Artist Evgeny Matveev biography personal life. Evgeny and Lydia Matveev: earthly love
No matter who Evgeny Matveev played, worthy people or scoundrels, he put his whole soul into each of his roles, and therefore they turned out to be bright and expressive. This is why the audience loved him, and millions of Soviet women saw in him not only a magnificent actor, but also an irresistible man.
Many of the films in which Evgeniy Semenovich starred were about love, and after the release of each film, the actor was credited with having affairs with his partners on the set. Perhaps some of them took place in the personal life of Evgeny Matveev, but until the end of his days she was next to him the only woman, his wife Lydia Alekseevna, whom he met when he was twenty-five years old.
Their love story began at a young talent competition in Tyumen, and Matveev fell in love with Lydia even before he saw her on stage. The first thing that struck the aspiring actor was the beautiful silvery voice pouring from behind the scenes, where the young soloist was singing musical theater, and when Evgenia Semenovich saw Lydia on stage, his heart was completely broken.
When he approached her to meet her, he did not make any impression on the girl - the future idol of millions of women was then too thin and awkward.
The romance between them began in Sverdlovsk, during the next competition of artists and music school students. Matveev had to make a lot of efforts to win the heart of his chosen one, who, in the end, could not resist his advances.
At first they met secretly, and then Lydia invited Evgeny Semenovich to her home and introduced her to her mother.
The relationship between the lovers could not be called smooth and cloudless - they constantly quarreled, and Lydia more than once had thoughts of breaking up, but she nevertheless agreed to Matveev’s proposal to marry him.
They invited Evgeniy’s theater colleagues, relatives and friends to the wedding, which took place a month after registration.
In 1952 they moved to Moscow - Matveev was invited to the Maly Theater. By that time, Evgeniy Matveev’s wife gave birth to a daughter, Svetlana, and at first, life in the capital with a small child was not very easy - she had to live in a hotel for some time, there was not enough money.
Then Lydia, who at one time graduated from two departments of a music school - choirmaster and vocal, decided to get a job in the choir Bolshoi Theater.
When they were given a room in a communal apartment, the actor’s family already had two children - their son Andrei was born. Gradually, Evgeny Matveev’s personal life improved - a few years later, when he was already a popular and popularly loved actor, he was given a separate apartment.
Evgeny Matveev’s wife never regretted that she sacrificed hers for her husband’s career, but the actor himself called his wife his victim.
After the role of Makar Nagulnov in “Virgin Soil Upturned,” fame came to Matveev, and from this picture the actor’s career skyrocketed.
A serious injury on the set of the film “The Foal” knocked him out of the profession for a while, and then Matveev decided to try his hand at directing, and his first directorial work was the film “Gypsy,” in which he also had to play the main role.
Along with fame, Matveev received the adoration of numerous fans, who caused the family a lot of inconvenience, but the actor’s wife had to put up with it.
Over the years life together the family of Evgeniy and Lydia Matveeva grew up - the children gave them four grandchildren, however, the youngest of them was born after the death of Evgeniy Semenovich. He loved to tinker with the kids and make sure they had everything they needed.
Matveev lived with his wife for fifty-six years, and died in the arms of his beloved wife, who did not leave his bedside in the hospital where he was being treated for lung cancer.
Exactly 10 years ago, on June 1, 2003, our outstanding fellow countryman, a native of the Kherson region, passed away
Although People's Artist of the USSR Yevgeny Matveev taught millions of moviegoers to love in Russian by filming a film trilogy of the same name, he was born in the village of Novoukrainka (now in the Skadovsky district in the Kherson region). Modern actors, despite all the efforts of their numerous PR people, never dreamed of Evgeniy Semenovich’s popularity: women fell in love with his theater and film characters, men respected them for their integrity, seriousness and thoroughness. Fans covered the stairs in Matveev’s house with flowers and love notes, and when in the early 90s the director did not have enough money to shoot his new film, they were literally pennies at a time! - collected by the whole world.
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The plot of one of the films could also be based on the personal story of Evgeny Matveev: earthly love is about his relationship with his wife Lydia Alekseevna. The artist, who was credited with numerous novels with the most beautiful actresses Soviet Union, not only lived with his wife for more than 50 years, but also died in her arms. They say that most of all Evgeniy Semenovich was afraid of outliving his beloved Lida, he simply did not know what he would do without her.
“UNTIL ZHENYA WAS 19 YEARS OLD ONLY SPEAKING UKRAINIAN”
- Lidia Alekseevna, Evgeniy Semenovich is our fellow countryman, and you are a native Siberian. Where did you two meet?
This could well have happened in Kyiv, where Zhenya studied at the acting school of Alexander Dovzhenko. At that time I was studying at the Kyiv Conservatory (and at the same time in the 10th grade), but then I returned home to Siberia.
And yet we were destined to meet... When Zhenya finished his first year, the war began. From Kyiv, the students walked for a long time until they were put on a freight train, which was heading to Tyumen. There, Matveev was assigned to the infantry school, and then left as a teacher for good performance. In Tyumen, young Zhenya mastered the Russian language 100 percent - before that, until he was 19 years old, he spoke only Ukrainian.
- Surely Matveev was eager to go to the front?
He submitted reports with such a request many times. One day, the head of the school, whose patience had run out, called Evgeniy to his place and showed him a whole pile of papers - these were official answers to his own similar requests. “I, too, would give a lot to beat the fascists on the front line,” said the chief, “but someone has to stay here to teach others.” Zhenya taught until the Victory and at the same time took part in amateur performances. At one of the shows, where Matveev read “Vasily Terkin,” I saw him for the first time. And he heard me at the concert and also paid attention to me. We met again in Sverdlovsk - at a competition of pop artists, music school students and conservatory students.
- Did you like him right away?
I probably wouldn’t have paid attention to him at all if it weren’t for my friend, who was in love with Zhenya. I was just surprised: “What did you see in him - skinny, long, awkward?” But she waved it off: “You don’t understand anything!” She and I flew to Sverdlovsk on the famous Po-2 maize truck, which, in addition to the pilots, can only accommodate two people. There is no cabin as such in this plane, so the wind beat us pretty badly - it left almost nothing of our beauty. I didn’t have much trouble, I didn’t wear makeup at all then, but my friend’s mascara and lipstick smeared all over her face. Having reached the hotel, we washed ourselves and fell exhausted on the bed. And just then Zhenya came to the light. He looked at us, washed, and said: “When you have to choose a bride, you can see natural, not painted, beauty.”
