Video: The stigma of "walking virtue": Why Evgenia Simonova lost many roles in films
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
June 1 marks 63 years of the famous theater and film actress Evgeniya Simonova … It's hard to believe in this figure - she still looks the same sweet "eternal girl", sunny and airy, as in the films "Only Old Men Go to Battle", "An Ordinary Miracle" and "Afonya". In another image, not only the audience, but also many directors could not imagine her, which played a cruel joke with the actress. However, she refused many legendary roles herself, choosing what was always the most important for her in life …
As a child, Simonova did not dream of becoming an actress - she was preparing to enter the Faculty of Foreign Philology, which was understandable: her mother was an English teacher, and her father was a neurophysiologist. But it was thanks to her father that Evgenia changed her mind. At that time, he was studying the psychology of creativity, and he was invited to lecture at the Moscow Art Theater School. Then, under the influence of her father, Evgenia was carried away by the theater.
Having decided to try to enter the theater, Simonova hoped, in case of failure, to still apply for the philological faculty - they were enrolled there two months later. And the audience would never have recognized this actress if the teacher of the Shchukin school, actor Yuri Katin-Yartsev, did not believe in her, - in all other universities she was categorically refused. In the first years of her studies, she did not show brilliant results and did not live up to his expectations - she was lost on the stage, she was very tight and shy. Svetlana Nemolyaeva and Igor Kostolevsky, whom she considered her mentors at the Mayakovsky Theater, helped her to adapt to the acting profession.
Today, Evgenia Simonova holds almost the entire repertoire of the Mayakovsky Theater, for 40 years she has played in more than 20 performances. The range of her theatrical roles is wide enough, which cannot be said about her filmography. In the cinema, the talented actress could not realize even half of her potential.
Her film debut took place in her first year, and her first popularity was brought by Leonid Bykov's film "Only Old Men Go to Battle". The films "Afonya", "An Ordinary Miracle" and "Children of the Arbat" are also called the pinnacles of her film career, and in addition to these works, viewers will hardly be able to remember anything else. From the moment of her first appearance on the screens, the role of a lyrical heroine was immediately entrenched for her - sweet, modest, naive, pure and “too correct”. This is how she was remembered and loved by the audience, and the directors no longer saw her in other images. After "Afoni" fans wrote to her: "".
Simonova was very burdened by the fact that she could not go beyond the established stereotype. She confessed: "!".
Despite the immense popularity and love of the audience, the actress admitted that she had never enjoyed great success with men. She said with a laugh that "" became her fans. She has never had any romance on the set, except for those that grew into two marriages. Simonova said: "".
From many roles that have become iconic in the film career of other actresses, Simonova herself refused. The fact is that her family has always come first. In her first marriage with the famous actor Alexander Kaidanovsky, the actress refused to appear with Mikhalkov in "An Unfinished Play for a Mechanical Piano", because at that time she was pregnant with her first daughter, Zoya."" - said the actress.
And after the birth of the child, Simonova refrained from filming. And although she made every effort to ensure that their family was happy, the marriage with Kaidanovsky broke up after 4 years - the actor had a very difficult character and, tired of her husband's frequent mood swings, Simonova left. At the age when she felt the strength and opportunity to actively act in film, the crisis of cinema just happened, and the actress devoted herself entirely to the theater. That is why she said that "cinema dropped out of her life."
Sometimes she refused roles for other reasons. So, Simonova was supposed to play Constance in the film "D'Artanyan and the Three Musketeers" and was already approved for this role, but after the director decided to shoot Boyarsky instead of Abdulov, she also decided to leave the project in solidarity with her friend. According to another version, the leadership insisted on the candidacy of Irina Alferova, and Simonova had to leave. And after her, Igor Kostolevsky left, who could play the Duke of Buckingham.
4 years after the divorce, director Andrei Eshpai appeared in her life, who became her second husband. The actress had a second daughter, Masha, and again family values were a priority for her. In order to take care of her husband and children, Simonova again refused to act in films. After rehearsals at the theater, the actress hurried home: "". She never regretted her choice - together with her second husband, they have lived for more than 30 years, and the actress calls herself the happiest woman in the world.
The actress treats her age philosophically - she does not hide the fact that she is already over 60, and at the same time feels very comfortable. Perhaps that is why it looks so good: inner harmony is the main guarantee of female beauty: "".
Behind the scenes of "An Ordinary Miracle" there are many interesting and even dangerous moments left - the shooting almost cost the lives of the actors who played the main roles.
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