We celebrate the centenary of the brilliant Evgeny Evstigneev, who was in demand from the best directors

He couldn't play half-heartedly

The fact that actor Evgeny Evstigneev is a true genius of reincarnation, inside the acting environment, colleagues recognized almost immediately. Later it became obvious to the audience. Roles in the films “Welcome, or Forbidden Entry”, “Beware of the Car”, “Seventeen Moments of Spring”, “Golden Calf”, “Zigzag of Fortune”, “Running”, “Old Robbers” brought Evstigneev to the leaders of the actors of his generation. Popularity added tapes “Meeting place can not change”, “Heart of a dog”, “Winter evening in Gagra”. He was one of the actors - the creators of the legendary Moscow theater "Contemporary", and then moved with Oleg Efremov to the Moscow Art Theatre, where he worked until the end of his days. Today, October 9, we celebrate 100 years since the birth of an outstanding actor.

"Seventeen Moments of Spring." "Is today a fasting day?" The caliber of his star roles is very different. Millionaire Koreiko in the “Golden calf” of Mikhail Schweitzer was a thing in itself and personified a whole social phenomenon of the underground “shadows” of the first years of Soviet power, who managed to accumulate capital on the human mountain. The director of the folk theater, operating at the rehearsal in sports terms, appeared in only a few episodes of the comedy “Beware of the car” by Eldar Ryazanov, but was remembered by everyone. The authors of the film gave him the same name and patronymic - Evgeny Alexandrovich. Another social phenomenon managed to play in the comedy of Elem Klimov “Welcome, or Forbidden Entry”. The director of the pioneer camp, Comrade Dynin, performed by Evstigneev, was a reinsurer and retrograde. And how much hidden psychological power and hidden despair was in his negative images of people from the “former”: a thief in law, a professional pickpocket Petra Ruchnikov from the series Stanislav Govorukhin “The meeting place can not be changed” and business Korzukhine from Bulgakov’s “Running” Alexander Alov and Vladimir Naumov. Professor Pleishner from Seventeen Moments of Spring was not the main character, but how sincerely Soviet audiences mourned his on-screen death!

"Beware of the car." The system of “jelly” – “compot” Evstigneev had a lot of theatrical experience in the province, because he came to the cinema as an experienced artist. He was able to instantly switch emotional registers, change the psychological state of the character, went to the character from the inside, adding his unique individuality to him. Later, the skill was polished already on the capital’s theatrical stage, being in the very epicenter of the country’s theatrical life. He told a young actor, “Don’t play the same thing even in one scene and one character.” Play "jelly" here and "compot" here. What it meant in acting slang, only one Evstigneev knew.

"Old robbers." It is worth remembering that Evgeny Alexandrovich has a number of popular films created at the Belarusfilm studio. Collaboration began with the role of businessman Larson in the Belarusian television film All the Royal Men based on the novel of the same name by American writer Robert Penn Warren. Continued with Valery Rubinchik in the film “The Last Summer of Childhood”. Here Evstigneev played the main villain - the chief of supply Valentin Navrotsky. Collaboration with Rubinchik continued in the films “Hamlet of Shchigrovsky county” and “Comic lover, or love affairs of Sir John Falstaff”. The role of the secretary of the regional committee of the party Sosnovsky in the 8-episode television film “Atlanta and Caryatids” based on the novel by Ivan Shamyakin is unlikely to be attributed to the bright roles of the artist, but in its own way it is also dear to us: the film created on Belarusian television, received at one time all-Union fame. The story of the chief architect of the regional city Maxim Karnacha reflected many problematic moments of our time. Finally, Evstigneev played Stargazer in Leonid Nechaev’s fairy tale “About Red Riding Hood”, performing several stunning songs by composer Alexei Rybnikov – “Song about the Masters” in a duet with Rina Zelena and “Song about the Stars” – with the film’s artists. Evstigneev bathed in the image of Stargazer, instantly caught the ironic intonation of the film and the directorial manner of Nechaev. The director’s masterpiece deservedly received the status of a cult film today, it went beyond just a children’s film and won the audience of all ages. Evstigneev also starred in another children's film by Leonid Nechaev - "Take a telegram in debt.".

"A duel." Like any major master, Evstigneev over the years enriched his acting palette with new colors and nuances. Though it would seem much further away. Interesting and late works of Evgeny Alexandrovich. In addition to the recognized acting masterpiece - the role of Professor Preobrazhensky in the film Vladimir Bortko "Heart of a Dog", there were several triumphs. How much latent tenderness in the restaurant “labucha”, who could not build his own family nest, in saxophonist Alexander in the melodrama of Vladimir Krasnopolsky and Valery Uskov “Night fun” according to the script of Victor Merezhko. The hero is a clear loser, and with morality, as the layman understands it, he is clearly at odds. But it becomes the moral tuning fork of all history. He has the special pride of a loser, the insight of a cynic. This image was close and understandable to Evstigneev, who played in his youth on a drum set in a jazz orchestra. He also played a love for jazz in Karen Shakhnazarov’s comedy We Are From Jazz as another colorful pickpocket thief – the Pope. Also, the confessional intonation was achieved by the actor, reincarnating in the artist-checker on retirement Alexei Beglov in the lyrical drama “Winter Evening in Gagra”.

In a rather good film adaptation of the Kuprinsky “Pit”, telling about the mores of the inhabitants and clients of a provincial brothel of the early XX century, Evstigneev played the chairman of the court. In the tragicomedy of Konstantin Voinov, “The Cap” reincarnated as a writer, author of a single book and the happy owner of a hat from a rabbit Konstantin Baranov. The master of reincarnations of the 1990s allowed directors to try new forms, combine the incompatible and discover new styles. Probably, only in these years it was possible to almost simultaneously play the archbishop in the film by Mark Twain “New Adventures of the Yankees at the Court of King Arthur” and the statesman Mikhail Kalinin in the historical picture of Yuri Kara “Feasts of Valtasar, or Night with Stalin”, the unflappable curator of the museum, composing historical nonsense and fables during his excursions, in the phantasmagoria “City of Zero” by Karen Shakhnazarov and the coachman Nikifor in the tragicomedy “Bin and the King”.

All the roles of the People’s Artist of the USSR Evgeny Evstigneev, who left us from a heart attack in 1992, can not be listed. Today they are a textbook of acting for actors of a new generation, and for us, the audience, a source of humor, vitality and optimism.

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A special program for the 100th anniversary of the birth of the outstanding actor was prepared these days by TV channels. “Culture” will show the program “Legends of World Cinema”, the premiere of the documentary “Eugene Evstigneev”. Great and funny" and grotesque farce "The Bad Anecdote" by Fyodor Dostoevsky. “Belarus 3” will coincide with the anniversary of the comedy “Welcome, or Extraneous Entry is Forbidden”, and ONT will premiere another documentary “I realized that you still need me”.

pepel@sb.by