Stolen Happiness: How Estonian actress Eve Kivi and the most popular in the USSR American Dean Reed fell victim to Soviet officials

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

In the 1970s, foreign artists were infrequent guests in the USSR, especially if they were Americans. But Dean Reed was an exception to the rule - the singer and actor, forced to leave the United States for political reasons, became a welcome guest in the USSR and the idol of Soviet youth. But when he decided to marry the popular Estonian actress Eva Kivi, he was not allowed to do so …

Dean Reed's musical career began in the United States, but there his work was not very popular, and with tours he often performed in Latin America. And soon, due to his political views, he was forced to leave his homeland forever - the singer criticized the policies of the American government, condemning nuclear tests and the Vietnam war and participating in anti-war rallies. In the countries of the socialist camp, a warm welcome awaited him, and Dean Reed settled in the GDR.

The singer first came to the USSR in 1965 and since then has often performed in concerts and starred in feature films in the Union and Eastern Europe. Western audiences with the participation of Dean Reed and Goiko Mitic were very popular among Soviet audiences, while in the West they were considered rather a parody of Westerns. In the 1970s. the singer and actor became a real idol of Soviet youth, the hit "Bella, chao!" and everyone knew his other songs by heart.

Dean Reed was handsome and always enjoyed great success with the opposite sex. In the USSR, he had thousands of female fans who dreamed of meeting him. At concerts, he was bombarded with sweets, teddy bears and books. But he chose the one who, at the time of their meeting, did not even know who Dean Reed was.

Eve Kiwi's star lit up in the late 1950s. thanks to the director Alexander Ptushko, who chose the aspiring actress from 300 applicants for the role in the film-fairy tale "Sampo", saying: "". She could become a star of not only Soviet, but also foreign cinema, but she was not given the opportunity to do this. Once a Mexican producer got a reception from Nikita Khrushchev and asked to let the actress go to shoot in Mexico. The secretary general replied that "", and she was not released from the country.

Eve Kiwi and Dean Reed met in 1971 during the Moscow Film Festival. The artist posed for photographers when he drew attention to the girl who was watching this process. He took her hand and continued to pose with her. At that time, she did not recognize him as the most popular American actor and singer in the USSR.

Their romance developed very rapidly. Literally immediately after meeting, Eve Kivi had to fly to Tallinn for shooting, and only when she was on the plane, she suddenly realized that she had forgotten to exchange phone numbers with her chosen one. All she knew about him was that he lived in the Rossiya Hotel. Upon returning to Moscow, Ewe immediately went there - and at the door she ran into Dean Reed, who behaved as if he had been waiting for her arrival for a long time and knew when she would appear. He wanted them to star in a movie together, but he was not given permission to shoot together.

The situation was complicated by the fact that both of them were married at that time, and both of these marriages could not be called happy. Therefore, soon both Eve Kivi and Dean Reed filed for divorce and decided to get married. However, these plans were never destined to come true - the actor was given to understand that he had no right to marry a citizen of the USSR. He was not even allowed to buy an apartment in Moscow, and he still stayed in hotels during each of his visits. Once he was summoned to the Central Committee of the Komsomol, after which he told the actress that he could not marry her. Later she learned from his translator that at this meeting the secretary of the Central Committee of the Komsomol Boris Pastukhov told him: ""

Eve Kivi later recalled this time as the craziest and happiest in her life: "".

When asked why she and Dean Reed did not get married, the actress replied: "".

When the actress began to be released abroad with film delegations, she used every opportunity to meet with Dean Reed. They made the decision to leave many times and met again, unable not to see each other for a long time. Once the singer gave Eva Kivi his photo, on which he wrote: "".

Their romance lasted 15 years. In the end, Dean Reed stayed to live in the GDR, married actress Renate Blume, and soon his fans were shocked by the news of the sudden death of their idol. They said that on that day, the artist had a falling out with his wife, got behind the wheel of a car, crashed into a tree, flew out of the car and fell into the lake. According to the main version, he drowned as a result of an accident, but neither Eve Kivi nor his friends could believe it - after all, the actor swam beautifully and was even the champion of his state in swimming in his youth. Many put forward a version of premeditated murder, but it never found official confirmation.

Eve Kivi said that one day she had a dream in which Dean Reed brought her 12 handkerchiefs wet with tears. And the next day she heard on TV that in the GDR they found the body of Dean Reed, who drowned in the lake 5 days ago - on June 12, 1986. After his death, Eve Kivi was never able to find her personal happiness. Her professional successes are also in the past - after the collapse of the USSR, she worked on Estonian television, sometimes starred in serials and performed on the theater stage, but she no longer had her former popularity.

The circumstances of the death of the most popular American actor in the USSR still remain unclear: Dean Reed death mystery.