Yuri Bogatyrev: biography, personal life, unconventional

Moscow, 07.25.2021, 23:46:45, editorial office of FTimes.ru, author Dmitry Novakh.

The popular actor, star of the first Soviet western “A Friend Among Strangers, a Stranger Among Our Own” and a talented artist Yuri Bogatyrev was an endlessly lonely and unhappy man who suffered throughout his short life from his dissimilarity from others.

He was admired by fans, adored by women and appreciated by directors. And Bogatyrev himself could hardly tolerate the whole world - and first of all himself.

Biography

Yuri Georgievich Bogatyrev is an actor of Soviet cinema and theater, People's Artist of the RSFSR.

Actor Yuri Bogatyrev

Yuri was born on March 2, 1947 in the capital of Latvia in the family of naval officer Georgy Andrianovich Bogatyrev and housewife Tatyana Vasilyevna. In addition to Yuri, the family also raised a daughter, Margarita.

The boy grew up as an unusual child from childhood: he loved to sew clothes for dolls, he was vulnerable and sensitive. In his early years he suffered from sleepwalking. In 1953, the family moved to Moscow, where Yuri began attending art school. On weekends, the boy organized amateur puppet theater performances for neighbors and relatives.

Yuri Bogatyrev in childhood and youth

When the time came to choose a profession, Bogatyrev decided to connect his life with fine arts. In 1962, the young man became a student at the Art and Industrial School. M. Kalinina, specialty “Carpet Artist”. During the holidays, Bogatyrev worked part-time by sketching archaeological finds at excavations. Together with his fellow students, he went out into the open air to hone his skills.

Yuri Bogatyrev in his youth

During one of these outdoor classes in 1965, Bogatyrev became friends with the studio members of the Globus children's puppet theater, whose director was teacher Vladimir Mikhailovich Stein. Bogatyrev began rehearsing with the group and performing in productions, one of which was even shown on Soviet television. In 1967, Yuri entered the Shchukin School in the workshop of Yuri Vasilyevich Katin-Yartsev for the same course with Natalya Varleya, Natalya Gundareva and Konstantin Raikin.

Biography of Yuri Bogatyrev (actor)

Our today's hero first saw this world in 1947, namely on the second day, the spring month of March. In the maternity hospital in Riga, the first cries of a child were heard, who was named Yura. From this moment the biography of Yuri Bogatyrev began.

The childhood of the future actor was, so to speak, “on the move,” since his father was a military man with an officer rank. Until the age of six, little Yura and his parents lived in Latvia, and then moved to the capital of the Soviet Union, where they settled down. From a very early age, Yuri showed his creative talents. Visiting the drawing studio, he showed the makings of his outstanding abilities. In addition, already in those years, he performed on the theater stage and participated in puppet shows.

After the future actor graduated from 8 grades of school education, on the advice of his teacher in the art studio, Bogatyrev entered the art school. Kalinina. The specialty in which he studied was carpet artist. Along with the school, Yuri began to attend a theater studio. Like many, Bogatyrev had something of a hobby that did not carry something more.

At first, Yuri participated in productions of a theater called “Globus” - it was a children’s puppet theater. In parallel with his performances, he visited other studios and theaters. And one fine day, Bogatyrev realized that he could no longer imagine his life without the theater. Here he stops his studies at the art and industrial school and submits documents to a theater higher education institution. And the choice fell on the famous “Pike”, which is what students of this university call the Shchukin School.

Yuri Bogatyrev passes the entrance exam without any problems. By the way, such great actors as Konstantin Raikin and Natalya Varley studied in the same course as our today’s hero. Popularity came to Bogatyrev during his student years, teachers set him as an example to others and noted him as one of the most talented students in the class.

Upon graduation, the already certified actor began his performances in a theater called “Sovremennik”. At first, Bogatyrev was trusted only with small roles, but after a certain time, Yuri began to play leading roles on the stage of his native theater.

