Their muse was vodka: Soviet actors loved by millions, who were killed by alcoholism

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

The insidious green serpent often becomes a companion of creative people: it helps to find inspiration, relax, relieve tension, survive failures in personal life and at work. But such a friendship, as a rule, does not lead to anything good. A striking example of this is Soviet actors who ruined their lives because of alcoholism.

Oleg Dal (1941-1981)

Oleg Dal is considered one of the most talented and controversial actors in Soviet cinema. He had a difficult character, but at the same time it was he who helped to achieve fame. But the star had another weakness - the love of alcohol.

After graduating from the Shchepkinsky School, Dahl, who already had a good acting experience, was immediately admitted to the Sovremennik Theater. But this is where the streak of luck ended: the talented young man was not offered roles either in the cinema or in the theater. In addition, his hasty marriage with Nina Doroshina broke up literally on the wedding day. Then Oleg Ivanovich began to drink.

He did not give up the seemingly harmless habit of relaxing over a glass or two and after starring roles in Zhenya, Zhenya and Katyusha and The Chronicle of a Dive Bomber. But at the same time, the directors tried not to mess with the actor because of his unbearable character. However, Dal still found "his" person. Grigory Kozintsev, despite the fact that he could not stand alcoholics, invited Oleg (already a drunken man at that time) to play in King Lear. Even when the actor disrupted the shooting after the next feast, the director forgave him.

Frequent scandals, periods of lull in work, prohibitions to act in films greatly affected the mental state of the actor, and he fought depression with the help of vodka. But Dahl tried to get rid of his addiction, and even “coded” with Vysotsky, but soon fell out again.

READ ALSO: Oleg Dal and Elizaveta Apraksina: 10 years of painful happiness

It is believed that the actor had a heart attack after drinking alcohol, despite the anti-alcohol "sewn" ampoule. Oleg Dal at that time was only 39 years old.

Vladimir Vysotsky (1938-1980)

Vysotsky's love for a glass during his lifetime was overgrown with legends. Moreover, he drank not secretly, not hiding from everyone: often the holidays were accompanied by scandals and fights. It often happened that Vladimir Semenovich disappeared for a week or two, unable to cope with alcohol addiction. But everything was forgiven him. Marina Vladi - the artist's wife - was also not averse to drinking a glass or two.

Drug addiction was added to Vysotsky's alcoholism. The man understood that all this had a detrimental effect on his work and tried several times to tie it up. But he could not and did not have time - the heart attack happened earlier.

Georgy Yumatov (1926-1997)

The star of the film "Officers" was overly blunt and hot-tempered. Apparently, this was the reason that there could be more roles in Yumatov's filmography. After all, it was he who was supposed to embody the image of comrade Sukhov in "White Sun of the Desert", but the day before he got involved in a drunken brawl and was suspended from work. In the 80s the actor received the title of People's Artist of the RSFSR, and then oblivion came. Georgy was very upset by all this: he did not communicate with almost anyone from the previous environment, lived on the verge of poverty, often kissed the bottle. But in 1994, Yumatov again reminded of himself: he killed a man.

On that day, the actor was burying his beloved dog, and an Azerbaijani janitor volunteered to help him. After the man, they decided to arrange a wake. According to Yumatov, they drank, his new acquaintance began to say that Germany was to win the war. Such an artist, who was himself a front-line soldier, could not endure and took up a gun. The actor could be imprisoned for 10 years, but the lawyer managed to prove that Georgy Alexandrovich only exceeded the limits of the necessary defense. He was given 3 years, but released after 2 months - then an amnesty was declared in honor of the 50th anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War.

READ ALSO: Behind the scenes of the film "Officers": How Yumatov almost disrupted the shooting, and Lanovoy refused his role

After the incident, Yumatov stopped drinking and began to go to church. The actor died two years later from a ruptured abdominal aorta.

Yuri Bogatyrev (1947-1989)

Another popular Soviet actor fully corresponded to his surname: he had a really heroic physique, pleasant external data and drank large doses. But, despite the outward severity, the man was very vulnerable in his soul and was very upset by failures. In addition, he had a complex all his life due to a tendency to be overweight and his unconventional orientation. Bogatyrev tried to forget about his problems, making friends with the green snake, but he also ruined the actor: Yuri could appear on the set drunk and rip them off. In addition, the man drank everything, not disdaining even lotions and colognes.

