Actor biography
Vsevolod Safonov was born in 1926 in Moscow. He was born into an intelligent family. But I never saw my father; he died early. He spent his childhood in hunger and poverty, raised by his mother alone. They lived in a small two-room apartment on the outskirts of the capital.
As a child, Vsevolod Safonov dreamed of becoming a pilot; when the Great Patriotic War began, the hero of our article was only 15 years old. He entered the aviation technical school in order to later go to the front. He graduated from it in 1945, but not with a flying degree, but with a technical specialty.
He was eager to go to the front line, but the medical commission did not allow him due to health reasons, which Vsevolod Safonov was very upset about.
In the acting profession
The hero of our article became an actor completely by accident. When the medical board rejected him, he did not know what to do next; everything he had dreamed of for so many years turned out to be impossible. Then a friend suggested that he and his company go to the entrance exams to a theater school.
Vsevolod reacted coolly to this idea, never learned a single piece, but passed the difficult entrance test brilliantly and was accepted into the Shchukin Higher Theater School.
Safonov studied in the creative workshop of People's Artist of the RSFSR Anna Orochko. He received his college diploma in 1949. The talented graduate was first noticed by the artistic director of the chamber theater, Alexander Tairov, who invited him to his troupe.
True, a year later the Chamber Theater closed, the actor Vsevolod Safonov moved to the satire theater.
Safonov Vsevolod Dmitrievich
Born on April 9, 1926 in Moscow.
Honored Artist of the RSFSR (11/26/1965). People's Artist of the RSFSR (03/28/1974).
In the last year of the war he graduated from aviation technical school, but the medical commission did not allow him to serve in military service. It was then that an event occurred that determined his entire future fate. One day, the comrades with whom he studied in an amateur art group invited him to go with them to take exams at the B.V. Theater School. Shchukin. And Safonov, having absolutely no intention of “studying to be an artist,” was accepted into the class of Professor Anna Alekseevna Orochko.
Graduated from the B.V. Theater School. Shchukin (1949).
Since 1949 - actor at the Chamber Theater. Since 1950 - actor at the Moscow Satire Theater. Since 1952 - actor in the theater of the group of Soviet troops in Potsdam (GDR). Since 1955 - actor at the Leningrad Komissarzhevskaya Theater. Since 1958 - actor at the Film Actor's Studio Theater in Moscow.
He died of cancer on July 6, 1992 in Moscow. The actor was buried in the 11th section of the Khovansky (Central) cemetery in Moscow.
Wives: - director Valeria Ivanovna Rubleva (daughter from her first marriage - actress Elena Safonova); - actress Elsa Ivanovna Lezhdey.
Chapter 22 of the cycle “To Remember...” by Leonid Filatov is dedicated to the life and work of the actor.
movie roles 1993 Secret Echelon | Secret train (Ukraine) :: pilot who served in Spain 1991 Back to the USSR | Back in the USSR (USA, Japan) :: Ivan 1990 Ten years without the right to correspondence :: episode 1989 Deja vu | Deja vu (USSR, Poland) :: Professor Babochkin 1989 And It Happened in Vichy (film-play) :: Prince von Berg 1988 Puppy :: Mikhail Semenovich 1988 Blue Rose | Blakitna Troyanda :: doctor on the waters 1987 Three lemons for my beloved :: Professor Vinogradov 1987 Saber without a scabbard :: Andrey Lukich Trembovelsky :: main role 1987 Start the investigation :: Vladimir Ivanovich Melnikov 1986 Seven screams in the ocean :: Professor 1986 The right to decide: : Ivan Mikhailovich 1986 No statute of limitations :: Semyon Paigin 1985 The feat