Astafyev Yuri - an actor of rare talent. Roles in the theater and cinema

Actors are representatives of a brutal profession. Not every of them can play the leading roles. Astafyev Yuri Grigorievich - one of those who passed their way in the cinema quietly, imperceptibly. The modern spectator can hardly name the paintings in which he was involved. Meanwhile, Yuri Astafiev is an actor of rare talent and the widest range.

short biography

Astafiev Yuri Grigoryevich was born in 1949 in Dushanbe. He received his theatrical education in Yaroslavl. For several years he worked in the Smolensk Theater. Then he moved to Moscow, where director Mark Zakharov drew attention to him in the production of Shakespeare's play. Yuri Astafiev worked until the end of his days, or rather lived, on the Lenkom stage. In the movie, he played only nine roles. Among them - not a single star. Astafiev Yuri Grigorievich passed away in 1990. He was buried in Moscow.

Is this all that can be said about such a wonderful actor as Yuri Astafyev?

A family

The wife of the hero of this article is the actress of the theater. Vakhtangova Lydia Konstantinova. Known for the films "Point of reference" and "In Moscow, passing ...". In addition to these paintings in the filmography of the actress 15 works.

Astafiev did not belong to those bright and shocking figures, about which legends were composed. He was not a modestly acting man. One day, when he was seeing off his wife and son at the station, one of Konstantinova's fellow travelers took him for a taxi driver. The actor not only was not indignant, but even played along with the erring passenger, naturally fulfilling the role of the driver.

And how did Yury Astafyev remember his colleagues and fans?

In the role of Gagarin

Astafyev Yuri Grigorievich was an actor versatile. But when the young artist, after graduating from the Yaroslavl school, joined the troupe of the Smolensk Theater, the chief director saw in him the performer of the role of the first cosmonaut, the pride of the entire Soviet people. Astafyev had a smile from Gagarin. In the image of his great namesake, he appeared on the stage for two years.

"Cruel Games"

More than a quarter of a century this performance was on the stage of Lenkom Theater. The unpretentious story of Nikita, Kay, Terenty, and a charming and sweet girl named Nelya surprisingly evoked the audience's continuing interest. Critics wondered: what is the success of the play? And the popularity of the production was not in the plot, but in the talent of the actors and the director. Astafyev played Kai in this performance. For several years, this role was the brightest in his repertoire.

Other theatrical roles

Astafyev was also involved in the plays "The Thief", "Romulus the Great", "The Star and Death of Joaquin Murieta". But the main theatrical role was the one that he played just one year before his death.

Yuri Astafyev did something for the production of the "Cemetery Angel" play that the actors never did. He was engaged in the search for actors, he extracted inventory. Astafiev added to his role a poetic composition from the works of Mayakovsky, Blok, Pasternak. It was his play. But the play did not let censorship go on for too long. In Astafiev, a man who distinguished himself with an extremely serious approach to his work, it was during this period that the first heart attack occurred.

Filmography

In 1972, Astafyev played a major role in the film based on the eponymous novel "Prince and the Pauper" by Mark Twain.

Then there were a few minor works in the movies. In 1987, the actor was invited to star in the movie "I'm looking for a friend of life." Astafiev played in the film "In the Surf Band", voiced one of the characters in the animated film "The Beast". The role in the film "Thunderstorm over Russia" was his last. During the filming of the actor had a heart attack. This happened in November 1990. The film was released a year later. The hero Astafyev spoke in this film in the voice of Mikhail Selyutin.

This article outlines the creative path of the actor, who left unnoticed. Fans of Russian cinema sometimes even now, after more than a quarter of a century after his death, are surprised to notice a modest tombstone at the Nikolo-Arkhangelsk cemetery. Is it really the same actor who played in the "Surf Band", "Thunderstorm over Russia"?

The tragedy is that he left early, before he could realize himself in the cinema. And also that even talented roles in soulful films remained almost unnoticed. It is worth saying a few words about one of them.

"Two and one"

In 1988, a film appeared on the screens, in which the leading actors of Soviet cinema played the main roles. But the picture did not cause a resonance. In fashion at that time was a detective genre. The story that lay in the plot of the film "Two and One", a simple and tragic. She was not included in the gold collection of Russian cinema. But this picture is one of the best that were created in Soviet film studios in the eighties.

Once a middle-aged and lonely man met a woman. Loved her, got married. An absurd death deprived the last hope of happiness. The main hero of this story lost his beloved woman, and her little daughter - her mother. But he did not despair, but took responsibility for the orphan girl. Somewhere far away lived a windy father, but there was little hope for him.

The hero of the film, played by Georgy Burkov, fell in love with the girl as a native, because, according to his words, there was no one else who loved him. Astafyev played in this film the role of an impudent father, whose feelings for a daughter awake only after the death of his ex-wife. He comes, and here is a drama called "Two and One".

The game of talented actors gave the already tragic plot an extraordinary penetration. Astafieva today remember many thanks to the role of Koryakin, which he played two years before his death.