Oleg Dal and Elizaveta Apraksina: 10 years of painful happiness

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

He was full of contradictions, and behind the ostentatious recklessness he hid his own complexes and fears. In his life there was a place for great feelings, but having experienced betrayal once, Oleg Dal began to be wary of women. And yet he met the one who accepted him as a whole, with his shortcomings, contradictions and complexes. Elizaveta Eikhenbaum (Apraksina) became his guardian angel and guiding star for 10 years. It was to her that he promised incredible torment from himself.

The twists and turns of love

They first met at a time when both already had a lot of disappointments and partings behind them. Oleg Dal managed to survive two painful divorces, and Elizaveta Apraksina - many novels and not entirely successful marriage.

She was amazingly beautiful, both peers and men much older fell in love with her. At the time of meeting Dal, Sergey Dovlatov was courting her and Liza reciprocated. Oleg Dal appeared in the editing room of Lenfilm to watch the footage. Elizabeth looked at the tall, thin actor and her heart was filled with aching pity for this man, who was sadly looking at the screen. Sharp shoulders, yellow hair dyed for the role of the jester in King Lear, and piercing blue eyes. He seemed at that moment touchingly defenseless, in need of love and care. However, he needed love and care all the time.

Then there was an expedition to Narva to shoot, but Elizabeth tried not to pay attention to him. She worked as an editor and strictly followed the principle of not falling in love with actors. True, when real feelings come, all principles are powerless.

No right to refuse

In Narva, Liza Apraksina met with a married Lithuanian, hoping that their romance would develop into something more. And Dahl constantly showed her attention. Then he will come with a bouquet of flowers, then he will arrange a rally with the police, bringing the girl to a semi-faint state.

He often appeared on the set with a fair amount of drunkenness. But the director Grigory Kozintsev forgave the actor. When he was asked why he was so lenient towards Dahl, the director replied that he felt sorry for the actor, he would not live long.

Liza was flattered by Oleg Ivanovich's courtship, and when he invited her to his performance in Moscow in the fall, she went without hesitation. I called the theater straight from the station, but Dahl, hearing that Lisa was calling, did not even remember her. The offended girl immediately went back to Leningrad, where she lived. Then she did not know yet: during rehearsals, he could forget his own name, completely immersed in the role.

Soon Dal arrived in Leningrad, rushed to Liza, explained the reasons for his behavior. And then he began to visit the girl at a party, completely charmed her mother Olga Borisovna.

He came to Liza's home when Sergey Dovlatov was visiting her. They all drank alcohol together, ate something, and the men were not going to leave the apartment alone. When they were already saying goodbye, Liza imperceptibly whispered to Oleg Dal that he should return.

That night, he broke his vow never to marry, made after his divorce from Tatyana Lavrova. At five in the morning, he decisively went to ask Elizabeth's hand in the future mother-in-law, Olga Borisovna, Olenka, as he called her.

READ ALSO: Why Oleg Dal's second wife Tatyana Lavrova remained an actress of one role >>

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I predict you incredible torment from me …"

He diligently pretended not to remember the date of their marriage - November 27, 1970. But at the same time, I never forgot to present my wife a gift on this occasion. She kept these material declarations of love throughout her life.

Elizabeth became for him the best wife that could be imagined. She had the wisdom and patience to endure his periodic binges and endless whims, constantly emphasize his genius and admire his talent. She, a clever and beautiful woman, began to accompany her husband in almost all his creative expeditions, stoically experiencing everyday disorder.

On the rare days of parting, they wrote each other touchingly ironic letters, where in every word there was an inescapable longing for each other and an endless declaration of love.

Feelings could not destroy either their periodic quarrels, or Oleg's addiction to alcohol. Sometimes she ran out of strength, she went to her mother in Leningrad. Once, after their quarrel, Oleg was taken home almost unconscious. It turned out that he had a temperature over forty. Elizaveta and Olga Borisovna nursed him, and the spat, of course, was forgotten. Later, the realization came: alcohol destroys not only his marriage, but his whole life. The actor decided to sew an ampoule that would protect him from hard drinking.

He loved good shoes and never went outside with dirty shoes. And he also, after many creative meetings with the audience, loved to come home and, taking out a whole bunch of money from his pockets, artistically fanning-threw bills on the floor, happily informing “his women” that they could not deny themselves anything. He was proud of his role as head of the family and tried to make the lives of those close to him happy.

In the life of Oleg and Lisa Dahl there were both problems and grief. But the main components of their marriage were tenderness, care, endless happiness, born of true love. He passed away on March 3, 1981. Lisa survived him by 22 years, carefully keeping his gifts, poems and letters …

Oleg Dal did not live to see his 40th birthday for two months. He played about 50 roles, but there could be twice as many of them if he did not abandon them and did not lose because of his difficult nature. They say he was "inconvenient" for directors, disrupted performances and often clashed when compromises should be sought. There were many passions in his life, and one of them ruined him.