READ ALSO: Failed exhibition: 30 friendly cartoon portraits created by the talented actor Yuri Bogatyryov

The last years of his life, Bogatyrev went into depression even more: he became very stout, he was rarely offered roles. Because of the problems, the actor was very nervous and took antidepressants, which, as a rule, are incompatible with alcohol. As a result, the heart of 42-year-old Yuri could not stand it.

Oleg Efremov (1927-2000)

The actor began to drink in his student years. And with the advent of fame, the craving for alcohol only intensified: as a director at Sovremennik, Efremov often arranged magnificent feasts after performances. Oleg Nikolaevich was sober, demanding, picky, often dissatisfied with something. And "tipsy" turned into the most good-natured person.

Realizing that the love of alcohol becomes an addiction, Oleg Nikolayevich tried to quit, but the unwillingness of his troupe to follow him to the Moscow Art Theater painfully took and sat down again on a glass. It often happened that the actor went into binges, did not leave the house for weeks, so as not to run into drunken scandals. Over the years, his addiction only intensified, and his health condition worsened. But Efremov could not completely abandon alcohol. He died in 2000 from lung cancer.

Frunzik Mkrtchyan (1930-1993)

Frunzik Mkrtchyan was adored by the entire Soviet Union, and he had no end to offers to drink together. The actor could not refuse anyone - and so began his weekly spree, accompanied by songs, dances and cheerful toasts. But, perhaps, love for the holidays would not have turned into alcohol addiction if the artist's personal life had not developed so tragically.

Mkrtchyan's second wife was Donara Pilosyan, with whom they played spouses in the cult comedy "Prisoner of the Caucasus, or Shurik's New Adventures." The young couple worked together in the theater, and soon the chosen one gave birth to a daughter and a son to Frunzik.

But Donara was diagnosed with a severe hereditary mental illness. The actor tried to treat his wife, went to the best doctors, but they just shrugged their shoulders, stating that this ailment could not be cured. The consequence of the disease was the manic jealousy of his wife: she arranged scandals for her husband and accused him of treason. Mkrtchyan's family life has become unbearable.

The actor was forced to give up many roles due to personal problems, and therefore he was less and less offered to act in films. His triumphant return to the cinema took place after participating in "Mimino", but Donara's condition deteriorated so much that she had to be hospitalized in one of the French clinics. The upbringing of two children fell on the shoulders of Frunzik. But soon the son was diagnosed with the same disease as his mother. Later he ended up in the same medical institution.

The actor married for the third time, but this marriage soon fell apart. Mkrtchyan tried to forget himself and find solace in alcohol. Soon they stopped giving him roles, there was no work in the theater either. Once the artist experienced clinical death, and the doctors literally pulled him out of the other world.

READ ALSO: Behind the scenes of the film "Vanity of Vanities": How Fighting-Mkrtchyan was looking for a "kiss option"

At the end of December 1993, Frunzik again went into a binge and disappeared. His brother Albert, after the actor stopped answering calls, got worried and decided to check if everything was in order. Entering the apartment, he found the already dead Mkrtchyan.

Nikolay Eremenko (1949-2001)

The idol of millions of Soviet women died unexpectedly at the age of 52 from a stroke. For many, this news came as a surprise, because the actor has always been in excellent physical shape, and, it would seem, he has no health problems. But later it turned out that Eremenko also became a victim of Bacchus.

Eremenko has never been an exemplary boy: while studying at VGIK, he often had "tails", loved port and even tried illegal drugs. But, having got into the world of cinema, Nikolai completely immersed himself in his favorite business.

The actor began to get involved in alcohol again in the 90s: they almost stopped filming a good movie, and the man did not want to go to the theater. In addition, the problems in his personal life have worsened. Eremenko was married once: his wife Vera Titova gave birth to his daughter Olga. But it turned out that the family Nikolai had an affair with Tatyana Maslennikova. She also gave the man a daughter, who was named Tanya. The actor lived in two families for almost 20 years, but in the end he divorced his wife. The last companion of the actor was the assistant director Lyudmila. But the couple did not have time to formalize the relationship.

In the spring of 2001, the actor became ill. But he forbade calling an ambulance for Lyudmila - he did not want to be seen drunk. The common-law wife decided to wait for the narcologist, and at night Eremenko became ill, and he was taken to the hospital. After some time, Nikolai was gone.

Unfortunately, popularity is not a guarantee of a happy life. And confirmation of this stories of famous families who were haunted by evil fate.