Acting fate is different. Someone shone on the screen in the lead roles and was quickly forgotten. And another starred in a small episode and remained in the people's memory forever.
Carier start
The famous actor Vasilyev Yuri Nikolaevich belongs to the second category. He was born on October 12, 1939, in a family of Moscow intellectuals: his mother served as a librarian, and his father as an engineer. Biographical information about the artist’s youth was not preserved. It is only known that he entered GITIS and successfully graduated from it.
At the graduation performance in 1961, the young actor Vasiliev (Yuri played the role of Vershinin, “Three Sisters”) made a favorable impression, he was noticed and invited to serve in the Maly Theater. In it, Yuri Nikolaevich and worked all his life - 38 years. In general, he was distinguished by an enviable constancy - both in professional and personal life.
First movie
The young actor Vasiliev Yuri Nikolaevich first got on the movie screen in the last year of the institute. The black and white film Sponge Catcher (1960) became one of the few films where he played a major role. A touching tragic story told how difficult it is for the poor to break out of the vicious cycle of poverty, to achieve justice, to be happy. The tape ends unhappily: the main character, who became disabled by the grace of greedy businessmen, being at a great depth, cuts the hose for air supply. Despite the fact that the film “Sponge Catchers” celebrates its 55th anniversary this year, it still finds its viewer.
The main role in the movie
The next work in the cinema was the role in "Journalist" (director S. Gerasimov, 1967). This picture was thoroughly Soviet, naive, glorifying the life of a simple person. Unfortunately, she does not belong to her favorite works of Soviet cinema, but Vasiliev played lively and directly. The film received the first prize of the Moscow International Festival. The partner Vasilyeva on the set was Galina Polsky. The actors so believably played love that the actor’s wife, Nelly Kornienko, who attended the premiere, later recalled that she was even jealous of her husband.
After the release of the picture on the screen, the actor Vasiliev Yuri Nikolaevich in the eyes of fans began to be associated with the hero whom he played. Letters came in packs, in some they even offered him a hand and a heart (and this was with a pregnant wife). Such a stormy fame was fleeting: after the "Journalist" the directors did not indulge Vasilyev with the main roles, which is rather strange. It would seem: a wonderful, bright appearance was to become an additional trump card, and even as an actor, Vasilyev Yuri Nikolaevich was a real professional - but he did not have to fully realize his talent.
And in a career
At first, after the success of the film, roles were often offered, but he refused. Gradually the trickle of directorial interest dried up. The artist was very worried that he remained out of work, but did not know how to achieve, beg or intrigue at all. All my life I dreamed of playing in Leonid Gayev’s Cherry Orchard, even rewriting and learning the text - it didn’t work out.
And Vasiliev wanted interesting roles, fame, recognition. Despite the fact that he was completely not conceited, for some reason he was worried when he was not awarded the title of People's Artist for a long time.
The actor became most famous for the role of the treacherous seducer Rudik (Rudolph, Rodion), who seduced and abandoned Katya Tikhomirova, the main character of one of the most beloved Soviet films of all time - Moscow does not believe in tears. As best he could, the actor tried to humanize his hero, and he succeeded. The negative, in general, image of an irresponsible and banal “mother’s son” evokes different emotions in the hearts of the audience - not only anger, but also sympathy. The rest of Yuri Vasiliev’s films, of course, cannot claim such a long life, although he starred in almost three dozen films.
Aristocrats in the USSR
Another successful film work is the role of the prince in the musical comedy "The Bat." In this picture, the actor played "his type" - a handsome, rich man, an aristocrat. In a tuxedo, among the brilliant, elegant women, the actor looked very organic. According to his wife, because of this overly brilliant appearance, he was not filmed a little: he did not quite fit Soviet cinema. The actor did not go at all with shabby overalls, and with a simple hard worker (as it once happened with the popular and sought-after Rybnikov) he could not be confused.
Personal life
Those who knew the artist talk a lot about how modest and deeply intelligent Yuri Vasiliev was. The personal life of the actor was never advertised. The tabloid press did not write about him, he did not participate in scandals or in dubious public relations events.
All his life he served in the same theater with his wife - also a famous actress, but Nelly Kornienko and Yuri Vasiliev did not meet at work at all: a forty-year-old romance broke out in the south, in Gelendzhik. He rested with his parents, she - with a friend. Having arisen under the hot sun near the sea, the resort romance did not fade: young people met in Moscow, and relations continued.
In the film "Sponge Catchers" they both starred - and, apparently, at that time they were already married. Nelly recalls that at the time of meeting her future husband she was 18 years old, they met for three years, then got married - that is, the wedding took place in 1959. So the love of the main characters of the film was not completely “cinematic”.
At the time of the wedding, the bride and groom were barely twenty, they had to live with her husband's parents. They didn’t live richly, had to work hard - and everywhere the young couple were nearby: in the theater, on tour, on vacation. It also happened that irritation flared up: after all, sometimes you get tired of constant proximity. There were quarrels from time to time (in an interview, Nellie recalled that she even arranged for her husband violent scenes of jealousy), but they carried love for each other through their whole lives.
In 1967, the couple had an adorable daughter, Katya, they very soon got an apartment and moved. Later, Vasilyev built his own house in the village with his own hands.
Decent life of a worthy person
Unfortunately, the artist is no longer among the living. On a very hot day, July 4, 1999, he drove his old Niva for inspection. Several hours spent under the scorching sun (and even worries about the result) brought unexpectedly tragic results. In the evening, returning home, the actor, apparently, felt unwell - he said he was tired, refused to have dinner and lay down to rest. Having dealt with household chores, the wife came to her husband and found that he was dead. In the next room was the unsuspecting mother of the artist.
He had long had problems with his heart, to which he did not attach due importance. He behaved as if nothing had happened, as if once again confirming that Yuri Vasiliev is an actor. The cause of death was a surprise for many: colleagues and friends considered him a completely healthy person, and suddenly - a heart attack.
He was always secretive and completely did not seek to demonstrate his experiences. He kept them in himself, did not complain, did not seek sympathy. He lived with the realization of how incompletely Yuri Vasiliev, the actor, had taken place. The cause of death, perhaps, lay in this unfulfillment, in the disappointments that accumulated for many years - and did not find a way out.
In the spring of 1999, the long-awaited title of "people's" artist was still awarded. But in fact, he received it from his audience for a long time. Yuri Vasiliev, whose biography does not contain anything particularly outstanding or scandalous, was not only a good, albeit underestimated, actor, but also a wonderful husband and father, whom his wife and daughter really lack. He lived a decent life of a decent man, serving his art - as he could, and as much as he could.