The fading star of Igor Nefedov: Why did the policeman from "Criminal Talent" commit suicide

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

In the 1980s. Igor Nefedov was a popular actor who starred in the films of Nikita Mikhalkov, Sergei Solovyov and other famous directors. Most of the viewers remembered him as a policeman from the social drama "Criminal Talent" by Sergei Ashkenazi. Nefedov was called one of the most promising young actors, and for many, the news that he killed himself at the age of 33 was a great shock. What brought the 1980s star to the decision to voluntarily die - further in the review.

Igor inherited his passion for theater from his father - Vyacheslav Nefedov studied at the Moscow Art Theater School on the same course as Oleg Tabakov and was considered one of the most promising students, but after 3 years he dropped out, and only many years later began to play in the entreprise of the Hermitage Theater … His son Igor dreamed of becoming an actor since childhood, and at the age of 13 he got into the first set of the theater studio of Oleg Tabakov, and after graduating from school he entered the course of Tabakov at GITIS. At the same time, just like his father, he was considered one of the most promising students.

Nefedov's film debut took place at the age of 18, also thanks to Oleg Tabakov - he recommended Nikita Mikhalkov to shoot him in the film "Five Evenings". After that, he starred with him again - in the television show "Can you play the piano?" At that time, Tabakov did not yet have his own theater, and after graduation, his graduates got into troupes of different theaters. Igor Nefedov performed on the stage of the Central Children's Theater, the chief director of which noted his extraordinary abilities: "".

When Oleg Tabakov opened his own theater studio in 1986, Nefedov moved on to him and continued to act in films. The best directors of that time worked with him, and they all highly appreciated his acting talent. So, Sergei Soloviev approved him for a role in his film "Heiress in a Straight Line" even without samples. And Oleg Tabakov said: "".

By the age of 25, there were already about 10 roles in his filmography, among which were the main ones, the actor was recognized on the streets, his name - the first of all his fellow peers - got into the Soviet Encyclopedia of Cinema, and all-Union popularity came to him in the late 1980s biennium after the release of the film "Criminal Talent", where he played the role of policeman Vadim Pitelnikov.

But after such a meteoric rise, Igor Nefedov's film career suddenly ended. In the 1990s. in the domestic cinema, a protracted crisis began, the directors no longer offered the actor roles, and those of them who, a few years ago, willingly invited him to shoot, now all spoke with one voice: "". He refused many roles himself, considering them unworthy. Excessive ambition played a cruel joke on him.

Personal problems were added to the failures in his creative life - just one year after the wedding, the actor's wife, a ballerina of the Bolshoi Theater, left him for another. This drama was very difficult for Nefedov - according to friends, even then he showed suicidal tendencies. He talked about suicide very often and even made several attempts. In 1987, Nefedov married a second time, to the actress of the Sovremennik Theater Elena Kazarinova, and she later said: "".

It would seem that his life was gradually getting better - he was given a new apartment from the theater, he found happiness with his second wife, there were always many guests in their house. But Nefedov did not come out of his depression, he drank a lot, which is why he was late or did not come to rehearsals at the theater at all. His wife was no longer surprised by his talk of beautiful death and suicide - those who talk about it too often usually do not. Elena Kazarinova said that at sea he often pretended to be drowning, although he swam beautifully, and lying in bed, he held his breath and pretended to be dead. Everyone was used to such antics of his, and once, when he climbed onto the railing of the bridge, shouting that he was going to jump, none of his company, resting on the banks of the Moskva River, took it seriously - everyone already knew that Nefedov was thus attracts attention.

After 7 years of family life, the wife got tired of her husband's behavior and decided to pause in their relationship. Igor took it as a disaster. He drank heavily, and in a state of intoxication again spoke of death. The situation was aggravated by his conflict with Tabakov - due to systematic delays, the actor was removed from the role in the play "An Ordinary Story" and deprived of his fee. And on stage he was replaced by a graduate of the Moscow Art Theater Yevgeny Mironov, who was then just beginning his acting career. After that, Nefedov decided to leave the theater. Colleagues of the actor said that Tabakov did not immediately resort to such harsh measures: "".

On December 2, 1993, the actor went to his wife to make up. They talked all night, the dialogue did not go well, Nefedov drank vodka. When it was over, he said he wanted to go to the store. He left the apartment, went down to the floor below, took out a scarf, tied it to some kind of hook and hanged himself. This time, no one had time to save him. He was only 33 years old.

This whole course of Oleg Tabakov seemed to be pursued by an evil fate. After the commemoration in the theater, his friends gathered at the Nefedov's wife, and the actor Yevgeny Dvorzhetsky uttered a strange phrase: "". 4 years later, actress Irina Metlitskaya died of leukemia, then either as a result of an accident, or of her own free will, Elena Mayorova passed away, and 6 years after Nefedov's death, Evgeny Dvorzhetsky died in a car accident.

The mysterious circumstances of the death of this actress still make her fans doubt that it was an accident. "I want to burn like a torch": How Elena Mayorova's phrase became prophetic.