Thanks to his roles in such productions as “Forever Alive”, “Twelfth Night” and others, Yuri Bogatyrev became one of the stars of the theater. And in 1977, Oleg Efremov himself personally invited the actor to leave his native stage and continue his activities at the Moscow Art Theater. In turn, Yuri accepted the invitation and over the course of several years played in more than fifteen productions.

Work on the set went in parallel with the theater. The debut came in the graduation film of the master of modern cinema Nikita Mikhalkov. And it’s called “A Quiet Day at the End of the War.” The next role was a cameo, in the film “At the Bottom”.

Yuri Bogatyrev gained his fame after the release of the film “One among Strangers, a Stranger among Ones.” In this film, the actor played the role of Yegor Shilov. After this role, he began to be invited to various projects, which later became legends of Soviet cinema.

By the way, Yuri Bogatyrev was a very versatile person; he often appeared on the radio, where he participated in the recording of performances, of which there were as many as twelve. These radio plays enjoyed decent success. The actor did not abandon his talent as an artist. Yuri often painted pictures depicting his friends and relatives.

Theater

Working in the early 70s at Sovremennik, Yuri Bogatyrev remained in minor roles for a long time. The artist played in more than 15 productions directed by G. Volchek, V. Fokin, O. Efremov, G. Tovstonogov, A.A. Alova, V.N. Naumova. Bogatyrev’s most famous works were his roles in the plays “Eternally Alive” based on the play by V. Rozov, “The Cherry Orchard” by A. Chekhov and “Twelfth Night” by W. Shakespeare. In 1977, Yuri Georgievich was transferred to the Moscow Art Theater at the invitation of Oleg Efremov.

Yuri Bogatyrev in the play “Twelfth Night”

Here Bogatyrev gets into the cast of the plays “Days of the Turbins” by M. Bulgakov, “The Living Corpse” by L. Tolstoy, “Tartuffe” by Moliere, “The Seagull” by A. Chekhov. For a long time, Yuri Bogatyrev could not get his own housing in Moscow. The actor had to live either in a hostel or with friends: K. Raikin or A. Adabashyan. In 1981, after receiving the title of Honored Artist of the RSFSR, Yuri Georgievich was finally given a one-room apartment on Gilyarovsky Street.

Movies

Acquaintance with the aspiring film director Nikita Mikhalkov in the late 60s was of great importance for Bogatyrev’s creative biography. Collaboration with the director resulted in a large number of diverse roles for Yuri Georgievich. In 1970, the artist made his debut in Nikita Sergeevich’s diploma work “A Calm Day at the End of the War” and immediately gained popularity among filmmakers.

Yuri Bogatyrev in the film “A Calm Day at the End of the War”

Four years later, Bogatyrev reincarnated as the main character - security officer Yegor Shilov - in the film by the novice master “One among Strangers, a Stranger among Ones,” which was filmed in the Caucasus. A few months before filming, Yuri went on a diet in order to look athletic and fit on camera. For the film, the actor had to learn how to sit in the saddle, which he did easily and quickly.

Yuri Bogatyrev in the film “One among strangers, a stranger among friends”

Bogatyrev’s horsemanship made an impression even on seasoned local residents, Chechens. Yuri Bogatyrev gave his all to the game. The artist and his friend Konstantin Raikin were not afraid to jump from a cliff into a mountain river, which almost ended in tragedy for both.

Yuri Bogatyrev in the film “Unfinished Piece for Mechanical Piano”

For Nikita Mikhalkov, Bogatyrev became one of the main actors. Yuri Georgievich appeared in the director’s film “An Unfinished Piece for a Mechanical Piano,” in which the role of Voinitsev was written especially for the artist, in the film adaptation of “A Few Days in the Life of I. I. Oblomov,” where he played the complete opposite of Andrei Stolts’s own character.

