Don't bother with your face
Vasily Semenovich himself was not one of those people who is easy to forget. Moreover, in order to earn people's love, he did not at all need to go out of his way and “fuss over his face”, like other “fashionable” artists. He did everything effortlessly thanks to his stunning appearance (to be honest: Lanovoi, whom fans called “Vasya Highness,” was one of the most beautiful and “thoroughbred” actors in Russian cinema) and inner nobility. Even when it fell to his lot to play characters dubious from a moral point of view, or even outright scoundrels, he endowed them with irresistible charm. Take, for example, the Nazi General Wolf from “Seventeen Moments of Spring”: as played by Lanovoy, he is not a caricatured villain, but a worthy opponent, in the words of the actor himself, “powerful and smart.” And in an amazing way it is perceived as “ours” as Stirlitz.
Article on the topic Officer and citizen. What do you remember about Vasily Lanovoy?
In general, there were no easy roles for Vasily Semenovich: he always gave his best - he simply couldn’t do it any other way. Just remember his image in the favorite “summer” Soviet comedy “Striped Flight” of 1961: Lanovoy played there in a tiny episode, but what a performance he was! What viewer has not fallen in love with the “king of the beach” in “show-off” glasses, who expressively says, looking at the horizon: “They swim beautifully! That group over there in striped swimsuits..."? By the way, he either jokingly or seriously called this “small but remote” role of Lanova his favorite and complained that he was no longer allowed into the comedy genre: “parsun”, they say, is not the same...
Chronicle and almanac
Indeed, it just so happened that the directors saw Vasily Semenovich purely in the role of a romantic hero. What can you do - Soviet boys needed a role model, and Soviet girls needed something to admire. Such, for example, as Ivan Varabbas, the character of Lanovoy from the film “Officers” (1971), about which AiF recently wrote. After this tape the words “There is such a profession - to defend the Motherland!” became winged, and the actor gained fame as “the most romantic officer” in the country. Although a lot of war films were made in the Soviet Union, this particular film is still remembered. After all, it is, first of all, not about the war, but about a man who equally devotedly loved both a woman and his homeland - just like Vasily Semenovich himself.
In fact, if from Lanovoy’s “officer” roles one can collect something like a historical chronicle of a huge country, then romantic film images are a kind of “almanac” of his own personal life, which in terms of intensity of drama was not inferior to the fates of the heroes he played.
The first of these stories began while still studying at the Shchukin School, when Vasily was fascinated by a young first-year student Tatyana Samoilova. The girl reciprocated his feelings, and without wasting any time, the couple got married.
In the first years of marriage, the young people were very happy, however, the idyll did not last long. Vasily dreamed of children, but Samoilova was in no hurry to give up her career for motherhood. When she found out that she was expecting a child, she had an abortion, which was a real blow for Lanovoy. Divorce was inevitable...
Ten years later, the former spouses met on the set of the film Anna Karenina, where, ironically, they played lovers: she played Karenina, he played Vronsky. However, despite the on-screen chemistry, the old feelings between the actors never flared up. By the way, their shared past not only did not prevent them from getting used to the role, but, on the contrary, even helped: “It was easier for me to understand the relationships of Lev Nikolaevich’s characters through the prism of our fate,” recalled Vasily Semenovich. “What Tatyana and I experienced in reality added spice to this situation...”
Soviet Union officer. Significant roles of Vasily Lanovoy Read more
Nationality, military service and women of Vasily Lanovoy
02.02.2021
The actor, reader, Hero of Labor, known throughout Russia, died on January 28, 2021 from the consequences of coronavirus infection. Some details of his biography still continue to attract attention.
Lanovoy became famous for his characteristic acting and personal qualities, which allowed him to play magnificent roles in the films “Pavel Korchagin”, “Scarlet Sails”, “War and Peace”, “Officers”, “Anna Karenina” and many others.
However, not everyone knows that the roots of the “typical Russian officer” are close to Ukraine and Moldova. It will probably be a surprise to many that he did not serve in the army at all, and despite his reputation as a “sex symbol,” he was not at all a “hero-lover.”
Nationality of Lanovoy
Vasily Lanovoy was born in Moscow, but before that his parents moved to the capital from the small village of Strymba near Odessa, located on the very border of Ukraine with Moldova. This gave grounds to consider Vasily Lanovoy a Ukrainian, or at least to assume his Ukrainian roots.
