Actress Rudenko spoke about her mother’s relationship with Yuri Gagarin

Love keeps a relic from an astronaut

Yuri Gagarin would have turned 89 today. Yuri Alekseevich left early: at the age of 34. However, he lived a busy life. Actress Lyubov Rudenko still keeps a memorial relic from Gagarin. About how he was in life and how he saved her mother, actress Dina Soldatova, from the prank of Veronika Mavrikievna and Avdotya Nikitichna – actors Vadim Tonkov and Boris Vladimirov, who made up the popular Soviet comic pop duo, Rudenko told MK correspondents.

“Gagarin spent almost every year resting in the Crimea,” Lyubov says. – Once he went to a performance in which my mother Dina Soldatova played. She was an actress, graduated from GITIS. That evening they performed together with my dad Nikolai Rudenko, as well as the first Russian grandmothers – Tonkov and Vladimirov, whom we all knew as Veronika Mavrikievna and Avdotya Nikitichna.

“Gagarin came that evening with his wife,” Rudenko continues. “They really enjoyed the show. After Yuri Alekseevich went backstage to get acquainted with the actors. “Have you been to Artek? he asked them. They shook their heads negatively.

“I’ll agree, they’ll send a transport for you and bring you to Artek, there will be an event for children,” Yuri Gagarin promised. And he kept his word. In the morning, a car arrived, which brought the actors to Artek. Gagarin put them next to him. During this time, they became so good friends that he invited them to ride on a longboat and go fishing afterward.

“During Fishing, Tonkov and Vladimirov decided to play a trick on my mom,” Rudenko continues. “They wanted to throw her into the sea in clothes, making her a fish or a dolphin. Gagarin heard about their plan and reacted with lightning speed.

– Are you sure that Dinochka has a second dress in which she can change clothes? Gagarin asked. “She can’t sit wet with us!”

They said that she had no other clothes with her.

“Then why are you going to dip it into the sea?” – Gagarin was surprised and thus saved her from the draw. On this day, they communicated very sincerely. Gagarin really liked the company of actors – he rested with them.

– What are you doing tonight? he asked his mother. – I was invited to the performance, I want to take you with me. The artists agreed. And there were 8-10 people – a whole team. Gagarin called the organizers and said that about 10 more people would be with him. There was a pause at the other end of the line.

– Well, you, Yuri Alekseevich, we can’t seat so many spectators – we don’t even have so many tickets. It’s a whole group! they told him.

To which Gagarin replied: “I won’t go without my friends then!”

The situation was resolved quickly: additional chairs were placed in the central aisle.

– Mom said that when they entered with Gagarin, the hall began to stir, – continues Rudenko. – Everyone considered him, discussed, approached for autographs. Gagarin quickly realized that if this continued, the performance would be disrupted. Then he says to his mother: “Dinochka, I saw your book. Give it to me, I’ll read it! And my mother had a volume of Tolstoy with her, and instead of a bookmark, there was my photograph.

“Yuri Alekseevich opened the book and began to read aloud in a low voice,” recalls Rudenko. Silence reigned in the hall. All the audience froze and listened to what Gagarin was reading. By the way, when he closed the book, my photo fell out on the floor. He picked me up, saw me and left an autograph with a wish: “Lyubochka, grow big and be as charming as your mother.” I keep this photo as a family heirloom.

– My mother, until the very last days, remembered Yuri Alekseevich, – continues Rudenko. – She always said that he was a very kind, resourceful and caring person. She did not call him, except as Yurochka, in any other way.