Video: How Oleg Yankovsky and Robert de Niro were friends - stars separated by the "iron curtain"
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
The two great actors of the 20th century, born on opposite ends of the globe and divided by the political contradictions of the Cold War, had little chance of meeting, much less making friends. However, this acquaintance took place. The friendship of the Soviet and American cinema stars lasted more than 25 years, until 2009, when Oleg Yankovsky passed away.
Fate brought the actors together in Italy in 1982, in the ordinary resort town of Bagno Vignoni. It was there that Tarkovsky's "Nostalgia" was filmed. The entire film crew worked literally day and night - Andrei Arsenievich on the set demanded discipline and strict adherence to the schedule. Then it suddenly became clear that an American actor had come to meet the great director. Sergio Leone was filming "Once Upon a Time in America" nearby, and Robert De Niro specifically asked to arrange a meeting for him with the famous Russian director. The Hollywood actor, by the way, considers himself a follower of the Russian theatrical tradition. He is a graduate of the famous theater school of Lee Strasberg, who taught his students "Stanislavsky" and staged many Russian plays. One of the most important and successful theatrical performances of De Niro, critics consider the role in Chekhov's "The Bear".
Despite the fact that by that time Robert De Niro was already a real Hollywood star, communication with Tarkovsky did not work out for him, since the Russian director was not a very sociable person. Therefore, the exchange of experience that the American expected from this meeting did not work out, but he quickly got into a conversation with Oleg Yankovsky. The actors became friends and, if possible, began to explore the beauty of Italy together - Hollywood stars, unlike ours, abroad have always had a rich schedule of such trips. De Niro was even assigned a special organizer for these purposes.
The two actors, each of whom was a star on their own continent, found it interesting to communicate creatively as well. Oleg Yankovsky, for example, spoke about his friend like this:
After the end of filming in Italy, it seemed that further communication of new friends would be problematic, but the "iron curtain" just started to give up. Robert de Niro first came to Moscow to take part in the filming of Emil Loteanu's Anna Pavlova, but this was not destined to happen, since the American actor had a bad account with the State Film Agency due to his participation in the formally anti-Soviet drama The Deer Hunter. Nevertheless, he managed to get to know many Soviet stars: Mikhail Kozakov, Andrei Mironov. Larisa Golubkina, Lyudmila Maksakova. Robert de Niro was one of the first actors of the "capitalist camp" to explore the territory closed to the whole world - the Soviet expanses. There were also some curiosities. One of such cases, which occurred during a joint trip to Leningrad, was described by Mikhail Kazakov:
Further, Robert de Niro never missed the opportunity to come to the USSR. Most often this was done thanks to the Moscow film festivals. On these trips, he often took his children with him, so the friendship between the two actors continued.
In 1997, it was Oleg Yankovsky who presented Robert De Niro in Moscow with the Silver St. George statuette for his contribution to world cinema.
This friendship lasted 27 years. The last meeting of the actors took place just before the death of Oleg Yankovsky. After, Robert De Niro shared his feelings with reporters:
Oleg Yankovsky did not like to talk about himself. For many of his acquaintances, his death came as a surprise. About what he really was, we can now learn from memories of friends, relatives and colleagues of Oleg Yankovsky.
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