'Oh, How I Suffered': Igor Zolotovitsky's Fictitious Marriage and Love

«I»m not a funny person, but I love making people laugh,« often repeated actor and rector of the Moscow Art Theatre School Igor Zolotovitsky. Due to his cheerful character, some thought his career began with KVN. However, Igor Yakovlevich actually entered theatre not through comedy, but through a factory and long shifts at a machine. True, he didn»t like to talk about his hardships and until his death preferred a good joke to complaining about life.

«I»m a Third-Grade Locksmith, You Know!«

Igor Yakovlevich was born in 1961 in Tashkent. Moreover, his parents might never have met: his mother was born in Ukraine, his father in Smolensk. However, during the war they were evacuated to Tashkent, where they met and married.

«My parents were wonderful people. And simple: because of the war, they lacked good education. Dad worked as a mechanic on the railway. Mom first worked at a factory, then got a job at an ice cream cafe in Central Park. And later she was the manager of a buffet at the Aeroflot ticket office in the Rossiya Hotel,» recalled Zolotovitsky.

The family lived modestly. But complaining about life was not in their nature, even when an earthquake hit the city, they lost their home and had to squeeze in with relatives.

«I remember that night well, I was five years old. Our house was near the epicenter, we barely managed to jump out of the collapsing building, it fell apart,» shared Igor Yakovlevich in one interview.

Only as an adult did Zolotovitsky realize that money was tight and only his parents« resourcefulness saved the situation. His mother had an amazing gift—she knew how to get along with anyone. Zolotovitsky vividly remembered how on a train, as soon as they took their seats, within minutes his mother would be chatting animatedly with the neighbors and they»d become her friends.

After trips, Igor Yakovlevich«s parents would gain friends through whom they could get anything: from scarce sausage to a new shirt for their son.

His mother«s ability to be charming and lively rubbed off on Zolotovitsky too. Many even assumed he wrote jokes from childhood and played on a KVN team, but that wasn»t so. He showed all his artistry only in the drama club at the local Palace of Pioneers.

Despite Igor Yakovlevich«s parents being far from the world of art, they supported their son»s desire to become an actor. After school, Zolotovitsky packed for Moscow to apply to the Moscow Art Theatre School. He learned a monologue, packed his things, arranged with his dad to ride the train to the capital for free, but all the preparations were in vain: he miscalculated the time and missed the auditions.

«Then I was told: »If you want—apply in a year, but go work first.« And I went to the 84th Aircraft Repair Plant. I»m a third-grade locksmith, you know!« Zolotovitsky recounted proudly.

Working at the plant wasn«t easy. He had to get up at five in the morning, stand at the machine all day. While older colleagues could do a week»s quota in a couple of days, skinny and very young Zolotovitsky had to work like three to get everything done. However, later he believed that this period toughened his character and showed that any difficulties in life can be overcome if you want to.

«Oh, How I Suffered!»

A year later, Zolotovitsky set off to conquer the capital again. True, this time he learned from past mistakes and bought a plane ticket with his earned money. The second attempt was successful. He entered the Moscow Art Theatre School and got a room in the dorm, which he shared with other future film stars, like Alexei Guskov.

Only one event clouded the good news. In Tashkent, Zolotovitsky had left his beloved girlfriend. He dreamed of marrying her and believed she would wait for his return, but she chose someone else.

«Back then, I thought my feeling for the neighbor girl was for life. But the relationship ended after I moved to Moscow. Six months later, when I flew home for the holidays, I learned of her betrayal. Oh, how I, then seventeen years old, suffered!» shared Igor Yakovlevich.

From the unhappy love, Zolotovitsky even fell ill and took to bed, but, as it turned out, time heals all wounds. Soon the neighbor girl was forgotten, and all his thoughts were taken up by studies and an even more pressing problem—where to find food if there was no money at all. Only his parents saved him, sending gifts by train.

«My dad was a renowned cook, everyone adored his eggplant caviar. I remember how real caravans with this caviar came to us, the perpetually hungry students, from Tashkent to Moscow. And also jam with nuts, melons and watermelons…» Igor Yakovlevich recalled his student days with a smile.

His parents wanted to feed not only Zolotovitsky and his friends, but also the leadership of the Moscow Art Theatre. At that time, the theatre was headed by Oleg Efremov. For Igor Yakovlevich, the idol was unattainable, but for Zolotovitsky«s mother, he was an ordinary person, and the way to his heart was through his stomach.

