Payback for mistakes: Why the star of the movie "Three plus two" Yevgeny Zharikov believed that he was justly punished by fate

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

On February 26, the famous theater and film actor, People's Artist of the RSFSR Yevgeny Zharikov could have turned 79, but 8 years ago he passed away. In the 1960-1970s. he was called one of the most beautiful, popular and sought-after actors in Soviet cinema. Glory came to him early, at the age of 20, and turned his head. After the release of the film "Three plus two", he became the idol of millions of spectators. Fans followed him in droves, and the actor willingly enjoyed his popularity. The last years of his life Zharikov was seriously ill and believed that this was a just punishment for all the sins of his youth …

Evgeny inherited his love for art from his parents - his father was a writer, and his mother taught Russian language and literature. True, they themselves wanted their son to enter a technical university. But the choice of Zharikov was influenced not by the advice of his parents and not by his own hobbies, but by matters of the heart. In high school, he was in love with Galina Polskikh, who studied with him in the drama club. Upon learning that she entered the acting department of VGIK, Zharikov recovered after her. Having overcome the competition of 170 people for a place, he was enrolled in the course of Sergei Gerasimov and Tamara Makarova. And although his chosen one soon married another of her admirers, the young man did not regret his decision.

No one was surprised that already in his second year Yevgeny began to act in films - he was always a prominent, stately handsome man, whom fellow students called "our Alain Delon". He made his film debut at the age of 20, starring in the film "And if this is love …". A year later, director Andrei Tarkovsky entrusted him with one of the roles in his film "Ivan's Childhood", which in itself was a real gift of fate for a student of the theater institute. But this film became significant not only in his creative biography: during the filming, Zharikov got married. His chosen one had nothing to do with the world of cinema - Valentina Zotova worked as a figure skating coach at a children's sports school. Upon learning that during the filming he fell ill, she rushed to him and left. Since then, the actor introduced her to everyone as his bride, and soon they played a wedding.

And at the age of 22, the all-Union popularity fell on the actor: the film "Three plus two", where Zharikov played one of the main roles, enjoyed great success with the audience. A year later, when the actor graduated from the institute, he was already a real movie star. He was very popular among girls before, but then the fans began to literally besiege him. His wife was so worried about this that, knowing about her husband's lovingness, she even came to him for the shooting, learning that his partner was the beautiful Natalya Kustinskaya.

After the release of the film "Three plus two", Zharikov had fans even abroad. The comedy was shown in Japan, where Ivan's Childhood had been shown before, and the actor began to receive letters from a Japanese woman named Kayeko Ikeda. She worked for a travel company and intended to come to the USSR to meet her idol. After that, the actor was summoned to the State Film Agency and made it clear that the special services suspect him of almost espionage, and that if he does not stop "contact with a foreigner", he will become restricted to travel abroad, and it will be possible to put an end to his film career. So this correspondence romance ended before it even began.

However, the fears of Zharikov's wife were not in vain: their marriage broke up due to her husband's hobby. On the set of the film "Near These Windows" he met the actress Natalia Gvozdikova, and they began an affair. At that time, she was also married, but soon both divorced and got married. True, the audience "got married" without even knowing about it - when the film "Born by the Revolution" was released, where the actors performed the main roles. On the screens, they looked like a perfect match. However, their acquaintances believed that this was the case behind the scenes: their union was so harmonious that it was simply impossible to imagine them without each other, and the spouses were jokingly nicknamed “fried carnations” by their names. In the last episode of "Born by the Revolution," Natalya starred in the last months of pregnancy, and 2 weeks after the completion of filming, the couple had a son, Fedor.

However, the idyll did not last long: a few years after the wedding, Natalia began to hear rumors about her husband's infidelities. She tried not to pay attention to gossip, but there was a rift in their relationship. In the mid-1980s. Gvozdikova starred less and less, and her husband remained in the same demand in the profession, which also often became a reason for conflicts. The successful and famous handsome actor continued to enjoy increased female attention.

Their first serious crisis happened back in 1983, about which Gvozdikova later told: "". Then they found the strength to overcome the crisis in the relationship, but the most serious tests awaited them ahead.

In 2001, journalist Tatyana Sekridova admitted that Zharikov has been living in two families for 7 years. She gave birth to two children to the actor and put up with the situation until she found out about the actor's next romance. Then she told his wife about everything, and in 2005 she gave an interview in the media. Gvozdikova found the strength to forgive her husband, but demanded to stop communicating with the second family. Most of all, as a result, Zharikov's children suffered from Sekridova, who after that did not see their father.

Later Zharikov said: "".

After that, the actor began to have serious health problems. Even in his youth, on the set of the film, Zharikov fell from his horse and received a compression fracture of the spine and an injury to the hip joint. In 1999, he underwent two complex operations with prosthetics, then he suffered a stroke, and later the actor was diagnosed with cancer. However, the most difficult for Zharikov was not health problems and the material difficulties that arose in connection with his disability, but a double feeling of guilt that tormented him until his last days - he considered himself guilty both before his wife and before the children from the second family, with whom did not have time to explain. Shortly before his departure, the actor admitted in an interview: he is scared from the thought that his son and daughter consider him a scoundrel: "".

His wife's departure was very difficult for his wife: Zigzags of fate by Natalia Gvozdikova.