The interrupted path of Andrei Rostotsky: How "Maiden's Tears" ruined the star of the "Flying Hussar Squadron"

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

Andrei Rostotsky was called the darling of fate - his father was a famous director, his mother was an actress, and from his youth the path to cinema was open to him. Handsome, sportsman, stuntman, survival school instructor, he has always enjoyed great success with women, and hundreds of girls shed tears looking at his photographs. Ironically, other Maiden Tears caused him to leave early at the age of 45.

The actor's father, the famous film director Stanislav Rostotsky, was well known to Soviet audiences for the films "The Dawns Here Are Quiet …" and "White Bim Black Ear", his mother, actress Nina Menshikova, was known from the films "Girls" and "We'll Live Until Monday." From his youth, Andrei Rostotsky did not doubt that he would continue the artistic family dynasty. In his senior year, he began attending the acting workshop of Sergei Bondarchuk as an auditor, and after graduating from school he entered there on a general basis.

While studying at VGIK, he began acting in films, which is why he often missed classes and even got on the exclusion lists, but he was saved by the first prize at the film festival for his role in the film "We Didn't Pass It" - the talented student was allowed to continue his studies … Rostotsky continued to act in films even while serving in the army, which he served in the Separate Cavalry Regiment, subordinate to both the Ministry of Defense and the State Film Agency, because it was created specifically for the filming of War and Peace. Rostotsky kept himself well in the saddle, and together with his horse Record starred in the films “The End of the Taiga Emperor” and “Squadron of Flying Hussars”. Although in the last film he played one of the key roles that glorified him throughout the Union, he did not receive a fee for this work - the fact is that he took part in the filming not as a professional actor, but as a private in a cavalry regiment.

From his youth, Andrei Rostotsky went in for sports, he was even considered one of the best specialists in fencing with historical weapons in the country. In addition, he became a candidate for master of sports in equestrian triathlon, gave lessons in stage combat and fencing. In films, he starred not only as an actor, but also acted as a stuntman. Rostotsky was engaged in staging tricks, some of which became his know-how. So, the trick performed by him in the episode of the death of his hero under a tank in the film "They Fought for the Motherland", after that not a single actor was able to repeat.

Andrei Rostotsky was also an instructor at a survival school, together with the founder of which he explored the Crimean caves, filming a documentary about it. Together, they crossed the United States in an SUV, making a rally from New York to Texas, and from there to San Francisco. Neither he nor his acquaintances doubted his athletic training, endurance, dexterity and physical strength, which played a fatal role in his fate.

In the early 1990s. Andrey Rostotsky tried his hand as a director. The film "My Border", which he began filming in the spring of 2002, was his third directorial work. He approached the preparation process with all seriousness, independently examining and choosing locations for filming in advance. On May 5, the day of Easter, he went to the outskirts of Sochi in order to choose the most picturesque place to perform the trick - he decided to walk the path that the actors were supposed to follow the next day. Since childhood, he was afraid of heights and fought with this fear through overcoming, in which he found particular pleasure. But he was not reckless - acquaintances claimed that he never risked in vain.

Having climbed without belay on a 30-meter rock near the Maiden's Tears waterfall, which is considered an easy site among professional climbers, an experienced stuntman suddenly lost his balance and fell from a height. He was picked up by an ambulance, and they immediately proceeded to the operation, but Rostotsky died in the hospital without regaining consciousness. The head physician admitted that the actor had practically no chances - he received a severe head injury and multiple fractures and bruises.

Perhaps his image of a romantic hero gave rise to the legend that then he reached for a beautiful flower and could not stay on his feet. Rostotsky's widow Marianna denies this fact: "".

After the tragic death of Andrei Rostotsky, they began to talk about mystical coincidences associated with his roles: in the cinema he played the last Russian emperor Nicholas II 5 times, and in the acting environment, many believe that the roles that he plays are reflected in the fate of the actor. Rostotsky himself said about this that the most important thing in this case is not to cross the line separating life from cinema: "". Unfortunately, with all his caution and common sense, he could not avoid this.

Probably, this tragedy was the hardest test for Andrei's mother, because a year before that she had lost her husband: Stanislav Rostotsky and Nina Menshikova.