The life and death of Oleg Yankovsky - a monogamous man and an idol of an entire generation. Why did Oleg Yankovsky die? What disease did Oleg Yankovsky die from?

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Today Oleg Yankovsky passed away. He died early in the morning in one of the capital's clinics. He had pancreatic cancer.

In February, Yankovsky appeared on stage for the last time, playing the sailor Zhevakin in “Marriage.” This winter he turned 65 years old.

“This is a fatal blow, this is grief and tragedy, which I don’t know how we will bear. We hoped for recovery until the last moment. Oleg Ivanovich behaved very courageously, played performances when, probably, it was no longer possible to play, and he did it amazingly. He was saying goodbye to his profession and the theater,” said Mark Zakharov. According to him, Yankovsky became the first artist with whom he began to build the new Lenkom.

“Yankovsky went through a wonderful path in the theater and created grandiose roles that were etched in the memory and made him a popular, beloved artist. He also had enormous successes in cinema. I am happy that he starred in my films, such as “An Ordinary Miracle” and “The same Munchausen,” noted the artistic director of Lenkom, adding that no one will forget Yankovsky’s outstanding works in the films “Two Comrades Served,” “Flights in a Dream and in Reality,” “The Kreutzer Sonata” and others.

“Yankovsky had the ability to fully materialize the image of a person with his ups and downs both in theater and in cinema. He was a very good friend, had an extraordinary sense of humor. He was an outstanding Russian actor, whose greatness and significance have yet to be truly appreciated,” - Zakharov pointed out.

“Oleg Ivanovich was such a person who did not like to talk about lofty things, because he himself lived in something lofty, in general, he was not an eloquent person pronouncing words like that, he was a man who was mysterious in some sense, enigmatic, who kept silent a lot, which was only revealed by his eyes,” said Pavel Lungin, for whom Yankovsky starred in the film “The Tsar.”

“It was a sudden death for which, in my opinion, he was absolutely not ready. I saw him only two months ago, and he was still somehow cheerful and held himself, and like a man he was always silent, did not speak about the illness, he was incredibly thin, completely thin, and yet this spirit was playing in him,” Lungin added.

“Please accept my sincere condolences and words of support in connection with the grief that has befallen your family. It is shared by everyone who knew Oleg Ivanovich, who has ever seen him on the silver screen or in the legendary Lenkom productions,” says the telegram from Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.

“Oleg Yankovsky was a true master, an extraordinary, generously gifted person, an actor from God. His passing is an irreparable loss for Lenkom, for national culture, for all of us. Oleg Ivanovich remained faithful to his calling to the end and, despite a serious illness, He courageously served the stage and the audience. He will always live in our memory, in those brilliant, unique images that this great Russian artist created,” Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin expressed his condolences to the actor’s family and friends.

The farewell ceremony and funeral of Yankovsky will take place on Friday, May 22. This was announced by theater director Mark Warshaver. According to him, the farewell will tentatively begin in the theater at 11:00. “The funeral service will take place in the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in Khamovniki,” Varshaver added. Yankovsky will be buried at the Novodevichy cemetery.

At the end of January of this year, Yankovsky, suddenly stopping his activities in the theater for everyone, went to Germany for treatment. Then there was an assumption that he was diagnosed with cancer. In the theater they did not speak directly about the disease.

Assistant artistic director of Lenkom Yulia Kosareva said then: “We all know that he is sick. And we don’t discuss this. He is being treated. This is a long, painful process, everyone understands this. And in the theater too. People with such a disease live 10 , and 15 years. This is as God pleases, as you understand.”

ALL PHOTOS

The outstanding Soviet and Russian actor Oleg Yankovsky died on Wednesday morning at the age of 66 in a Moscow clinic. For a long time, Yankovsky suffered from pancreatic cancer, and doctors were unable to save him.

The farewell ceremony for the People's Artist will take place on Friday, May 22, at the Lenkom Theater, where he served for many years, RIA Novosti reports, citing theater director Mark Warshaver. According to him, the farewell will approximately begin at 11:00. The funeral service will take place in the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in Khamovniki.

People's Artist of the USSR Oleg Yankovsky will be buried at Novodevichy Cemetery on May 22, the directorate of Lenkom, where the actor served, confirmed to Interfax.

All day on Wednesday people come to the theater, mountains of flowers grow near the posters. In the lobby there is a portrait of Yankovsky, in front of which candles are burning. The actors and spectators who came to the Lenkom Theater on Wednesday evening for the play “Royal Games,” which was dedicated to Yankovsky, honored his memory with a minute of silence. At the end of the performance, actor Leonid Bronevoy came on stage and invited everyone to see Yankovsky off on his last journey, after which the entire auditorium stood up.

In January of this year, People's Artist of the USSR Oleg Yankovsky underwent a diagnostic examination in Germany, after which he continued treatment in Moscow. Due to health reasons, the famous actor was forced to refuse several roles in Lenkom productions. However, in February Yankovsky returned to the stage. And recently he played in the only play “Marriage”, where, however, he had an understudy, Dmitry Pevtsov.