My mother, having learned that we were going to Sverdlovsk, became worried: what will you eat there? Food was then sold on ration cards, but she managed to get us canned food and cereals somewhere - we brought a whole suitcase of food with us, so we also fed Zhenya.
- Apparently, it’s not for nothing that they say that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach...
I kept trying to somehow bring them together, pushing my friend towards Matveev, but he, on the contrary, tried to tear me away from everyone - in general, it turned out to be a real love triangle! It used to be that we came to the cinema, I left him a seat next to Nina, and he sat on the other side - next to me. And then he completely arranged everything so that my friend and I got lost in a department store and went with him on a tram to the park, where we spent the whole day together. All the swings and carousels had to be paid for, and I slowly put money in his pocket.
Did you already realize then that you wanted to date?
Sympathy appeared between us, but first it was necessary to resolve the issue with my admirer, who would not let anyone near me. When rumors reached him that I was having an affair with the artist, he warned: “Keep in mind, if I see you together, I’ll shoot him and you, and then I’ll shoot myself.” “What a fool,” I said and left. But I was scared - as a former front-line soldier, he had a weapon.
For six months I managed to keep my relationship with Matveev a secret: after music school I came home, and from there I ran through three courtyards through the neighbors’ gates and ended up on the street where he was waiting for me. But, as you know, you can’t hide a sewing in a bag - one day we accidentally met a friend of my admirer. A rejected admirer waylaid us when the three of us were walking - Matveev, me and my girlfriend, took a pistol from his bosom and pointed it at Zhenya: “We need to talk!” “What are you talking about,” I rushed to him, “he’s seeing Ninka off, not me!” When Nina and Matveev left, I said that I wouldn’t talk at gunpoint and followed them. And I go and wait: now the bullet will catch up with me! But it worked out. Fortunately, this man soon left our city. Before leaving, he came to me and asked: “Yes or no?” I answered: “No.” “Then,” he says, “you won’t see me again!” Trying to hide my joy, I wished him a safe journey.
- The last barrier has collapsed - have you started dating openly?
Mom kept asking me: “Invite Zhenya to us after the rehearsal, I’ll cook something delicious.” He lived alone then (he brought his mother later), so he was constantly hungry. I invited him, he ate and choked: “It’s delicious, but it’s too salty!”
During the period of courtship, Matveev and I quarreled so often that we might well not have gotten married: one evening we got married, the second we got divorced... We often argued on the way home, then I proudly told him: “Don’t see me off!” - and ran away. Mom already knew: since I came alone, it means we quarreled again. In the end, she set us a condition: “I’m tired of watching you run away from each other: either get married or break up forever!”
And on April 2, 1947, Zhenya came up to me and said: “Tomorrow after the rehearsal, we’ll go to the registry office to submit an application.” We were signed on the same day. As expected, they asked everyone: “Do you agree? Do you agree? “Let’s hurry up,” the groom couldn’t stand it, “before she changes her mind.”
He and I grabbed the marriage certificate and ran away, and the registry office employees shouted after us: “Where are you going, at least kiss!” In the evening we sat in family circle, and a month later, on May 1, they held an official wedding - they invited all the actors of his theater, friends and relatives.
- Wedding Dress You had?
There was, and a very beautiful one, received from Germany as part of the so-called reparations - the Germans paid off the debt for the ruin of our country with goods and products. Mom was given warrants, which she did not spend on herself or on her father, but saved for me. Then she exchanged them for three sets of very beautiful lingerie and several dresses, one of which was simply luxurious - white, guipure, floor-length. She wanted her daughter to look gorgeous, since I had already started singing in concerts. But I didn’t wear it to the wedding, I chose something else - simple, crepe de chine. I thought: “Why is it necessary? White dress, if we’ve been living together for a month?”
- Did your friend, who was in love with Evgeny Semenovich, come to the wedding?
Everything was resolved with her in the best possible way: as soon as Matveev became an actor, he immediately ceased to interest her - it turns out that she only loved military men. So at our wedding Nina was a welcome guest. “You see,” I told her, “you threw it, and I picked it up.”
“EVGENY SEMENOVICH OFTEN SPEAK ABOUT ME: “MY WIFE IS MY VICTIM”
- How did you and Evgeniy Semenovich end up in Moscow?
In 1952, with the Novosibirsk Red Torch Theater, which was called the “Siberian branch of the Moscow Art Theater,” he went on tour to Leningrad. The public and critics liked Matveev so much that he was invited to work at several theaters at once - the Moscow Art Theater, Maly and the Gorky Bolshoi Drama Theater. But the artistic director of the Maly Theater, Mikhail Ivanovich Tsarev, turned out to be the most persistent, he promised everything - both the first roles and an apartment - and Matveev, after hesitating, agreed.
- Did Tsarev keep his promises?
Not in everything and not all at once. The housing situation was especially difficult: at first my daughter Svetlana and I lived in a hotel, then we were given a room in a communal apartment, then our son Andrei was born. Only a few years later we received our first apartment on Komsomolsky Prospekt. When they arrived with a warrant to look at the new housing, I almost burst into tears: the new houses stood on the edge of the road, and there was wasteland and mountains all around construction waste- no shops, no school, no kindergarten. But we had no choice but to stay with two small children in a communal apartment.
Things were no better with finances - my husband’s salary was low, and I was unemployed. Therefore, despite the fact that she graduated from two faculties - vocal and choirmaster - she went to sing in the Bolshoi Theater choir. Of course, I could have found a place as a soloist, but then our family - by that time we already had a daughter - would have remained homeless: Zhenya was on the set, I was on tour. I think we wouldn’t have lived together for long; we would have divorced.