of Odessa :: Veniamin Ivanovich 1985 Uprising Square :: Captain Pitigrilli 1984 The least among the brothers :: Kirill 1984 The shore of his life :: Sir John Robertson 1983 You are my delight, my torment :: director 1983 Anxious Sunday :: Monsieur Marcinel 1983 Such a tough game - hockey :: chairman of the sports society 1983 Invincible :: Nikolai Podvoisky 1983 To your own!.. :: Nina's father 1983 Anna Pavlova | Anna Pavlova | Anna Pawlowa - Ein Leben für den Tanz (USSR, Great Britain, East Germany, Cuba, France) :: Vladimir Borisovich Fredericks 1982-1984 Fire roads | Olovli yўllar :: Comrade Andrey 1982 The investigation is being conducted by Experts :: Anton Petrovich Bardin 1982 Tenderness for the roaring beast :: Razumikhi 1982 Not all comets go out :: Rozhkov 1981 Black Triangle :: Dmitry Stepanovich Kartashov 1981 The Third Dimension :: Commander 1981 Deer Hunt :: Fiebig :: main role 1981 Two lines in small print | Two Lines in Small Font | Zwei Zeilen, kleingedruckt :: deputy head of the Moscow Institute of Party History 1981 The father had three sons :: Konstantin 1980 Silver Lakes :: Nikolai Nikolaevich 1980 Casket of Marie de Medici :: Colonel Golovin 1980 Spanish version | Spāņu variants :: head of the intelligence department 1980 I wish you success :: Demid Demidovich 1980 A day for reflection :: Kolosov :: main role 1980 Atlanteans and Caryatids :: Ignatovich Gerasim Petrovich 1979 Old debts :: Dmitry Afanasyevich Sukontsev 1978 Risk strategy :: Blue 197 8 Start: : Senchakov 1978 Right of first signature :: Ryabinin 1978 Answer for everything :: Nikolai Alekseevich Kurylenko :: main role 1978 Live in joy :: Varentsov Yuri Kharlamovich 1978 Spring trip :: grandfather 1977, 1979 Open book :: Nikolai Vasilyevich Zaozersky 1976 Flowers for Olya :: Igor Petrovich 1976 Fire Bridge :: Bolukhatov 1976 Mysterious Count | Das Verhör (GDR) :: Colonel 1976 The Life and Death of Ferdinand Luce :: Vladimirov :: main role 1976 Being a Brother :: Pavel Lobanov :: main role 1975 The Journey of Mrs. Shelton :: Karavaev 1975 Re-wedding :: Fyodor Kuzmich 1975 Eleven Hopes : : Oleg Petrovich 1974 Front without flanks :: Sadovnikov 1974 Conscience :: Leonid Uvarov / Fyodor Drosov :: main role 1974 Stories about Keshka and his friends :: Ivan Vasilyevich 1974 All the evidence against him :: Mint :: main role 1973 Housewarming on a weekday day 1973 Behind the clouds is the sky :: Kravtsov 1972 Taming the fire :: Leonid Sretensky 1972 Random address :: Pavel Nikolaevich Timakov 1972 Anvil or hammer | Anvil or chuk (Bulgaria, East Germany, USSR) :: Soviet ambassador 1972 Washington correspondent :: Pyotr Gromov :: main role 1971 Listen, on the other side | Daisny tsergvvdee sonsotsgoo (USSR, Mongolia) 1971 The end of the Lyubavins :: Head of the Cheka 1970 Messengers of Eternity :: Minister of Internal Affairs 1970 My Street :: Vladimir Mikhailovich 1970 Sea on Fire :: Bogdanov 1970 When the Fog Lifts :: Mylnikov 1970 Belorussky Station :: Kiryu tires Alexey Konstantinovich :: main role 1969 Freedom or death | Freedom or death (Bulgaria) :: adviser 1968 Shield and sword :: “Nail” 1968 Collapse :: Leonid Borisovich Krasin 1968 Far in the West :: Alexey Karpov 1967 The highest... (film-play) 1966 On the wild shore :: Petin 1966 To the light! (film almanac) :: Zamyakhovsky 1966 Wild Honey :: Sasha 1966 In the Trap :: Kirchmeier 1965 Conscience :: Zelenkevich 1965 Mother's Heart :: Ivan Vladimirovich Ishchersky 1965 What should we call you now? :: secretary of the regional committee 1965 Hyperboloid of engineer Garin :: Shelga Vasily Vitalievich :: main role 1964 Rockets should not take off :: Heinz 1964 Easy life :: Yuri Lebedev :: main role 1964 Space alloy :: Gavryushin 1963 Silence :: Pavel Matveevich Sviridov 1963 Optimistic