The last time Yankovsky was hospitalized was at the end of April and was in extremely serious condition - doctors discovered he had internal bleeding. Leading Moscow specialists were called in to save the 65-year-old actor. The best gastroenterologist in Moscow was invited to the elite medical center where Yankovsky was treated.

Then the doctors managed to win. Having been discharged, the actor said that he was ready to go on stage again, but at the last moment he was forced to refuse to play in the play, Life.ru reports.

The actors of the Lenkom Theater are shocked by the passing of Oleg Yankovsky, theater actress Lyudmila Porgina said on Wednesday. “We learned about Oleg’s serious illness in November last year, but we always hoped for a miracle,” she said.

The actress noted that the stage helped Yankovsky and the actor at some point began to recover. “Literally three weeks ago he played in the play “Marriage” based on Gogol’s play, and we were literally in seventh heaven,” said the actress.

“This morning we learned that Oleg Ivanovich died. This is a huge shock and horror for us,” Porgina noted.

She also said that she would tell her husband Nikolai Karachentsov about Yankovsky’s death, who is undergoing rehabilitation after a serious car accident. “True, I will first need to prepare Nikolai. For him, the news of Oleg’s death will be a heavy blow,” said Porgina.

Yankovsky's death was a "deadly blow" to the Lenkom Theater, where he served, the theater's artistic director and chief director Mark Zakharov said on Wednesday. “This is a fatal blow to Lenkom, this is grief and tragedy, which I don’t know how we will endure. We hoped for a recovery until the last moment. Oleg Ivanovich behaved very courageously, played performances when, probably, it was no longer possible to play, and he did it amazingly. He said goodbye to his profession and the theater,” said Zakharov.

Yankovsky Theater and Cinema was presented with two cases

Yankovsky was born in 1944 in the Kazakh town of Dzhezkazgan. The actor's father, Ivan Pavlovich, came from Polish nobles, was a career military man and was closely acquainted with Tukhachevsky. At the end of the 1930s, he and his family were exiled to Kazakhstan, later arrested and died in the Gulag camps. Then the Yankovskys were able to leave Central Asia, and Oleg ended up in Saratov.

His older brother Rostislav, having graduated from the Saratov Theater School, went to Minsk in 1957 to play in the Russian Theater (he still serves there). A year later, he took 14-year-old Oleg to live with him. In Minsk, Oleg made his debut on stage - it was necessary to replace the ill performer of the episodic role of a boy in the play "Drummer". However, at that time Oleg was much more concerned about football than the theater, writes the website Peoples.ru.

After graduating from school, Oleg returned home to Saratov and intended to enter medical school. But then an incident occurred that determined the future fate of the great actor.

One day he saw an advertisement for admission to a theater school. Oleg remembered his Minsk experience and decided to try it. However, by that time the exams had long ended, and Oleg decided to go to the director to find out about the conditions for admission. He just asked for his last name and said that Yankovsky was enrolled and needed to come to classes in early September.

As it turned out a few months later, Oleg Ivanovich’s brother, Nikolai Ivanovich, decided to enroll in secret from his family and successfully passed all the admissions rounds. Sincerely loving his brother Oleg, Nikolai did not separate him from the stage. And for a long time the school believed that they simply mixed up the name of the applicant Yankovsky.

In 1965, Yankovsky graduated from the Saratov Theater School. Since 1965, he became an actor at the Saratov Drama Theater. At first, the theater did not trust him with serious roles, but an incident occurred, thanks to which Yankovsky got into cinema and soon became famous.

The Saratov Drama Theater was on tour in Lvov. Vladimir Basov began filming the film “Shield and Sword” there. He was looking for a young man of Aryan appearance for the role of Heinrich Schwarzkopf. One day, Yankovsky, who was having lunch in a cafe, caught the eye of Basov. So Oleg Ivanovich was invited to his first film.

Then there were the films “Two Comrades Served” by Evgeny Karelov, “I, Francis Skorina” by Boris Stepanov, where Oleg Ivanovich played the main role, “Racers” by Igor Maslennikov and other films. On the set of the film "Racers" Oleg Yankovsky was remembered by Evgeny Leonov. In 1972, Leonov moved to Lenkom. At that time, the still young chief director of the theater, Mark Zakharov, was recommended to take a closer look at Yankovsky by Leonov.

In 1973, at the invitation of Mark Zakharov, Oleg Yankovsky moved to the Moscow Lenin Komsomol Theater (Lenkom).

In the new theater, Yankovsky quickly became a leading actor. Among his best performances: “Autograd-XXI”, “A Guy from Our City”, “Revolutionary Etude”, “Dictatorship of Conscience”, “Optimistic Tragedy”, “The Seagull”, “Barbarian and Heretic”, “Hamlet”.