Yuri Bogatyrev in the film “A few days in the life of I. I. Oblomov”

In 1981, Yuri Bogatyrev played the role of Stasik in the comedy “Kinfolk,” where Svetlana Kryuchkova and Nonna Mordyukova also played. In 1986, Mikhalkov invited Bogatyrev to the project “Dark Eyes,” where the artist’s partners on the work site were Marcello Mastroianni, Irina Safonova, Innokenty Smoktunovsky, and Oleg Tabakov.

Yuri Bogatyrev in the film “Kinfolk”

Other significant works by Yuri Bogatyrev include the adventure film “Two Captains” by Evgeny Karelov, the drama “Declaration of Love” by Ilya Averbukh, the film adaptation of the play “Vacation in September” by A. Vampilov, the film “The Last Hunt” by Igor Sheshukov, the melodrama “My Dad” by Vladimir Bortko – idealist,” family drama by Sergei Ashkenazy “Time for Thought.”

Yuri Bogatyrev in the film “Two Captains”

In the 1984 TV series “Dead Souls,” director Mikhail Shveitzer assembled a star-studded cast. In addition to Bogatyrev, Alexander Kalyagin, Larisa Udovichenko, Innokenty Smoktunovsky, Vyacheslav Nevinny, Vsevolod Sanaev, Inna Makarova, Valery Zolotukhin, Lidiya Fedoseeva-Shukshina, Inna Churikova played in N. Gogol’s immortal tragicomedy.

Yuri Bogatyrev in the film “Dead Souls”

The last works in cinema for Yuri Bogatyrev were the drama “The Flight of the Bird”, where the actor appeared in an ensemble with Elena Yakovleva and Rodion Nakhapetov, the adventure comedy “Presumption of Innocence”, in which Lyubov Polishchuk and Stanislav Sadalsky played together with Bogatyrev, and the musical film “Don Cesar de Bazan" starring Anna Samokhina and Mikhail Boyarsky.

Yuri Bogatyrev in the film “Don Cesar de Bazan”

A large place in the artist’s filmography was occupied by his work in the television plays “Tanya”, “Once Upon a Time in California”, “Martin Eden”, in the television versions of the performances of the Sovremennik Theater and the Moscow Art Theater “Forever Alive”, “Twelfth Night”, “Mutiny”, "Carrier Henschel." Being a big child himself, Yuri Bogatyrev willingly participated in the filming of programs and film adaptations for children that were broadcast on central television: “The Man from the Country of Green”, “This Fantastic World”, “Poems by A. Barto”, “The Path”.

Yuri Bogatyrev: Secret Diary

Author: Vladimir Vester, Dilyara Tasbulatova
Yuri Bogatyrev, who is best known as a wonderful actor, was also a wonderful artist. He had one interesting habit: he kept detailed diaries, writing down in a notebook everything that happened to him during the day: that is, he wrote almost every day.

Delightful diary

Marvelous.
It is even more surprising that these notes, written with such generous scrupulousness as the diaries of other celebrities (and even then, not everyone was so attentive), have not yet been published.

Maybe because they are too frank and unexpected - even for those who knew him well?

Reading, however, Bogatyrev’s notes is a delight.

He writes well, concisely, with mood - even, let's say, with literary brilliance: talent is talent.

As they say, if a person is talented, then he is talented in everything.

...These gusts of wind on a March day - in Riga, where Yura was born; his family's move from Riga to Krasnogorsk near Moscow, school carousings with traditional port wine, his walks along the Old Arbat or ... the doll that he brought to the entrance exam to "Pike".

He brought the doll in 1966, having previously been an actor-puppeteer, archaeologist, pop reader, carpet artist, etc. True, Yura never became a naval officer, although his father literally dreamed about it.

We read further: and while reading, we hear Yura playing the piano, we find out how many times and whom he was going to marry, we are present at his conversations with Eldar Ryazanov...

What a rich, joyful and sad life, full of ideas and dreams.

