The talented actress Irina Bunina was most remembered by the audience in the historical film “Eternal Call”, although her other heroines were bright and unforgettable: an agronomist in the melodrama “Mother and Stepmother”, Nannette in the adventures “Two Years Above the Abyss”, Grunya in the drama “I Love” you, life”, Katerina in the life film “Afrikanych” etc.
Beautiful appearance, charming smile, femininity did not bring her happiness. She was never able to find a man who would become a support and faithful husband. Fate seemed to be testing her strength and presenting her with new challenges, which the actress bravely fought against.
Childhood and youth: Moscow – St. Petersburg
In the fall of 1968, in Moscow, a girl was born into a family of native Siberians, the Senotovs, who was named Irina. From kindergarten until graduation, she was distinguished by her artistry, took part in all school performances and dreamed of becoming an artist.
Having become a student at the Shchukin Theater School, the girl dedicated herself to her studies with all responsibility. The school not only taught Irina the subtleties of acting - it introduced the girl to her future husband.
Having become a certified actress, Senotova was invited to one of the Moscow theaters, but refused the offer in order to follow her loved one to St. Petersburg, where he, and then she, was offered a place in the BDT troupe. Irina’s parents moved to Izhevsk at this time.
Irina Senotova on the stage of the theater
Having received a wage of seventy-five rubles, Irina earned extra money by selling newspapers and magazines on the square. But she did not turn out to be a businesswoman - Senotova realized this very quickly. Over time, the actress's financial situation improved; During her seven-year service in the BDT, she had the opportunity to play Nastya in “The Village of Stepanchikovo”, Peggy Mike in “The Daring Fellow - the Pride of the West”, Abby in “The Witches of Salem”, Lyuba in “The Last Ones”.
Career: theater and cinema
In 1998, Senotova began serving at the Moscow Mayakovsky Theater, where she played Claudia in Vanyushin's Children and Christina in A Doll's House, and was then invited by Galina Volchek to Sovremennik. Here she played Masha in “Three Sisters” based on Anton Chekhov, Erna Bening in “Three Comrades” based on Erich Maria Remarque.
Irina Senotova in her youth
The parting with Sovremennik occurred because of Chulpan Khamatova, who played Irina in Three Sisters, but then she wanted to immerse herself in the image of Masha. Senotova was offered the role of Olga, but she was not interested in it. Irina realized that she would not fit into the team and left.
Filming began in 1988. Senotova played journalist Lilia in the film “Paid for Everything.” Then she created the image of Elena in Sergei Lomkin’s fantastic comedy “Fatal Eggs” based on Mikhail Bulgakov. The creative team of the film consisted of Oleg Yankovsky, Nina Usatova, Andrey Tolubeev, Tatyana Kravchenko.
Irina Senotova in the film “Fatal Eggs”
Then Irina got the main role of Claudia Solovyova in Valery Ogorodnikov’s drama “Barack”. In it she plays together with Evgeny Sidikhin, Leonid Yarmolnik, Yulia Svezhakova. The actress also gained interesting experience in Oleg Babitsky’s drama series “The Trajectory of a Butterfly.”
Further filming in TV series brings only small episodes in such films as “Moscow. , “Three against all”, “Code of Honor”. And then Senotova was invited to the roles of Tamara Astakhova in “Carmelita”, Margarita Yanovskaya in “Montecristo”, Alexandra Shestakova in “Ranetki”, Princess Gardenina in “Loop of Time”. She also played the main role of Nina in the melodramatic series “Autumn Melody of Love.”
Irina Senotova on the set of the series “Autumn Melody of Love”
"Night living room." Meeting with singer Irina Shachneva
Tuesday June 27, 1995. Radio 1 "Midnighter"
"Night living room." Meeting with singer Irina Shachneva.
...maybe the name of our guest Irina Shachneva is not known to all listeners, but the song she sings with the ensemble and the name of the ensemble will probably be recognized by most radio listeners (the song “The Whole Life Is Ahead” by A. Ekimyan with lyrics by R. Rozhdestvensky performed by the ensemble "Gems")
So, Ekimyan’s song based on Rozhdestvensky’s poems “The Whole Life Ahead” was performed by the ensemble “Gems”.