I was suggested to try out for the choir by my husband, who, leaving the Maly Theater, was walking to the metro past the Bolshoi Theater and saw an advertisement for recruitment. True, they registered me there...
during a year. I passed the competition (I was told about this after the first round), but the personnel officers then spent a long time checking Matveev’s and my relatives: what if there were foreign spies or saboteurs among them? I went to the HR department every day as if I were going to work. Finally, my patience ran out, and I called the main choirmaster straight from the theater entrance. “How,” he was amazed, “haven’t you been processed yet? I thought you changed your mind about working with us.” The very next day I was enrolled in the staff of the Bolshoi Theater.
-Have you ever regretted making a sacrifice? solo career for the sake of your husband and children?
I don’t, but Evgeniy Semenovich often said: “My wife is my victim, she could have become a famous artist, but instead she sang in the choir all her life.” When we lived in Novosibirsk, I worked in the theater and fed my family, because Zhenya had not yet blossomed as an actor and was unemployed. But what infuriated him most was when they whispered after him: “Look, Matveeva’s husband is coming.” Then they talked about me more often as his wife.
- After what film did Evgeniy Semenovich become famous throughout the Soviet Union?
After “Virgin Soil Upturned”, in which he played Makar Nagulnov. By the way, Matveev begged for this role himself. Initially they offered him Davydov, but he told the director: “Don’t consider me impudent - try me on Makar, you won’t regret it!”
Then there was a film adaptation of “Resurrection”, where Evgeny Semenovich played Nekhlyudov. True, critics assessed this picture ambiguously - many said that Matveev did not look like a prince. As if in our workers’ and peasants’ country everyone knew for certain what real aristocrats were like!
Years later, when a clairvoyant refused to tell our daughter’s fortunes, saying, “I don’t tell the fortunes of queens,” we became interested in our family’s ancestry. It turned out that my grandfather was a hussar and, therefore, a nobleman, and some distant ancestor of my husband tore out the ears of Peter I himself. By the way, elder sister his father married the musician and collector of Russian folk songs Mitrofan Pyatnitsky, after whom the famous choir is named.
- Why did Evgeniy Semenovich, being a successful actor, suddenly take up directing?
After a back injury received on the set of the film “The Foal,” he could no longer act on stage or film at full capacity. What kind of artist are you if at any moment, making one awkward move, you can fall? The husband was treated for a long time - first in the hospital, then at home - and constantly thought about what he should do next.
Suddenly a call from Kyiv: he was offered to make the film “Gypsy”. Evgeny Semenovich, of course, got excited, went, and then I found out that he would also play the main role in this film. The actors, like circus horses, heard the music and galloped. I have seen so many such cases in my time: half-dead people come to the theater, but as soon as they go on stage, they forget about all their ailments.
During the filming of “Gypsy,” my husband wore a tight corset, he was given novocaine blockades (39 injections each!) so that he would not suffer from severe pain,
but in the scene where Budulai dances, Matveev became ill. He danced to the end, and when the camera was turned off, he collapsed, but gradually began filming again. Sometimes the script was specially altered for him, as was the case with the film “Native Blood”. Evgeniy Semenovich came to filming limping, so his hero, who was initially wounded in the arm, was made wounded in the leg.
Before Zhenya had time to heal a little, he suffered a new injury - this time in Nikolaev, at the stadium. In those days it was customary to organize theatrical performances with the participation of famous artists. When Matveev rode out, like Nagulnov, standing on the britzka, the spectators were so happy that in one impulse they stood up, began to shout and throw flowers. One of the bouquets hit the horse in the head, it got scared, shied away, and Evgeny Semenovich fell. As he later told me, a few centimeters from the cast-iron fence.
- Did caring for your family fall entirely on your shoulders then?
What could be done if, due to disability, Matveev was assigned a meager pension of 43 (!) rubles? The four of us lived then only on my salary at the Bolshoi Theater.
“ZHENYA SMILED AND SAID: “TELL YOUR FOOLS THAT HAPPINESS IS NOT THAT I AM YOUR HUSBAND, BUT THAT YOU ARE MY WIFE.”
- Did order and family comfort mean a lot to Evgeny Semenovich?
He was a great neat guy. Our family had an apartment in Moscow and a dacha, where I now live permanently. Both here and there, perfect order was maintained, because, as a rule, if I was in the city, then my daughter was in nature, and vice versa. But one day we both needed to be in Moscow, and our son and wife remained at the dacha. Apparently, they relaxed, didn’t clean, and when my husband went there to rest, they didn’t have time to clean it up. I remember Zhenya told me then: “If I come to the dacha again and it’s as ugly as this time, you won’t see me there again!”
When my son was little, he ran around the apartment in white woolen socks, and they were always immaculately clean. There were no modern household chemicals then, so I always cleaned the carpets with tea, after which they became as good as new. I had enough time for everything, despite the fact that I worked, and we basically didn’t employ housekeepers.
- Don't tolerate strangers in your house?
When our grandmother, who helped me with everything, died, I had to hire a woman, but I broke up with her very quickly - she did everything carelessly. After some time, they persuaded me to take the old woman, who pretended to be very lonely and kind. Evgeniy Semenovich, who had buried his mother long ago, was so moved that he said: “Let him live with us as if he were his own, and at the same time help you with Andryusha.” I agreed. But one day a neighbor, meeting me on the street, asked: “Listen, where did you find such a devil?” At first I didn’t even understand who I was talking about we're talking about: "What the heck?!". “Well, grandma,” he says, “who’s walking with Andrei. It's terrible how she beats him! If she thrashes him like that on the street, in front of everyone, then what happens when she’s left alone at home with him?!”
When I got home, I immediately fired my grandmother; I didn’t even think that I had to go to work at six o’clock. Oh, and she swore, oh, and screamed! But I just said: “You have to be human, we treated you like human beings.”
We no longer hired housekeepers, but took turns taking vacations at our own expense - first I, then my mother, then my dad - and sat with Andrei. And then two actresses from the Maly Theater, both Elena Nikolaevna, Gogolev and Shatrova, helped me get my son into the district kindergarten not far from home. I remember my son came home one day and said:
“I won’t go to the garden any more than what you put on me. I want to be like everyone else." I started to find out what was going on, and it turned out that the teacher took him by the hand and showed all the parents how to properly equip their child for kindergarten. It is not surprising that the son was unhappy: the child wanted to play, but he was forced to hang around in the locker room.