According to historical data, the village was founded by Moldovan settlers. Its name comes from the Moldovan word “strimba”, i.e. roof. Moldovans were the majority here until the mid-20th century, and many of them live here to this day.
In addition, Lanova’s surname, like Lanskoy, comes from the Polish Lan - “field”. Lanovs most often called people who were born in the field or worked a lot in the arable land. Such a surname may also indicate the Polish origin of its bearer, researchers note.
At the same time, Lanovoy himself spoke of himself specifically as a Ukrainian, and his “gacking” in his youth almost became the reason for his refusal to enter the theater school.
However, in Ukraine, in recent years, after Euromaidan, Lanovoy began to be considered a traitor. The reason was his refusal to support Ukrainian nationalists, support for Russia and the USSR, as well as a tour in Russian Crimea.
Did Lanovoi serve in the army?
Oddly enough, Vasily Semenovich Lanovoy did not serve in the army. The official reason for this is not indicated in open sources. At the same time, at the Shchukin Theater School, from which the actor graduated, there is no military department, so after graduating from the university he had to go to military service.
According to researchers of his biography, both of Vasily Lanovoy’s parents worked in heavy production during the war and received serious degrees of disability there. In addition, Lanovoy’s family had five children, which gave it the status of having many children. Therefore, the future star actor, most likely, was not drafted into the army in accordance with the law.
Despite this, it was Vasily Lanovoy who became the embodiment of the Soviet and Russian officer on the screen. In addition, he was the head of the Army and Culture Foundation and co-chairman of the Russian public movement Immortal Regiment.
Five women of Lanovovo
While studying at the ZIL theater studio, Lanovoy courted his partner Lida, as they told Komsomolskaya Pravda at the cultural center. Lida abandoned her career as an actress and chose to work as a judge. Unfortunately, today she is no longer alive.
According to rumors, Lanovoy was fond of the ballerina Ulanova. However, his first meeting with her turned out to be an embarrassment - he did not recognize the famous ballerina in the pale woman with a scarf on her shoulders who opened the door for him.
“Galina Sergeevna always greeted me very warmly until her death, but there is no need to talk about my love for her, this love is boundless, bright...” Lanovoy admitted in his book.
But Lanovoy’s first wife was his classmate Tatyana Samoilova. They got married in the summer of 1955, after the wedding the young actress immediately became pregnant, but doctors categorically forbade her to give birth.
In 1957, Lanovoy went to China with the film “Pavel Korchagin”, and after the trip the family broke up. However, this did not stop the former spouses from playing the main characters, Anna and Vronsky, in the film Anna Karenina.
Actress of the Moscow Drama Theater. A. S. Pushkin and television director Tamara Zyablova was Lanovoy’s wife for ten years. The actor sailed to her in the guise of a prince on a ship with scarlet sails during the filming of the fairy tale “Scarlet Sails” (1961), persuading the captain of the barquentine on the way from Odessa to Koktebel to pass by the Yalta embankment and moor at the “Actor” sanatorium, where Tamara was vacationing, who recently became his wife.
However, in 1971, the film crew with Tamara had an accident. Zyablova died.
In 1972, Lanovoy married Irina Kupchenko, who bore him two sons. Lanovoy emphasized that he did not want to see his children in the acting profession, so he allowed his sons to choose a profession on their own. In October 2013, his youngest son Sergei died, leaving an illegitimate daughter, Anya.
No happy ending
Lanovoy’s second wife was actress Tamara Zyablova, also an actress, primarily a theater actress. She was five years older, but this did not bother Vasily at all. During the filming of the film “Scarlet Sails,” he begged the director to “take” the sailboat to Yalta, where Zyablova was vacationing at that time. The spectacle was unforgettable: Soviet Gray was leading a ship with sails made of scarlet silk (the same one from which pioneer ties were made) to the pier - but not for Assol-Vertinskaya, but for his Assol-Zyablova! “The city began to look like a disturbed anthill... People ran and jumped... When I went ashore, Tamara said: “You woke up Yalta. But it really was indescribably great. From time to time, all women need such sails,” Lanovoy recalled.
After ten years of married life, the actress told her husband the good news: they will soon have a child. Vasily Semenovich was in seventh heaven - but, unlike Gray and Assol, their story did not have a happy ending...
