin was physically unable to mount his horse. Father, Vasily Stalin, is no longer alive, there is no one to refute the rumors, so they come up with anything.

- Do you think it's bad that by the anniversary they prefer to remember only the good?

Alas, for some reason this rule does not apply to everyone. At least I read negative about Stalin in every newspaper, every day.

- It is difficult for young people to figure out what is true and what is not ...

Young people do not need it, I think. Stalin has his own accounts with time. Time must pass for the passions to subside and other assessments to appear. Everything is ambiguous and very complicated. Stalin and Zhukov had a difficult relationship. But this was the first marshal worthy of his commander in chief. They formed a tandem. Stalin, after all, entrusted the capture of Berlin to Zhukov. Not Konev and not Rokossovsky. I think Stalin sympathized with Zhukov.

- It is clear that your pedigree does not let you go. Did you find out early who your grandfather was?

About whose grandson I am, I knew from early childhood. I still can't forget about it. From infancy, it was driven into my head that I should be an excellent student at school, behave exemplarily. I couldn't afford anything. Then they said that I should be a warrior. Therefore, they sent me to the Suvorov Military School. My father insisted that I follow the military path. I resisted it. For a long time, figuratively speaking, I could not move my hand or foot at will, because I am the grandson of Stalin himself. It was shackling.

- Have you seen your grandfather?

A couple of times in parades. And in the house - no, never. Yes, and my father and his sister, too, could not just go to his father. It was necessary to take permission from the guards even to call Stalin.

- How did the father remain in your memory?

He was a gifted man, but the name of Stalin dominated him too. Because of this, the father had an internal discord. He was somewhat authoritarian, during the divorce he did not give my sister and me to my mother. And we lived with him. I was four and a half years old, and Nadia was three and a half. The sister loved her father very much. And for a long time I was offended by him for what he did to his mother. After all, we grew up with stepmothers. The father was married several times.

He died young...

Yes, my father drank, and this was a constant reason for gossip and talk. Mother could not cope with his addiction. Once, standing at the window, he said: "Jackdaw, don't you understand that I am alive while my father is alive." Stalin was buried on March 9, and they came for his father on the 29th. He spent nine years in prison. And he died shortly after his release.

- Are you still offended by him?

Now I am older than him. He died at the age of 41, and I am already 75. I thought for a long time about our life, about some of his actions and realized that I treat him like a son. So sometimes I make excuses. The father was a hot-tempered man. Arranged some sort of showdown with my mother. She drank a lot of grief in this marriage. And when he was imprisoned, he constantly wrote to his mother. After his death, I asked my mother how she treated him. From her words, I understood that she loved him very much, even despite the fact that she took away her children and broke her life. But she couldn't get back to him.

From the editors: farewell to Alexander Vasilyevich Burdonsky will take place on May 26 at 11 am at the Central Academic Theater of the Russian Army.

Biography, life story of Burdonsky Alexander Vasilyevich

Alexander Vasilievich Burdonsky - Russian theater director, grandson of a Soviet statesman.

early years

Alexander Vasilyevich is from Kuibyshev (Samara). In this city, located in the Middle Volga region, he was born on October 14, 1941. At that time, the Nazi troops were confidently moving deep into the USSR, and his parents, like many Soviet people, were evacuated away from the front line. The boy's father was the son of the all-powerful head of state.

Just like his father, Sasha bore the famous surname of his grandfather, but after his death he had to change it. The new leaders of the state launched a campaign to condemn the personality cult of the dictator, so it was not safe to be then. Alexander took the name of his mother Galina and became Bourdonsky.

As for the relationship between the grandson and the grandfather, there were none as such. Alexander saw his outstanding relative occasionally, and then from afar. Approached only at the funeral, when he lay in a coffin. In his younger years, Alexander condemned tyranny, but over time he revised his views and recognized his contribution to the building of a socialist system.

The family broke up when Sasha was four years old. The mother could not get permission to raise her son, and his father took him to him. Alexander had mostly warm memories of him, although he had a difficult character, and he often drank. But about his stepmother Ekaterina, the daughter of the former People's Commissar of Defense Tymoshenko, he spoke unflatteringly.

So that the child does not take up much of his time, he assigned him to the Suvorov School, which he successfully completed. But the young man did not want to connect his life with military service: he was attracted to the theater.

CONTINUED BELOW

Alexander Burdonsky went to study at GITIS in the art of creating theatrical productions. Along with this, I decided to try to make an acting career and became a student of the course of the studio, which prepared personnel for Sovremennik. Alexander's mentor was unforgettable.

A graduate of a creative university did not have to look for a job for a long time. The novice actor received an offer to play on the stage of the Theater on Malaya Bronnaya. He was invited there by Anatoly Efros. The newcomer managed to get used to the role of Shakespeare's Romeo, but after three months he changed his occupation.

No, Alexander Burdonsky did not say goodbye to the stage, but moved to the Central Theater of the Soviet Army. There he was entrusted with preparing the production of the play "The One Who Gets a Slap in the Face." The theater management did not regret that they had relied on an inexperienced director who had not yet made a name for himself. Bourdonsky coped with the task with honor, after which he finally entrenched himself in the team.

Alexander had to achieve recognition solely due to his abilities and efforts, and he was proud of it. After death, it was better not to stutter about kinship with him. By the way, he did not get into the Theater on Malaya Bronnaya at all because of his noble origin.

Personal life

The director's chosen one was the charming Dalia, with whom he studied on the same course. The wife of Alexander Vasilyevich, who held the position of chief director at the Youth Theater, passed away before him. The couple had no children.

Departure from life

Alexander Vasilyevich Burdonsky died in Moscow on May 24, 2017. In recent years, the director suffered from a serious illness, but died suddenly from cardiac arrest. Farewell to the People's Artist of Russia took place in the army theater, to which he devoted a lot of time and effort.