Zigzags of fate of Robert Hossein: How a native of Russia became a star of French cinema and husband of Marina Vlady

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

His parents were immigrants, he grew up and made a film career in France, but he could not even imagine that one day he would become the idol of millions of women in the homeland of his ancestors. Robert Hossein played more than 90 roles in theater and cinema, but he is still called after the hero who brought him worldwide popularity - Geoffrey de Peyrac from films about the adventures of Angelica. Our spectators called him one of the most beautiful French actors, not knowing his real name and not suspecting that he was Azerbaijani by nationality, although he considered himself Russian, and that his first wife was Marina Vlady.

His real name is Abraham Huseynov. His grandfather was from Azerbaijan, and his father was born in Samarkand. After the Russian troops occupied Samarkand in 1868, the Huseins became the Huseynovs. The father of the future actor was a violinist and composer. To study music he was sent to Moscow, where he converted to Orthodoxy and changed the name of Aminulla to Andrei. For his academic success, he was sent to an internship at the Berlin Conservatory, where he was caught by the First World War. He did not plan to leave Russia forever, but the business trip dragged on and he became an emigrant. As a composer abroad, he turned out to be unclaimed, he had to play in restaurants. But he never complained about fate and liked to repeat: "".

The mother of the future actor, Anna Minevskaya, was also an emigrant. She was born into a Jewish family in Kiev and grew up in St. Petersburg, where she studied at the Smolny Institute. Her grandfather was a banker and owner of tenement houses. After the revolution, they emigrated to Germany, and one of the revolutionaries helped them to leave the country. As a student, he lived in the Minevsky apartment building, and Anna's grandfather helped him with money. And when the banker was arrested, he stood up for him. In Germany, Anna became an actress. She also met her husband there. Together they moved to France, where their son Abraham was born in 1927. As a child, he heard only Russian and Azerbaijani speech, and learned to speak French only in a boarding house for children of emigrants. True, the boarding houses had to be changed every six months - the family lived very poorly, and when the time came to pay for tuition, the parents took their son and sent him to another educational institution.

At the age of 15, the boy began to study in a theater studio, and after 3 years, on the advice of his teacher, he took a pseudonym that sounded much more melodic for the French ear than his real name - Robert Hossein. Working in the theater did not bring him much money, and he worked part-time in restaurants in the evenings, dancing with elderly tourists. For a long time he did not have his own place to live, and for a couple of years he lived with his friend, director Roger Vadim and his wife Brigitte Bardot.

The film debut of Robert Hossein took place in 1954, and a year later he tried himself as a director. In his first film, the young actress Marina Vlady, whose parents were also immigrants, played. At that time she was only 15 years old, but he lost his head from her. At first, she did not reciprocate his feelings, and he had to put in a lot of effort: "".

Already 2 years after they met, they got married. The couple had two children, but their marriage lasted only 5 years. The actor later told about the reasons for their separation: "".

The second wife of Robert Hossein was the psychoanalyst Karolin Elyashev, who was also only 15 years old at the time of their acquaintance. Just like his first wife, the actor and director took care of her and helped her find herself in the profession. Their marriage lasted 15 years. The couple had a son, Nikolai. And only the third marriage with actress Candice Patou turned out to be the strongest - they have been together for more than 30 years.

At first, the actor refused the role of Geoffrey de Peyrac, which made him famous all over the world. He was young and handsome then, and this proposal surprised him: "". Negotiations lasted a long time, in the end they agreed that Geoffrey would not have a hump, the scar would be made smaller, and he himself would be 10 years younger. And such a hero conquered not only Angelica, but also the hearts of millions of spectators all over the world. The film was such an incredible success that four more were filmed after the first part. Robert Hossein became one of the leading French actors of the 1960s. and the idol of women who, when they met him, behaved unpredictably: "".

In the filmography of Robert Hossein there are about 90 films, and a dozen more - directorial works, he headed the National Theater in Reims and staged performances at the Palais des Sports in Paris. But for most viewers, he remained the romantic hero Geoffrey de Peyrac. The actor joked that the profile of this hero would probably be captured even on his tombstone.

Robert Hossein calls himself Russian and speaks fluently the language of his ancestors. He learned how to cook borscht from his mother and occasionally organizes "Russian dinners" in his family. And in the homeland of his parents, films with his participation are still very popular: Why films about Angelica caused a storm of indignation and a wave of adoration in the USSR.