The unbelievable fate of the most famous hero of Soviet cinema: What was the reason for the early departure of Sergei Stolyarov

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

For a long time, Sergei Stolyarov was considered the standard of male beauty, called a real epic hero and one of the most popular heroes of Soviet cinema fairy tales. Abroad, he was recognized as one of the best actors of our time, and at home for several years he was not allowed to act on Mosfilm. He did not wait for the title of People's Artist - Stolyarov died prematurely on the eve of the release of this decree.

No one could have imagined that he would ever become an actor. Sergei Stolyarov was born in 1911 in the small village of Bezzubovo into a large family of a forester. His father died in the war in 1914, and from the age of 5, Sergei had to help the family - he grazed cows from a wealthy neighbor. In 1919, when the requisitioning began, they lost all supplies for the winter, and the children were sent to relatives in Tashkent, but on the way there Sergei fell ill with typhus and remained in a hospital in Kursk. And from there he was taken to an orphanage. There his further fate was decided - one of the teachers organized a drama club, where Sergei often performed. Then he did not think about the professional career of an actor - he graduated from a vocational school, worked in a railway depot, but continued to study in a theater studio.

When Stolyarov was called up for military service, he was assigned to the Theater of the Red Army, and in 1934 he played his first film role. In this film, director Grigory Alexandrov noticed him and invited him to the main role in his film "Circus". After that, the actor literally woke up famous. When asked about the success of this film, he replied: "". When, after filming, the director of the film Darsky and the chief operator Nielsen were shot on ridiculous charges, their names were smeared in the credits, and for a long time Stolyarov could not understand and believe that these people could be "enemies of the people." He refused to come to the Circus premiere. After a while, the painting was sent to the World Exhibition in Paris, but Stolyarov was not invited there. And after that the actor was banned from acting at Mosfilm, where he did not appear until 1953.

It is interesting that at the same time the "unreliable" Sergei Stolyarov became the prototype of the male figure of the emblem of the Mosfilm film studio - the famous sculpture "Worker and Collective Farm Woman" by Vera Mukhina. Although the actor did not specifically pose for this work, Mukhina sculpted the figure of the Worker from him.

For a long time, Sergei Stolyarov was not allowed to play the role of positive Soviet heroes at Mosfilm, but he was often invited to the Soyuzdetfilm movie fairy tales, thanks to which the actor became famous: Ruslan and Lyudmila, Vasilisa the Beautiful, Kashchei the Immortal, Ilya Muromets "," Sadko "and others. The last film received the" Silver Lion "at the Venice International Film Festival. The actor was called a real fabulous Russian hero. After that, the French magazine "Cinema" published a list of world cinema stars, among which only one Soviet actor was mentioned - Sergei Stolyarov. And he himself, having learned about this, said: ""

The actor's son Kirill, who also became an actor, said about his father: "".

His popularity was huge then. Once in 1953, a guy stopped Stolyarov on the street, announced that he also dreamed of becoming an artist, was going to enter the theater, asked him to listen and immediately began to recite Krylov's fable. Stolyarov invited him to his place and gave some advice on how to behave in exams. This guy forever remembered this meeting and often talked about it later, years later, when he became the famous actor Valentin Gaft.

In the 1960s. Stolyarov starred a little. And the management of the Theater of the Film Actor accused him of not fulfilling the established norm, which is why the actor was fired. Because of this incident, he was very worried, which seriously undermined his health. Stolyarov dreamed of making a film based on his own script, "When the Mist Disperses." But he did not have time to implement these plans.

In 1968, the actor's leg began to swell. At first, he did not attach any importance to this, but she worried him more and more, and he underwent an examination. Doctors diagnosed him with cancer. Many of the actor's acquaintances said that he was overtaken by "an illness of grief." In the fall of 1969, his condition deteriorated sharply, and on December 9, Sergei Stolyarov passed away at the age of 58, never knowing that a few days later he was awarded the title of People's Artist.

The fate of another popular hero of Soviet cinema fairy tales was dramatic: The years of oblivion and loneliness of the Water Vodokrut.