The last romantic: Oleg Strizhenov died
Oleg Strizhenov, one of the most romantic actors of Soviet cinema, passed away at the 96th year of his life. He played more than three dozen movie roles, remembered by viewers of several generations, among other roles, in the films "Gadfly" and "The Star of Captivating Happiness". However, the actor's own life was also full of passions. Pages of Oleg Strizhenov's biography recall "Izvestia".
Tomorrow was the war
Oleg Strizhenov was born August 10, 1929 in Blagoveshchensk in a military family. His father, Alexander Strizhenov, was a cadre military. A graduate of St. Petersburg Nicholas Cavalry School, he from the first days of the revolution, he supported the revolution, becoming a red commander, and by the age of 35 has already received the rank of kombrig. Oleg was the youngest of three brothers. Military family traveled around the country: in early childhood Oleg Strizhenov managed to live in Tiflis (now Tbilisi), Leningrad, and in 1935 Strizhenovy moved to Moscow. Here the family and caught the war.
Later Oleg Strizhenov recalled in an interview that the war he met in a pioneer camp near Moscow. A few days later, the children were taken to Moscow, and it was here that he first encountered daily bombings, because of which he constantly pricked up his ears. War memories, the artist admitted, remained with him for the rest of his life: the constant search for food, ration cards, endless queues for food and the constant cold, when life centered around the only "burzhuika" in the house.
Father and two older brothers Strizhenov, Boris and Gleb, went to the front at the very beginning of the war. Boris Strizhenov died in 1942 at Stalingrad, Gleb after a contusion was discharged and later also became an actor. Oleg Strizhenov himself began to work early: in 1944, after graduating from 7th grade, he got a job as an assistant projectionist at the Research Film and Photo Institute, and at the age of 16 participated in the reconstruction of the Paveletsky station and the restoration of railroad tracks. However, dreams of a creative career won: Strizhenov was not bad at drawing, and therefore after the war without problems entered the art-boutaforsky faculty of the Moscow Theater Art School.
It was there, by his own admission, he fell in love with the theater - once and for life. Since then, another career Oleg Strizhenov did not think for himself. After graduating from college, in 1949, he entered the theater school named after Shchukin, the acting department. From the beginning of his studies Strizhenov readily took on any acting work.And by graduation from the school, he received an invitation to the role that became for him a star ticket - he played the main character in the film by Alexander Faintsimmera "Gadfly", released in 1955.
The star of captivating happiness
On the role of Gadfly Oleg Strizhenov tried one of the first, but the director at first did not like even the photo. But the rest of the actors who came to the movie auditions suited Feintsimmera even less - and, eventually, the shooting called Strizhenov. His success was a surprise even for the director: in Arthur Rivares in the performance of Oleg Strizhenova instantly fell in love with the entire female population of the Soviet Union. Desperate nobility, meaningful looks bottomless eyes, beating nerve in every gesture - critics wrote that Strizhenov perfectly got into the image of Gadfly not only externally, but also psychologically. Yesterday's graduate of the Shchukinsky school woke up a star.
People's Artist of Russia, director Andrei Zhitinkin:
- Oleg Strizhenov with his roles wanted to talk about conscience, and he succeeded like no one else. He such characters that people believed him. All the roughness of the script disappeared. He will forever remain in the history of cinema. Just remember the ending of the movie "Forty-First", when he is killed, and not because he is an enemy, but just so the story. That was his theme. I know very few actors who are so fastidious and thoughtful. Although it seemed that with such fame, he can afford everything. But in fact, he never had any preferences in material, only books and nature. Even money didn't interest him. He to the end wanted and waited for good roles.
After "The Gadfly" Oleg Stridenov confidently secured for himself the position of the most romantic actor of Soviet cinema. The next high-profile premiere was "The Mexican" by Vladimir Kaplunovsky, filmed on the story of the same name by Jack London, where Strizhenov performed two roles - the main character Felipe Rivera and his father, Joaquino Fernandez. For the role of Strizhenov had to learn to box - his opponent in the picture played the USSR boxing champion in the heavyweight Gennady Stepanov, and the actor had to match. Strizhenov, training with professional athletes, earned a lot of bruises - but as a result at the kinorringa looked quite decent.