One day Tamara Mikhailovna went to the Mikhailovskoye Museum-Reserve to film a story about Pushkin’s evenings. On the way back, the film crew had an accident, as a result of which the actress and the unborn baby died. Many years later, Lanovoy recalled that terrible day with a shudder: “I knew where she died, released our dog Charlie and went to the place where she fell. And Charlie had already reached there and began to walk in a circle. And I realized that he smelled it. I remember that I couldn’t call him back after that to get back into the car, so I picked him up and carried him in my arms.”
Personal life
Actor Vasily Lanovoy, whose biography and personal life is the property of our state, often spoke in interviews about the events that happened to his relatives.
All the wives of Vasily Lanovoy were actresses:
- For three years he was married to Tatyana Samoilova, with whom he married while still a student. The collapse occurred due to domestic troubles and conditions.
- The second marriage took place in 1961 and lasted 10 years. When the film “Scarlet Sails” was being filmed, his wife Tatyana Zyablova was vacationing in Crimea. During filming, the young husband swam to the shore, where the actress was on a ship with sails glowing the color of dawn. Vasily Semenovich's wife died in a transport accident.
- The third marriage continues to this day. Lanovoy’s wife Irina Kupchenko gave birth to her husband two children who did not follow in the footsteps of their parents. The eldest son Alexander became a historian, and the younger son Sergei an economist.
Important!
Unfortunately, Sergei passed away early, but Vasily Semenovich has a granddaughter who lives and studies in Arkhangelsk with her mother and grandmother. She watches all the films with her famous grandfather.
When Anya comes to Moscow, her grandparents take her to the capital’s theaters and teach her about literature.
Pound of salt
Vasily Semenovich was helped to survive the tragedy by working within the walls of his native Vakhtangov - and by an affair with actress Irina Kupchenko, which began there. She was fifteen years younger, and now it was Lanovoy’s turn to worry about the age difference. Which, however, did not prevent them from living in a happy marriage for almost half a century...
Article on the topic
We will not stand behind the price! Vasily Lanovoy - about the “iron hand” and the price of Victory
If Samoilova became “Karenina” in Lanovoy’s fate, and Zyablova became “Assol”, then Kupchenko became “Strange Woman” from the film of the same name, the only one where the star couple played together. Unlike Raisman’s film (in which, by the way, echoes of “Anna Karenina” are also heard), in life the spouses finally found in each other what they were looking for. The marriage produced two sons - Alexander and Sergei: the first was named in honor of Pushkin, and the second in honor of Yesenin. Alas, Lanovoy and Kupchenko were not spared the “pound of salt” either - along with parental happiness, they also had to endure the loss of children. Together with Sergei, his twin brother was born, who died shortly after birth, and at the age of 37, Sergei himself died of a heart attack.
...When Vasily Semenovich was diagnosed with Covid in early January, Irina Petrovna insisted that she too be admitted to the hospital. She was there all the time while her husband was struggling with his illness, and until the last she believed in his recovery... And until the last she remembered his words: “If fate was destined for us to come into this world, then we must try to live big, in any case , honestly, so that you don’t have to regret or repent of anything later.”
Sergei and Alexander - sons of Vasily Lanovoy
Alexander was born into a family of famous and creative parents. His father Vasily Lanovoy is a legendary artist who was remembered by many television viewers after the release of the film “Pavel Korchagin”. Then there were many more bright and interesting roles, playing in which men showed himself to be a talented and charismatic actor. Alexander Lanovoy’s mother is no less famous and beloved by millions of Soviet viewers, theater and film actress Irina Kupchenko.
The eldest son was named in honor of the great poet Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin. He was not the only child; besides him, his younger brother Sergei grew up in the family. The parents loved and treated both sons with special reverence. Irina Petrovna worked a lot and was often busy filming, so, as a rule, the boys went on vacation to the sea with their father. They swam in the sea and ate a lot of fruit. Sergei often got sunburned, and Vasily Lanovoy regularly smeared sour cream on him. Sasha acted cunningly - he went to the sea only at non-dangerous hours, when it was not very hot.
Alexander and Sergei were very attached to Vasily Semenovich, and even as they grew older, they always asked him for advice. Previously, the famous artist claimed in all interviews that his sons are his wealth and pride.