And ahead is the day when Yura speaks frankly about himself:

“ I
imagine myself in the weight category up to 70 kilograms , relatively young , when there were still roles looming ahead that would never play again , and absolutely not envious of people who have personal cars and exhibitions in the Manege . ”

Flying wardrobe Yura

But he really never envied anyone; on the contrary, they envied him. His all-Union fame and the fact that he was an actor in as many as two famous theaters - Sovremennik and the Moscow Art Theater. And since he was constantly torn between his two main dreams, to become an artist and perform on stage, then, one might say, both dreams came true to the extent possible in such an existence “on a break.”

He performed in different roles, in cinema and theater; which he succeeded to the highest degree, but these roles exhausted only a small part of his capabilities. This is what they said about him (and it’s worth repeating):

“ Guys ,
this amazing Yura can “ take the shape of any vessel ” and “ adapt himself to any suit , ” and his arms are his “ upper legs , ” and he himself looks like a “ flying wardrobe .
” The (slightly disparaging) nickname “Aktor Akterych” did not suit him; he was, rather, “Artist Artistych”.

This is what was organic for him, because Yura, Yuri Georgievich, was none other than a born Vakhtangovite.

And precisely in the very sense in which Evgeny Vakhtangov himself defined it, when he asserted the priority of the actor’s personality over the image he creates.

Following this “timeless covenant,” he brilliantly portrayed achingly tender people, forever unsettled in this world. And with the same brilliance he played stupid people, idiots, scoundrels and envious people, being himself a very smart person.

Soviet Beardsley

And he was also sophisticated, in love with art in a broader sense than the average actor: Bogatyrev idolized the “Miriskuniki” and the “Jack of Diamonds.”

“ The graphics
of this drawing actor , sophisticated esthete , vaguely reminiscent of decadent times , Bakst and Somov , and even more of Wilde and Beardsley ,” artist Sergei Barkhin wrote about him . — Moreover , it was impossible to get albums of these wonderful artists in the seventies and eighties . The artist seemed to snatch and recognize these lines and spots from the
air , by some remnants , aftertaste of the influences of Art Nouveau . ” Iya Savina, the famous actress depicted in Bogatyrev’s drawing “Lady with a Dog” in the flickering light of a wavy dress and Chekhov’s lines, and at her feet he himself, a fantastic creature with the face of the artist himself, said:

“ I
don’t know another actor like him ... He had an incredible combination of intelligence and reckless dedication . And I was always dissatisfied with myself . In this sense , he was similar to Faina Georgievna Ranevskaya , who came out and asked : “ Well , how is it today , huh ?” A ? " . And I waited touchingly for approval .
That's
how Yurochka is . He’ll be exhausted from the performance , give his all, and come to me with a question : “ Iechka , in my opinion , today is nothing , huh ?” " . And I answered : “ In my opinion , ’s monstrous , Yura . ” And I saw tears in his eyes ... I rushed to calm : “ Yurochka , you a wonderful job !” “ You should have seen his eyes , which said that he gave his all to the end and yet was not sure that everything went well ”
... “ Some kind of fire burns
in him , his soul demands something higher , it just ca n’t settle down and adapt to the way it is customary to live , the way most people live , ” Oleg Efremov said about him .
The Moscow Art Theater Museum has preserved a gift to Efremov - a drawing by Yuri Bogatyrev “Seagull and Cross”: the back of a chair, a Gzhel cross, a seagull painted in gouache on a piece of felt.

Outcast

Friends said that one could even imagine Yuri Georgievich as an old man: how he, the eminent People's Artist of the USSR, walks along Kamergersky in a fur coat and with a cane, and grateful students swarm around him.

But no one could imagine him, so brilliant, all alone in a public canteen with a glass of compote and two brown sausages on a cracked official plate.

However, for all his fame, he was just a very lonely man: it is unknown whether it would have come to sausages, but even at the height of his fame he was lonely, although, paradoxically, he hated loneliness with all his soul. And he suffered from it.

...Back then it was not customary to even mention it, but Bogatyrev had a “non-traditional” sexual orientation, which may have partly ruined him: his personal drama also lay in the fact that, being a direct and frank person, he was forced to constantly pretend not who he really was. In general, this topic was “the most painful” for him, as his friend Alexander Adabashyan said.

