Rokas Ramanauskas: biography, personal life, creativity

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

The theme of loneliness is inextricably linked with the children of bright and creative personalities, for whom their entire existence is a tribute to the high art of theater and cinema, and even the search for oneself and one's place in life. It often happens in such families that parents are much happier than their children, many of whom disappear into monotonous and unremarkable everyday life.

Family tree

The biography of Rokas Ramanauskas originates on the banks of the Venta River, where the small old Lithuanian town of Kursenai is located. In it, on February 7, 1922, in a modest house, comfortably nestled between two railway stations, the future theater and film actor Antanas Gabrenas, Rokas's grandfather, whom his grandson looks like two drops of water, was born.

His only wife was Genovaite Tolkute-Gabrenienė, who was born on December 23, 1923 in the city of Kaunas, at that time the former temporary capital of LithuanianRepublic, lady, compared to a simple and modest husband from the hinterland, refined and ambitious.

She, like Antanas Gabrenas, was a theater and film actress, who later received the honorary title of Honored Artist of the Lithuanian SSR.

From their marriage, a daughter was born - actress Egle Gabrenaite, future mother of theater director Rokas Ramanauskas.

Mother

Despite the fact that the memorable roles in her creative life could be counted on the fingers of one hand, Egle herself has always considered herself a happy actress. Even if only a few, but real and bright works - this is already good luck, because for many artists this does not happen in their entire career.

Below in the photo - Egle Gabrenayte in his youth.

Be that as it may, Egle became one of the most famous actresses in Lithuania and earned the title of People's Artist of the Lithuanian SSR.

She was born on September 24, 1950 in Moscow. At that time, her parents were students of the Russian Institute of Theater Arts, young people, growing in the profession and always busy. Therefore, Egle was raised by her grandfather and grandmother. Those wonderful years are left in the memory of the actress, and the memories of already departed relatives bring incomparable peace to her soul.

Father

Romualdas Ramanauskas woke up famous in 1980, as soon as the first series of the legendary serial film "Long Road in the Dunes" was released, in which he played the manufacturer Richard Lozberg.

The actor did not have any titles, which was more than compensated by the recognition of the audience and the kind of "love" of the leadership. The thing is that, thanks to his appearance, tall stature and innate officer bearing, he played mostly negative roles in the cinema, most of which were screen images of the Nazis. Moreover, the Nazis in his performance turned out to be so convincing that, for example, after the release of The Long Road in the Dunes, he was the only one from the entire film crew who was not given an award. The management of the Riga Film Studio struck his name off the accounting lists, stating:

Where has it been seen to give bonuses to scoundrel factory owners!..

Rokas Ramanauskas' father was born on February 4, 1950 in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania.

He was brought up in an educated and intelligent family of a high-ranking parent who was in charge of public utilities in the Vilnius City Council. Mom was a teacher and served in the local museum, from an early age instilling in her son a sense of beauty and aristocratic manners, which later expressed in his cinematic images.

Romualdas from childhood did not like the exact sciences and gravitated toward the vocation of a journalist. However, the teacher, leading the school amateur circle, in which the future actor had already begun to stand out not only due to his outstanding growth, quickly set him on the right path, saying:

Romas, if you go against your artistic flow, you will get drunk oncomplex that you don’t live like that…

Family

Romualdas Ramanauskas and Egle Gabrenaite met during their student days at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre, after which in 1972, already being husband and wife, they were accepted into the troupe of the National Drama Theater of Lithuania.

Here, in Vilnius, they wove their family nest, which in 1970 was blessed with his birth by their son Rokas.

The boy grew up in a rather difficult creative atmosphere, repeating, in general, the most common fate of acting children. It’s not that his parents don’t care about their son at all. No, of course they loved him very much. It's just that they were never at home, and the upbringing of little Rokas was mainly done by his grandparents.

Thus it's been ten years.

Childhood and youth

Romualdas and Egle could not pass the ten-year transitional age of their marriage. Their family life went wrong. Both of them were sought-after actors and sometimes did not see each other for months, each living his own life. In 1980, Romualdas left the family with one suitcase, leaving Egla an apartment and everything that they managed to acquire during this time. He rarely saw his son Rokas. Their communication resumed only when his son grew up.

In the meantime, Rokas continued to grow up, on the one hand, in the acting and creative atmosphere created by his grandmother Genovaite and grandfather Antanas, and on the other hand, in the intelligent and refined environment of his grandmother and grandfather on his father's side.

Egle Gabrenaite, in those infrequent days or evenhours when she was free from incessant work, trying to fill in all the gaps in her communication with her son. However, it was almost impossible to do so.

She was never the kind of woman whose only calling was motherhood. Children were very tiring and distracted from creativity. In addition, Rokas missed his father and was looking for communication with him, and she, his mother, seemed to fade into the background for him, which caused a certain jealousy on her part.

Professions of an actress and mother have always been and remain almost incompatible.