tragedy :: Bering 1962 Hello, Gnat :: Marek 1962 Law of Antarctica :: Viktor Belov 1961 Alloy :: Egor Nikitin 1961 Cossacks :: friend Olenin 1960 Five days, five nights | Fünf Tage - Fünf Nächte (USSR, GDR) :: Captain Leonov 1959 Peers :: Arkady 1959 On the Eve | In the evening (Bulgaria, USSR) :: Andrei Petrovich Bersenev 1958 On the other side :: Anton Matveev :: main role 1958 The “Motley” case :: Sergei Korshunov 1957 Storm :: Burmin :: main role 1957 The purpose of his life :: Alexey Kostrov :: main role 1956 Soldiers :: Yuri Nikolaevich Kerzhentsev :: main role 1950 Far from Moscow :: meeting participant
dubbing 1968 Crucified Island | Chained Island :: Soviet colonel role of Tengiz Archvadze
archival footage 1996 To remember... (documentary)
Creative business trip
In 1952, Safonov was sent on a responsible creative trip to the GDR. As part of the best young actors of the Union, he goes to perform in front of the Group of Soviet Forces, which is based in Germany.
This work was not easy, I had to play three or four performances a day, and also move from one garrison to another. The drama theater troupe, in which Safonov came, traveled throughout the entire GDR with patriotic productions to maintain the morale of the soldiers. During this time, actor Vsevolod Safonov mastered the German language perfectly and has since spoken it fluently.
Returning to the USSR, he was accepted into the theater-studio of a film actor who worked at Lenfilm in Leningrad. At this time, his active film career began.
Film debut
Back in 1950, Safonov appeared in a small episode in Alexander Stolper’s drama “Far from Moscow.” But the first serious role in the biography of Vsevolod Safonov was filming in the military drama “Soldiers” by Alexander Ivanov.
He got the main role - Lieutenant Yuri Kerzhentsev, who participates in the Battle of Stalingrad. The painting itself had a difficult fate. After a successful premiere in 1956, it was soon shelved due to disagreements between the scriptwriter, Viktor Nekrasov, and the party leadership. When Nekrasov went into exile, the film was completely banned until 1991.
A special place in Vsevolod Safonov’s filmography is occupied by Nikolai Dostal’s dramatic detective story “The Motley Case,” in which he plays MUR investigator Sergei Korshunov, who is investigating a series of complicated crimes. It was in this image that Soviet audiences remembered him for many years.
Death
On July 6, 1992, Vsevolod Safonov passed away. Vsevolod Safonov suffered from cancer, which ultimately became the cause of the artist’s death. The actor struggled with the disease for a long time and managed to live with the disease for many years. But the fight was unequal. The artist died at 66 years old. The actor’s grave is located at the Khovanskoye cemetery in the capital.
Grave of Vsevolod Safonov and Elsa Lezhdey
Elsa Lezhdey survived her husband by only 9 years. After the death of Vsevolod Safonov, the woman withdrew into herself and led a reclusive lifestyle. Ella was very worried about separation from her only loved one. Ella Lezhdey passed away in 2001.
"Belorussky Station"
An important milestone in the career of Vsevolod Dmitrievich Safonov was Andrei Smirnov’s melodrama “Belorussky Station”. This film brought him all-Union popularity.
Safonov played the role of a former miner-demolitionist, and now a journalist, Alexei Konstantinovich Kiryushin, who, together with his fellow soldiers, meets at the funeral of front-line comrade Valentin Matveev. Over the past years, they have been widely scattered throughout life, among them a plant director, an accountant, and even an ordinary utility mechanic. In the summer of 1945, they parted at the Belorussky station, and last met a year later at Matveev’s birthday, now he is gone.
