The mystery of Mr. X: Where did the actor who conquered millions of women's hearts disappeared?

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

He played only one role in the movie, but this was enough to win millions of fans throughout the USSR. He got to the set quite by accident, no one knew his name, and Igor Keblushek remained a mysterious Mr. X even after the film "Circus Princess" was released - after all, after that he never acted in films again. True, he managed to build a successful career in a completely different area, but at the same time Mr. X remained in the shadows …

Igor Keblushek was born in 1958 in the Slovak town of Handlova, into a family of diplomats. His mother was Russian and his father was Slovak. They met while studying at MGIMO, after which they left for Czechoslovakia. For some time they lived in Africa, where their father worked as a diplomat, and then returned to Prague. Igor was not faced with the question of choosing a future profession - he knew from his youth that he would continue the family dynasty, and after graduating from school he entered MGIMO.

During his studies, Keblushek, like many foreign students, tried to be in the center of the cultural life of the capital and often visited theaters. Once he got a ticket to the Bolshoi Theater for the ballet "Spartak" to see the performance of the legendary Maris Liepa. During the intermission, the young man went to the buffet and, while standing in line, noticed that some woman was watching him. Soon she approached him and introduced herself as director Svetlana Druzhinina.

When Svetlana Druzhinina began filming "The Circus Princess" based on the operetta of the same name by Imre Kalman, few believed in the success of this venture. She invited Natalia Belokhvostikova to the main role, and this choice puzzled many: a serious dramatic actress - and suddenly in such a "frivolous" genre! But even more than everyone was surprised by her choice of an actor for the main male role - an unknown student of MGIMO, who had no professional education, no filming experience, and besides, he was a foreigner!

Initially, Svetlana Druzhinina saw Marisa Liepa in the image of Mister X - that evening she came to the Bolshoi Theater just to offer him this role. But when she accidentally saw a handsome young man with an aristocratic appearance in the buffet, she immediately understood: the main character of the "Circus Princess" should look just like that! Druzhinina invited him to come to the audition for "Mosfilm", he said yes. True, the next day he forgot about this incident, because he did not dream of an acting profession and did not take this proposal seriously. But soon an assistant director came to his dorm and took him to the film studio. The young man was confused. His father helped to dispel his doubts - when Igor called him and asked his opinion, he answered: "".

However, Igor's consent was not enough to be approved for the main role, because he was a foreigner! Then Druzhinina came up with a legend that he was a student from the Baltic States, and when the truth was revealed, it was too late to change anything. At first, Keblushek felt very insecure on the set and was very worried, moreover, they began filming from the final scenes, and the debutant actor could not understand what was happening at all. But Druzhinina made every effort to help him cope with the tasks set - after all, it was not in her rules to deviate from her decisions!

For Igor, these filming was nothing more than an adventure, an exciting adventure that added to his problems with his studies - he was finishing his fourth year then, he had to prepare for exams in between filming. Nevertheless, he managed to graduate from the institute with honors. True, he had to move from the hostel to a rented apartment - there he was besieged by fans, who, after the film was released, an entire army appeared on the screens.

Millions of Soviet spectators fell in love with the mysterious Mr. X, they bombarded him with letters of confession, and the directors immediately offered several new roles. However, Keblushek was not going to continue his acting career. He explained his choice as follows: "".

After graduation, Igor Keblushek worked for about 10 years as a diplomat, he was an employee of the Czechoslovakian embassy in Brussels and the Czechoslovak ambassador to Belgium. After the collapse of Czechoslovakia, Keblushek left the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and went into business. Today he lives in Prague with his family - his wife and three children.

He still leads a non-public lifestyle, rarely gives interviews and does not regret that he left the cinema: "". And the spectators still sigh when they once again see the mysterious Mister X on the screens …

One of the first images of Mister X was embodied on screens back in 1958 by Georg Ots, who, unlike Igor Keblushek, performed the vocal parts on his own. He had a lot in common with this hero: What was hidden behind the mask of well-being of Georg Ots.