One of Oleg Yankovsky's most notable works in the mid-70s was the role of Father in Andrei Tarkovsky's film "Mirror". And Oleg Ivanovich got into the picture by accident, thanks to his resemblance to the father of the famous director: “Andrei didn’t know my work. It’s just that Larisa Tarkovskaya, then his assistant, and then his wife, saw me by chance in the corridor of Mosfilm.” I was walking, suddenly I heard stomping behind me . She was quite a big woman. At that time, Mosfilm was remarkable because, walking along the corridor, you could easily get a role... And so, the stomp - “Can I see you?” - I didn’t even really remember my last name. Andrey. He looked and said - of course, it’s him (in the sense, the father). And then they also got my son - Philip. It turned out to be a family movie" (quoted from Yankovsky’s biography on Rusactors.ru).

Later, in 1983, Tarkovsky again invited Yankovsky to his film - the actor played the writer Gorchakov in the drama "Nostalgia".

In the 70s, Oleg Yankovsky acted in many and varied roles. The actor's flexibility allowed him to look organically in various film roles: a party functionary ("Award", 1974; "Feedback", 1978), Decembrist Kondraty Ryleev ("Star of Captivating Happiness", 1975), an unsettled, prickly person ("Other People's Letters", 1976, "Sweet Woman", 1977) or, on the contrary, spineless, weak-willed ("A Word for Defense", 1977, "Turn", 1979).

The same Munchausen

The first collaboration between Yankovsky and Zakharov in cinema was the film “An Ordinary Miracle” (1978) based on the play by Schwartz. This was followed by the parable film “That Same Munchausen” (1979). By the way, Yankovsky almost lost this role. Screenwriter Grigory Gorin at first did not see the eccentric baron in the actor. “Before that, he played direct, tough, strong-willed people - characters that betrayed his origin,” recalled Grigory Gorin. “I did not believe in his baron. Work began, he got into character, changed before our eyes. He grew into the role, and appeared Munchausen is smart, ironic, subtle. What a mistake it would be if we took another actor."

In 1983, Oleg Yankovsky starred as Swift in the satirical comedy “The House That Swift Built.” This picture turned out to be less successful than the previous works of Mark Zakharov. As for Yankovsky, his hero was a carbon copy of the already famous The Wizard and Munchausen.

Yankovsky's next hero, the Dragon, came out much more interesting in the parable film "Kill the Dragon" (1989).

Film expert, director of the Russian Institute of Cultural Studies Kirill Razlogov noted on this occasion: “The winner of this unique acting “competition” is, of course, Oleg Yankovsky, who, perhaps for the second time after Roman Balayan’s “The Kiss”, shows what unprecedented potential lies in his talent , as soon as he goes beyond the boundaries of his usual role. The metamorphoses of his Dragon, bizarre mixtures of intonations, from sarcasm to ingratiation, internal self-irony and a non-canonical combination of genius, villainy and impotence - all this is conveyed by the actor with the brilliance of a self-sufficient effect, a kind of art for art's sake."

In the 1980s, in addition to Zakharov’s films, Yankovsky also starred in Roman Balayan’s films “Flights in Dreams and in Reality” (1983, USSR State Prize for 1987), “Kiss” (1983), “Keep Me, My Talisman” (1987) , “Filer” (1988), as well as in Tatiana Lioznova’s socially eccentric drama “We, the Undersigned” (1981) and Sergei Mikaelyan’s melodrama “In Love of His Own Will” (1982).

In the early 90s, Oleg Yankovsky played bright and completely different roles in the tragicomedy “Passport” by Georgy Danelia (1990) and the historical and psychological drama “The Regicide” by Karen Shakhnazarov.

In the following years, Yankovsky rarely acted in films. There were interesting roles in the films “Fatal Eggs” (1995), “First Love” (1995), “The Inspector General” (1996). But Oleg Ivanovich himself admitted that “there is no satisfaction from any of the latest works.” Since 1993 - President of the Open Russian Film Festival in Sochi (Kinotavr IFF).

In 2000, Oleg Yankovsky made his first film, in which he played one of the main roles, “Come See Me.” This good Christmas tale was warmly received by the audience, largely thanks to the performance of the acting ensemble: Ekaterina Vasilyeva, Irina Kupchenko and Oleg Yankovsky.

Two years later, Yankovsky starred in Valery Todorovsky’s film “The Lover.” This is one of the best works of the actor in recent years. Oleg Ivanovich himself admits that this picture is dear to him. “The Lover is the return of psychological Russian cinema,” he says.

Oleg Yankovsky once admitted that if he had to choose between family and creativity, he would not hesitate to sacrifice his career. Yankovsky met his wife in his second year at theater school. His wife is an actress, Honored Artist of Russia Lyudmila Zorina. The son is actor and film director Philip Yankovsky.

Recent roles - in the films "Hipsters" and "Ivan the Terrible"

One of Yankovsky’s last film roles was the vivid image of a diplomat, the father of one of the representatives of the “golden youth,” in the 2009 film “Hipsters.”

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin called Oleg Yankovsky an actor from God and emphasized that his departure is an irreparable loss for national culture. “Oleg Yankovsky was a true master, an extraordinary, generously gifted person, an actor from God. His passing is an irreparable loss for the legendary Lenkom, for national culture, for all of us,” Putin’s telegram of condolences says.

