Yevgeniy Leonov at 100: About the actor who went to prison for a role, loved only one woman, and experienced clinical death

**Yevgeniy Leonov at 100: About the actor who went to prison for a role, loved only one woman, and survived clinical death**

If he were alive, Yevgeniy Leonov would have turned 100 on September 2. The life of this man, who appeared funny on screen, was full of both joyful coincidences and difficult trials. We recall 10 facts that reveal unexpected aspects of the beloved actor.

Yevgeniy Leonov entered theater school in 1943. Before that, he had managed to work as a turner at an aviation plant and enter a technical college, but his passion for art prevailed. According to Leonov, he went to the casting wearing his brother's jacket. There, he read Blok's poem "In a Restaurant." Short, round-faced, and pale with nervousness, Leonov imagined himself as a handsome young man and read the poem expressively. The admissions committee of the Moscow Experimental Theater Studio laughed so hard at the applicant's comical appearance that they almost fell off their chairs. Leonov thought he had failed the exam. However, highly appreciating his comic talent and natural sincerity, they admitted him immediately.

The film "Striped Trip," released in 1961, made Leonov famous. The actor played the role of Shuleykin, a buffet attendant who pretended to be a tiger trainer. The film features a scene where Leonov's character is taking a bubble bath. According to the plot, a tiger approaches him from behind. Although a thick glass pane was placed between the actor and the predators in other scenes, the cameraman rejected this "protection" in this episode due to the reflection on the glass. Unaware of this, Leonov turned around, saw the tiger next to him, got genuinely terrified, and bolted out of the bathtub naked. This exact take was included in the film. Minister of Culture Yekaterina Furtseva demanded that the episode be cut, but the director convinced her to keep the shot. As a result, this scene became one of the funniest episodes in the film.

In another famous film, "Gentlemen of Fortune," Yevgeniy Leonov played two characters at the same time: the hardened criminal Docent and the kind kindergarten director Troshkin, who has to temporarily impersonate him. To play the role as convincingly as possible, Yevgeniy Pavlovich even visited the Butyrka prison. True, he was not allowed to speak face-to-face with the prisoners, but they let him observe them through the peephole in the door.

Leonov married at the age of 31. He always looked at his appearance with irony, thinking that beautiful women would not like him. However, during a tour in Sverdlovsk in 1957, he met Vanda Stoylova, a music school student ten years his junior. The girl reciprocated his declaration of love and, despite her parents' opposition, agreed to marry him. In 1959, their son Andrey was born. At that time, Leonov was filming "Striped Trip." When he was told that he had a son, the actor was so happy that he ran to kiss the tigers.

He loved his wife more than life itself and always tried to bring her the most fashionable clothes from foreign tours. There was even a joke in Moscow: "Only Sophia Loren and Vanda Leonova have such a dress!" They lived together for 37 years until Yevgeniy Pavlovich's death.

Yevgeniy Leonov became the prototype for the character of Bilbo Baggins in Tolkien's book "The Hobbit, or There and Back Again." More precisely, the prototype for the illustrations drawn for the fairy tale. Artist Mikhail Belomlinsky drew the image of Bilbo for the 1976 edition, inspired by his favorite actor. A copy of the book was presented to Leonov, and this deeply touched the actor. On one of the television shows, he even read the first page of the story about hobbits live on air.

For millions of children, Yevgeniy Leonov was primarily the voice of Winnie the Pooh, as well as his image. But director Fyodor Khitruk initially did not like the actor's voice: he felt Leonov's voice was too low for the bear cub. Then the sound engineer suggested speeding up the recording, and as a result, everything fell into place.

At the same time, Boris Zakhoder, the author of the Russian translation of "Winnie the Pooh," categorically disagreed with either Khitruk's or Leonov's approach. Due to creative differences, he was removed from the project.

Director Georgiy Daneliya shared an interesting story. Once, during a tour in Georgia, he took the actor with him to visit a relative in the hospital. As soon as Yevgeniy Pavlovich entered the ward, the patients' mood immediately lifted. After his cheerful stories, their condition also improved. Seeing such an effect, the hospital's chief physician jokingly suggested that the actor also visit the intensive care unit, and Leonov agreed. For several hours, Yevgeniy Pavlovich walked around the wards, talking to people; after communicating with this wonderfully positive person, their condition improved significantly. Doctors referred to this phenomenon among themselves as the "Leonov effect."

The actor felt guilty for spending little time with his family due to constant touring. His relationship with his son was also not always smooth: Andrey misbehaved at school and wanted to be independent. At such times, Yevgeniy Leonov wrote him letters, expressing his thoughts on their relationship, the acting profession, love, choices, and their consequences. Later, a book titled "Letters to My Son" was published based on these letters.

In the summer of 1988, Yevgeniy Leonov was on tour in Hamburg, Germany, with the Lenkom Theatre. After a performance, the artist fell ill, and an ambulance was called. In the ambulance, doctors recorded a state of clinical death. In the hospital, Leonov underwent a multi-hour surgery after a severe heart attack and then fell into a coma. Doctors advised Leonov's wife and son to talk to him constantly. His son Andrey even sang songs to him, and a miracle happened. As Yevgeniy Pavlovich himself said later, he hoped to see Faina Ranevskaya in the other world, but did not see her. A few months later, he returned to the stage.

German doctors granted Yevgeniy Pavlovich another five years of life. On January 29, 1994, the 67-year-old actor was heading to the theater to perform in the play "Memorial Prayer," but he did not make it. When it was announced to the audience that the performance would not take place due to Leonov's death, no one returned their tickets. People stood outside the theater with lit candles all evening. Yevgeniy Leonov was buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery. Twenty-seven years later, his beloved wife Vanda was buried next to him.