The funeral is painful, and due to the widow's hysteria, the funeral service is canceled. Comrades in arms still have a strong desire to see their friend off on his last journey with dignity. Forgetting about everyday troubles and problems at work, they set off throughout Moscow to look for a place for the funeral. Suddenly they find themselves in different situations that make them remember the brotherhood at the front and the help of their neighbors, hidden and not obvious character traits of each main character and the people around them appear. The main thing is that they remain faithful to front-line friendship.
In this film, the director managed to clearly show the contrast between the thoughts and feelings that torment front-line soldiers and their younger contemporaries. The image of Matveev is constantly invisibly present, which became the main reason for their sad meeting. He serves as a moral guide for his comrades.
At the very end of the film, the heroes gather in the apartment of the battalion nurse, who is struck by the news of Matveev’s death. But she still finds the strength in herself at the end of the tape to sing their favorite song dedicated to the tenth airborne battalion.
People's Artist of the USSR
Safonov received the title of People's Artist in 1974, by which time he managed to star in Alexander Ginzburg's fantastic adventure film "Engineer Garin's Hyperboloid", Vladimir Basov's military drama "Shield and Sword", Yuri Kavtaradze's dramatic detective series "Conscience", about a mysterious murder, which turns out to be connected with the events of the Great Patriotic War.
It is worth noting that Safonov acted in films until his death; films with his participation were released after the actor’s death. Among the latest works, it is necessary to note the detective story by Andrei Benkendorf “Start the Investigation”, the drama by Oleg Biima “Blue Rose”, the family drama by Maria Evstafieva “Puppy”, the comedy by Juliusz Machulski “Deja Vu”, the political drama by Vladimir Naumov “Ten Years Without the Right of Correspondence”.
Love of my life
Vsevolod Safonov, whose personal life was always of interest to the public, never discussed this topic. His impressive appearance as a hero-lover excited the minds of many women, but Vsevolod was an exemplary family man. Everything changed when Vsevolod met actress Elsa Lezhdey . The famous beauty, ex-wife of Vladimir Naumov , has always been in the spotlight because of her extraordinary beauty. They met for the first time on the set of the film “The Shield and the Sword,” but after that they lost sight of each other. Their meeting 15 years later became fateful. Vsevolod and Elsa starred in the same film, and a spark ran between them. Lezhdey was famous by that time; her fame was brought to her by the TV series “The Investigation is Conducted by Experts,” in which she played the beautiful forensic expert Kibrit.
After some time they decided to live together. Vsevolod by that time was not going through the best stage of his life, as he had recently divorced and drank a lot. He constantly reproached himself that he was to blame for the divorce, and he really missed his daughter. Elsa literally pulled the actor out of severe depression. She set him the condition that she would be with him only if Vsevolod came to his senses, stopped feeling sorry for himself and was able to enjoy life again. It must be said that their relationship was full of love and mutual understanding, the creative crisis had passed, Vsevolod continued his successful career, his wife supported her husband in every possible way in all his endeavors, and they starred in many films together.
Personal life
The personal life of Vsevolod Safonov interested his many fans. He was married twice. His first chosen one was actress Valeria Rubleva, who was two years older than him.
They met in the GDR in 1952. During a creative trip of young Soviet artists. Three years later, when their contract ended and they returned to their homeland, the young people got married. At the same time, the spouses turned out to be completely different people; when this manifested itself, it turned out that they did not understand each other. In 1970, when their daughter Elena was 14, they decided to separate.
By the way, the daughter of the hero of our article also became an actress. She played leading roles in the melodrama “Winter Cherry” by Igor Maslennikov, the biopic “Sofya Kovalevskaya” by Ayan Shakhmalieva, and the drama “Dark Eyes” by Nikita Mikhalkov.
After the breakup of his family, Safonov was very worried, and because of this he began to drink. In 1971, he married Soviet actress Elsa Lezhdey, whom he met in 1957 on the set of Mikhail Dubson’s historical drama “Storm.” This was one of the first film works of the hero of our article. The next time they saw each other was on the war drama by Boris Ermolaev and Badrakhyn Sumkha “Listen, on the other side.” The actor was drinking heavily at the time and was in the process of divorcing his first wife, who was tired of her husband’s drunken partying.
