Chief Hypolite of the Soviet Union.
Yuri Yakovlev is a stunning People's Artist of Theater and Cinema, whose films have grown several generations of viewers. Until now, the New Year in every Russian home is just as inconceivable without the film “The Irony of Fate or with Light Steam”, as well as without the Olivier salad and the battle of the Kremlin chimes. He lived a long and interesting life, was lucky in the profession and happy in love.
Yuri Yakovlev was born on April 25, 1928, in Moscow. Both of his parents were descendants of the merchant families, which, of course, did not advertise. Father - Yakovlev Vasily Vasilievich worked as a lawyer and his mother - Olga Mikhailovna - as a nurse. Parents divorced when the boy was 4 years old. During the Stalinist repressions of the 37th year, almost all relatives of the mother died in camps and prisons, and Olga Mikhailovna herself miraculously escaped arrest. She was saved by the timely dismissal from a prestigious job at the Kremlin Polyclinic.
In 1952, Yuri graduated from the "Schukin School" and then entered the troupe of the Academic Theater. Vakhtangov. He became one of the few actors who devoted his whole life to one theater. On his stage, for 61 years of service, Yakovlev outplayed many interesting diverse roles and was one of the leading actors.
An offer from a Hollywood movie mogul.
In the movie, Yuri made his debut in 1953 in the historical film “The Great Warrior of Albania Skanderbeg” in the passing role. And popularity came to him after the main role of Prince Myshkin in the drama "The Idiot", shot on the first part of the novel of the same name by Fedor Dostoevsky (1958).
Yuri got it this way: the director (and part-time director of Mosfilm) Ivan Pyryev looked at samples of actors (including Yakovlev) for the film “Forty-first”.
Seeing Yuri’s work, he immediately remembered the “Idiot” script - Yakovlev fit perfectly into the image of Prince Myshkin, for whose role Pyryev had been looking for a decent candidate for many years. The director's intuition did not disappoint: the little-known actor then brilliantly coped with a complex and deep way. The painting was a great success not only in the Soviet Union, but also abroad, due to which Yuri Yakovlev, Yulia Borisova (who played Anastasia Filippovna) and Ivan Pyryev began to be invited by the countries that bought the painting. They even visited Hollywood, where, according to Yuri, he was offered to play the role of Christ by Spyros Skuros himself - one of the famous movie magnates. But Yakovlev did not dare to accept this flattering offer. Soviet actor and Jesus Christ? In the early 60s, that would be nonsense!
During his long film career, the actor will star in almost 150 projects, the most famous of which will be the pictures: “The Hussar Ballad” (Lieutenant Rzhevsky),
“Ivan Vasilievich is changing his profession” (Bunsh's manager / Ivan the Terrible), “Irony of Fate, or with a light steam” (Oleg Basilashvili was supposed to play Ippolit in this cult film, but because of his father’s death he refused the role), “Kin -dza-dza ”(alien Bi) and many, many others.
Personal life of the famous Hippolytus
Yakovlev was famous and beautiful - the ladies themselves fell into his arms. The actor had three official wives, but they could not count love affairs. His relationship with women was not original: the actor fell in love and left his wife for a new passion, which also later became his wife. With his first wife, Kira Machulskaya, Yuri met in the House of the actor, where a 20-year-old girl was brought by her fiance. After chatting for several days, the young people fell in love with each other without memory, and Kira broke off her relationship with the groom.
In the play “Ladies and Hussars,” Yakovlev’s partner were a charming 23-year-old Ekaterina Raikina (daughter of the famous Arkady Raikin). Yuri did not notice how their innocent mutual sympathy grew into a passionate romance.
Neither Raikina’s husband (Mikhail Derzhavin), nor the wife of Yuri, who at that time was finally expecting a baby, stopped the lovers. Moreover, Katya was also pregnant. Rumors about her husband's infidelity quickly spread and the offended Kira filed for divorce. Having given birth to the long-awaited daughter Alena, she was left alone after 9 years of marriage. And Raikin became the new wife of Yakovlev and the mother of his second child - the son of Alexei. But, as they say, "you cannot build your happiness on someone else’s grief." Their union lasted only 3 years, and then Yuri had another love story ...
The third and last marriage Yakovlev concluded with Irina Sergeeva, director of the Museum of the Vakhtangov Theater.
Recent years and cause of death
In the last years of his life, Yuri Vasilievich did not act in films and, practically, did not play in the theater.
He said goodbye to the cinema, starring in the sequel to The Irony of Fate (2007). When the actor was interested in his opinion on this picture, he said that he “did not bother to watch it in its entirety” (which can be regarded as an answer). He read a lot, reviewed good films, spent the summer with pleasure spending time with his wife and dog in the country.
Yuri Vasilyevich died of heart failure in a Moscow hospital on November 30, 2013, in the 86th year of his life. He was buried at the Novodevichy cemetery in Moscow