Krutoy and Leshchenko said goodbye to “mother”: there was a scandal at Morgunova’s funeral

Moscow said goodbye to Central Television announcer Svetlana Morgunova, whose voice in Soviet times was known to almost every resident of the USSR. The presenter died a few days after she celebrated her 84th birthday. She lost a blood clot and the doctors couldn’t do anything. The date of the funeral was postponed for several days in order to have time to organize a worthy farewell ceremony. True, there were some unexpected situations, and it threatened to end with a farewell without the participation of friends. Fortunately, fate still wanted everything to end peacefully, which MK witnessed.

The ceremony was supposed to begin at 12 o’clock in the afternoon, by this time people began to gather at the entrance to the Temple gates, and on the other side they were met by guards. Some were on the lists, others were not. The artist Igor Nadzhiev, who knew Svetlana Mikhailovna, was one of the first to arrive and did not at all expect to stumble upon a closed gate. Attempts to enter the gate were initially unsuccessful. Igor tried to be indignant, but his words had no effect on the guards. Soon a colleague from the workshop, Vladimir Berezin, also arrived. He couldn’t get in either. Robert Rozhdestvensky’s daughter Ekaterina Rozhdestvenskaya, seeing the situation, stood silently, hoping that someone would still let him in. At some point, the indignant ones were joined by loud surprise from journalists, who were also not on the lists. The situation was resolved when Svetlana Mikhailovna’s nephew and an assistant who knew the artists by sight suddenly appeared at the gate. After that, some of the people got inside.

The temple hall was decorated with white candles. There were wreaths here from colleagues who were unable to attend for various reasons. Nadezhda Babkina, Andrey Malakhov, Alexander Mitroshenkov..

After everyone had gathered, the presenter said a few words about Svetlana Mikhailovna, and then the floor was given to her star colleagues. Among them were Alexander Peskov, Igor Nadzhiev, Ekaterina Rozhdestvenskaya, Igor Krutoy, Klara Novikova, Lev Leshchenko and others.

Lev Valerianovich was one of the first to take the floor. He remembered the bright times of working with Svetlana Mikhailovna.

“This is a day of irreparable sadness for all of us. Not only because Sveta was a brilliant professional for all of us, a magnificent actress, announcer, but also a professional person for everyone who knew her. We and many who gathered here walked the same path through life with her in Moscow, in the Hall of Columns, where there were magnificent concerts of composers that she led. And all composers dreamed that Svetlana Morgunova would represent them in the Hall of Columns.

I remember our first trip to Kamchatka, the Far East, Sakhalin, where Svetlana united young artists who went for the first time. Young Valechka Tolkunova, Zhenya Martynov, Gena Khazanov, me… She was not much older than us, but she was more meaningful, mature. We jokingly called her mom. For me, this is the loss of one of my closest and dearest people. I hope that it will also be light, joyful and interesting. Just like in this life that she lived, and she lived a very bright life,” Leshchenko said.

Klara Novikova could barely hold back her tears and spoke quietly, but everyone heard what she wanted to convey. “Forgive me, Svetusya, that we haven’t communicated much lately, it was just very difficult to communicate. But what kind of friendship there was between us, how much attention she paid to me,” Novikova said. – When Svetlana Mikhailovna announced an artist, she, listing all his titles, gave this artist some kind of status. And in general, she gave status to any concert. She spoke impeccable Russian. If I didn’t know how to pronounce a word correctly, I could call Sveta – she was such an encyclopedia of the Russian language. She had an incredibly beautiful voice; she could be recognized from thousands of people who sounded it. Of course, Maxim’s departure really broke her. She called him Maksyusha and asked to see him. It was impossible to talk to her, because the first phrase she uttered was: “You know, Maksyusha is not here. I want to go to him…” Her wish came true, I really hope that they are there together. She is now lying beautiful and very, it seems to me, calm. She’s been with Max for a long time…”

Morgunova’s colleague, announcer Vladimir Berezin, was very depressed. “Sveta, say hello to all of our people, we will all meet there. Remember that your words and deeds remain with us,” Berezin said.

Not everyone knows that Igor Krutoy is Svetlana Mikhailovna’s godson. He did not speak publicly, but on the sidelines he told reporters what Svetlana Morgunova was like. The producer also took a direct part in organizing the funeral, helping relatives.

“We visited Rozhdestvensky’s dacha, there was such an unusual atmosphere, a table gathered on the street, there were gatherings, Evgeny Yevtushenko came. Sveta led, joked, laughed. There were constant jokes between Yevtushenko and Rozhdestvensky… Both of them were in love with Rozhdestvensky’s wife in their youth, so all the jokes went through this… I will remember Sveta smiling, laughing, caring for everyone,” Krutoy recalled.

Svetlana Mikhailovna’s nephew also confirmed what an incredible cheerful character she had.

“Aunt Sveta was always positive, radiating energy. I remember our family gatherings, these are birthdays, holidays. Sveta’s mother was still alive, she had such pies… We always had a very friendly family, everyone loved, as they say, to laugh and laugh. Aunt Sveta was always full of some funny stories. I’ve never heard her say a bad word about anyone,” the nephew recalled with a smile through tears. The remaining relatives did not find the strength to speak out. We said goodbye silently, locking our emotions inside.

After that. As the ceremony came to an end, the coffin was taken to the Troyekurovskoye cemetery in a black hearse, followed by a black minibus with relatives. Svetlana Mikhailovna was seen off with applause…