Yes, he was generally on his own; there were no other such performers, actors with such a destiny in our cinema: an enormous talent, if not a genius, and also a great artist - in everyday life, simply put, “in everyday life,” he I felt deeply unhappy.

But it’s not just a matter of “everyday life” as such: it’s a tragedy of self-identification, a double life, and even with a sense of guilt, which a hypocritical society imposes on people with their sexual preferences. Indeed, in fact, despite his fame and enormous gift, he was an outcast.

Perhaps that’s why he died so early: he tried to get away from his main problem with the help of excessive consumption of strong drinks and medications.

Posthumous vanity

...After his death, unexpected, accidental, fatal, vulgarization and posthumous fuss also began: almost all the circumstances of his life, everything that happened to him (and that never happened), after his tragic departure was repeatedly played out, published, remembered and replicated.

For the most part, we will give it its due, honestly and tactfully, but sometimes with some kind of vulgar pleasure, with the voluptuousness of note-taking gossips who come up with “sensations” and “previously unknown details.” The mystery of his death (oh, my God) was also “solved” by psychics, oracles, astrologers and even fortune tellers.

May day, name day of the heart

All this gossip and idle talk is completely incompatible with his opinion of himself and his profession:

“ Pushkin
inspires the soul , Gogol gives food to the mind , Chekhov helps to comprehend the profession more deeply .
” His roles were scrupulously broken down into small components, getting to the “essence”, trying to understand how the same person could do it all. How does it happen that “sad and slight poisonousness is clearly visible in his interpretation of the role of Viktor Karenin in “The Living Corpse” (1982), and he shows a subtle sense of playful and fantasy in “Pearl Zinaida” (roles in “Zinaida” were two: Eureka, 1987, and Tabaka, 1988).

Among his famous works are Trigorin in “The Seagull”, and Poluorlov in “Old New Year” (both 1983), and teacher Kiro (“Attempt to Flight”, 1984), and Fyodor Ivanovich (“Crazy”, 1986)…

And, of course, Manilov in Mikhail Schweitzer’s television film “Dead Souls,” shown in 1984. Schweitzer's interpretation of Gogol's great poem received enthusiastic reviews then, and even now - Schweitzer, as it turned out, does not become outdated. As someone said: “The best film adaptation of “Dead Souls” of all existing ones, Manilov has no equal... »

. The audience understood that it was Gogol’s Manilov in front of them: “a truly educated man” who did not allow “such a pleasant guest” as Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov to pass through the doorway after the owner: “I will not allow such a pleasant guest to pass.” In the end, they barely squeeze through this very opening together.

It is clear that Manilov is in some way an enthusiastic idiot. But he is something special, an idiot-dreamer, sickeningly, treacly sentimental and exhaustingly polite: with exorbitant lisps. Auntie to his darling wife (Larisa Udovichenko), this sweet-voiced gentleman cannot stand the “issues of low life”, the daily routine of agriculture, wanting to live all his days “in the bosom, in some way, of nature.” So that the “May day” never ends, and the “name day of the heart” is eternal. And he has the most of his dreams, Manilov’s: “How nice it would be, darling, how nice, if we could take and build an underground passage from here, and the exit would be right on Teatralnaya Square.” And we immediately imagine this Gogol dreamer coming out of the ground with his darling onto Teatralnaya Square - and these wild dreams of his are just dumbfounding.

It is not clear, in essence, which of them is, in fact, more disgusting: “a hole in humanity,” the terrifying Plyushkin, or this Gogol-Bogatyrevsky Manilov - some kind of saccharine, empty, like a drum. Bogatyrev plays neither the “momentary” Manilov, but the “eternal” Manilov - such enthusiastic idiots and idealists without an idea, of which Russian reality can produce endlessly, and in our slack times there are plenty of them.