- Admit it, many were jealous that you had such a handsome and successful husband?
This was a favorite topic of discussion in our dressing room. “Well, you grabbed a man for yourself!” - our chorus girls repeated. In the end, I was so tired of listening to this that, when I came home, I declared from the doorway: “That’s it, divorce!” - "What's happened?" - Evgeny Semenovich was taken aback. “Yes,” I say, “the ladies at work have already buzzed all my ears about how lucky I am that I grabbed such a husband!” He smiled: “Tell your fools that happiness does not lie in the fact that I am your husband, but in the fact that you are my wife.”
- And you passed it on?
- (Laughs). The very next day, and with what style! We had the last performance before the vacation, I put on a new suit, took a beautiful handbag, blurted it all out - turned on my heel and left. There was a pause truly like the Moscow Art Theater. They were surprised not only by my words, but also by the fact that I said anything at all - in 25 years in the theater I was never late or had a fight with anyone. The fact is that I can’t stand a woman’s squeal, it turns everything inside me, so I tried not to find myself in the middle of a showdown. But I couldn’t restrain myself here.
- Your fans probably also drank a lot of blood?
They were different: some really caused our family a lot of inconvenience, with others, if we weren’t friends, we communicated very well, I even got them tickets to the Bolshoi and Maly theaters. Zhenya also had an admirer of talent who taught our son English language. But more often, unfortunately, they called and said nasty things. One impudent person once asked: “Who am I talking to - is this the housekeeper?” I had to agree with her: I did all the housework, and she probably knew about it, which means she was a housekeeper.
Once there was a case that was completely out of the ordinary. One day my husband comes and says angrily: “Can you imagine, some idiot just threw herself under the taxi I was riding in.” - “What taxi?!” - I was indignant; we didn’t have money for such luxury then. It turned out that the guys from the theater drove his car to the gate from which the decorations were being taken out so that he could hide from a particularly annoying fan. But she ran through the yards, caught up with the car on Gorky Street and threw herself on the hood. “My ears are still ringing,” complained Matveev, “the driver was so scared that he swore all the way!”
- Who was the main one in the family - you or your husband?
The smallest one was always the most important. Evgeniy Semenovich and I have two children and four grandchildren. Zhenya did not see the younger Lizonka; she was born three months after his death, so Last year In her husband’s life, Nadyusha took the place of the main one. For some reason, Zhenya always believed that they didn’t pay enough attention to her, didn’t read enough, and, as soon as he began to free time, tried to fill these gaps.
He could not refuse the children anything. Even when we lived from hand to mouth in Novosibirsk, my daughter had everything she needed and even one apple a day.
- What dishes did your husband especially like?
He was never capricious when it came to food: whatever you cooked, he was grateful for it. Most often, my mother and I, like real Siberians, made dumplings, then we started making belyashi, pies with with different fillings- in general, everything that is not very good for health. When we lived in the country, the main dish was, of course, kebabs; our son was an expert in them - he made them very well. We even built a special kebab shop, where there is not a grill, but a stove, and a table for 25 people, so that not only the family, but also guests can fit. They also prepared Kharcho soup and salmon soup - we have a special bucket for first courses.
In general, in our family, in terms of nutrition, there was such a rule: first I fed the children, then my husband, to whom I quietly tried to give the best piece, and only after him did my mother and I eat. When Matveev started filming a lot, he constantly didn’t have time, he ran home for lunch and asked: “Just run!” Mom poured him half a bowl of soup, which I cooled and placed in front of him. Immediately they poured more into another plate, and while Evgeny Semenovich ate the contents of the first, the soup in the second also had time to cool down. Thus, we managed to feed him in just a few minutes.
- Is it true that Evgeniy Semenovich was an avid car enthusiast?
Actually, as a deputy of the Supreme Council, he was entitled to a personal car, but he really liked to drive himself. We had a Lada, a Volga, and a Moskvich, but domestic cars broke down so often that my son persuaded Evgeniy Semenovich to buy a Mercedes. My husband drove carefully, but sometimes, as a creative person, he could think and lose control of the situation. My daughter said that once, literally at the last moment, she turned the steering wheel and steered the car away from a collision with a bus. It turns out that Evgeniy Semenovich saw a construction site on the side of the road, and there was red brick, which he desperately needed for the filming of the film “Love in Russian” - at that time there was only white silicate brick everywhere. I wanted to turn and drove into the oncoming lane...
“MY HUSBAND HAD LUNG CANCER IN STAGE FOUR, WHICH THE DOCTORS MISSED”
- Did perestroika hit your family hard?
At the V Congress of Cinematographers, Matveev was accused of all conceivable and unimaginable sins. In the early 90s, our children were left without work, and my husband and I lost all our savings overnight. But Matveev never complained, he understood: absolutely everyone lived hard at that time, why should we be an exception? The only thing he was afraid of was hunger; he remembered how hard it was for us after the war in Siberia, and even later in Moscow. But then we were young, when nothing mattered, and in old age it is much more difficult to endure hardships.
- Why was Evgeniy Semenovich diagnosed so late?
If I had not insisted, he might not have known about his illness at all. In the last three years of his life, we settled in a dacha, from where my husband was constantly dragged to Moscow to congresses of various parties, each of which tried to win the “movie star” to its side. Evgeniy Semenovich was very tired, once in Moscow he felt ill - he arrived practically unconscious. I asked my son and grandson to take him for examination to the Kremlin hospital - Evgeniy Semenovich was assigned to it. After the medical examination, I ask: “What did the doctor say?” “It’s okay,” he answers, “there is some kind of black speck" Oh, I got angry then: “What, do you think that a spot in the lungs is normal? There shouldn't be anything there!" “Well, of course,” he grumbled, “you’re always everything.” better than doctors You know. They don’t say anything, and you make a big fuss.”
Time passed, he became worse and worse, he stopped eating and became very weak. I called my son again and asked him to take his father to the hospital: “He needs to be put on IVs, at least they can support him.” They went to Moscow and returned after lunch with nothing. Andrei later told me that my father left the clinic dejected, with his head down. It turns out that at the hospital Evgeniy Semenovich was told that it was not time for him to go to the hospital yet - his turn had not come.
