Mukasey Anatoly: biography, family, children

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

It is impossible to remember him without remembering his wife. They are always together, always together. So, Anatoly Mukasey, a man through whose eyes we watch films loved by several generations dozens and hundreds of times: “Beware of the car”, “Attention, turtle!”, “For family reasons”, “Circus Princess”, “Trap for a lonely man”, "Big change". He is the operator of absolutely all the directorial works of his soulmate - Svetlana Druzhinina. And their creative tandem has always been very fruitful.

Childhood

On July 26, 1938, a son, Mukasey Anatoly, was born in the family of Mikhail and Elizabeth Mukasey. Their family was somewhat unusual when compared with the average Soviet families. Parents were illegal intelligence officers. In total, the children (there was still a girl Ella in the family) did not see their parents for about twenty years, despite the fact that they came to Moscow whenthe first opportunity (although not for long, for seven days, a maximum of ten), and when they were not around, they passed notes and parcels.

Tolya and Ella realized that they couldn't tell anyone about their parents. The children carefully kept this secret. In the capital, the children were looked after by kind "bosses" who became their friends.

The microbe of film art little Mukasey picked up back in Los Angeles, when dad worked there as a consul. Tolya perfectly remembered Uncle Charlie (Chaplin), played with Uncle Theodore (Dreiser). Until now, the family still keeps boxes of film that recorded childhood memories.

Dad lived to be 101 years old, mum to 97. But even at such a venerable age, they felt that they had not yet begun to live.

The Magical World of Cinema

Anatoly Mukasey, being impressed by meetings with Hollywood stars in his childhood years, even then made an important and final decision for himself - to show the audience what would be interesting for them. The determining factor in choosing the profession of cameraman was that a movie camera can save time for many, many years.

In 1961, Mukasey graduated from the camera department of VGIK. First, he worked for a year at the Leningrad newsreel studio, filming a number of stories. And since 1962 he has been a director of photography at the Mosfilm film studio.

He is still convinced that the audience watches the movie through the eyes of the operator, and everything should be clear and visible to them on the screen. After all, each screen image is the same painting, only dynamic.

Therefore, all of histhe paintings are small masterpieces that you want to revise again and again, despite how many years ago all this was filmed: “Wooing a hussar”, “Give me a plaintive book”, “The Nose”, “Vivat, midshipmen!”. It is impossible not to mention all six films of the series "Secrets of Palace Revolutions".

My love

The future spouses met while still students of VGIK. Anatoly Mukasey, whose photo is not so often seen in various magazines, studied at the camera department, and Svetlana Druzhinina studied at the acting department.

The fateful meeting took place in the locker room of the institute's volleyball court. Svetlana at that time was already a rising movie star and an amazing beauty. When the ball rolled up to her feet, she looked up and saw a young man who was the captain of the institute's men's volleyball team. This was Anatoly Mukasey, whose biography since that day has been inextricably linked with this woman for almost 60 years. Many years later, he admitted that the ball was only a reason to get acquainted.

Mukasey was a year younger than Druzhinina and did not like her fellow students at all. They could not understand what the recognized beauty of the course found in this long-armed and long-legged boy. But the couple was inseparable, they went everywhere together: to the cinema, to the institute, to volleyball competitions. Now everyone understood that the matter was approaching the wedding. Mukasey Anatoly recalled that Svetlana had one selfish goal in concluding this marriage: to live with him for several decades.

Introductionwith parents

As we have already said, Mikhail and Elizaveta Mukasey, the parents of Anatoly and his sister Ella, worked abroad as illegal intelligence agents for a quarter of a century. Being fluent in several foreign languages, they spoke Russian with an accent.

Parents rarely visited Moscow, but everyone knew about the affairs of their children. Mom found out that Druzhinina would be her daughter-in-law even before her son met her. When they watched the picture “Behind the Store Window” in Gagra, Anatoly asked if his mother liked the main character (Druzhinina played the role of Sonya Bozhko). And he announced (either jokingly or seriously) that he would marry her. Tolya was then only 17 years old and he soon forgot about his promise. Until the moment when I saw Svetlana at the institute.

When they went to visit their parents, Druzhinina remembered well how her knees were shaking. She put on a modest black dress with a white collar, and Anatoly's parents, when they opened the apartment door, were wearing chic evening dresses - a luxurious dress and a three-piece suit. For the first time in her life, the girl felt a huge panic: whether they would like her and whether they would dissuade her son from marrying her. Impressions and emotions were so strong that Svetlana was ill for several days due to nervousness. And then Anatoly arrived with a gift from his mother: a white bag with scarves, perfume and chewing gum. And he said that his parents suggested that they get married before graduation.

The wedding was very beautiful in a chic restaurant for those times. BUTthe very next day, her parents left the capital for work, leaving Sveta a letter saying that everything she learns in the family should be kept secret, and that she was not allowed to travel abroad. But for the sake of her love, she was ready to sacrifice a lot. In addition, all this time she quietly took lessons from her mother-in-law. Over time, Anatoly Mukasey said that Sveta became just a copy of his mother.

The younger generation of the family

It so happened that it was volleyball that determined the fate of their son, Mikhail. He, like dad, is a cameraman and volleyball player. Once Mikhail called his mother and said that he would come to the dacha to introduce his girlfriend to his parents. At first, Druzhinina was agitated that there was practically nothing to put on the table, but when she saw her son's chosen one, then … Her delight knew no bounds. After all, it was Ekaterina Gamova herself! Yes, yes, two-time world champion in volleyball. From the first minute, the future daughter-in-law was accepted by Misha's parents as her own.

Now not a single match in which Katya takes part takes place without the presence of a large family. Her husband and his parents always support her.

These are the spouses and parents, Svetlana Druzhinina and Anatoly Mukasey. Children, whose photos are usually put on public display by celebrities, have always been loved in their family. And after the tragic death of their eldest son Anatoly in 1986, the family did not break up, as often happens, on the contrary, they experienced common grief together, managing to rally even stronger. And the love of the youngest only increased. After all, the most important lesson that the older Mukaseys (Anatoly's parents) taught the younger ones (Svetlana and their son) is to always stay together, no matter what surprises life brings them.