Lyudmila Abramova, once married to Vladimir Vysotsky and mother to two sons, passed away after a long illness. The news first surfaced on social media, shared by actor Veniamin Smekhov.
“She was the beauty of VGIK, a friend and wife to Volodya Vysotsky, and the mother of Arkasha and Nikita—a living archive of the poet’s words. She greeted every verse with warmth. Eternal, bright memory,” wrote Smekhov. Abramova was 83 years old.
The death was later confirmed by her youngest son from the first marriage, Nikita Vysotsky, in an interview with socialbites.ca. “She passed away yesterday after a lengthy illness. We will bury her on Monday at the Dolgoprudnenskoye cemetery, not far from Moscow. It is a long trip, and we want a quiet, family farewell. We won’t turn this into a spectacle,” he said (source: socialbites.ca).
Abramova’s father directed a publishing house focused on chemistry, while her mother graduated from the Mechanics and Mathematics Department of Moscow State University and the Military Institute of Foreign Languages. The family lived with Abramova’s sister and grandmother, and the house often echoed with Anna Akhmatova’s poetry, because the grandmother’s relatives were connected to the poet. This early literary atmosphere shaped Abramova’s later artistic choices.
In 1958, Abramova entered VGIK under the tutelage of Mikhail Romm. There she studied alongside future figures like Andrei Konchalovsky, Vasily Shukshin, and Andrei Smirnov, sharing the same cohort and the same hallways of ambition.
Her striking presence drew a lot of attention from her peers, and some stories from those years speak of romantic interest that bordered on dramatic. Rumors lingered that one admirer’s heartbreak intensified to tragedy, though Abramova’s circle preferred to remember her for the light she brought into rooms and scenes.
In 1961, while still a student, Abramova earned a leading role in the Soviet disaster film “713th Wants to Land.” It was also the moment she met Vladimir Vysotsky, who played an American Marine. Filming happened in Leningrad, and Abramova recalls arriving in the city to find a drunk man in distress near the hotel. She stepped in—covering damages at a restaurant and leaving a family heirloom, an amethyst ring, as a keepsake.
That same day, the very same man, now in her hotel, invited her to share a moment in his company. He brought champagne and chocolate, and as the night unfolded, the man sang and introduced himself as Vysotsky. It turned out their paths crossed mostly on the bus to the set the next morning, when they were both employed on the same project.
The couple soon relocated to Moscow, choosing to keep their relationship private. They welcomed two sons, Arkady and Nikita, before marrying formally in 1965, on a date that would later take on extra meaning as Vysotsky’s life moved toward its end. The couple’s bond, many noted, was deeply rooted in shared respect and spiritual kinship, even as life’s pressures pressed in from every side.
Abramova stepped back from acting after her children were born and dedicated herself to family life. The marriage to Vysotsky lasted until 1970; it was described by those close to them as a profound, almost soulful partnership. Vysotsky continued to be a presence in their children’s lives, even after the couple separated, and he left them a family apartment that remained a touchstone for the family.
Abramova remarried a year after her split from Vysotsky. She found companionship with Yuri Ovcharenko, an engineer in the mechanical field, and two years later their daughter Serafima arrived. The family life she built in Moscow offered stability during times of public upheaval and artistic flux.
After Vysotsky’s death in 1980, Abramova remained actively involved in preserving his memory, contributing to the museum dedicated to his legacy and assisting with projects that honored his creative output. In 1984, a melodrama titled “Until the Snow Falls …” drew from her life experiences and featured Natalya Saiko and Alexander Porokhovshchikov in the cast. In 1991, she published a memoir, Facts from her Biography, sharing intimate details about life with Vysotsky and the years they spent apart, the children they raised, and the lessons learned along the way.
Even in retirement, Abramova stayed connected to education, teaching at a Moscow high school and guiding younger generations. In 2012, following the death of her close friend Dina Kalinovskaya, a renowned playwright and screenwriter, she compiled and published Kalinovskaya’s works, ensuring her friend’s contribution would endure. Abramova’s commitment to memory and storytelling was a throughline in the life she led—one that balanced artistry with devotion to family and history.