One day, Egle accidentally overheard a conversation between Rokas and one of his classmates on one of the school holidays closer to graduation. Her son then said: “God, how I always wanted to have a mother who would always wait for him at home and bake pancakes. But for my mother, this is all alien, because her life is a theater…”

At that moment, Egle Gabrenaite realized for the first time how much her child had not received from her. Since then, her attitude towards her own son has changed dramatically. Since the best maternal years were already lost, all Egle could do for her son was to become his girlfriend. Which was also very good, in fact, because in the life of the future theater director Rokas Ramanauskas, there were more than once such moments when he even thanked his mother for such a relationship. It is no secret that as a result of the constant absence of parents, he grew up as a rather closed and not very sociable person, being an absolute introvert, hard to converge with other people. Therefore to havea friend in the person of a mother, who could be trusted with some of her secrets, consulted with her and received support, was quite valuable.

True, he came to such a relationship with his parents only when he grew up and decided to connect his life with the theater.

Students

Despite his passion for the theater from an early age, Rokas did not immediately make such a decision, because from this temple of Melpomene he got not only creative pleasure, but also loneliness. Therefore, at first, after graduating from high school, he enters the Faculty of Philosophy of the oldest and largest higher educational institution in Lithuania - Vilnius State University. However, already during his studies in it, Rokas realized that he would not forget the theater.

After graduating from university in 1993, the young philosopher enters the theater directing department of the Lithuanian Academy of Music, Theater and Film, the former State Conservatory.

Creativity

After studying at the academy, the aspiring introvert director, immersed in his own world and still looking for himself, a person who at that time in the late 90s was twenty-seven years old, began his career with a theatrical production "Say that you die" based on the works of Jerome Salinger.

Then Rokas tried his hand at the play "About the Sky", which he staged for participation in the international project "Observatory" in 1997, after which he got a job at the Lithuanian National Drama Theater, in whichworked with his father Romualdas for several years. Here, under his direction, such performances as "Mikhail Ugarov" and "Winter" based on the play by E. Grishkovets are staged.

In 1999, his theatrical production "Romas and Arunas", dedicated to his father Romualdas and the famous Lithuanian actor Arunas Sakalauskas, who played the main roles in this performance, was released to the audience.

On the photo - Romualdas Ramanauskas and Arunas Sakalauskas in a scene from the play "Romas and Arunas".

In 2001 the director participated in the Teaterformen International Theater Festival held in German Braunschweig. At the same time, his play "Krapp's Last Tape" based on Samuel Beckett's drama was released on the stage of the Lithuanian National Drama Theater.

The Kaunas Drama Theater entered the biography of Rokas Ramanauskas in 2003 with his production of "Donia Rosita or the Flower Language".

In the walls of this theater, such directorial works by Ramanauskas as "Ten Little Indians" based on the work of the same name by Agatha Christie, "Tears of Peter von Kant" and many others are released at different times.

Also in 2005, Rokas tried himself as an actor, starring in the short drama film "Lithuanian Beauty".

Rokas' personal lifeRamanauskas

In 1998, Rokas was overtaken by a great and bright love. He repeats the story of his parents, falling in love with a colleague in the shop. His chosen one was the Honored Artist of Russia Tatyana Lyutaeva, who became famous after her debut role in the serial TV movie "Midshipmen, Forward!" 1987.

Tatiana was 7 years older than Rokas and was already raising her daughter from her first marriage, Agniya Ditkovskite, who later became a popular film actress. Agnia's relationship with Ramanauskas did not improve immediately. For a long time, the girl didn’t even walk next to her new dad when he picked her up from school, at least 100 meters behind him. However, the reason for this behavior of the child, as it turned out later, was only Rokas' winter hat, which Agnia for some reason did not like.

1999 brought the young family of Rokas Ramanauskas a son, Dominik, who in his childhood was very similar to the Little Prince from the legendary fairy tale by Exupery.

However, after the birth of a son, the initially quite happy marriage of Rokas and Tatyana Lyutaeva lasted only 5 years.

The young spectacular actress had many fans and was in great demand in the movies. Here, in Lithuania, having married a director, she, as it seemed to her, seemed to be in a cage, believing that her husband doubted her acting abilities. In addition, Rokas, who spoke Russian very poorly and was extremely difficult to endure a change in any situation, refused to move to Moscow, where his wife called him. Graduallyprofessional contradictions grew into personal ones, and in 2004 the couple broke up.

Our days

For many years, Rokas could not get rid of the memories of his once beloved wife. They parted badly enough, they almost became enemies.

Only 6 years later he could afford to meet Tatiana and his son Dominik for the first time after the divorce. Everything went well with his family. Fame, fame, filming and demand.

In the photo - Dominik Ramanauskas with his mother Tatyana Lutaeva.

He continued his quiet measured life in his native Lithuania. He puts on performances, spending almost all his time in the theater. He became a real submarine "Nautilus", on board which only his girlfriend Sofia (pictured below) and parents are allowed access.

Looking at his son Dominik during their infrequent and brief meetings, he remembers himself at his age. His child is exactly the same introvert as he is, watching everyone from the side. His father is ready to give him everything he has, but Dominic does not need it anymore.

Rokas understands that if for his own son another person becomes more important than yourself, then you once did something wrong.