Oleg Efremov and Nina Doroshina: Why the novel of two talented people remained unfinished

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

They were both stars of the first magnitude. Talented, bright and in love with each other. Oleg Efremov and Nina Doroshina met in the mid-1950s and walked alongside each other for 45 years. Nearby, but not together. In the life of each of them, new people appeared and disappeared, but they invariably were with each other. The constancy of their feelings was tested over the years and tests, but their romance remained unfinished.

Unrequited love

Their acquaintance took place in 1955 in Kazakhstan, on the set of the film "First Echelon". Nina Doroshina, a student at the Shchukin School, instantly fell in love with the imposing and charming Oleg Efremov, who at that time was serving at the Central Children's Theater under the direction of Anatoly Efros. And he was also in love with his colleague at the CTD Antonina Eliseeva.

Nina Doroshina, who was quartered in the post office building, watched the same picture every evening: Oleg Efremov clutches the telephone receiver in his hands and says something tenderly to his interlocutor, who is in Moscow. The young actress suffered immensely, and Efremov, it seemed, did not even notice her loving glances. True, the separation soon cooled the ardor of Oleg Nikolaevich, and he turned his attention to another actress, but not to Doroshin.

In general, he was incredibly amorous, paid attention to completely different women, while the fair sex invariably reciprocated. There was some incredible charisma in him, an infectious passion for business, a strange imposingness that was not spoiled even by negligence in clothing.

When he told his colleagues about his dream of creating his own theater, everyone listened to him with enthusiasm and faith that everything would work out. And Nina Doroshina, being present for the first time when Efremov told about her dream, instantly lit up and decided that she would go after such a person even to the ends of the world. But then he did not honor her with his attention, but drew attention to her talent.

Love affair at work

Later, Oleg Nikolaevich invited the actress to Sovremennik. She came to night rehearsals, although she herself had not yet been involved in the play, watched with delight what was happening and even sometimes spent the night at Efremov's house. But this was not at all a manifestation of sympathy on his part. It's just that Doroshina lived outside the city, and he showed the usual care for a colleague, bringing her to the Arbat apartment, where he lived with her mother.

The romance between Nina Doroshina and Oleg Efremov began a little later, while working on the production of The Naked King. The actress, who has been trying to hide her crush for the past several years, was finally happy. And at that time she was least of all worried about the presence of Efremov's wife Irina Mazuruk (even civilian) and a child.

Nina Mikhailovna never considered herself a beauty, but in fact she was incredibly charming and feminine. Many colleagues recalled how the men reacted to Nina Doroshina, how they tried to grab her attention. She loved Efremov.

Oleg Nikolaevich felt extremely comfortable next to Nina Doroshina. It was possible to talk with Nina all day long about the theater and about her ambitious projects, she never arranged scenes for him and did not try to re-educate him "for herself." The actress never claimed the place that the theater had already occupied in the director's heart.

They could take tickets to Leningrad in SV and go together to the BDT to watch a new performance with Doronina. And they were both immensely happy in those moments when they could be alone. When Nina Doroshina received an apartment, they almost felt like celestials, lying on the newspapers in a completely empty room.

Nina Mikhailovna always spoke of Efremov with great warmth and tenderness. Despite all the pain and despair that Efremov left behind in her soul. She did not dare to give birth to a child from a loved one, which she later regretted more than once. The actress gave up motherhood for the sake of the stage, and then found out that Alla Pokrovskaya was going to give birth from Oleg Efremov. A little later, Oleg Dal appeared in Doroshina's life.

A wedge is not knocked out by a wedge

When the young actor appeared in the theater, Nina Mikhailovna, who was seven years older than her colleague, became his mentor. A little later, Dal and Doroshina were together on the set of the film "The First Trolleybus". The actress felt Dahl's love, but she herself did not feel any feelings for him, except for friendly ones. Efremov's refusal to come to her in Odessa played the role of a trigger, and Doroshina found herself in the arms of a loving Dahl.

Later there was a wedding, to which Efremov appeared without an invitation, arranging a kind of demonstration of his rights to Nina. Doroshina and Dal parted very quickly. Nina Mikhailovna again belonged entirely to Efremov. It was not possible to knock out a wedge with a wedge, and the pain inflicted on Oleg Dal was completely undeserved.

The novel by Nina Doroshina and Oleg Efremov lasted ten years. The actress broke off this relationship when Efremov once again fell in love. Anastasia Vertinskaya became the object of his passion, which Nina Doroshina could no longer bear.

She quite consciously responded to the advances of Vladimir Tyshkov, the master of lighting at Sovremennik. And she was even happy with him. But when her husband first came to her house and tried to remove the portrait of Efremov, Nina Mikhailovna forbade her to do it quite harshly. There was even a phrase that Vladimir Tyshkov could leave, and the portrait of Efremov would remain in its place. This portrait hung in Nina Mikhailovna's room until the last day of her life.

Shortly before the departure of Oleg Efremov, the daughter of the director and Irina Mazuruk, Anastasia, asked her father if he loved at least one of his many lovers and wives. And he named Nina Doroshina. And after a pause he added that she was the only one who loved him truly and all his life.

On the stage and on the set, Oleg Efremov had no equal, no one questioned his talent, but in everyday life it was often very difficult to find a common language with him. All his life, Efremov enjoyed great success with women, but spent the last years alone. Although his relatives say that even with them he was always alone.