Konstantin Grigoriev is a famous actor of Soviet cinema and theater, who became a star of the first magnitude in the early 80s. He could play a Siberian peasant, a hereditary nobleman, a foreign intelligence agent, and a red commissar. In the guise of a vile bandit, Grigoriev repelled, causing a sea of negative emotions, but fell in love with himself, playing the fearless head of the expedition.
Pictures with the participation of Konstantin Grigoriev gathered a huge audience from television screens. And today those pictures of the Soviet era have a lot of fans. However, not everyone knows the tragic fate of Konstantin Konstantinovich, who seemed to have fallen out of life at the very peak of his popularity.
At the beginning of the acting journey
Konstantin Grigoriev, whose filmography includes more than a dozen films, was born in Leningrad on February 18, 1937. He was raised by his grandmother. He survived the blockade of Leningrad, after school he enteredin a construction university, which he did not graduate from. He was attracted by the theater, so the whole life and work of a young man revolved around him. While working as a stoker at the Vyborg Palace of Culture, he attended a theater group in parallel. Working as a stage fitter at the Lensoviet Theatre, Grigoriev studied at the acting studio. After graduation, he was a member of the troupe of the Leningrad Komissarzhevskaya Theater for two years. Standing up for a drunken colleague, he was rude to the artistic director, for which he was dismissed with a bang. It seemed - everything! Dot! Life is over! Where to go? For people like Grigoriev, the saying “God kissed the top of the head” is used.
Conquer Moscow
Even the lack of a theatrical education did not become an obstacle on the road chosen by the future actor Konstantin Grigoriev. In 1973, penniless, the young man left for Moscow, where in a fairly short time he became a leading actor in the Pushkin Theater. It was very difficult to get tickets for the production of The Legend of Paganini with the participation of Grigoriev, almost impossible. Vera Alentova was his frequent partner in many productions. Somehow, at a rehearsal, the actress stumbled, fell from a high stage and was seriously injured. Kostya was the first to react, carried her backstage in his arms and worried about the ambulance.
Actress Tamara Semina, recalling the shooting of the film "Tavern on Pyatnitskaya", from the perfectly selected cast, especially distinguished Grigoriev Konstantin - sociable, light, with a wonderful sense of humorand somewhat explosive. There was even a moment when Alexander Feintsimmer, the director, fearing censorship, removed some ideologically harmful moments from the film. For such an untrue interpretation of historical events, the indignant Grigoriev, together with Eremenko Nikolai, even wanted to beat the director.
The actor everyone dreamed of
Nikita Mikhalkov, who spoke of the actor as an artistic nature with a sharp moving characteristic, invited Grigoriev to his film "Slave of Love" (Captain Fedotov). The famous director believed that such a talent as Grigoriev is able to subtly feel the plasticity of character in any course of the plot and the director's proposal. It was with the light hand of Mikhalkov, who considered Grigoriev the dream of any director, that the actor became a real star. In the late 70s and early 80s, the biography of Konstantin Grigoriev got rich for more than a dozen films, including "Tavern on Pyatnitskaya", "Trans-Siberian Express", "Treasure Island", "Green Van", "Walking through the torments", Queen of Spades.
At the peak of popularity
The actor, who was not inferior in popularity to well-deserved actors, was in demand, offers came one after another.
In 1981, he was invited to the Moscow Art Theater by Oleg Efremov, and Grigoriev immediately began to play the main roles in the theater in the so-called first USSR team. The charismatic Grigoriev Konstantin Konstantinovich admired with his eccentricity not only on stage; he was engaged in painting, silversmithing, woodcarving, playing the banjo and guitar,writing songs, poems, scripts and stories. Grigoriev even knitted; he could often be seen surrounded by beautiful ladies of the theater, with whom he vigorously discussed the number of loops. The operetta "Alenka and Scarlet Sails", written by Grigoriev, was staged by many theaters of the country. Leningrad residents of the 60s adored the song "Rain on the Neva", written by him.