So, in our cozy small living room, we have our guest in the chair of honor, Irina Shachneva. Tamara Orlova talks with her and asks questions.
- I hope that Evgeny Vasilyevich...
- Hello! I hope that Evgeniy Vasilyevich will also take part.
- Necessarily.
“Surely he will also have questions, because he is from the same generation, well, and he somehow pre-announced, but I would like the radio listeners themselves... I already imagined that they were shouting: “Hurray! This is the Gems ensemble! At one time it was a favorite ensemble.
- Well, I introduced it, since we do not have a direct connection with radio listeners.
- Yes.
“And I just had to say so.”
- It's clear. Ira! So tell me, please, what does the “Gems” ensemble mean to you?
- Well, the ensemble “Gems” was and is for me - it’s my whole life. This is exactly my life. This is neither a hobby, nor a love for music, for song, but life. And until today. In any case, Tamara Grigorievna...
- These are the best years... right?...
- Well, this is not in any case, the best years were when we were young, when we were young, yes! Everything was great. And now, in any case, maybe our radio listeners, with whom I was not allowed to greet them, - Good night, dear friends! Now it’s late, and I especially want to greet those who, in any case, are near their radios, I will try to keep you from falling asleep, do something, tell you something interesting, but, of course, secondly, my The task, on the contrary, is that after our program we are in some good mood, with some positive emotions, on the contrary, you go to bed and have good and kind dreams.
But, so, about “Gems”. Yes, I was a soloist of the Gems ensemble for several years, this is the beginning of the seventies, and, in general, if I may say so, I can boast that I may even be the first girl on such a professional stage to appear among young guys who had electric guitars in their hands. In general, then there was Irina Shachneva. Yes, Irina Shachneva. And, in general, it was such a victory that a woman won a place among the guys with electric guitars, I was shown on TV, and then maybe I opened the way for other girls. In general, some kind of fashion has started to have a female soloist appear in ensembles where boys have electric guitars. This is how my professional creativity began, namely professional creativity. Because before that, of course, a lot was sung in various amateur groups, again all with electric guitars, but here, the Gems ensemble gave me a professional creative life.
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— Well, let’s remember the beginning of your life, your work at Gems.
- "Let's!
- This will be a song...
- “I’ll take you to the tundra.” Then I’ll say maybe two words about this song. And now let's listen...
— Mark Fradkin. ...
(the song “I’ll take you to the tundra” sounds).
- That's strange. For me, and I think for some radio listeners who are night owls, this song is most likely associated with the name of Kol Belda.
- No no no!
- I'm wrong, right?
- Yes, you’re wrong! Because this song was specially written for us by Mark Fradkin and we performed it in 1971, when no one knew the name of Kola Beldy. And a few years later, when this song was incredibly popular, and even we didn’t perform it, then he already performed it. And I would like to say two words about this song. Why? Because, in general, our creative journey began with her. In the program “Good morning!” This song was performed for the first time, and we announced a competition for the best name of our group. We worked a little, but I couldn’t call myself anything. So the faceless ones walked around. And a lot of letters came, and there were a lot of letters, where it was proposed to name the ensemble “Gems”. It seems to me that many people associated this particular song with the phrase “We will collect as many gems as you want.” In general, we liked this name and it was this song that gave the name to our group.
— I wonder which song promoted “Samotsvetov” and promoted the name Kola Beldy.
“Even now people listen to it with pleasure when we perform it in concerts, it’s not dead, it’s happy and alive!”
— Irochka, well, then you worked at “Plame”...
- Yes Yes. Well, everything happens...
- Just a second! Can I interrupt you? As far as I know, since the song is in 1971, isn’t it the anniversary of some kind of “Gems”?
- Yes. Anniversary. 25 years.
— And quite a big anniversary.
- Quite large. 25 years of “Gems” and I think that...
— For a pop group this is very big...
