Galina Galkina - Soviet and Russian actress, leading artist of the Moscow Theater Studio in the South-West, who has played on the stage over forty roles, Honored Artist of the Russian Federation. Galkina was the wife of actor Victor Avilov, the famous "Count of Monte Cristo", in a marriage with whom two daughters were born - Anna and Olga.
The beginning of acting
The biography of actress Galina Galkina is the case when creativity, career and personal life are intertwined so closely that they are completely inseparable from each other. In her life there was a lot of love, joy and creative inspiration, but, at the same time, I had to endure incredible suffering and mental anguish. The fate of Galina Galkina was influenced by three men, three talented, powerful and charismatic people: Viktor Galkin - Galina's brother, Valery Belyakovich - theater director and teacher, and Victor Avilov - actor and her husband. And all three are no longer alive
.Galina Anatolyevna was born in Moscow on February 8, 1960. She was an ordinary schoolgirl, not standing out among her peers. When Gale was 14 years old, her elder brother Victor, leaving the army, advised his sister not to be “like everyone else”, but to develop spiritually and creatively, for example, to go to the Palace of Pioneers and enroll in a circle. So Galya did: she began to study at the Young Muscovite Theater (TYUM) under the direction of Valery Romanovich Belyakovich.
Belyakovich was an amazing person - an enthusiast and altruist, completely devoted to theatrical art. He was older than Galina Galkina and four of his beginner apprentice actors for only 10 years. He himself used to study at TUM, and then began to teach there. Over time, he received two higher educations - he graduated from the Pedagogical Correspondence Institute and the directing department of VGIK; subsequently created the Studio Theater in the South-West, worked in other theaters, directed the Stanislavsky Moscow Drama Theater, in 2002 received the title of People's Artist of the Russian Federation. But all this later.
And in 1974, Belyakovich began to educate Tyumov “youngsters”, and in parallel set up a theater studio in the village of Vostryakovo on the southwestern outskirts of Moscow, which brought together local punks - teenagers with a wild lifestyle. Thus, Belyakovich from hooligans and potential young drinkers created creative people and even outstanding artists, among whom was Viktor Vasilievich Avilov. It was on the stage of the studio in Vostryakovo that Galina Galkina first saw her future husband in the play "Marriage" and was captivated by his talent, charisma and freedom of acting.
Creation of the Moscow Theater in the Southwest
In the late 1970s, Belyakovich decided to combine the actors of the studio in Vostryakovo and the youth from the Youth Theater in one theater group, for which he “knocked out” the new premises from the district leadership. Thus was formed the Moscow Theater Studio in the South-West. The theater was amateur, did not receive funding from the state, so all the actors were simultaneously builders, decorators, costumers, artists, and even janitors. Sometimes they even shunned stealing building material somewhere, justifying it with high ideas of art - for example, they dismantled a fence in the Olympic village under construction and made a scene out of it in their studio. All the actors lived in the making of their theater, and in order to earn money for its development, they worked somewhere in the daytime. Galina Galkina, for example, got into the Pushkin Museum to wash the floors, and after completing the morning shift, rushed to the theater, where she sewed costumes, rehearsed roles, played performances, and then cleaned the hall and on the stage. Viktor Avilov worked at a construction site as a driver of the MAZ, came to the theater on it, took a shower, played a show and left to work again.
Gradually, the Theater began to gain popularity among the Moscow public, then foreign tours began. The repertoire was constantly expanding, as well as the cast: Galina’s brother Galkina Viktor, Valery Belyakovich’s brother Sergey, Viktor Avilov’s sister Olga and many others joined him. There was a real theater family that spent all their time together - both work and leisure were common.
Galina Galkina and Victor Avilov. Personal life and creativity
The Galkin – Avilov couple in the literal sense of the word was created by the director Belyakovich. He gave them the roles of lovers in several performances: for example, in “The Dragon” according to E. Schwartz they played Elsa and Lancelot, in “Moliere” according to M. Bulgakov - Armand and Moliere. It was in this performance that they first looked at each other, not just as actors, but as a man and a woman. Avilov is eight years older than Galkina; he was already married and divorced; Galkina was a young inexperienced girl for whom Avilov was an idol and a teacher in everything. Their romance developed in front of the whole theater, and even their first romantic night happened in the Crimea, in a sleeping bag under a night sky, surrounded by secretly eavesdropping and peeping friends and colleagues.
Galina’s message about her pregnancy Avilov joyfully accepted, said: “The case smells like a wedding, we’ll take a walk.” Like everything that happened then in the life of lovers, the wedding also took place in the theater: friends specially for the newlyweds staged a play-parody "Meeting with a song." By the way, this performance is still taking place on the stage of the Theater in the South-West, but then Galina and Victor were the only time in the hall as spectators.
Spouses Avilov settled with the parents of Galina, the relationship developed is very warm. Soon, daughter Anna was born, and everyone helped raise the child: grandparents, siblings, and colleagues in the theater. Five years later, the second daughter of the Avilovs, Olga, was born. It was a happy period in the life of the spouses: they always played lovers on stage, which was very natural, because they loved each other in life. Home - theater - home, and everywhere there are many happy deeds, worries, events.
Victor Avilov was a very economic husband, knew how to do everything at home, took care of his daughters and his wife. When he began to act in films and go on foreign tours, the family's wealth and wealth significantly improved. Galina Galkina recalls this time as a Divine gift, as a period of total happiness, which soon ended very tragically.
Tragedies in the life of Galina Galkina
Once the irreparable happened: at the age of 32 years, the younger sister of Viktor Avilov Olga suddenly died. Brother and sister were bound by strong love and affection, so Olga's death made a terrible impression on him and had a devastating effect on his personality. Avilov began to drink grief with alcohol, and then adultery began. At the same time, he fell into some kind of mystical dark state, possibly under the influence of the roles that he played then - Woland, Hamlet, Count of Monte Cristo.
One day he came home and told Galina: "I'm leaving." Galkina fell into a state of shock, hopelessness, prostration. Miraculously, she survived the care and betrayal of a loved one. But she always justified and continues to justify him, finding an explanation for all his actions. Only a strong woman can love that way, and Galina Galkina is just that. However, Avilov periodically came to his ex-wife and children, and Galina met him sometimes drunk, looked after him and took care of him. And the most difficult thing was to meet Victor every day in the theater and, as before, play love on stage. Only when Avilov died of cancer in 2004, did Galkina accept that he had left her life forever.
But this is not all the trials that fell to the lot of Galkina at that time. With a difference of several days, her parents died: the father could not live without a mother and passed away after her. And after a few years - another tragedy: the bandits killed Galina’s elder brother Victor, who always was her support and support. According to her, "the earth went from under the feet" of grief. But she survived, raised her daughters and continued her active creative work in the theater, although she did not receive a special theatrical education. The youngest daughter Olga Avilova also became an actress and works in the same theater as her parents.