Putin expressed his condolences to the family and friends of the People's Artist of the USSR. “Oleg Ivanovich remained faithful to his calling to the end and, despite a serious illness, courageously served the stage and the audience,” the Prime Minister emphasized.

Each of the directors said that they did not see anyone other than Yankovsky in the role they embodied.

Oleg Ivanovich Yankovsky was born in 1944 in Zhezkazgan, Kazakh SSR, where his family was exiled by order of the government. In the Yankovsky family, the boy became the third child: he had two brothers - Rostislav and Nikolai. Ivan Yankovsky, the head of the family, was arrested twice in the thirties as a friend of the disgraced Tukhachevsky and a former Polish nobleman. Because of this, the family destroyed all family archives, all documents that connected the elder Yankovsky, his wife and children with their past life. They didn’t even leave the Order of St. George, which the head of the family was awarded during the First World War.

The future artist grew up in the dysfunctional post-war period, in a family impoverished due to Stalinist repression. Despite extreme poverty, the Yankovskys managed to preserve a huge library and often received guests from the same representatives of the repressed intelligentsia as themselves. The mother and grandmother raised the children, and the father was busy with construction.

The boy was interested in reading and football. For some time I dreamed of becoming a military man or a pilot, definitely a hero. In 1951, the whole family moved to Saratov, where Ivan Yankovsky was assigned as a reserve officer. There, the wound received during the First World War finally undermined the health of the head of the family, and in 1953 the father died.

Marina Ivanovna, having become a widow, was forced to get a job as an accountant. There was a catastrophic lack of money. In 1957, Rostislav, who worked in the Leninabad theater, received an offer to move to Minsk and soon took Oleg there, who was 14 years old. Then acting did not attract him. Soon the teenager returned home to his bored mother.

Later, when I learned that exams were going on for the theater institute, I decided to try to enroll. Unfortunately, by that time all the exams had already been completed, but then chance intervened. It was at the same university that his brother Nikolai, secretly from everyone, successfully passed the exams. The director of the university subsequently decided that the admissions committee had mixed up the applicant’s name, informing the astonished Oleg Yankovsky that he had been accepted. In the first years, the guy studied poorly, had problems with articulation, and only towards the end of his studies was he able to reveal himself as an actor with good potential.

Theater and cinema

Oleg came to the Saratov Drama Theater thanks to his wife Lyudmila Zorina, also an actress. The young but already popular performer insisted that Yankovsky be accepted into the theater where she worked at that time. For a long time, the young actor had to be content with the fate of his wife’s shadow. The situation changed only when Yankovsky starred in films.

Yankovsky never went to castings or acted as an extra in films in the hope that he would be noticed and appreciated. In 1967, when the actor was touring and performing in Lvov as part of the Saratov Drama Theater, he was noticed in a restaurant at the theater by a director who was then filming the four-part film “Shield and Sword.” At that time, the film crew was in search of an actor who could embody one of the central images, but among the applicants there was no person of suitable appearance. Oleg Yankovsky, who had sculpted and masculine features and a tall stature (182 cm), fit the role perfectly.

Oleg Yankovsky in the film "Shield and Sword"

“Shield and Sword” became a cult film about the war, it was watched by over sixty-eight million viewers, and Oleg Yankovsky instantly gained all-Union fame. The next film in which the actor starred only consolidated his success. Together with, at that time already a favorite of millions of viewers, Yankovsky played in the film “Two Comrades Served.” Rostislav Yankovsky also starred in one of the minor roles there.

In 1969, the actor played the main character in the film “I, Francisk Skaryna.” Then there were both main and passing roles in many famous films, such as “Star of Captivating Happiness”, “Premium”, where he played with, “My Affectionate and Gentle Beast”, “Sweet Woman”.

In 1971, the artist played the most significant role in the Saratov period of his theatrical career - Prince Myshkin from the play based on the novel "The Idiot". Two years later, having received an invitation from Mark Zakharov, the actor moved to Leningrad, where he began working at the Lenin Komsomol Theater.

Oleg Yankovsky in the play "Blue Horses on Red Grass"

Combining his film career and work in the theater, Yankovsky quickly became the leading actor at Lenkom. In 1977, in the play “Revolutionary Etude,” Yankovsky managed to go beyond the image that had developed in the Soviet Union, focusing on the figure of Vladimir Ilyich as a person, and not as a living icon of the revolution. Critics and spectators adored the actor, and performances with his participation attracted full houses.

In 1978, the fairy tale “An Ordinary Miracle” was published, where Yankovsky played the role of the Master. This film was directed by Mark Zakharov, who had almost no previous experience in filmmaking. The project was risky, but in the end the film became a stunning success.

Oleg Yankovsky in the film "An Ordinary Miracle"

In 1979, the actor began filming the film “That Same Munchausen,” a quote from which—“Smile, gentlemen, smile”—became iconic for Yankovsky. It was under this title that many interviews with the actor, biographical films about his work and Yankovsky’s autobiographical book were published.

