Non-film friendship: What tests did famous actors go through in the struggle for the lives of their friends

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

Like all people, the actors have real, loyal friends with whom they are ready to go through any trials. And often only the departure of a friend from life can destroy a strong friendship carried through the years. Vladimir Vysotsky and Vsevolod Abdulov, Leonid Bykov and Alexey Smirnov, Georgy Yumatov and Vasily Lanovoy, Alexander Abdulov and Mikhail Pugovkin - these people proved, not in words, but in deeds, what real friendship means for them.

Vsevolod Abdulov and Vladimir Vysotsky

They met when Vsevolod Abdulov entered the Moscow Art Theater School. Senior student Vladimir Vysotsky drew attention to this applicant and began to help him before each qualifying round. He told me what to pay attention to during the competition, shared the subtleties and his own secrets of skill, and thus began their friendship, to which they both remained faithful throughout their lives. In the house of Abdulov there was always a place for Vysotsky. He could come here at any time and in any condition. They were glad to him, ready to listen and help.

Vsevolod Abdulov in 1977 had a severe accident, as a result of which he was between life and death for 21 days. And the first person the actor saw when he regained consciousness was Vladimir Vysotsky. Later, a friend will compose a funny song about plaster, which he will perform for the doctors who saved Vsevolod Abdulov. However, it later turned out that the actors were early to rejoice at the miracle that had happened. After the injury, Vsevolod Osipovich began to lose his memory. He could no longer play in the theater, act in films.

And only Vysotsky believed: a friend will definitely return to normal life. In the meantime, he invariably included his performances in his own concerts. Vladimir Semyonovich sang, and Vsevolod Osipovich read poetry. True, sometimes his memory let him down. And Vysotsky immediately came to the rescue. He went on stage and recited instead of a friend, letting him come to his senses.

Thanks to Vysotsky, Vsevolod Abdulov starred in the film "The meeting place cannot be changed." The famous bard set a condition: I will not act without a friend. Then they together chose a role for Vsevolod. So that there are not too many words in it, but it would be a serious game. And Abdulov played, forever remaining in the memory of the viewer in the image of a policeman who loves his sister, who sends sugar and the bandit Fox, who has chickened out under the gun.

When Vladimir Vysotsky was gone, Vsevolod Abdulov told his daughter: "I have no reason to live." He never, under any circumstances, speculated in the name of a friend. And for the rest of his life he reproached himself for not being with Vysotsky on that fateful day, he could not help him, prevent trouble. Vsevolod Abdulov died 22 years and 3 days after Vysotsky left.

READ ALSO: Five marriages, beloved daughter and the main person in the fate of Vsevolod Abdulov >>

Leonid Bykov and Alexey Smirnov

They met while filming the movie "Bunny" in 1964. And each of them found in the other something important for themselves. Alexey Smirnov, a very lonely man by that time, suddenly confided in Leonid Bykov. And the latter, in turn, understood: this good-natured person is not capable of betrayal and meanness.

They stood behind each other like a mountain. When Leonid Bykov was finally allowed to shoot "Only Old Men Go to Battle," the high authorities refused to approve Alexei Smirnov for the role of mechanic Makarovich, considering him inappropriate for the hero's image. Bykov then choked with anger. He laid out on the table in front of the leadership all the military awards Smirnov received during the Great Patriotic War. And in the forehead he asked who could be more worthy of a participant in the Great Patriotic War, a holder of the Order of the Red Star, the Order of Glory of the second and third degree? The ashamed officials silently approved Alexei Smirnov.

During the filming of the final scene of the film near the monument to the victims, Smirnov suffered his first heart attack. After that, the heart of the actor often failed. In early April 1979, Alexei Makarovich was once again hospitalized. And I was impatiently awaiting discharge to go to a friend who lived in Kiev.

On April 11, Leonid Bykov died in a car accident. For a long time they were afraid to tell Smirnov this news. But someone still let it slip. Alexey Smirnov could not survive the loss of his only loved one. On May 7 of the same year, the actor's heart stopped.

READ ALSO: What remained behind the scenes of the film "Only old men go to battle": why was Leonid Bykov forbidden to shoot >>

Alexander Abdulov and Mikhail Pugovkin

Alexander Abdulov treated the actor Mikhail Pugovkin with some special attention. When, in the late 1990s, Alexander Gavriilovich learned that Mikhail Pugovkin, the idol of millions of viewers, was living in poverty in Crimea, he set out to return the actor to Moscow and give him the opportunity to act in films. Abdulov knocked out an apartment for Pugovkin in Sokolniki and, until the end of his life, touchingly took care of Mikhail Ivanovich. He shot him in his film based on "The Bremen Town Musicians", constantly helped in all possible ways.

Mikhail Pugovkin, in turn, considered Abdulov his guardian angel, who not only brought him back to normal life from poverty and oblivion, but also became a close-minded and dear person.

The death of Alexander Gavriilovich became a real tragedy for Pugovkin. The actor cried a lot and lamented that due to illness he could not say goodbye to his friend. Alexander Abdulov died in January 2008, and Mikhail Pugovkin lived for another six months, often repeating: he will soon meet with Sasha. And he bequeathed to bury himself next to a man who extended his life for several years and returned him to the profession.

READ ALSO: Tragedies and losses in the life of the king of comedy: What viewers don't know about Mikhail Pugovkin >>

Georgy Yumatov and Vasily Lanovoy

Their acquaintance actually began with a rivalry. Vasily Lanovoy was approved for the role of Pavka Korchagin, with whom Yumatov was removed due to alcohol problems. Later, Georgy Yumatov noted: Lanovoy played brilliantly, but he himself could better convey this image.

After 14 years, Yumatov had a chance to take revenge: together they were supposed to star in the film "Officers". Unexpectedly for both, the incipient rivalry grew into friendship. Lanovoy considered Yumatov his friend, but Yumatov took the word "friendship" very seriously. For him, a friend could only be the one who would give his life for a friend without hesitation. As at the front.

However, after "Officers" they often began to act together, persuading the directors to take on the role of a comrade. But in the 1990s, the situation changed. Lanovoy remained in demand, but Yumatov, very demanding and uncompromising, could not come to terms with new forms and trends in cinema.

In March 1994, Georgy Yumatov in his own apartment shot a man out of a hunting rifle on the basis of a quarrel. He himself was shocked by this event. In prison, he was overcome by gloomy thoughts: how could it happen that he, a front-line soldier, killed a man. The actor had no money for a lawyer, and he humbly awaited the decision of his fate. And then Vasily Lanovoy appeared in the meeting room together with the famous lawyer Boris Kuznetsov.

Lanovoy was there and supported his friend with all his might. At the same time, Lanovoy did not ask to fabricate the case. He turned to law enforcement agencies with a request to take into account all the circumstances that preceded the tragedy. The lawyer managed to reclassify the crime from premeditated murder to exceeding the limits of self-defense. And later Yumatov fell under the amnesty as a front-line soldier.

The last days of Yumatov's life, both actors were treated in the same hospital. We talked a lot. As if fate gave Georgy Yumatov a chance to understand: real friendship happens not only at the front.

READ ALSO: Behind the scenes of the film "Officers": How Yumatov almost disrupted the shooting, and Lanovoy refused his role >>

"A strong friendship will not break …" - the words of this popular children's song are not just words. And in real life there is a friendship that lasts for many years, or even a lifetime. Amusing photos collected in this review confirm this. They will not only prove that friendship is not just words!