- Very big. Many radio listeners, probably the day before yesterday on Sunday, saw this program on the first program, which was dedicated to the 25th anniversary of “Gems”. There were, of course, a lot of guests and people who worked in this ensemble, but, unfortunately, some, for a number of reasons, simply could not come. So, for example, Valentin Dyakonov, Yuri Peterson, probably would. Probably, many fans that we still have who write letters, by the way, I use the airwaves, I just want to thank you, thank you so much for not forgetting, and we are just working for you. Only Dyakonov was not there, Peterson was not there, they were probably surprised. Unfortunately, they were just abroad... But they were very sorry that they could not come in time. But you know, we have now gathered again and will work. And so, Valentin Dyakonov, and Peterson, and your humble servant Irina Shachneva and the guys who were later part of the “Gems” will also work. So, I hope and really wish this - until future meetings, not only on radio and television, but also at concert venues.
- Well, then it’s very, very interesting, because it’s impossible not to love, not to forget this ensemble, and we remember it, not only radio listeners, and we will be happy to meet with them again, but let’s still return to “Flame” " How did you get there?
- Well, you know, everything happens in life, in the lives of artists, all kinds of metamorphoses... Well, in general, “Flame” is the same as “Gems.” I didn’t want to go into details, these are the same “Gems”, only under a different name.
- The direction was the same...
- … same. We immediately started working again - both Peterson and Dyakonov, everyone remained the same and we simply continued to tour under the name “Flame”. The people quickly found out and our audience also stayed with us. Yura Malikov - he has a different line-up of wonderful musicians, performers who have also worked very successfully for many years, for many years, and so we met with great pleasure and joy at this anniversary. And we all love each other very much, we no longer separate the old and the new, we are just all “Gems” here. Well, I worked at Plamya until 1989. A lot of wonderful songs were also created, and I would now like to offer radio listeners one of my favorite songs, it’s called “To the Music of Vivaldi.” I performed it as a duet together with the now very famous, well-known singer-songwriter Slava Malezhik, and then an artist of the ensemble “Flame”.
(the song “To the Music of Vivaldi” is played).
— Irina, we remembered a little about the past, it’s very interesting for radio listeners about your present creative moment.
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— The creative moment is, in principle, exactly the same. I keep singing. And I continue to sing, in general, with my colleagues. And from the ensemble “Gems”, from the ensemble “Flame”. I just work myself. You know, like a cat in group concerts - I have my own program, but I really love working with Valentin Dyakonov, Viktor Anikienko - this is “Flame”, with Valera Belyanin, this is from the ensemble “Flame” - my friends. in general, things are going well, that is, we have come to this milestone, the 25th anniversary, it’s not like they took us out of a chest with mothballs, and since then they have shown us on TV, tinted it, glossed it over. No, everyone is literally afloat and creatively full of energy. Well, in any case, I would now like to bring to the attention of radio listeners the song “Yellow Flowers.” I wrote the music for it myself, although, in general, I rarely write. In any case, the ensemble “Plamya” had some of my songs, and even they were released on records. Well, as they say, I have a lot of songs, and both of them are good.
(the song “Yellow Flowers” sounds).
— You are listening to “Midnighter” on the waves of “Radio 1” Ostankino. Irina Shachneva is our guest, and a song was performed based on the words of Natalia Merzlikina “Yellow Flowers”.
Ira, I wanted to ask you - is this not your only song?
- Well, I just said that I do it very, very rarely. There's just no time. Some were even, as I said, released on records by the ensemble “Flame”.
- Irochka, well, now it’s time to say goodbye.
- Yes unfortunately.
— There was a very interesting conversation and we learned interesting things. Well, I would like to wish you good luck, I would like to wish that the ensemble “Gems”, which trained many wonderful musicians, the people who worked there, the ensembles, I mean both “Gems” and “Flame”, some of them worked, became individuals, major musicians. Valery Belyanin. We received a lot of letters for the meeting. Radio listeners really liked him. Composer and singer. Now you write songs. You will work with an ensemble. So we wish you success, we wish you to come up with new wonderful songs and, probably, the Gems ensemble will sound somehow different, not the way it sounded 20 years ago.