In the theater, Yankovsky also enjoyed almost enduring love from the audience. During his entire time working at Lenkom, the artist had only one role, which caused disapproval and indignation from the public. In 1986, playing Shakespeare's Hamlet, Yankovsky took a risk, significantly changing the usual image and making his hero not a romantic, but a mature, rather cruel person. And, although the play was staged perfectly, literally a few months later the theater management was forced to remove it from the repertoire.

Subsequently, the actor played about a dozen more brilliant roles in Lenkom. Oleg Ivanovich worked there until the very last days of his life.

The actor continued to actively act, participating in the most interesting films of his time. In 2000, the actor took part in the filming of the French-British historical film “The Man Who Cried.”

Then Yankovsky played the main roles in the tragic melodrama “The Lover”, the drama of the Romanian-Moldovan production “Procrustean Bed”, and the historical film “Poor, Poor Pavel”. Oleg Ivanovich played the main characters in several film adaptations of famous works: the novel “Doctor Zhivago”, the novel “Anna Karenina” and several stories by Savitsky, reworked into the film “Birds of Paradise”.

As in the case of the theater, Oleg Ivanovich worked in the film industry until his death. The last film with his participation was “The Tsar,” which was released after the actor’s death, in 2009. In the film, Yankovsky played one of the main roles - Metropolitan Philip of Moscow. The second main role, the king himself, was played by.

Personal life

The artist lived his entire life with his stage colleague. The young people got married when Yankovsky was in his second year at the institute, and since then for many they have been an example of an exemplary acting couple, despite rumors about Yankovsky’s affairs. In 1968, the couple had a son, and in the nineties he pleased his parents with two grandchildren.

Despite such a long and strong marriage, the press rarely writes about Yankovsky as a good husband and family man. Paparazzi often published photographs of the actor with various women. According to Oleg Ivanovich’s colleagues, he constantly had affairs with all the women from the accompanying staff of the theater and film sets: costume designers, make-up artists, assistants and even cleaning ladies - Yankovsky ignored only actresses, fearing loud scandals.

Oleg Yankovsky and Irina Kupchenko (on the set of the film "The Turn")

However, fans attributed to him a long-term relationship with a colleague, actress. The actors played spouses on screen three times and appeared in films several times as lovers. Love relationships in films worked out so well for the actors that they made many fans begin to suspect that real feelings were hidden behind the acting. Many TV viewers were even sure that Yankovsky and Kupchenko were married in real life. In fact, the actors practically did not communicate outside of work and saw each other only on the set and creative evenings.

After Yankovsky’s death, the actress admitted in an interview that she had a serious romantic relationship with Oleg Ivanovich. According to Elena, she even had an abortion, getting rid of Yankovsky’s child, so as not to destroy the actor’s family. This revelation was received very ambiguously by the actor’s fans: many did not believe Proklova, deciding that she simply wanted to attract attention to herself.

Illness and death

At the end of 2008, the actor went to the hospital due to constant stomach pain. At that time, he had already lost a lot of weight and had an aversion to food. The diagnosis was disappointing - pancreatic cancer, which later became the main cause of the actor’s death. Oleg Ivanovich underwent treatment in Germany, but it did not help. Less than a month later, Yankovsky returned to Moscow and even played in his last play, “Marriage.”

At the end of April, the actor’s condition worsened, and he was admitted to the clinic due to internal bleeding. Due to the fact that the disease was discovered at the last stage, the actor could not be saved. Less than a year passed from the moment of diagnosis to Yankovsky’s death. Oleg Yankovsky died on May 20, 2009.

On May 22, a farewell ceremony took place at the Lenkom Theater. As newspapers wrote, entire offices of the actor’s fans took time off from work, and students, especially of theater universities, skipped exams to come to their idol’s funeral. People began to take places in line for farewell at five in the morning, despite the fact that the funeral service began only at 10. Among those who wanted to say goodbye to Yankovsky were many of his fellow actors, as well as musicians, politicians and other media figures. At Lenkom, they came to pay their last respects to the great actor.

The civil funeral service ended at 15.00, all the fans who did not have time to say goodbye to the actor remained outside in the rain, waiting for the funeral procession to leave to see their idol for the last time. When the procession left the theater, the whole street exhaled in chorus: “Bravo, actor!”

Yankovsky’s grave is located in the new territory of the Novodevichy cemetery. During the farewell, she was decorated with several large mountains of flowers and a portrait of the actor in his youth.

In memory of the actor, several memorial plaques and monuments were installed in places related to his biography. In 2010, the Yankovsky Prize was approved for the most striking discoveries of the year in various fields of art under the name “Creative Discovery”.

