10 Soviet actors and actresses who got roles "through pull"

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Nowadays, more and more often, directors are accused of filming actors, choosing them from friends or good acquaintances. Perhaps these accusations are fair, but do not forget that such a practice has always existed, and many directors gladly filmed their wives in films. Even in Soviet times, there were such actresses and actors who became famous thanks to their family ties or simply very useful acquaintances.

Olga Melikhova

In the biography of the actress Olga Melikhova, there is no information about how she actually got the main role in the film "Vacation at her own expense", only the fact itself is stated. But some sources claim that the actress was very popular with some of the high-ranking officials. At the same time, he did not show his sympathy for Olga Melikhova in any way, preferring to admire her acting talent. But he asked the director of the film, Viktor Titov, to film her in the role of Katya Kotova. It should be noted that the actress brilliantly coped with the role and hardly anyone could accuse her of mediocrity. Olga Melikhova fully managed to create the image of a naive, but purposeful provincial woman, ready for any madness for the sake of her love. Initially, this role was intended for Lyubov Rudenko.

Egor Druzhinin

The actor who played Petya Vasechkin in the film The Adventures of Petrov and Vasechkin, ordinary and incredible, well-known and beloved by many generations of children, and later in its sequel, also appeared on the set for the first time due to family ties. Yegor's dad Vladislav Yuryevich Druzhinin, the choreographer of the Yermolova Theater, was friends with Vladimir Alenikov, the director of the film. Having learned that the film crew could not find the leading actor in any way, Vladislav Yuryevich recommended his son to Alenikov. And, as you know, the boy turned out to be very talented.

Elena Proklova

The actress has repeatedly mentioned in her interviews that her very first role in the film "They Call, Open the Door!" she only got it because her grandfather was a second assistant director. True, Viktor Timofeevich did not at all want his granddaughter to become an actress, and therefore at home he talked exclusively about the troubles that happen on the set. Elena Proklova often visited her grandfather at work and even learned the text that the applicants for the role of Tanya Nazarova in the film by Alexander Mitta read. When, according to her, more than 11 thousand girls were examined, none of whom satisfied the director's requirements, Alexander Mitta drew attention to the granddaughter of the second dying. So family ties helped Elena Proklova realize her dream of becoming an actress and make her film debut.

Victor Proskurin

The role of Genka Lyapishev in the film by Alexei Korenev "Big Change" Viktor Proskurin received literally "like a neighbor." The actor, who managed to play only three tiny roles in the cinema, was friends with the director's daughter Elena Koreneva, who invited him to visit. It was there that Alexey Korenev immediately asked the guy if he wanted to film with him. Victor Proskurin wanted and after reading the script saw himself in the role of Ganja. But the director quite rightly decided that Proskurin was still too young and inexperienced for this role, but without any trial he approved him for the role of Lyapishev.

Irina Alferova

It is known that Georgy Yungvald-Khilkevich saw in the role of Constance Bonacier in his film D'Artagnan and the Three Musketeers a completely different actress, Evgenia Simonova, who, according to the director, had a certain French lightness. But the leadership of the Central Television literally forced him to take on the role of Constance Irina Alferova. It was assumed that the role of Milady would be played by Svetlana Penkina, but Yungvald-Khilkevich managed to get permission to film Terekhova. In the case of Irina Alferova, the leadership turned out to be adamant, and the director had to refuse Simonova.

Anastasia Voznesenskaya

Anastasia Voznesenskaya's film career was very successful. In the mid-1970s, her popularity began to decline, while her husband, after the release of "The Irony of Fate", and then "Office Romance" literally bathed in the rays of glory. If at the beginning of her married life, the actress petitioned the directors about her wife, now Andrei Myagkov asked to film his wife in films. Eldar Ryazanov, yielding to the persuasion of Andrei Myagkov, gave the role of the market director in the film "Garage" to Anastasia Voznesenskaya.

Svetlana Svetlichnaya

In the film "A Hero of Our Time" a young actor Vladimir Ivashov was approved for the main role, but Tamara Semina was to play the smuggler Undine. But Ivashov, who at that time had an affair with Svetlana Svetlichnaya, persuaded Tamara Semina to give the role to his future wife. As a result, it was Svetlichnaya who played Undine. By the way, Tamara Semina also gave the role of Pavlina Khutornaya in Edmond Keosayan's "Cook" to Svetlichnaya. But this time the husband of the actress Vladimir Prokofiev simply forbade his wife to act in the film based on the play by Anatoly Sofronov, simply because of his personal dislike for the writer.

Tatiana Gavrilova

In the film by Vasily Shukshin "Red Kalina" the role of Lucien, a member of the "thieves' raspberry", was originally supposed to be played by Lyudmila Gurchenko. But the operator Anatoly Zabolotsky intervened in the matter. He persuaded Shukshin to shoot Tatyana Gavrilova in the picture, who at that time was not in her best shape, and due to lack of work began to seriously get involved in alcohol. Vasily Shukshin decided that in this case the replacement would be justified, and nevertheless removed Tatyana Gavrilova.

Alexandra Zakharova

The daughter of director Mark Zakharov, as you know, played her best roles in her father's films. At the same time, after the first picture with the participation of Alexandra Zakharova, the director was criticized precisely for the fact that he took his daughter into his picture, but Mark Anatolyevich himself stubbornly continued to shoot her in films. True, already in the "Formula of Love" critics drew attention to how organic the actress turned out to be in the image of the courtyard girl Fimka, and after the release of the films "Kill the Dragon" and "Criminal Talent" even the most notorious skeptics admitted: Alexander Zakharova has an acting talent.

Lyudmila Genika

When Boris Chirkov was invited to play the role of neurosurgeon Chizhov in the film by Mikhail Kalatozov "True Friends", he did everything for the director to shoot his wife Lyudmila Genik in the film. It is not known what arguments the famous actor resorted to, but his wife still played the role of Mashenka, a doctor at a hospital in Osokino. Mikhail Kalatozov never regretted that he agreed to Chirkov's persuasion.

The film "True Friends" was filmed in 1954 by director Mikhail Kalatozov and became a screen version of the book of the same name by the Soviet writer Alexander Galich. This romantic comedy tells the story of the friendship of three comrades who met 30 years after their childhood together. And each of them manifests itself when meeting with a new, sometimes unexpected for friends, side.