Our son was just as emotional as his father, and still couldn’t calm down: “Mom, can you imagine: a man can barely walk, and they’re putting him on the waiting list!” In a word, he created such a scandal that the very next day they put Evgeny Semenovich in the Kremlin, from which he never came out. He had stage 4 lung cancer, which doctors missed. There was nothing we could do to help him, but we didn’t know that and hoped for the best. Some time after his death, my daughter told me: “Mom, I only now realized that the doctors put my father to die.”
- Why did she decide that?
His room was located on the outskirts; besides it, in the long corridor there were only doctors' rooms and in the middle - a nurse's station. But when he became ill, she was not there. Evgeniy Semenovich got out of bed and said: “I’ll probably go have a smoke,” but after taking a step, he staggered and asked me to call my grandson. I realized that he wanted to go to the toilet, and suggested: “Let me take you,” but my husband was very scrupulous: “No, I’ll go with Zhenya.” When they returned, he wanted to sit up, but suddenly fell across the bed - his head hung down. I rushed to him and shouted to my friends: “Call a doctor or sister!” We ran to look for at least one of the medical staff. Grandson Alexey had great difficulty finding the doctor from the intensive care unit; she slowly began to pack her suitcase. "Please hurry!" - he asked. Her answer to Lesha was stunned: “What’s the rush?” And she began to waddle.
They kicked us all out of the room and started pumping him out, but to no avail. It seems to me that Evgeniy Semenovich died when he fell. When the daughter went to the hospital to get documents, the doctors cynically told her: “Why are you surprised, didn’t you know that he was dying?” But no one told us anything; we were sure that he would simply be treated. Svetlana was so excited then that we almost lost her too: she has a heart problem, she shouldn’t be nervous...
Biography, life story of Evgeniy Semenovich Matveev Evgeniy Semenovich Matveev (03/08/1922, Novoukrainka village, Ukraine - 06/01/2003, Moscow) - Soviet and Russian theater and film actor, director, screenwriter. Childhood Evgeny Matveev's childhood was difficult. He was born on March 8, 1922 in the Kherson region in the village of Novoukrainka, where by the will of fate his father, Red Army soldier Semyon Kalinovich, and mother Nadezhda Fedorovna were thrown. Immediately after the birth of the child, the father abandoned the family, and the mother had no choice but to return to her native village. There, who gave birth without parental blessing, curses and insults awaited her. However Strong woman survived all this... S early years My wife had to work. He carried water to the plowmen, collected spikelets in the field, led his horse along the furrow, i.e. did everything that a village boy could (and sometimes could not) do. In his free time, Evgeniy amused himself by playing the balalaika for the villagers. Maybe it was then that the artist was born in it... Pre-war years Later, Evgeny Matveev and his mother moved to the city of Tsyurupinsk in the same Kherson region. Here the boy first came into contact with the world of theater, starting to study in the school drama club. Evgeniy was fascinated by acting, and after graduating from school he entered a theater studio, and then began working as an extra at the Kherson Theater. It is unknown what Matveev’s future fate would have been like if he had not stopped while passing through Kherson one day in 1940. famous actor Nikolay Cherkasov. Having visited the theater, he noted several young actors (including Matveev) and advised them to go to Kyiv to see director Alexander Dovzhenko. In Kyiv, Evgeniy was accepted into an acting school at a film studio. However, his studies were soon interrupted. The Great Patriotic War broke out... Personal life Evgeny Matveev went to the front only in 1944, after he graduated from the Tyumen Infantry School with the rank of lieutenant. After the end of the war, Matveev served for about a year at the Tyumen School, where he led amateur military activities. It was thanks to this that he met his future half. One day, a student from the local music school, Lida, came to their concert. She immediately drew attention to Evgeny Matveev, who played the role of Hitler on stage. A little later the situation repeated itself, but in the exact opposite version. Evgeny Matveev recalled: “There was some kind of concert at the music school and Lida performed. She was divine, she had a divine lyric coloratura soprano. I was directly electrocuted...” On April 1, 1947, the young couple got married... In the same year, the couple had a daughter, Svetlana. Ten years later, a second child appeared in the family - son Andrei. Theater In 1946, Evgeny Matveev was demobilized and became an actor at the Tyumen Drama Theater. Here he worked for two years, and then received an invitation to the troupe of the famous Novosibirsk Red Torch Theater. Evgeniy thought about the proposal for a long time and decided only thanks to his wife’s persistence... Matveev performed on the stage of the “Red Torch” until 1952, during which time he became one of the leading actors of the theater and gained enormous popularity among local audiences. Therefore, it is not surprising that the talented actor was soon invited to Moscow to the famous Maly Theater. First roles in films For the first time, Evgeny Matveev acted in films quite late - at thirty-three years old. His screen debut was the role of Sudbinin in the musical comedy directed by Andrei Frolov “ Good morning" Today, few people remember this picture, but then, in 1955, it became one of the leaders in film distribution, taking an honorable sixth place and attracting 30.5 million viewers. After the release of this film, film directors finally paid attention to Matveev. He starred in the adventure film “The Road” and the film story “Seekers” (role: engineer Andrei Lobanov). And then came the first serious success. In 1958, the film “The House in Which I Live” by Lev Kulidzhanov and Yakov Segel, where Matveev played the main role of Kostya, took first prize at the All-Union Film Festival. The film was also highly appreciated by the audience. According to the results of a survey of readers of the newspaper “Soviet Culture”, the film took fifth place. Triumph The filming of the film “The House I Live In” had not yet finished when Evgeny Matveev received an invitation to audition for director Alexander Ivanov’s film “Virgin Soil Upturned” (based on the novel of the same name by Mikhail Sholokhov). About 30 actors applied for the role of Makar Nagulnov, but Matveev won. The director's choice turned out to be justified. The actor created a bright, memorable image, which won everyone’s love. It is worth noting that Matveev’s characters in his first films were simple Russian people, strong, sweeping, temperamental, and sometimes reckless. And when, following Nagulnov, Matveev was offered the role of Prince Nekhlyudov in the drama “Resurrection” (based on Leo Tolstoy), this caused general bewilderment. They were surprised