Quotes from Yankovsky

There are many quotes from the great actor dedicated to art and acting, which have become part of the everyday speech not only of Yankovsky’s fans, but also of many other residents of our country:

It is not the era that determines the performance. Human pain is played, but it remains pain at any time. Therefore, in a tailcoat I play Protasov or in jeans “Flying in a dream and in reality” - the themes are approximately the same.
I decided for myself a long time ago: the wider an artist’s audience, the more he should feel responsible for what he does.
My profession is to love! I can't imagine myself without love. Without love in the highest sense of the word it is impossible in our work.
In those days, girls looked completely different...No, there were visual effects too...all the girls were very beautiful. The price always included cleanliness and inner fire.
In general, living with a woman is already heroism. Creating a family with one person and for life is a feat.

Filmography

Shield and sword
Wait for me, Anna
Keeping the fire
Prize
My Sweet and Tender Beast
An ordinary miracle
I, Francisk Skaryna
Star of captivating happiness
Retired Colonel
Sentimental novel
Fatal eggs

If you are a big connoisseur of quality films, it is unlikely that you do not know Oleg Yankovsky, an actor in Russian and Soviet cinema and theater. Known for his charisma, he could get used to absolutely any role - be it a hero or a comedic character.

All the directors who worked with him claimed that except for Oleg, no one could have approached their characters so accurately and confidently. At the same time, he was friends with theater legend Mark Zakharov. It was filmed by such directors as Andrei Tarkovsky and Georgy Danelia.

Height, weight, age. Cause of death of Oleg Yankovsky

Having access to the Internet, curious fans will be interested in knowing the actor’s details, such as Oleg Yankovsky’s height, weight, and age. So, the height of the great actor was 183 centimeters, and his weight was approximately 75 kilograms.

Many publications called this height-to-weight ratio the ideal figure for a film actor. At the time of his death, Oleg Yankovsky was 65 years old. According to his Zodiac sign, he was Pisces. According to the Chinese horoscope, he belonged to the sign of the Monkey.

Biography of Oleg Yankovsky and cause of death

The biography of Oleg Yankovsky begins in the Kazakh SSR, the city of Dzhezkazgan. The future actor was born in February 1944. Oleg Yankovsky's family had roots from Belarusian and Polish lands.

There were 2 more children in their family - the actor’s older brothers, Rostislav and Nikolai. Their family was poor, due to the recently ended war and the repression to which their father and then the whole family were subjected. But, despite this, they still had a wonderful library, which helped them receive guests of the same people from intelligent families. Raising sons lay on women's shoulders, because... the father of the family was engaged in construction.

As a youth, Oleg dreamed of becoming a football player or military man in order to receive the status of a “hero”, like his father. When the actor turned 7 years old, the whole family left for Saratov. Here, his father’s wound began to affect his health even more, and in 1953 he died.

The older brother Rostislav, who worked in the theater, moves to Minsk, where he later took Oleg. At that time, he was 14 years old. He had not yet connected his life with theater or cinema, and soon returned home to Saratov.

Some time later, entrance exams were held at the theater institute, and Oleg wanted to try himself in this. But it so happened that he did not have time to pass the exams. It was here that a lucky chance helped him. His brother Nikolai also took exams at this university, and successfully. The institute's management thought that they had mixed up the name and told Oleg that he had been admitted. The first course was difficult for him; he was on the verge of expulsion. And already in the last years before graduating from college, he discovered the potential of a good actor.

The actress and actor's wife, Lyudmila Zorina, helped him break into the Saratov Drama Theater. For a long time, the actor played the “shadow” roles of his wife. Filming in a movie helped change the situation.

On May 20, 2009, actor Oleg Yankovsky passed away. The cause of death was a long illness. Initially, he was treated for coronary heart disease. Later, he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, which did not respond to treatment. After spending a month in the hospital after experiencing internal bleeding, the actor died.

Filmography: films starring Oleg Yankovsky

Oleg did not participate in castings or extras. Again, an incident that occurred in 1967 helped him get into the cinema. While on tour in Lvov with the Saratov Drama Theater, director Basov, who was then producing the mini-series “Shield and Sword,” drew attention to him. And there was no actor to play the main role. The actor attracted attention with his appearance, which suited the character very well. This film instantly brought fame to the actor.

Since 1969, Oleg Yankovsky has played many roles, both major and minor. Such paintings include “I, Francisk Skaryna”, “Sweet Woman”, etc.

In 1973 he moved to Leningrad to work at the theater. Lenin Komsomol. He quickly became a central actor.

Subsequently, various films and performances were released, which brought increasing popularity to the actor. For example, his phrase from the movie “That Same Munchausen” - “smile, gentlemen, smile” became associated with the actor, and often appeared in biographies and interviews.

There were a large number of historical films where Yankovsky also played great figures of the past. It is impossible not to mention the film “The Man Who Cried,” which was filmed jointly by the French and the British.

Oleg Yankovsky personal life and his women

Oleg Yankovsky’s personal life was not varied, and he himself did not strive for it. He spent almost his entire life with his wife Lyudmila Zorina. The wedding took place when Oleg was in his second year. For the public, this couple has become an example of a successful and exemplary family. Although, very often there were unconfirmed rumors about the actor’s adventures.

Son Philip was born in 1968, which made the star couple happy to become grandparents in the 90s.

