Video: Born at the wrong time: Why Yuri Yakovlev said that he played the wrong roles in the cinema
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
April 25 marks the 90th anniversary of the birth of the famous actor Yuri Yakovlev … Unfortunately, he has not been among the living for 5 years. Films with his participation have long become classics of Soviet cinema: "The Hussar Ballad", "The Irony of Fate, or Enjoy Your Bath!", "Ivan Vasilyevich Changes His Profession." It would seem that with such a creative biography there is nothing to regret. But despite the incredible popularity with the audience, the actor himself believed that all his life he played the wrong characters. Although there were no nobles among his ancestors, he himself looked in life, on the screen, and on stage, like a hereditary aristocrat. Yakovlev said that he was born not of his own era, and in the role of a star he felt very uncomfortable.
Yuri Yakovlev's parents were far from the world of cinema - his father was a lawyer, and his mother was a nurse. He himself did not plan to become an actor, choosing between the Faculty of International Relations of Moscow State University and VGIK, but decided to try his luck. Luck did not smile at him - at the entrance exams he was called non-cinematic. But Yakovlev was admitted to the Shchukin School, although he did not show any success there at first - he finished the first year with a grade mark for acting. Perhaps his life would have turned out completely differently, if the actress and teacher Cecilia Mansurova had not stood up for him then, saying that she sees potential in him and is ready to work with him. And she was not mistaken.
After graduation, Yuri Yakovlev became an actor at the Vakhtangov Academic Theater, where he worked for the next 60 years. He made his film debut in 1953, but the role of Prince Myshkin in the film "The Idiot" brought him real popularity. With his innate intelligence, he was so organic in this image that many called this work the pinnacle of his creative biography, and many critics still consider Prince Myshkin the only role of Yakovlev, commensurate with his talent. The actor said about this work: "". However, all-Union fame came to him after filming in the films of Eldar Ryazanov and Leonid Gaidai.
The role of Ippolit in The Irony of Fate was originally intended for Oleg Basilashvili. The actor has already passed the audition and was approved, but was forced to withdraw from filming due to the death of his father. Yuri Yakovlev said: "".
Eldar Ryazanov was very grateful to Yakovlev for his generosity - not every actor of his level would agree to the role, knowing that at the last moment he came “to replace” another actor to whom this role was originally offered. But this was the whole Yakovlev, and for this he was respected by both directors and colleagues. Ryazanov said: "".
The manager of the Bunshu house and Tsar Ivan the Terrible was also not supposed to be played by Yakovlev - in the main role in his film "Ivan Vasilyevich Changes His Profession" Leonid Gaidai saw only Yuri Nikulin. Evgeny Evstigneev and Georgy Vitsin also took part in auditions, but for some reason they all refused to shoot. Yakovlev got this role by chance, and as a result created one of the brightest and most beloved movie characters among the people.
After the films "The Irony of Fate" and "Ivan Vasilyevich Changes His Profession", the actor got incredible popularity, which he himself was not happy with: "".
Despite the fact that these heroes in his performance have become legendary, and their phrases have long become aphorisms, Yuri Yakovlev could not get rid of the feeling that all his life he was playing completely the wrong roles. Comedic characters and people "from the people" were not really close to him. In his declining years, the actor admitted that he felt “out of place” not only in cinema, but in general in this era, as if he was born at the wrong time: “”.
Recently, Yuri Yakovlev appeared on the screens less and less - he did not find his place in the new cinema, where many things seemed alien to him: "".
Behind the scenes of the most famous film with the participation of Yuri Yakovlev, a lot of interesting things remain: Why some episodes of the film "Ivan Vasilyevich changes his profession" were not censored.
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