at the director, who “is going to put suede gaiters on a tarpaulin boot,” and they were surprised at the actor himself, who decided to agree to a completely unwinnable role. Nevertheless, Evgeny Matveev, casting aside all doubts, set about creating the image of Nekhlyudov. Moreover, he approached this with all care. The actor repeatedly visited Yasnaya Polyana, read the diaries of Leo Tolstoy, literally absorbing the new image. Even in Everyday life Matveev tried to behave accordingly, demonstrating with all his appearance and behavior that he was Prince Nekhlyudov. The film “Resurrection,” which was released immediately after “Virgin Soil Upturned,” put all skeptics to shame. Evgeny Matveev managed to convey deeply and completely inner world of your character, to reflect on the screen his most complex evolution. Such diverse roles as Nagulnov in “Virgin Soil Upturned” and Nekhlyudov in “Resurrection” demonstrated Matveev’s versatile talent and brought the actor all-Union popularity. Now there was no longer any doubt - a new star had appeared in Russian cinema. National love On the wave of success, Evgeny Matveev starred in several films, among which the most successful was “Native Blood” directed by Mikhail Ershov. In this pure melodrama, devoid of any politics and social slogans, Matveev played the main role - tank sergeant Fedotov, who, on his way home from the hospital on leave, meets the ferrywoman Sonya (Via Artmane), the mother of three children. However, their happiness does not last long... Poignant love story did not leave the audience indifferent. The film took fourth place at the box office, attracting almost 35 million people. Matveev’s character was loved by everyone, but especially by the female audience. The actor received a flood of letters with declarations of love, numerous fans literally cut off his phone. The professionals did not ignore the picture either. “Native Blood” was awarded prizes at international film festivals in Mar del Plato and Buenos Aires (both Argentina), as well as at the All-Union Film Festival in Leningrad (1964). Misfortune At the very peak of his popularity, a misfortune happened to Evgeny Matveev. In 1965, he and a group of others famous actors went to the Ukrainian city of Nikolaev. There, a festive theatrical performance was organized at the local stadium. Matveev, made up as Makar Nagulnov, had to drive a circle in a cart. Instead of a cart, Matveev was given some kind of cart. Even before the race, the actor, having examined it, wanted to abandon this event - the so-called “cart” looked too unreliable. However, the organizers of the holiday persuaded him. It all ended with the cart’s wheel falling off while turning, and Evgeny Matveev, flying out of it, crashed onto the asphalt. The result is serious damage to the spine: two crushed discs and pinched nerve. After long treatment, Matveev was finally discharged, given the third group of disability (initially, the doctors were going to give him the second group without the right to work, but he convinced them not to do this). Director's debut In these difficult days, Evgeny Matveev felt nationwide support. People wrote to him from all over the country, some offering treatments, some money, and some simply expressing their sympathy. His colleagues did not leave the actor aside either - the film studio named after. Dovzhenko suggested that he take up directing. As Evgeny Matveev himself admitted, he had been secretly dreaming about this for a long time. The first experience in a new field for Matveev was the melodrama “Gypsy” based on the story of the same name by A. Kalinin. The newly minted director entrusted the role of Claudia to the popular actress Lyudmila Khityaeva, and Budulaya played himself. The first painting by Evgeny Matveev evoked mixed responses. Many viewers were delighted, so it is no coincidence that, according to the results of a survey by the magazine “Soviet Screen”, the performers of the main roles (Matveev and Khityaev) were named the best actors of 1967. However, there were many critical comments... Actor and director Since 1968, Evgeny Matveev finally left the theater and completely switched to working in cinema. As a director, he directed the historical-revolutionary film “The Postal Romance” and the melodrama “Mortal Enemy”, in which he himself starred. However, both of these films were not very successful. Evgeny Matveev acted a lot with other directors, but most of the films were frankly average. Among the successful films, it is worth mentioning only Alexei Saltykov’s film novel “Sibiryachka” (thanks to which Matveev, two years later, was again named best actor year) and the historical and biographical film “Taming of Fire” (but here Matveev got a supporting role). In the mid-70s, Evgeny Matveev again took up directing. They staged the social film dilogy “Earthly Love” and “Fate,” which tells about the life of the collective farm chairman Zakhar Deryugin and his love for young Mana Polivanova. The main male role in the films was played by Evgeny Matveev himself, and Polivanova played wonderful actress Olga Ostroumova. Of course, in both films there was a varnishing of events; at that time, hardly any film could do without it. Nevertheless, both “Earthly Love” and “Fate” evoked a lively response from the audience. “Earthly Love” was released in 1975 and attracted about 51 million viewers, and “Destiny” in 1978 attracted almost 58 million. Another notable work of Evgeny Matveev in the 70s was the role of Brezhnev in the film “Soldiers of Freedom”. Noticeable, but not in terms of creativity, but in terms of a future career. This short episode paved the way for the actor to the top. He immediately became secretary of the Union of Cinematographers, his films were given lavish all-Union premieres and received high awards. All this will affect Evgeny Semenovich a little later... Post-perestroika work The perestroika that came in the mid-80s in the Soviet Union changed a lot in the life of Evgeny Matveev. In 1986, at the fifth congress of USSR cinematographers, he was relieved of his position. He was reminded of the varnish paintings, and the role of Brezhnev, and much more... For Matveev, this was a terrible blow. According to his confession, at one time he even thought about committing suicide, and who knows what would have happened if not for his children and grandchildren... In the late 80s, Matveev returned to cinema. He filmed the tragic melodrama “The Cup of Patience,” where he again distributed the main roles between himself and Olga Ostroumova. At the Constellation festival, the film received flattering reviews and even won the audience award, but it remained virtually unknown to the general public. Matveev also had a chance to star in the then “chernukha” crime drama “The Killer’s Place is Vacant” and the political detective story “The Clan”. What to do, I had to somehow earn a living. By the way, in “The Clan,” Matveev again portrayed Brezhnev. Only now it was not the same Brezhnev as in the film “Soldiers of Freedom”... “Love in Russian” In the mid-90s, the domestic screen was overwhelmed by a wave of low-quality