Talented to insanity: 5 famous actors who suffered from mental disorders

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

According to experts, representatives of the acting profession are emotionally unstable people, with a mobile psyche, and therefore they are especially susceptible to various mental disorders. In addition, very often many actors, having achieved recognition and popularity in their young years, later find themselves unclaimed and forgotten, which has disastrous consequences for their mental health. Many favorites of the public have repeatedly ended up in psychiatric hospitals, which is not always mentioned in their official biographies.

In the 1950s-1960s. Yuri Belov was one of the most popular Soviet actors. After the release of the movie "Carnival Night", he woke up famous. The type of a simple "guy from the next yard" was then very popular, and he received many new proposals from directors. Among his most famous works are “Spring on Zarechnaya Street”, “Girl without an Address”, “Come Tomorrow”, “Queen of the Gas Station”. But he had to give up on his successful film career.

Even in his student years, friends noticed strange behavior in him: he could have fun and laugh, and then suddenly shut up and withdraw into himself. Many said that Yuri Belov was "not of this world." Close friends knew that he was a merry fellow only in public, and alone with himself fell into a severe depression. Once he tried to commit suicide, but the neighbors managed to call an ambulance. As a result, the actor ended up in a psychiatric clinic, where he spent six months. After treatment, he suffered from short-term memory loss, which is why he could not return to the cinema. He had to earn money as a private cab driver, and spent the last years in oblivion. His mental health continued to bother his loved ones - the actor, as before, often suffered from prolonged depression. In 1991 he died of a heart attack.

Natalia Bogunova, known for her role as teacher Svetlana Afanasyevna, wife of Ganzha in the film "Big Change", was called one of the most beautiful actresses in Soviet cinema. Thousands of fans fell in love with her, unaware of how lonely and unhappy she was in real life. The actress was married only once, but this marriage fell apart. She had no children, because of her complex and irreconcilable nature, she could not make friends. Since the 1970s, the actress often sought help from doctors and was treated in psychiatric hospitals - she suffered from schizophrenia. Valentina Talyzina said that the mental health of the actress was also influenced by the frequent conflicts that she had at the Mossovet Theater. It was from there that she was taken to the clinic for the first time. The last time she appeared on the screen was in 1992. And in 2013, Natalia Bogunova passed away. The cause of death was a heart attack.

Natalia Nazarova became famous in the 1970s-1980s. thanks to his roles in the films "Unfinished Piece for Mechanical Piano", "Young Wife", "Old New Year", "Beloved Woman of Mechanic Gavrilov". She performed on the stage of the Moscow Art Theater, starred on television and in films. But one day a robber attacked her in an alley, hitting her with something heavy on the head. Due to a traumatic brain injury, the actress developed schizophrenia. She was fired from the theater, she was no longer invited to the cinema. She spent her last years in obscurity and loneliness.

Actor Viktor Sukhorukov, who became famous after the films "Brother" and "Brother-2", admits that he once also ended up in a psychiatric clinic. He had to seek the help of specialists after working in the film "About Freaks and People" - the actor says that this role was incredibly difficult emotionally. To relieve tension, Sukhorukov began to drink, which led to disastrous consequences: it all ended with delirium tremens and a hospital ward. The actor managed to cope with both alcohol addiction and illness.

On the basis of alcohol dependence, a mental disorder occurred in the actress Tatyana Dogileva. She could not cope with her problem on her own, and then she agreed to the persuasion of her relatives to seek help in a psychiatric hospital. When she was taken there, the doctors said: "". Later, the actress admitted: "". Despite the grave condition, Tatyana Dogileva overcame all difficulties and was able to return to the acting profession.

Cases of mental illness among the creative professions are so often repeated that it leads to the idea: insanity is the price of talent. Schizophrenia, memory loss, hallucinations: what the greats paid for their genius.