He was lucky to be born in the year of the end of World War II in the family of the outstanding Soviet actor Evgeny Valerianovich Samoilov. The national artist lived a long life (93 years), having remained in his memory thanks to almost sixty roles in Russian cinema. Among them are famous films: “Hearts of Four”, “Schors”, “At 6 pm after the war”. The elder sister Tatyana became the pride of Soviet cinema after the first successful work in the film “Cranes Are Flying”, which brought her world fame. Samoilov Alexey Evgenievich, also an actor by profession, is much less known. What happened to his fate?
Childhood
Being almost 10 years younger than his sister, Alexey Samoilov, whose biography will be considered in the article, was born in Moscow. Previously, the family lived in Leningrad, but at the invitation of Meyerhold moved to the capital. From the theater, Eugene Valerianovich was allocated living space for 7 families in Granatny Lane, where Alexei spent his childhood. Mother Zinaida Ilinichna, an engineer by training, devoted herself to her husband and children, having completely assumed all the responsibilities of the housework. The father did not want the son and daughter to choose his profession, which requires great emotional and physical costs. Tatyana was even sent to ballet school as a child, but still she became an actress.
And Alexei, who has absolute pitch, was not bought a piano at the time due to the large number of neighbors in the apartment. Perhaps the profession of a musician could captivate him, but in the end he went in the footsteps of his father and older sister. As a boy, he and his parents attended the screening of Mikhail Kalatozov's film “Cranes Are Flying” at the Cinema House. He remembered how worried the sister was, as soon as the session ended, there was an alarming silence. And then the hall exploded with applause, which did not cease for 20 minutes.
Family influence
All her life, Alexey was the closest person. Thanks to her, he became addicted to reading, since his father had an excellent library. But even when he was fifteen, he began to notice signs of a nervous breakdown in his sister, which over the years manifested themselves more often. Out of jealousy, he was stabbed in the yard with a knife, but Alexei Samoilov did not immediately understand the severity of his condition, so he ended up in the hospital on the operating table. Parents were scared, and Tatyana was on the verge of a nervous breakdown, hiding frantically in a corner of the room. She was too emotional and vulnerable in life.
Therefore, after the birth of her son, Mitya, Zinaida Ilyinichna and Yevgeny Valerianovich took on the main burden of his upbringing, giving her daughter the opportunity to engage in creativity. After the star role, she had years of downtime. Almost 10 years passed before Anna Karenina, therefore, seeing the experiences of her sister, Alexey Samoilov chose the path of a theater actor for himself.
Professional career
The first 14 years were given to the Sovremennik Theater, the next 30 years to the Maly Theater, from where the actor will retire after his father passed away in 2006. Thanks to the screen versions of the performances, his roles as Knyazev (Foma Gordeev, 1983) and Don Sebastian (“Jealous of herself”, 1980). Over the years, Alexey Samoilov realized how dependent the profession of an actor is on directors and in the theater, and realized why his father did not really want such a fate for his children. As soon as a new performance was staged, lists of the artists employed in it were posted on the board. It was very painful to approach them and not see my last name.
A film debut took place in 1971 in the film Day after Day, the events of which were unfolding around neighbors in a communal apartment. After the role of Lesha Potakuev from a weaving factory, Alexei Samoilov, an actor in a theater school, will take part in the television series “The Past and Thoughts”. On a wide screen, he will appear with the director Samson Samsonov in the film “Much Ado About Nothing” (the role of Prince Don Petro) based on the play by Shakespeare (1973). This was already a real serious work, but which put an end to the film career. Samoilov still starred in a number of episodes, but only for the part-time job. To play in the heat, repeating the double for the double the same phrases, proved to be beyond his strength.
Personal life
Samoilov Alexey Evgenievich was married twice, but both marriages did not make him happy. The first lasted two years. His chosen one was the figure skater Tatyana Tarasova, with whom they lived in two apartments: either at his Peschanaya Street, then at the Tarasovs on the Falcon. He worked at Sovremennik, introducing his wife to Galina Volchek, Mikhail Kozakov, and she with his legendary father. At first, everything was fine, but training and training took her all the time, and soon the family broke up.
The second darling was a Frenchwoman named Helen, who was studying in Russia. The couple had a daughter, Natalie (now an art critic), but his wife in 1985 decided to return to France. Loyal to his family, Alexey could not leave his elderly parents and sister. For a long time he will live in two countries until the couple decides to leave.
After her son left for the USA (1995), in the last years of her life, her brother will be next to Tatyana Samoilova. Unsuitable for life and living only by art, she will need constant support and attention. In 2014, Alexey Samoilov will be preparing with inspiration for her 80th birthday at the Cinema House, on the eve of which the outstanding actress will die, right on her birthday, May 4. Instead of a festive concert, a civil requiem was held.