Konstantin Grigoriev: personal life
Grigoriev knew how to find an approach to women and in a short period charmed the actress Ekaterina Vasilyeva, was in close relations with the assistant director at Mosfilm Alla Mayorova, the former muse of Bulat Okudzhava. Having fallen in love, without hesitation, he married 19-year-old theater props manager Elena, who gave birth to his son Yegor.
From the second marriage with the actress, Grigoriev had a daughter, whose fate turned out to be tragic: the girl was thrown out of the window during a drunken party. The official version is suicide.
Everything has changed forever
Grigoriev Konstantin had a complex character and was often harsh in his statements. It was this intemperance that played a fatal role in the fate of the actor. On February 17, 1984, having received a salary, he sat in a restaurant with friends and celebrated his birthday. At one moment it seemed to him that at the next table two men looked strangely in his direction. Grigoriev did not like this, and he went to them to sort things out. Some time later, when Konstantin went outside, one of the offended hit him on the head with a metal object and pushed him down the two-meter stairs. The only thing the victim could say when his friends found him bleeding was: “Guys, it hurts me!”. The perpetrators were never found; it is quite possible that for some reason the investigation did not want to complete this case.
At the Sklifosovsky Institute, Konstantin underwent 8 operations, pumping out a liter of fluid from the brain area. The actor was in a coma for two weeks, spent a year and a half in the hospital and almost lost his speech. It was already a completely different person, dramatically aged and lost his memory. The diagnosis made by doctors is total aphasia. At the same time, the actor, whose work of the left hemisphere was disrupted, understood everything perfectly. After the incident, he still played the guitar well, but he could hardly remember the words. In communication, he often asked interlocutors to speak more slowly or forwarded questions to his wife.
Loneliness, lack of demand, poverty…
The rehabilitation period of the actor, who at first was not going to give up, dragged on for years. He was occasionally involved in extras, the main roles were transferred to other actors. In the children's production of Mumu, Grigoriev played the deaf-mute Gerasim. Arriving at the cashier for a salary, he asked the cashier why he was paid so little. To which the woman, without thinking, replied: “Work, Kostenka, we need more!” After this incident, the actor immediately wrote a letter of resignation.
The last filming with Grigoriev took place in 1991 in the film "Tanks Walk on Taganka" by Alexander Solovyov. There, the actor played the role of a patient in a psychiatric hospital. And he played so brilliantly andit seems that many of his followers thought he was crazy.
Many friends became former and gradually stepped aside, leaving Grigoriev alone with his failing he alth and material problems. In addition, the last four years of his life, the actor, who until recently was admired by the whole country, had kidney cancer. Grigoriev Konstantin Konstantinovich began to lead a secluded life, he was in great need, perhaps out of hopelessness he began to drink. He, who lives on one pension, which was even halved at one time for incomprehensible reasons by officials, was even robbed by some young hooligan. He snatched out a bag in which there were money, a passport, blockade and pension certificates.
Last years of life: Konstantin Grigoriev
The actor, whose personal life also began to crack, was in a deep depression. From constant stress, the third wife began to have problems with alcohol, which led to the breakup of the marriage. Later, in the life of Konstantin, either by accident or with a certain intent, a woman named Olga appeared, who gave birth to his son. At her insistence, the Moscow apartment was sold and the place of residence was changed. The family moved to the outskirts of St. Petersburg in the "Khrushchev". Some time later, the young wife filed for divorce, took all the things out of the house and even tried to challenge part of the living space in court. The last years of his life next to the actor was a young woman Nadezhda, who took care of him. She even moved into an apartment with Grigoriev, where she cooked meals for him, cleaned, often read books to him, theywatched movies together.
Konstantin Grigoriev (photo taken in the last years of his life) died on February 26, 2007 and was buried at the Bolsheokhtinsky cemetery in St. Petersburg. His life, brightly contrasting and deeply unhappy, formed the basis of the documentary film “Idol. Without memory and glory.”