The same fool in his performance is Cleante - in Moliere’s play “Tartuffe”, staged at the Moscow Art Theater in 1981 by Anatoly Efros. And not just a fool, but the pinnacle of human stupidity. In this performance, Kalyagin was occupied in the role of Orgon. So he said that “Yura did not play the right person, but a complete fool. Stuffed with quotes read somewhere. Can you imagine when a fool says the right things, and even temperamentally, and even when the words are spewed out at breakneck speed, interfering with themselves and the expression of thoughts... He blushed, turned blue, sweated... It was amazing!”

A theatrical masterpiece: there was no way to get an extra ticket, everyone was eager to see Bogatyrev.

Declaration of love

How did he work on his roles? Only in complete solitude and with full dedication, so that the role is polished to shine. He appeared on the stage of famous theaters and acted in films, playing twenty-nine roles.

Critics wrote about his roles in Mikhalkov (“One among strangers, a stranger among one’s own”) and his Sayapin in “Vacation in September”, about Stolz in “A Few Days in the Life of Oblomov”, about Romashov in “Two Captains”, about Filippka - in "Declaration of Love". Played by Bogatyrev Filippok, the alter ego of Evgeniy Gabrilovich, according to whose script this film was based, is an epic, this “life and fate” of an individual intellectual who found himself in a wolfhound century: writer, war correspondent, loving husband, lyricist, romantic, eccentric and indigenous , a “convinced” Muscovite.

Bogatyrev in this role lives the enormous life of his country, and indeed the whole world, looking at him with the defenseless, blind eyes of an idealist caught like chickens in the pluck.

In his first novel, which he wrote somewhere in the Sokolniki slums, he wrote:

“ The new
twentieth century actually began not January 1 , 1901 , but on August 1 , 1914 , on the first day of the imperialist war . I saw the birth of this century . First in Italy , in Venice , from where tourists fled , and the hotels , gondolas , and tables of endless coffee shops stood empty , and the beach on the Lido , and the sunbeds by the sea also stood empty ... Yes , the new century began with a feeling of emptiness and danger .
” This expectation of a global catastrophe is also felt in Mann’s “Death in Venice”, with its half-empty beaches of the Lido, cholera approaching like a harbinger of war - the 19th, humanistic, century ends 14 years later than expected.

Unfinished play

...It’s funny that, say, Serge Voinitsev from “The Unfinished Piece for Mechanical Piano” is no longer a “defense” of the intelligentsia, but a merciless parody of it, of its decorative “going to the people”: “Sophie! Tomorrow we will go to where the peasants are mowing hay and give them our coats.” This is both the other side of idealism and a mockery of Manilovism - Bogatyrev always has an internal theme, his roles are interconnected, he seems to write his own history of Russia - recorded in archetype characters.

And here it’s played like that – in the inner meaning, in the “melody” of the role, exactly like Chekhov’s. The blatant emptiness of life, the voluntary waste of it on trifles, chatter, good-naturedness...

People drink, eat, talk, and at this time their lives collapse. They live mechanically, like this attraction, this piano. And this boring, empty “play” is not only unfinished – it is endless.

On Gilyarovsky

... Yuri Georgievich moved to Gilyarovsky Street only after his friends, defenseless against all sorts of “banal everyday life” and the problems closely associated with it, persuaded him to write a letter to the highest party administrative bodies.

“ You ,
Yura , subtle , vulnerable person , you’re not even a communist at all , but still , you should stop being shy . Just write to them that due to many years of living in a pencil case in the former apartment of Inessa Armand , at Manezhnaya Street , you cannot play your roles with full dedication on the stage of the Moscow Art Academic Theater , the main theater of the country .
” ...How he actually wrote this letter and how long he was persuaded to do it was most likely reflected in his diary. Those at the top were probably so amazed by the dispatch they received that they immediately gave an order to the Moscow Soviet: urgently allocate the People's Artist of the RSFSR Yu.G. Bogatyrev. one-room apartment. And definitely not in the middle of nowhere, not on a faceless residential outskirts, but in an area close to the city center.