«When after entering the Moscow Art Theatre School I returned to Tashkent, my mother asked me: »And who«s in charge at the Moscow Art Theatre?» I answered: «Efremov.» — «Then give him a melon.» — «How can I give it, he doesn»t know me! He«s on another level of the universe.» — «Just go into his office and say: »Oleg Nikolaevich, this is from my mother.«» Zolotovitsky remembered the conversation with his mother all his life.

Zolotovitsky never did give the melon, but he still managed to find an approach to the director. Efremov noticed Zolotovitsky«s talent during his studies, and after graduation offered him to stay in the theatre troupe. Igor Yakovlevich couldn»t refuse.

«She Didn»t Show Up for the Date, But Married Me«

Agreeing to work at the Moscow Art Theatre was easy, but getting settled—not at all. Zolotovitsky didn«t have Moscow residency, so they couldn»t hire him. He had to resort to a trick and quickly find himself a wife. The actor«s friend Elena Myasnikova agreed to a fictitious marriage. The union was merely friendly, and after Igor Yakovlevich got the job, they divorced.

Although Zolotovitsky was an actor at a famous theatre and in the 80s was offered his first, albeit still secondary roles, he was never a Casanova. On the contrary, all his free time was spent on rehearsals, variety shows, filming. When could he find time for love?

A lifelong companion found him herself. Once he was traveling on a train with a friend and saw a beautiful girl. He tried to get acquainted, but only learned that the stranger«s name was Vera and she was an artist. However hard Zolotovitsky tried to impress the charming fellow traveler, it was all in vain. As Igor Yakovlevich later learned, the girl liked his friend more, and to somehow get rid of the annoying suitor, she even lied and didn»t say she worked as an actress.

«I seriously decided to win her over, invited her first on a date, then to my birthday. She didn»t show up for the date, was late to the party, but still married me—seems like fate,« Zolotovitsky recounts.

The couple married in 1988, when Vera Kharybina was nine months pregnant. As Zolotovitsky admitted, after the wedding, his wife forever became that one and only for him, whom he wouldn«t trade for anyone else.

«I turned out to be a one-woman man. In our union, sons were born—Alexei and Alexander,» Igor Yakovlevich said about his personal life.

«I»m Like a Wedding General«

In 1989, Igor Yakovlevich was offered to start teaching at the Moscow Art Theatre School. He couldn«t be happier with such an honor. He dreamed of becoming like Oleg Tabakov, who managed to act in theatre and teach. True, according to Zolotovitsky himself, he never reached the master»s level.

«Our generation is thinner and lower than his generation, which, alas, is passing,» the actor later admitted.

For twenty years, Zolotovitsky taught courses, and in 2013 he took the position of rector. As he himself admitted, with beginning actors he sometimes spent even more time than with his own children. And he worried about each one as if they were his own sons.

Even when Igor Yakovlevich took a leadership position, he couldn«t deny himself the pleasure of coming to classes and giving a few pieces of advice.

«I, like a wedding general, come to my courses, just like that, you know, from the height of my experience I make remarks, which can also be quite important. But, of course, it»s more interesting when you«re molding something from them,» Zolotovitsky honestly admitted.

Igor Yakovlevich never got upset, but even took pride that his students got leading roles, while he himself more often flashed on screen in secondary ones. Under his mentorship, stars like Polina Gagarina, Miroslava Karpovich, Anton Shagin, and many others shone.

The main and most beloved actors for him forever remained his sons. Alexander and Alexei followed in their parents« footsteps and also act in series and perform in theatre. As Zolotovitsky modestly stated, there»s no credit to him in this.

«For that, thanks must go to my wife Vera, she»s also a wonderful actress. How she raised my beloved sons—that«s all her credit,» Igor Yakovlevich modestly brushed off.

After forty years of work in theatre and university, having acted in over 100 films and series, Zolotovitsky believed it wasn«t the end yet. He dreamed that in the future he would still be given the leading role of his life.

«I»m interested in trying some big passions. When you come across a big role, you have the opportunity to diversify it. And that«s wonderful, it happens very rarely, it rarely comes my way. Unfortunately. I think all the big roles are still ahead of me,» Igor Zolotovitsky said with hope in one of his last interviews.

The actor and rector of the Moscow Art Theatre died at the age of 64. For a long time he fought stomach cancer, but even after several courses of chemotherapy, he couldn«t overcome the cancer.