Military and acting exploits of Pavel Luspekaev: why the role of Vereshchagin was a real test for him
Military and acting exploits of Pavel Luspekaev: why the role of Vereshchagin was a real test for him

Video: Military and acting exploits of Pavel Luspekaev: why the role of Vereshchagin was a real test for him

Video: Military and acting exploits of Pavel Luspekaev: why the role of Vereshchagin was a real test for him
Video: Зимний вечер в Гаграх (4K, мелодрама, реж. Карен Шахназаров, 1985 г.) - YouTube 2024, November
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Pavel Luspekaev in the film White Sun of the Desert, 1969
Pavel Luspekaev in the film White Sun of the Desert, 1969

47 years ago, a great theater and film actor, Honored Artist of the RSFSR passed away Pavel Luspekaev … He did not live 3 days before his 43rd birthday - on April 20 this year he could have turned 91 years old. At the age of 15, he volunteered for the war and received injuries there that later turned his life into a series of trials. One of them was the role of a customs officer Vereshchagin in the film "White Sun of the Desert", which cost Luspekaev incredible efforts.

Pavel Luspekaev in his youth
Pavel Luspekaev in his youth

Pavel Luspekaev was born in 1927 in Lugansk, his father was from Nakhichevan Armenians, and his mother was a Don Cossack. When the war began, Pavel studied at the Lugansk vocational school, and in 1943, at the age of 15, he volunteered for the front. As part of the partisan reconnaissance group, Pavel Luspekaev took part in military operations more than once. During one of them, he was forced to lie in the snow for several hours, which led to severe frostbite of his legs. Because of this, at the age of 26, he developed atherosclerosis of the vessels of the legs. And after being wounded by an explosive bullet in the arm, Luspekaev's elbow joint was crushed, which is why they decided to amputate his arm in a military hospital, but he categorically refused this operation.

Pavel Luspekaev in the performances The death of the squadron and the Irkutsk story, 1960
Pavel Luspekaev in the performances The death of the squadron and the Irkutsk story, 1960

After demobilization, Pavel Luspekaev returned to Lugansk and got a job in the troupe of the drama theater. After working there for 2 years, he decided to enter the theater school. Shchepkina. And although he was inferior to other applicants due to a specific dialect and a lack of general education, the teachers could not help paying attention to his talent and explosive temperament. And already in the first year, Luspekaev earned the highest points in acting.

Pavel Luspekaev in the film They Descended the Mountains, 1954
Pavel Luspekaev in the film They Descended the Mountains, 1954
Pavel Luspekaev in the film Blue Arrow, 1958
Pavel Luspekaev in the film Blue Arrow, 1958

However, a stormy temperament not only helped the young man in the profession, but also led to curious incidents in life. Once Professor Zubov, who considered Luspekaev the most talented student on the course, suddenly gave him a “four” instead of a “five”. At night, the student came to his dacha, shouted and banged his fist on the gate, and then for an hour he asked for forgiveness and even began to eat the earth. Always and with everyone he spoke to everyone, and many were shocked. When at a dance lesson the teacher, not knowing about his problems with his legs, reprimanded him and asked him to jump easier, he replied: "Thank you, mother, I will try!" His wife also had to endure a lot. A month after the wedding, Luspekaev disappeared for a week, and then admitted that he had gone out with some girl and asked his wife for forgiveness.

Pavel Luspekaev in the film Aesop, 1960
Pavel Luspekaev in the film Aesop, 1960
Theater and film actor Pavel Luspekaev
Theater and film actor Pavel Luspekaev

After graduating from college, Luspekaev entered the troupe of the Tbilisi Drama Theater, and in the mid-1950s. he was invited to act in films at the Georgia-Film studio. Then he moved to Kiev, performed on the stage of the Theater of Russian Drama and starred in feature films at the film studio. Dovzhenko. There, actor Kirill Lavrov noticed him, told the director Tovstonogov about him, and soon Luspekaev was invited to the BDT. Tovstonogov rarely complimented the actors, but said about his new actor that his acting "is an absolute criterion for the truth of life." Even Laurence Olivier, seeing Luspekaev on the stage of the BDT, exclaimed: “There is one actor in Russia - an absolute genius! Only his surname is impossible to pronounce …”.

Pavel Luspekaev in the film White Sun of the Desert, 1969
Pavel Luspekaev in the film White Sun of the Desert, 1969
Stills from the film White sun of the desert, 1969
Stills from the film White sun of the desert, 1969

During one of the rehearsals, an old injury made itself felt - a wound opened on the leg, as a result, the actor had to amputate the feet of both legs. He was forced to resign from the BDT and wrote to Tovstonogov: “The theater loves strong and healthy people, but you cannot count on me”.

Pavel Luspekaev as customs officer Vereshchagin, 1969
Pavel Luspekaev as customs officer Vereshchagin, 1969

And then in 1968 Luspekaev was offered a role in the film "White Sun of the Desert". At first, this idea seemed crazy to many - even healthy actors found it difficult to cope with daily physical activity. But Luspekaev agreed to this role, and without crutches, on special metal prostheses, he walked on the sand, overcoming the monstrous pain.

Shot from the film White Sun of the Desert, 1969
Shot from the film White Sun of the Desert, 1969
Pavel Luspekaev as customs officer Vereshchagin, 1969
Pavel Luspekaev as customs officer Vereshchagin, 1969

This role became for him the most famous and one of the last. On April 17, 1970, Pavel Luspekaev died of a ruptured cardiac aorta, three days before his 43rd birthday.

Theater and film actor Pavel Luspekaev
Theater and film actor Pavel Luspekaev

His most famous on-screen character has an interesting story of his own: who was the prototype of the customs officer Vereshchagin

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