In 1956, Strizhenov starred in the drama Grigory Chukhraya on the story of Boris Lavrenev "Forty-first", playing the role of White Guard officer Govorukha-Otroka. According to critics, the duo of Oleg Strizhenov and Izolda Izvitskaya perfectly hit the character and the nerve of the plot, remembered by both viewers and filmmakers. A year later, "Forty-First" received a special prize at the Cannes Film Festival "for the original script, humanism and high poetry," and Oleg Strizhenova Western critics called "the Soviet Gerard Philippe".
Then followed the Soviet-Indian film "Walking for Three Seas", where Strizhenov starred as a merchant Afanasy Nikitin, "White Nights" by Fyodor Dostoevsky, "Optimistic Tragedy", "Third Youth", "Unsuited". Twice in his film biography, the main romantic actor of the USSR played the Decembrists - in "The Northern Story" based on the work of Konstantin Paustovsky, he played Pavel Bestuzhev, and in "The Star of Captivating Happiness" played the role of Prince Volkonsky.
Honored Artist of Russia, director Alexander Mokhov:
- Oleg Alexandrovich was an intelligent man. The last of the Mohicans. And also Strizhenovy - a unique acting dynasty. And this happens very rarely. As they say, the gene finger is not crushed. His brother Gleb Strizhenov played brilliantly in the movie "Days of the Turbins," son Alexander became an actor and director. God generously gifted this family. In Oleg Strizhenov combines depth, intelligence, "realness". Strizhenov is not like anyone else. He is himself. I had the good fortune to be in the same movie with this great artist, to ask stupid questions, to which I received intelligent answers. These are the Mohicans who are leaving. Others will come, no less talented, but, there will be no such.
According to Strizhenov, the proposal to play the role of police colonel Danilov in a multi-part TV movie based on the book by Eduard Khrutsky "Proceed to liquidation" he was quite surprised. He had no idea how he would be able to embody the role of a policeman on the screen, but his wife, Lionella Strizhenova, managed to persuade him to take on the role, offering him to play a police officer as he should be - both courageous and compassionate, romantic and severe. As a result, the role of Danilov brought him the Interior Ministry Award for the best actor's embodiment of the role of a police officer. It was Strizhenov was its first owner.
Behind the dream
In addition to an impressive film career, Oleg Strizhenov played many outstanding roles in the theater. At the beginning of his acting career Strizhenov served in the State Russian Drama Theater of the Estonian SSR in Tallinn, two years played on the stage of the Pushkin Drama Theater in Leningrad, several years was in the troupe of the Moscow Art Theater, but the main stage for him was the Theater-Studio of Film Actors, where he served from 1977 until the end of his life.
Oleg Strizhenov was married three times. His first wife was actress Marianna Bebutova, with whom Strizhenov met on the set of the movie "Gadfly". The marriage broke up in 1968. In marriage, the actor had a daughter Natalia, who died at the age of 45. The death of his daughter was a great shock for Oleg Strizhenov. Strizhenov's second wife was the actress Lyubov Lifentsova. The marriage lasted six years, a son Alexander was born. After the divorce, Lyubov Lifentsova took a monastic tonsure. The third wife of the actor was Lionella Skirda, the former wife of director Ivan Pyryev. Subsequently, Oleg Strizhenov admitted that he fell in love with Lionella at first sight, but it took many years for the couple was able to reunite. Oleg Strizhenov and Lionella Skirda married in 1976 and were together for almost 50 years.
In recent years, Oleg Strizhenov led a mostly private lifestyle, was fond of painting. He was hospitalized on February 7 with a diagnosis of "ischemic stroke". His family and friends to the last claimed that after treatment, the actor will return home. Alas, the miracle did not happen. The hero of several generations of viewers left us - but remained great roles in great films.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
