Video: Secrets of the Safonov family of actors: How Major Kibrit brought the star of the "Belorussky Station" back to life
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
April 9 marks 94 years since the birth of the famous Soviet theater and film actor, People's Artist of the RSFSR Vsevolod Safonov. His life ended prematurely back in 1992, the name of his daughter, actress Elena Safonova, is much more familiar to modern viewers. He played more than 100 roles in films, but among them there were almost no striking leading roles, with the exception of "Belorussky Station". Vsevolod Safonov could have died another 20 years earlier, if not for his meeting with the actress Elsa Lezhdey, known for her role as Zinochka Kibrit from the legendary television series "Connoisseurs lead the investigation" …
Vsevolod Safonov was a native Muscovite. He was born in 1926, during the war he studied at the aviation technical school, and after graduation he wanted to go to the front, but the medical commission did not allow him to military service. From his youth, Safonov was engaged in an amateur art circle, and his friends in the circle suggested trying to enter the Shchukin school with them for a company. Safonov did not count on success, but from the very first attempt he was enrolled.
Since 1949, Vsevolod Safonov began performing on the theater stage. A year later, he made his film debut in a cameo role, and at the age of 30 he had two significant events: the actor got his first leading role in the film "Soldiers" and became a father - his wife, Mosfilm director Valery Rubleva gave birth to his daughter Elena. She grew up in a creative atmosphere that predetermined her future path. Elena Safonova said: "".
After a successful film debut, Vsevolod Safonov received leading roles in new films almost every year, but there were no outstanding works among them. By the end of the 1960s. proposals became less and less, the main roles were no longer among them. Hardly experiencing his creative unfulfillment, the actor began to drink. Because of this, his first marriage collapsed. At that moment, he sadly said: "".
When it seemed to Vsevolod Safonov that he had failed both in his creative and personal life, fate gave him a second chance. Vsevolod Safonov considered his most important film work the role of the journalist, former explosives explorer Alexei Kiryushin in the film “Belorussky Railway Station”. At 44, the actor's finest hour finally arrived. This drama directed by Andrei Smirnov was called one of the best films about the war, although there was not a single battle scene in it. The story of the front-line friends who met 25 years after the end of the war left no one indifferent. The film had a very strong cast: in addition to Safonov, the main roles were played by Yevgeny Leonov, Anatoly Papanov, Alexey Glazyrin and Nina Urgant. At the same time, Safonov was often called the core of this film, the main character, who was assigned the role of a laconic observer, conveying a whole range of emotions at a glance.
A year after the premiere of "Belorussky Station", another fateful event happened in his life - he met with actress Elsa Lezhdey, the star of the television series "Connoisseurs are Investigating," where she played Major Kibrit. They met back in 1957, on the set of the film "Storm", but the meeting was fleeting. Almost 15 years later, fate brought them together again on the set, and this time both realized that this was not an accident.
Their relationship began in a very difficult period for the actor. The actor was divorced and was very worried about not seeing his daughter much. He poured his melancholy into alcohol. But Elsa helped him cope with difficulties. The actress set him only one condition: she will become his wife only if he stops drinking. For her sake, Safonov was ready for a lot, and he was able to fulfill this condition.
Later he said: "". Family friends said that the second wife gave Safonov another 20 years of life. Their family life was very happy and harmonious, the couple treated each other with great love, care and tenderness. Although they did not have children, Safonov found home comfort and happiness in this family with a loving and understanding person.
Congenital restraint, laconicism, self-esteem, natural intelligence, the habit of keeping a distance from others - qualities that everyone noted in the actor, and which, as if by inheritance, were passed on to his daughter, actress Elena Safonova. She has a lot in common with her father both in character and in her acting style - the same piercing deep look that becomes more eloquent than any words, the same aristocratic posture, the same external restraint with an internal storm of emotions.
Her father would probably be proud of her if he saw her starring roles in films, but he was lucky enough to see only the beginning of her creative take-off after "Winter Cherry". Later, she admitted that all her life she had been looking for a life partner, similar to her father - the same kind, understanding at a glance, who could also be entrusted with all her secrets.
In the early 1990s. Vsevolod Safonov was diagnosed with cancer. For two years, Elsa Lezhdey hoped for the best, not allowing even the thought that she could lose the closest person. But, unfortunately, it happened so. On July 6, 1992, the actor died. At that time he was 66 years old. His wife survived him by 9 years, but in recent years she did not live, but lived. After that, she closed in on herself, stopped communicating with friends and did not appear in public, suffering from the same ailment that took her husband's life. His departure was a great shock for the actress, with which she could not come to terms …
Her film career also ended abruptly: Why Elsa Lezhdey, the star of the film "The Investigation is Conducted by Experts," disappeared from the screens.
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