And in conclusion, now the word is to you, Irochka. For our late-night radio listeners, please.
- Well. You know, I want to thank everyone who remembers us, and there is one thing - we could celebrate the 25th anniversary of “Gems” and show it on television and we were invited to the radio, but the fact that we decided to work, this is not our whim. And this is exactly what came from the public. Wherever I worked my solo concerts, I was in every concert, I was asked to perform something from “Gems”. And in my program I even have a medley of the most wonderful of these songs. And so we realized that the time has come, that it is the people who want to listen to these songs, and what is most surprising is that a lot of young people who know these pensions love them. I was just surprised. Many twenty-year-olds know our songs by heart.
- So do you want to sing the same songs or...
-There will definitely be retro and, as they say, block, because it is people who want to listen to these songs, and, of course, we will show who and what each of us is doing now. This will also be interesting. Well, at the end of our program, in any case, I would like to wish the radio listeners all the best, the kindest, happiness, success, kindness, I don’t know, endurance, well, in any case, that it would be better, as good as possible every day. And we are still a little superstitious, I would like you to have only good omens on your way and they always come true, and therefore, Mark Fradkin’s song “Good Omens”.
(the song “Good Omens” sounds).
Tamara Grigorievna Orlova – presenter.
Personal life of Irina Senotova
During their student years, the entire course in which Irina Senotova and Werner Oamer studied observed their constant arguments and skirmishes at rehearsals and predicted an imminent wedding. It happened later, and before that there was graduation from university and moving to St. Petersburg, BDT, working on the same stage with Vyacheslav Strzhelchik, Evgeny Lebedev, lack of money, a cruel diagnosis from doctors about infertility and great love.
Senotova’s parents, Soviet-trained people, insisted—remotely, from Izhevsk—on an official marriage, and the lovers decided not to upset them. In 1992, Werner and Irina got married, and in 1993, as if a wonderful confirmation of love, a girl was born, who was named Maria.
Irina Senotova in her youth with her daughter
It seemed that nothing could destroy a family that had experienced more than one personal tragedy and gone through a series of trials. But in 2012, the couple divorced after living together for twenty-two years. Neither Oamer nor Senotova commented on their divorce.
Left: Werner Oamer in his youth, right: Masha Oamer
Irina Senotova now
April 2020 turned out to be an even more difficult test for the actress. Her daughter Masha Oamer published a message on a social network about her mother’s emergency hospitalization in intensive care with a preliminary diagnosis of pneumonia. Then abdominal dropsy – ascites – was added to it. Irina refused hospitalization several times until her general health reached a critical point.
In April 2019, Irina Senotova was admitted to intensive care with pneumonia
Senotova was just working on new roles in the TV series “Operation Satan” and “The Secrets of Mrs. Kirsanova” when her health deteriorated sharply. Her daughter asked for financial help, since another diagnosis was added to the primary diagnosis - liver cirrhosis. Irina’s mother is constantly on duty next to her, and her family hopes for the actress’s recovery.
Irina Gorovaya - Potap's wife
For Irina, marriage to Potap was the second. Her first husband was singer and colleague of Alexei - Yura Gorovoy. From him, Irina has a daughter, Natalya, who is now 20 years old. And while Irina was married to Potap, she gave birth to a boy, who was named Andrei.
According to Irina, the break in relations with her father did not affect the child in any way, because her husband Alexey Potapenko was rarely at home due to constant tours. By the way, after the official breakup, he continues to see Andrey, comes to visit him and plays with him. And last year, the ex-spouses took their son to school together. The boy, who turns 10 this year, stayed with his mother and older sister after his parents separated.
By the way, the fact that the couple was officially divorcing became known only in 2020, although according to documents, Irina and Alexey broke up back in 2014, which surprised their fans a lot. In addition, it turned out that the ex-spouses have not lived together for about 5 years. However, they managed to maintain friendly and partnership relations all this time. Despite the divorce, business cooperation continues to this day.