Vsevolod fell in love with Leja and proposed to her. She replied that she would agree only on the condition that he stop drinking. Safonov kept his word, they lived together until his death, exactly 21 years.
After the death of her husband, Lejay closed in on herself, refused to communicate with journalists and filming, and generally began to rarely leave her Moscow apartment. In 2001, she died of cancer at the age of 68.
Career of Elena Safonova
After graduating from school, Elena attempted to enroll in the acting department at VGIK, but it only worked out the third time. She did not despair, worked in the library, and in 1975 she finally became a student.
Elena Safonova at the beginning of her acting career
After studying two courses, Lena got married and moved to Leningrad with her husband. She transferred to LGITMiK and began playing on the stage of the Komissarzhevskaya Theater. But the main thing for Safonova was always cinema, so after receiving her diploma in 1981, she again left for Moscow.
Films and roles of Elena Safonova
Lena made her film debut in the tenth grade, playing episodic roles in the films “Looking for My Destiny” and “Three Days in Moscow.” During her studies at the institute, she starred in four more films, but the roles were so insignificant that they did not bring much fame to the actress.
Elena Safonova in the films “Looking for My Destiny”, “Three Days in Moscow”
Safonova’s first success came in 1982 after the screening of the film “The Return of Butterfly,” in which director Oleg Fialko entrusted her with the main role of the Ukrainian opera singer Salome Krushelnitskaya. Elena masterfully conveyed the life and creative path of her heroine from the screen.
Elena Safonova, “Return of Butterfly”
A truly stellar role for Safonova was the young woman Olga in the film “Winter Cherry.” This was the first Soviet film in which the mistress is shown not as a condemned homewrecker, but as a woman dreaming of family happiness. Therefore, the audience took both the plot and the performance of Elena Safonova to heart. The film was incredibly popular, and sequels were filmed - “Winter Cherry 2” (1990) and “Winter Cherry 3” (1995).
Elena Safonova, “Winter Cherry”
After such success, Elena began to be offered work by the most famous directors. Nikita Mikhalkov directed her in the title role in the drama “Dark Eyes.” It was a joint Soviet-Italian film project, and Lena’s partner was the famous Marcello Mastroianni.
Elena Safonova, “Dark Eyes”
The actress's fame went beyond the borders of the Soviet Union. In 1992, she received an offer from French filmmakers to star in the film “The Accompanist,” where she played the opera singer Irene Brice.
Elena Safonova, “Accompanist”
For the next five years, Elena lived in France because she married a foreigner. During this time, she starred in several films from European film studios, played on the French theater stage, and even became a jury member at the Cannes Film Festival.
Elena Safonova, “Wind from the East” (France, Switzerland)
Returning to her homeland after the divorce, Safonova felt that no one had forgotten about her here. The actress immediately received several offers. Most often, she gets strong heroines who are faced with a choice between emancipation and personal happiness: Vera in the film “The President and His Woman”; Nina Sheremeteva in “The Princess on the Beans”; stepmother Alexandra Mikhailovna in “Fan”.
Elena Safonova, “The Princess on the Beans”
Since the beginning of the 2000s, Elena has starred a lot in popular Russian TV series: “Empire Under Attack”, “Sun or Lost”, “Next 2”, “Atlantis”, “Zhurov”, “Matchmakers 5”.
Elena Safonova, “Sink or Lost”
Now Elena Safonova is still in demand in cinema. She doesn’t have many roles, because the actress is very selective and can afford it.
Elena Safonova in the theater
Despite the fact that Safonova considers herself a film actress, she gladly agrees to appear on stage in private productions. At various times she collaborated with the theater "LA' THEATER" (the theater company of V. Dubrovitsky) and the creative association "Duet". At the Millennium Theater House she is remembered for her production of “The Husband Trap,” where she plays with Tatyana Vasilyeva and Fyodor Dobronravov.
Elena Safonova, Millennium Theater
She was invited to the St. Petersburg Center on Kolomenskaya, the Stanislavsky Drama Theater, and the Amphion Theater. In 1999, Elena was awarded the "Chaika" theater prize as the performer of the best actress in the production of "I'm Crying Forward!"
