The dramatic fate of actor Leonid Kharitonov: how fame broke the life of soldier Ivan Brovkin

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

32 years ago, on June 20, 1987, a theater and film actor passed away Leonid Kharitonov … In the second half of the 1950s. he became one of the most popular and beloved Soviet artists after his release film "Soldier Ivan Brovkin" … He was the idol of a whole generation, but all-Union fame played a cruel joke on him and led to dramatic consequences.

Leonid Kharitonov was not going to become an artist and studied law. But one summer the Moscow Art Theater came to Leningrad on tour, and next to the posters Kharitonov saw an advertisement for recruitment to the theater studio school. He decided to try his hand - and he was accepted, despite the competition of 500 people for a place. Leonid's parents were not happy about these successes - his mother was a doctor, his father was an engineer, they considered the profession of an actor frivolous.

The film "Soldier Ivan Brovkin" was released in September 1955, and in the very first days it was watched by more than 1 million viewers. Even the director could not have imagined that Ivan Brovkin would look so charming and bright on the screen - after all, in the script in this hero it was impossible to guess the future idol of millions of viewers. Many believe that only thanks to the acting charisma of Leonid Kharitonov, the image turned out to be so memorable.

Soldier Ivan Brovkin became an idol of youth and a real trendsetter: in barbershops they asked to have a haircut "like Brovkin," the guys learned to play the accordion, the recruits dreamed of getting into the part where Brovkin served. The actor received bags of letters, and more often not in his own name, but in the name of his hero. He became the first artist to whom the audience sent letters to the address “Moscow. Kremlin".

He came to the Moscow Art Theater as a famous film actor, in popularity with whom at that time no artist could compare. But the overwhelming popularity in cinema cost Kharitonov dearly in the theater, where for many years he became an extra - after all, he was seen exclusively as his movie hero. After the main roles, here he only gets supporting roles, in which it was impossible to reveal the full acting potential. But the audience continued to love him, and when he appeared on stage for a moment, the audience burst into applause.

The girls were crazy about him. While still a student at the Moscow Art Theater School, Kharitonov married actress Svetlana Sorokina, but three years later he left her for another actress - Gemma Osmolovskaya. But this marriage did not last long. Once during the filming, the actor had a stomach ulcer, and he was advised to treat it with alcohol. He drank until the ulcer healed, and then more and more often began to drink for no reason. This addiction soon became the cause of family discord.

Gemma Osmolovskaya admitted: “He became addicted to alcohol because each person considered it his duty to invite him for a drink somewhere, to sit together. And he just sometimes did not have enough fortitude to refuse them. At first I tried not to pay attention to his behavior, but then I realized that I could not stand it any longer. Colleagues helped me get him into a special clinic, where he spent several months. He seemed to get better for a while, and then it all started again."

Three years after the triumph of "Soldier Ivan Brovkin" there was a sequel to the film - "Brovkin on the virgin soil." The audience could not help but notice the changes in the actor's appearance: he had grown stout, matured and no longer looked like that charming young soldier, in whose image everyone loved so much. This role became both his triumph and punishment; after Ivan Brovkin, Kharitonov no longer received leading roles in the cinema. The actor began to have emotional breakdowns. He no longer found support in the family, and the marriage broke up.

In the next 20 years, Kharitonov starred in just a few cameo roles. In the 1980s. the audience almost forgot about him. His former glory was recalled only by Vladimir Menshov's film "Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears", where Kharitonov played himself in the episode in the era of his stunning popularity: the heroine Muravyova on the steps of the Film Actor's Theater shouts with delight: “Look! Kharitonov!"

Kharitonov began teaching at the Moscow Art Theater School, and his student Evgenia Gibova became his third wife. They have lived together for over 20 years. In 1987, a split ripened in the Moscow Art Theater. In the theater, the showdown did not stop, which Kharitonov took very close to his heart. He believed that this was not a division, but a division of the theater. The actor lost his job and lost interest in life.

June 20, 1987 Leonid Kharitonov died after another stroke. At that time he was only 57 years old. The tombstone on his grave at the Vagankovskoye cemetery is a stone split in two, and the split is made in the form of the Mkhatovskaya seagull, symbolizing the section of the theater. His name has forever gone down in the history of cinema and theater among those Soviet celebrities who enjoyed popular love.