Oddly enough, it worked. He and Manezhnaya moved there, celebrating a housewarming with close friends. And he carefully placed books on the shelves, wonderful books on art that he had collected since his student years. And hung up his paintings. And I went to the theater from Gilyarovsky Street. He went on stage almost every evening, but acted less in films.

Four days before the exhibition

...The worst and irreparable thing happened on the night of February 1st to 2nd, 1989 in the same small apartment on Gilyarovsky Street. There are several versions of what happened.

One of them is almost “official”, dry and protocol: they walked, drank... suddenly became ill with their heart... they called an ambulance... the paramedic injected clonidine into the artist’s heart with a long needle - a drug incompatible with tranquilizers and drinking champagne. Yuri Georgievich took tranquilizers for several years. The champagne was uncorked on the occasion of a large fee in foreign currency, which he received from the Italian producer of Mikhalkov’s film “Black Eyes” for the role of a somewhat stupid, cheerful leader of the nobility.

It started with champagne and ended with mourning flags on the facade of the theater in Kamergersky Lane...

Four days later, on February 6, 1989, on Tverskoy Boulevard, in the premises of the branch of the Bakhrushin Theater Museum, in the Ermolova House Museum, a personal exhibition of works by Yuri Georgievich Bogatyrev was to open.

He has been preparing it for more than ten years. Or longer. Perhaps all my life. Now no one can say exactly how long it took him. There is probably something about this in his diary. And in the “memory of time” - eyewitness accounts, critics’ opinions, his films and films about him, performances, cartoons, paintings, drawings...

He also looked at himself, perhaps many times more closely than at anyone else. And he “snatched” himself from the huge and complex everyday life with ruthless frankness. Every time it’s caricatured, as in that self-portrait, where a very large long face with very thick cheeks and lips, and on the right, on a shock of wheat hair, a tiny black top hat perched as if by chance.

It seems that he flew from that fairy-tale world that Yura painted with the colors of this world; and from there - a huge, winged butterfly on the neck...

The drawing was preserved, and the butterfly did not fly away, and there was nowhere for it to fly, in February in Moscow.

Iya Savina recalled:

“ wonderful priest performed his at the
Vagankovskoye cemetery . Then he said a few words of his own : “ Yurochka , golden man !” You left early , but understand , do n’t be upset , the Lord goes around His garden and collects the fruits that are already ripe ...” We cried . Perhaps , due to his illness , Yurochka could no longer work as he did . _ And the Lord took away those fruits that had already ripened , these brilliant fruits ... Maybe ...”
A large, but unexpectedly light granite monument with the inscription was erected on his grave :

“ Yuri
Georgievich Bogatyrev – 1947 – 1989 – People’s Artist of the RSFSR .
” When creating the monument, the Artist’s drawings were used.

The high title was awarded to Yuri Georgievich Bogatyrev less than a year before his cardiac arrest - in 1988. His friends recognized him as a wonderful artist back in the sixties, but which of them was the first to say so remains, most likely, in his diary...

However, it doesn’t matter who first noticed him - as an artist, and not just a great artist: actors, photographers, artists, directors, friends, acquaintances, just people whose names disappeared, as they say, “in the wilds of decades.” They saw colorful dreams and visions of the actor and artist Yuri Bogatyrev. His talent was such that he could continuously feel the “forgotten beauty” with his soul and heart.

photo: Soviet screen/FOTODOM

Personal life

Actor Yuri Bogatyrev often had to transform himself into a respectable family man in films and on stage. Among his on-screen wives one can remember Elena Solovey, Natalya Nazarova, Svetlana Kryuchkova. But in the personal life of Yuri Georgievich, everything was not at all easy. The actor failed to create a happy family, although Yuri loved children. The artist maintained tender friendly relations with women. Yuri's friends were Iya Savvina, Natalya Gundareva, Natalya Varley. But more and more often men appeared in the actor’s life.