Latin American TV series and American action films. Russian cinema found itself on the margins. Then it seemed that no one needed it anymore. It was at this moment that Evgeny Matveev again reminded himself. In 1995 it was released New film"Love in Russian." Matveev did not betray himself, once again making a film that seemed doomed to devastating criticism and accusations of varnishing. However, this picture (let's be honest, a beautiful fairy tale) was filmed so sincerely, so openly that it aroused unprecedented nostalgia among the entire Russian audience. “To love in Russian”, which means, without looking back, with all its scope... The title corresponded so exactly to the content! And the people responded. Letters of gratitude and... money poured in from all over the country. Russian pensioners sent their last kopecks with a request to film a sequel to the film! Indeed - to love in Russian... In 1987, with public money, Evgeny Matveev staged “Love in Russian-2”. The picture was somewhat inferior to the first part in terms of professionalism, but then this was not at all important to the Russian viewer. It was received with a bang just like the first one. In 1999, Evgeniy Semenovich filmed the final part of the trilogy “Love in Russian,” in which good and justice finally defeated evil. Naive? Yes. But maybe this naivety and faith in the good was what we lacked then... “My cinema is straightforward,” Evgeny Semenovich said then. – I am looking for the shortest path from heart to heart. Truth, an iota of dreams, an iota of a fairy tale - that’s what I want to leave to people. People today need a fairy tale. Just as I was a supporter of the Kuban Cossacks, I remain so.” “Loving in Russian” was the last serious work of Evgeny Matveev (in 2001 he appeared in a tiny episode of the series “Under the Polar Star”). On June 1, 2003, he died. The cause of death of the great actor was lung cancer. Matveev was buried at the Novodevichy cemetery. After his death, Evgeny Matveev did not go into oblivion. Fans of his talent continued to watch his films, admiring his subtle acting and direction. Came out on TV in 2007 documentary entitled “Life without lies. Evgeny Matveev”, in which the creators of the project tried to talk as fully as possible about creative path a simple boy from a remote village who became a real cinematic genius.
Evgeniy Semyonovich Matveev. Born on March 8, 1922 in the village of Novoukrainka (Kherson region) - died on June 1, 2003 in Moscow. Soviet and Russian theater and film actor, film director, screenwriter, teacher. National artist USSR (1974). Laureate of the USSR State Prize (1978).
Evgeny Semyonovich Matveev was born on March 8, 1922 in the village of Novoukrainka (now in the Skadovsky district, Kherson region of Ukraine).
Parents: Semyon Kalinovich Matveev and Nadezhda Fedorovna Kovalenko.
Evgeny Matveev began to get involved in hard peasant labor from an early age. He studied well and his parents were advised to take the boy to the city where he could get a good education.
In the city of Tsyurupinsk, Evgeniy saw an amateur performance for the first time and was captivated by art; now theater has become his only dream. Evgeniy began to engage in amateur performances, where he was one of many faces at once: a magician, a dancer, a singer. In the 9th grade, Evgeniy, with his mother’s consent, left school and went to the nearest city where there was a theater - Kherson.
In the Kherson theater (now the Kherson Regional Academic Music and Drama Theater named after N. Kulish), Evgeniy Matveev began to participate in crowd scenes and played small roles. In one performance (“Talentless”), the musician Evgeniy Matveev was playing was noticed by N.K. Cherkasov. He advised Matveev to go to Kyiv and study with A.P. Dovzhenko.
In 1940-1941, Evgeny Matveev studied at the Kyiv Film Studio at the actors' school. With the beginning of the Great Patriotic War dug trenches and built fortifications around the city. He was sent to study at the Tyumen Infantry School. After graduating from college, he served there as a teacher. He repeatedly submitted reports to be sent to the front, which were not satisfied. Demobilized in 1946.
In 1946-1948, Evgeny Matveev played in the Tyumen Drama Theater, and later worked in Novosibirsk in the Red Torch Drama Theater (1948-1952).
Member of the CPSU(b) since 1948.
From 1952 to 1968, Evgeny Matveev was an actor at the Academic Maly Theater.
In 1956 he graduated from the Studio under the direction of M. Kedrov at the WTO. As a student he played his first role in the comedy “Good Morning”.
His directorial debut in cinema was the film “Gypsy”, released in 1967.
During the filming of the film “The Foal,” he fell from his horse and was seriously injured. Doctors advised him to go to the Urals and undergo treatment at the Lake Moltaevo resort, famous for its healing mud. It was here, according to the memoirs of Yu. Senachin, that he wrote the main part of the script for his film “Gypsy”.
Evgeny Matveev in the film "Sibiryachka"
Since 1968 - director at the Mosfilm film studio. Evgeny Matveev’s trilogy “Love in Russian” was especially loved by the audience.
For many years (since 1975) he directed the acting workshop of the All-Union state institute Cinematography (VGIK) (professor since 1985). His workshop was completed by such actors as N. D. Vavilova, Valeria Rizhskaya, V. A. Shevelkov, Andrei Gusev, A. K. Kuliev and many other actors working in the theater, cinema and television, both in Russia and abroad.
Evgeny Matveev (1972)
Member of the Union of Cinematographers of the USSR. From 1976 to 1986 - Secretary of the Board of the USSR Investigative Committee.
Received numerous awards:
Gold Medal named after A.P. Dovzhenko (1974, for creating images of contemporaries in cinema);
Best actor according to a poll by the magazine “Soviet Screen” in 1974 for the film “Sibiryachka”;
Gold medal named after A.P. Dovzhenko (1978, film “Fate”);
USSR State Prize (1978) - for the creation of feature films “Earthly Love” and “Fate”;
State Prize of the RSFSR named after the Vasilyev brothers (1974) - for creating the image of a contemporary in films of recent years;
Laureate of the Faculty of the Republic of Transcaucasia and Ukraine (1968, Diploma of the Union of Journalists of Armenia, film “Gypsy”);
Laureate of the All-Union Film Festival in the category “First Prize among Historical and Revolutionary Films” (1970, film “Post Romance”);
Laureate of the All-Union Film Festival in the category “Special Film Festival Award”, award for best director and award for best actor (1978, film “Destiny”);
Laureate of the All-Union review-competition of films about the working class in Yaroslavl (1981, First Prize, film “A Particularly Important Task”);
Laureate of the All-Union Film Festival in the category “Special Film Festival Award” (1985, film “Victory”);
Laureate of the CF “Constellation” (1995, Prize “For Outstanding Contribution to the Profession”);
Laureate of the International Film Festival in Tashkent (1997, Golden Archa Prize for best actor, film “Love in Russian-2. Women’s Defense”);
Honorary citizen of the Sverdlovsk region.
