The acting gift of Oleg Ivanovich Yankovsky is from God, everyone, without exception, recognized this. Probably, the actor himself was aware of this, he could not bury his talent in the ground and worked to the last. He didn't even work - Yankovsky just lived on the stage.
The Yankovsky family has Belarusian and Polish roots. Father Oleg Ivanovich's name was Yan, only after a while the name was transformed into the Russian way. The boy, who was destined to become a great actor in the future, was born in the Kazakh SSR, where his parents lived at that time. It was February 23, 1944. In 1951 the family moved to Saratov.
Random coincidences
Yankovsky's father was a military man, before the revolution - a guard officer. But at the same time he was very fond of art, especially theater. Oleg Ivanovich's mother also had this passion. Once in Saratov, going to the theater became the main leisure of the family. All three sons reached out to him. Oleg had two older brothers - Rostislav and Nikolai, in their youth they studied in theater circles. The younger one tied his fate with Melpomene at a high professional level. True, at first he planned to enter a medical institute, and by chance he came across an advertisement for a recruitment to a theater school. When Oleg Ivanovich crossed the threshold of the educational institution, the reception was already completed. He just wanted to know the rules of admission for the future. And he was taken and enrolled!
After graduating from the theater school, Yankovsky became a member of the troupe of the Saratov Drama Theater. He worked a lot on stage, but so far only in episodic roles. Oleg Ivanovich also got into the cinema by accident. The Saratov Drama Theater then gave performances in Ukrainian Lvov. During the break, Yankovsky dined at a restaurant. He did not know that at that moment his fate was decided. After all, at the next table is the film crew who worked on the film "Shield and Sword". The director could not find a suitable candidate for one of the roles. Heinrich Schwarzkopf must have the appearance of a true Aryan. Where to get one, and even with acting skills? At that moment, attention was paid to Yankovsky, but no offer followed - it is hardly an artist. But the meeting at "Mosfilm" dispelled doubts, Yankovsky is an actor, ideally suited for the role!
It was the artist's debut in cinema, after which he became famous. The success was also reinforced by the film "Two Comrades Served". Yankovsky continued to play at the Saratov Theater. The audience already knew that a famous actor was on the stage of a provincial theater and purposefully went to performances with his participation. And he got serious roles. The most famous, who made an artist not only a movie star, but now a talented theatrical figure, was the role of Prince Myshkin in the play The Idiot, based on Dostoevsky's novel.
Strong personality
In his life, Yankovsky played many roles that will forever be remembered by the audience. "An ordinary miracle", "My affectionate and gentle animal", "We, the undersigned", "In love at will." But the main character, with whom the actor was later associated with, was Baron Munchausen.
In Mark Zakharov's film "The Same Munchausen" Oleg Ivanovich played him in a completely different way than he had appeared before. Smart, truth-loving, direct, he was not afraid to show these qualities in front of society, he was not afraid to tell the truth by stepping on the throats of the bigots. This is a truly strong person. Yankovsky was like that.
He loved the scene and when he found out about his diagnosis, he could not imagine how he could leave it. In the summer of 2008, he felt bad. It happened right during the rehearsal. The artist was hospitalized, examined and diagnosed with coronary heart disease. But Oleg Ivanovich's condition only worsened. He was constantly nauseous, his stomach ached badly, the actor lost weight so that his stage costume hung on him. Six months later, repeated diagnostics put everything in its place: Yankovsky has pancreatic cancer at the last stage.
There was nothing to be done. If the doctors had made the correct diagnosis right away, perhaps the disease could have been defeated. But Yankovsky did not give up. I went to a German clinic, where they only confirmed that medical manipulations were useless. But Oleg Ivanovich decided to undergo chemotherapy anyway. Nothing to lose, why not give it a try? But it didn't help. He understood what awaited him, and asked to go on stage. The last time he played in the play "Marriage". This was his farewell to the viewer.
Oleg Yankovsky passed away on May 20, 2009. He is buried at the Novodevichy cemetery in Moscow.