Yuri Bogatyrev

Yuri Bogatyrev realized his own unconventional orientation quite late. The actor was ashamed that he was gay, and because of this he began to go on binges, which he used to suppress attacks of depression. Bogatyrev managed to overcome his craving for forbidden connections only once, when Yuri developed a tender feeling for the little-known actress Nadezhda Seraya.

Yuri Bogatyrev and Nadezhda Seraya

After a divorce from her first husband, a woman found herself and her child practically on the street. Yuri Bogatyrev extended a helping hand to Nadezhda: the young people signed at the Moscow registry office, and the girl managed to stay in Moscow. The couple planned to move in together after their housing problems were resolved. But Yuri was playing for time and didn’t even tell his own mother about the wedding.

Personal life of Yuri Bogatyrev (actor)

As for such a topic as the personal life of Yuri Bogatyrev, it is ambiguous. Things didn’t work out for the actor with the opposite sex; he was delighted with women, but he didn’t experience any attraction. The actor looked at the girls as if they were beautiful paintings or sculptures. Even at that time, many wondered whether it was true that Yuri Bogatyrev was gay.

The actor was a married man, having tied the knot with actress Nadezhda Seroy. With all this, neither Bogatyrev himself nor his wife hid the fact that it was a marriage of convenience. In the last years of his life, the actor realized that he was homosexual, but he did not achieve understanding from either his family or friends. He was seized by severe depression and the actor became addicted to strong drinks and very strongly. After prolonged drinking of alcohol, and in large quantities, Bogatyrev began to have health problems.

Death

In the last months of his life, Yuri Bogatyrev began taking antidepressants as prescribed by his doctor. The artist was oppressed by psychological problems that he could not cope with on his own. On the night of February 2, Yuri Georgievich took medication and went to bed. At night, the actor had a heart attack. According to the instructions, the ambulance injected Bogatyrev with clonidine, the dose of which turned out to be fatal in combination with medications for the treatment of depression. As a result, a state of shock developed, which became the cause of the actor’s death.

Grave of Yuri Bogatyrev

The day before, Bogatyrev was preparing an exhibition of his own artistic works, since he did not give up the hobby of his youth - painting - until the end of his life. But during the funeral, which took place on February 6, many of Yuri Georgievich’s paintings disappeared without a trace, as well as the fee from the Italian producer. Bogatyrev's grave is located at the Vagankovskoye cemetery.

Memory

In memory of Yuri Bogatyrev, several programs and documentaries were created. Leonid Filatov dedicated an episode of the program “To Be Remembered” to his friend, the film “Islands” was released on the “Culture” channel, and the film “Big, Big Child. Yuri Bogatyrev."

On February 25, 2021, the premiere of the documentary film “Yuri Bogatyrev. Stolen Life,” which used rare photos and documents from the Bogatyrev family archive, as well as testimonies from the actor’s friends.

Books and films

Having lived a difficult, short life full of contradictions, the actor left his mark on art. Natalya Bobrova wrote books about his difficult fate:

• “Yuri Bogatyrev: Not like everyone else,” 2001;
• “Yuri Bogatyrev. A stranger among his own", 2021

Documentary films aired on TV channels:

• “Big, big baby. Yuri Bogatyrev", "Russia 1". 2015;
• “Islands. Yuri Bogatyrev", "Culture". 2015;
• “Yuri Bogatyrev. Stolen life", "TVC". 2021;
• "Parting. Yuri Bogatyrev”, “TVC”. 2021

Filmography

• “A Quiet Day at the End of the War” – 1970
• “One among strangers, a stranger among one’s own” – 1974
• “Slave of Love” – 1975
• “Unfinished Piece for Mechanical Piano” – 1976
• “A few days in the life of I.I. Oblomov” - 1979
• “Vacation in September” – 1979
• "The Last Hunt" - 1979
• “My Dad is an Idealist” – 1980
• “Kinfolk” – 1981
• “Dead Souls” – 1984
• “Dark Eyes” – 1987
• “Presumption of Innocence” – 1988
• “Don Cesar de Bazan” – 1989