“Big-bones, thin”: Vakhtangov spoke about the director Svetlana Dzhimbinova who died alone

Director Svetlana Dzhimbinova, whose body was found in her Moscow apartment two and a half years after her death, left a good memory in the Vakhtangov Theater. In any case, everyone who remembers her claims that she was a sweet and delicate person, although she could behave differently. Why? Because she was considered the wife of the first person of the theater – the great and all-powerful director Ruben Simonov. A student of Vakhtangov himself, he headed the Teacher’s Theater in 1939.

The grandson of Ruben Simonov – his full namesake – in a conversation with theater director Kirill Krok denied the information that his legendary grandfather in the middle of the last century officially registered a relationship with a young graduate of the directing department of GITIS. De jure, she did not marry the main director, who was forty-one years older than her. But for sure Svetlana Dzhimbinova was his last love.

– She appeared in the theater in 1965, when Ruben Nikolayevich began to stage the play “Dion”, sat at his rehearsals, – says Margarita Litvin, an employee of the theater museum. – Apparently, then she agreed with him that he would let her put on a play. And she staged “Cinderella”: it turned out to be a lovely fairy tale. She was a gentle and sweet person.

And he fell in love with her, which surprised his artists a lot, who knew the taste of Ruben Nikolaevich – he surrounded himself with exceptionally beautiful actresses in his professional and personal life. And here…

One of his actors somehow joked unkindly about this: “In old age, Ruben Nikolaevich pulled on Roquefort.” In other words, the new passion of the authorities is far from beautiful, but piquant.

– She had a typical oriental appearance – high cheekbones, thin, thin, – continues Margarita Litvin. – Rather, it can be called the unmarried wife of Ruben Simonov.

And for this alone, Svetlana could behave differently, as is often the case in the theater. Nevertheless, everyone left the impression of her as a decent person. No one in the theater can say anything bad about Jimbinova: she did not interfere in anything, she behaved with dignity.

Her father was a famous Kalmyk poet, and her middle name was unusual, like Bembeevna, but we all called her Svetlana Borisovna.

Svetlana Dzhimbinova staged six performances in Vakhtangov – three for children and three for adults. The latter, according to the general opinion, succeeded worse.

Actress Vera Novikova, after entering the theater institute, immediately got the main role – the princess – in the fairy tale “Puss in the Boot”.

– It was my first role, but it was not a premiere – the performance had already been running for several years, and Svetlana Borisovna introduced me to the role that three wonderful actresses had played before me, – Vera Novikova tells me. – She introduced me together with Andrey Yaroslavtsev. We rehearsed a lot, and the introduction was good, informal, as if she was staging a performance for the first time.

– What was Svetlana’s character?

She was not forty years old. She was bright and alive. She’s almost twice my age, so I can’t say we became girlfriends, but she certainly wasn’t a dictatorial director. On the contrary, she easily accepted acting offers, and I remember our work as a pleasant joint work. And then I played in her other fairy tale “About Ivan – not – the Giant.” The stories were very good for her.

– And how did her relationship develop with her son Yevgeny Rubenovich Simonov, who headed the theater after the death of his father?

– When I entered the theater, Ruben Nikolayevich was no longer alive. She and Yevgeny Rubenovich had, as it seemed to me then, quite normal relations. After the death of the Master, she continued to stage, and this suggests that Yevgeny Rubenovich respected her as the last love of his father. And we knew that she was not his wife.

– From what did you conclude it?

– She did not live in the apartment of Ruben Nikolaevich. Because we, students, when we came to his house, never saw her there. Those who worked with Svetlana Borisovna, I know for sure that they treated her well. In any case, behind the scenes, no one was indignant and did not say: “What kind of director is this!”

And I remember how Yevgeny Rubenovich accepted her performances, corrected something in them. She didn’t have children then.

Svetlana Dzhimbinova worked in Vakhtangov under two Simonovs and even a little under Mikhail Ulyanov, when he headed the theater. And when she realized that he didn’t really need him, she just left. As the old-timers say, life lived with dignity in the theater.