But, despite the actor’s strong marriage, Oleg Yankovsky’s biography, personal life and his women often worried journalists and were a good platform for creating rumors. So, for a long time it was believed that he was married to Irina Kupchenko. Such rumors appeared after they starred in several films in which they played the role of lovers. Oleg later said in an interview that they don’t even see each other outside of work, so there can be no talk of a love relationship.

When the actor died, actress Prokolova began giving interviews in which she talked about her relationship with Yankovsky and even about abortion in order to get rid of his child. Fans' opinions were divided, and many took these words as just another PR stunt.

Family of Oleg Yankovsky

As mentioned earlier, Oleg Yankovsky’s family was poorly provided for due to the war and repression. The actor's father, Ian, went through two wars. In World War I he was seriously wounded, which soon became the cause of death. During World War II he worked in factories in the rear. He was arrested twice and sent into exile. Fearing for the rest of the family, the actor's mother burned many of the family's awards.

Both parents dreamed of art. This was passed on to the children, and the children began to get involved in theater - they studied in theatrical and artistic circles. Mother, after the children grew up, got a job as an accountant.

Children of Oleg Yankovsky. Grandchildren Ivan and Lisa

The grandchildren and children of Oleg Yankovsky are a topic in which it is not customary to speak in the plural. In his only marriage to Lyudmila Zorina, the actor has one son, Philip. Since childhood, the boy's life was connected with cinema and theater. He was often taken backstage so he could observe how performances were created.

As you know, children who grew up in such conditions choose one of two things - to completely love art, or to hate everything related to acting and theater. Philip liked the magic of cinema, which is why he decided to connect his life with cinema.

Son of Oleg Yankovsky - Philip

The son of Oleg Yankovsky, Philip, was born on October 10, 1968. He followed in the footsteps of his star parents and became a film actor and director. His debut took place in 1974, in the film “Mirror”.

Until 1990, he studied at the Moscow Art Theater School-Studio, having successfully graduated from it, he went to study at VGIK, to take a director’s course. He has more than 150 clips to his credit.

In general, the actor’s filmography includes about 16 films. As a director, Philip Yankovsky acted in 4 films.

Married Oksana Fandera. In 1990, his son Ivan was born. Five years later, daughter Lisa was born. Thus, Oleg Yankovsky and Lyudmila Zorina became grandparents.

Oleg Yankovsky's wife - Lyudmila Zorina

Oleg Yankovsky's wife, Lyudmila Zorina, was born in 1941. She is an actress of Soviet and Russian cinema. In 1999, she was awarded the status of Honored Artist of the Russian Federation.

While in my third year, I met my future husband. After a short period of time, they got married. Behind him he has more than 50 leading roles on the stage of the Saratov Theater. When Oleg moved to the Lenkom Theater in 1974, his wife went with him, where they were happily received. At the moment she is the widow of Oleg Yankovsky.

It is not possible to find photos of Oleg Yankovsky before and after plastic surgery, because... all fans know that the actor has his sculpted facial features by nature, and has never needed such operations. In addition, the actor lived in a time when operations to change his appearance were either not carried out at all, or it was worth traveling outside the USSR to do this.

The actor did not like going to the hospital at all, and could stand on stage until the very end. Perhaps it was this feature that became the cause of a fatal disease - late stage pancreatic cancer.

Instagram and Wikipedia Oleg Yankovsky

When it comes to actors who became famous in the USSR, you should not hope to find their pages on any social networks. Thus, Instagram and Wikipedia of Oleg Yankovsky were no exception. Although the actor has a Wikipedia page, which is filled with well-known facts from the words of close friends and family.

As for Instagram, the actor didn’t even live to see its creation a year. It becomes clear that looking for any social networks of an actor of Soviet and Russian cinema is simply pointless.

The outstanding Soviet and Russian actor Oleg Yankovsky died on Wednesday morning at the age of 66 in a Moscow clinic, Interfax reports. For a long time, Yankovsky suffered from pancreatic cancer, and doctors were unable to save him.

People's Artist of the USSR Oleg Yankovsky will be buried at Novodevichy Cemetery on May 22, the directorate of Lenkom, where the actor served, confirmed to Interfax.

Then the doctors managed to win. Having been discharged, the actor said that he was ready to go on stage again, but at the last moment he was forced to refuse to play in the play, Life.ru reports.

“This morning we learned that Oleg Ivanovich died. This is a huge shock and horror for us,” Porgina noted. She also said that she would tell her husband Nikolai Karachentsov about Yankovsky’s death, who is undergoing rehabilitation after a serious car accident. “True, I will first need to prepare Nikolai. For him, the news of Oleg’s death will be a heavy blow,” said Porgina.

Yankovsky's death was a "deadly blow" to the Lenkom Theater, where he served, the theater's artistic director and chief director Mark Zakharov said on Wednesday. “This is a fatal blow to Lenkom, this is grief and tragedy, which I don’t know how we will bear. We hoped for a recovery until the last moment. Oleg Ivanovich behaved very courageously, played performances when, probably, it was no longer possible to play, and did it amazing. He said goodbye to his profession and the theater,” said Zakharov.