Participated in the White Parrot program.
Evgeny Semyonovich Matveev died on June 1, 2003 from lung cancer at the age of 82. Buried at Novodevichy Cemetery(site no. 10).
In 2007, for the 85th anniversary of the birth of Evgeniy Semyonovich, a documentary film “Life without lies. Evgeniy Matveev", dedicated creative activity cinematographer
Personal life of Evgeny Matveev:
Wife - Matveeva Lidiya Alekseevna (born 1925). They met in 1947 and lived together for 56 years.
Daughter - Svetlana (born 1947). Son - Andrey (1957-2008). Grandchildren: Alexey, Evgeniy, Nadezhda.
Mateev also had illegitimate daughter Christina, whom the actress gave birth to. The fact that Evgeny Matveev, Christina’s father, was told by Artmane’s son Kaspar after the death of the actress.
Filmography of Evgeny Matveev:
1953 - Marina's fate
1955 - Good morning - Sergei Nikolaevich Sudbinin
1955 - Road - Grisha
1956 - The Seekers - Andrey Lobanov
1957 - The house in which I live - Konstantin Davydov
1958 - Eighteenth year - Ivan Lukich Sorokin
1958 - The case of the “motley” - Lobanov
1958 - Virgin Soil Upturned - Makar Nagulnov
1959 - Foal - Trofim
1960 - Resurrection - Nekhlyudov
1963 - Native Blood - Fedotov
1964 - Mother and Stepmother - Nikolai Vasilyevich Kruglyakov
1965 - First Bastille - Potapov
1966 - Rage - Vasily Gulyavin
1967 - Gypsy - Budulai
1968 - Collapse - Pavlovsky
1969 - Postal novel - Kovshov
1970 - Those Who Kept the Fire - Ivan Klyavin
1970 - Sports, sports, sports
1971 - And there was evening, and there was morning... - Yartsev
1972 - Siberian - Dobrotin
1972 - Mortal Enemy - Arseny Klyukvin
1972 - Taming the Fire - plant director
1973 - 1974 - High rank - Shapovalov
1974 - Earthly Love - Zakhar Deryugin
1977 - Soldiers of Freedom - L. I. Brezhnev
1977 - Fate - Zakhar Deryugin
1977 - Front behind the front line - regional committee secretary Semirenko
1978 - Emelyan Pugachev - Emelyan Pugachev
1979 - Particularly important task - Kirillov
1981 - Front behind enemy lines - Semirenko
1984 - Victory - Karpov
1985 - Anna and Anton / Anna es Anton - Anton
1986 - Time of Sons - Semyon Petrovich Kordin
1986 - Testament - Ivan Krylov
1988 - Fathers - Father-in-law
1989 - Cup of Patience - Mednikov
1991 - Clan - L. I. Brezhnev
1990 - The killer’s place is vacant... - Knysh
1992 - Good night! - Pal Palych
1995 - Love in Russian - Valeryan Petrovich Mukhin
1996 - Love in Russian 2 - Mukhin
1999 - Love in Russian 3: Governor - Mukhin
2001 - Under the North Star
Directing works by Evgeny Matveev:
1967 - Gypsy
1969 - Postal novel
1972 - Mortal Enemy
1974 - Earthly Love
1977 - Destiny
1979 - Particularly important assignment
1981 - Mad Money
1985 - Victory
1986 - Time for Sons
1989 - Cup of Patience
1995 - Love in Russian
1997 - Love in Russian 2
1999 - Love in Russian 3: Governor
Scripts by Evgeny Matveev:
1974 - Earthly Love
1977 - Destiny
1981 - Mad Money
1985 - Victory
Theater works Evgenia Matveeva:
Tyumen Drama Theatre:
“Young Guard” - Ivan Zemnukhov
“Guilty without guilt” - Neznamov
"Cunning and Love" - Ferdinand
Theater "Red Torch":
“Great Power” - Viktor Lavrov
"Our Mutual Friend" - John Garmon
“Mad Money” - Telyatev
"Party Candidate" - Leontyev
“Wey, breeze!” - Uldys
"Philistines" - Neil
Maly Theater:
1952 - “Guilty Without Guilt” - Neznamov
1952 - “Northern Dawns” - Andrey Latkin
1953 - “When spears break” - Chebakov
1953 - “Port Arthur” - Zvonarev
1954 - “Dangerous Companion” - Andrei Korchemny
1954 - “You Can’t Live Otherwise” - Ruddy Miltze
1955 - “The heart is not a stone” - Erast
1955 - “Sold Lullaby” - Ouli
1955 - “Vanina Vanini” - Pietro Missarilli
1955 - Macbeth - King Duncan
1956 - “Money” - Berkut
1957 - “Ghosts” - Oswald
1957 - “Invasion” - Fedor
1958 - “The Power of Darkness” - man
1958 - “The village of Stepanchikovo and its inhabitants” - a yard guy
1958 - “Wings” - collective farmer
1958 - “When the heart burns” - military commissar
1958 - “Veselka” - Dmitro Shelest
1959 - “Vanity Fair” - Rawdon Crowley
1959 - “House of Cards” - Ignat
1960 - “Autumn Dawns” - Stolbov
1960 - “Love Yarovaya” - Mikhail Yarovoy
1961 - “Honesty” - Pavel Antonovich Ragoza
1963 - “Colleagues” - Egorov
1964 - " the main role" - Trofimov
Bibliography of Evgeny Matveev:
"Fate in Russian" 2000 - M. Vagrius.