After graduating from school, Oleg returned home to Saratov and intended to enter medical school. But then an incident occurred that determined the future fate of the great actor. One day he saw an advertisement for admission to a theater school. Oleg remembered his Minsk experience and decided to try it. However, by that time the exams had long ended and Oleg decided to go to the director to find out about the conditions for admission. He just asked for his last name and said that Yankovsky was enrolled and needed to come to classes in early September.

Oleg Ivanovich studied not without problems. As the stage speech teacher recalls: “He spoke poorly, his apparatus was heavy, and he opened his mouth incorrectly.” However, when Yankovsky appeared on stage in the graduation performance “Three Sisters”, all doubts the course master had about Oleg’s professional suitability disappeared, it was a noticeable phenomenon, a very interesting actor was born, wrote the Saratov newspaper “Region Week”.

The Saratov Drama Theater was on tour in Lvov. Vladimir Basov began filming the film “Shield and Sword” there. He was looking for a young man of Aryan appearance for the role of Heinrich Schwarzkopf. One day, Yankovsky, having lunch in a cafe, caught the eye of Basov. So Oleg Ivanovich was invited to his first film.

In 1973, at the invitation of Mark Zakharov, Oleg Yankovsky moved to the Moscow Lenin Komsomol Theater (Lenkom). In the new theater, Yankovsky quickly became a leading actor. Among his best performances: “Autograd-XXI”, “A Guy from Our City”, “Revolutionary Etude”, “Dictatorship of Conscience”, “Optimistic Tragedy”, “The Seagull”, “Barbarian and Heretic”, “Hamlet”.

Later, in 1983, Tarkovsky again invited Yankovsky to his film - the actor played the writer Gorchakov in the drama "Nostalgia".

In the 70s, Oleg Yankovsky acted in many and varied roles. The actor's flexibility allowed him to look organically in various film roles: a party functionary ("Prize", 1974

"Feedback", 1978), Decembrist Kondraty Ryleev ("Star of Captivating Happiness", 1975), an unsettled, prickly person ("Other People's Letters", 1976, "Sweet Woman", 1977) or, on the contrary, spineless, weak-willed ("The Word for protection", 1977, "Turn", 1979).

Yankovsky's next hero, the Dragon, came out much more interesting in the parable film "Kill the Dragon" (1989).

In the 1980s, in addition to Zakharov’s films, Yankovsky also starred in Roman Balayan’s films “Flying in Dreams and in Reality” (1983, USSR State Prize for 1987), “Kiss” (1983), “Keep Me, My Talisman” (1987 ), “Filer” (1988), as well as in Tatiana Lioznova’s socially eccentric drama “We, the Undersigned” (1981) and Sergei Mikaelyan’s melodrama “In Love of His Own Will” (1982).

In the following years, Yankovsky rarely acted in films. There were interesting roles in the films “Fatal Eggs” (1995), “First Love” (1995), “The Inspector General” (1996). But Oleg Ivanovich himself admits that “there is no satisfaction from any of the latest works.” Since 1993 - President of the Open Russian Film Festival in Sochi (Kinotavr IFF).

Recent roles - in the films "Hipsters" and "Ivan the Terrible" One of Yankovsky's last film roles was the vivid image of a diplomat, the father of one of the representatives of the "golden youth", in the 2009 film "Hipsters".

On the eve of the premiere, Komsomolskaya Pravda interviewed Yankovsky. The actor admitted that he himself was not a dandy and a dandy for long. “I saw this fashion as a boy in Minsk, in the 9th and 10th grades. Fashionable young people were called hipsters only in the USSR. For the West, this style was a natural life. But here it grew into a movement of protest against dullness,” he said .

"They welded the soles onto shoes, ... sewed up trousers, bought checkered jackets several sizes larger so that they had broad shoulders. And cocks on their heads. Some even had some kind of philosophy. Of course, music, rock and roll, boogie , recordings on X-ray film. And most importantly, wandering along Broadway, that’s what the main street was called in every city, including Minsk,” the actor recalls.

And Yankovsky played his last film role in Pavel Lungin’s film “Ivan the Terrible and Metropolitan Philip” (the role of Metropolitan Philip). Oleg Ivanovich even managed to watch the edited film.

Oleg Ivanovich gave one of his last interviews in December 2008 to the KP newspaper in the dressing room of the Lenkom Theater. “An actor is a public profession: he is at the height of happiness when people stop him on the street, take autographs, shout “Bravo!” after the performance, and suddenly - it’s all over! It can be impossible to survive this. How many actors have died because of this, drunk themselves to death Fortunately, I remained in demand even in difficult times for the country, and this is the greatest happiness - being in demand,” Yankovsky said then.

In February, the actor played in his favorite “Marriage” at the Lenkom Theater. And only a hopeless pessimist could hear the personal intonation in the words that his hero, the absurd groom Zhevakin, says at parting: “Madam, what a pity to leave you. And by next year I’ll get myself a new uniform. But you won’t wait.” . Sorry, sorry."