Doctors continue to fight for the life of the legendary artist Leonid Kuravlev, who came to Kommunarka before Christmas with suspected coronavirus. Covid was not confirmed, but doctors diagnosed pneumonia and dysphagia (disorder of the act of swallowing). The Guild of Actors “MK” reported that the head physician of the hospital Denis Protsenko exercises personal control over the state of the 85-year-old artist, and now the state of Kuravlev is stable. Leonid Vyacheslavovich was taken to Kommunarka from the Longevity Center, where he had lived for the last six months. “MK” talked with colleagues, friends, employees of the Longevity Center about the state of Leonid Kuravlev recently.
“For the last six months, Leonid Kuravlev has been with us,” Anna Manerova, an employee of the Center for Longevity and Rehabilitation, tells MK. – We are not a medical institution, older people are brought to us for the period of vacation of relatives or business trips, or older people themselves want to be in a social environment. In this case, help was needed with care. His family took good care of him, but everyone was working, so they could not provide full round-the-clock care. They chose the center very carefully. Recently, Leonid Vyacheslavovich became isolated, and his relatives understood that he would be here among people, this would help him. At first he ate in the room. Then he started to go out. We have restaurants on every floor, and he ate with everyone there.
– You can say, adapted?
– Yes, he talked with people, joked. He didn’t get close to anyone, but he was very friendly, he had good relations with everyone.
According to the latest data, in Kommunarka, where the artist was taken, the doctors performed an emergency operation in connection with dysphagia, during which they made an incision in the stomach wall and the anterior abdominal wall, and a special tube for feeding was taken through it. Doctors are fighting for the life of a great artist, and friends and colleagues hope that he himself will fight for himself.
It is known that the actor fell into depression after the death of his wife Nina, with whom he was in love even before school. Ten years after they met, they got married and lived in marriage for 52 years. They had two children – daughter Catherine and son Vasily. In April 2012, Nina Kuravleva died after a heart attack. Then Leonid Kuravlev thought about death himself …
“We have been friends for 10-15 years, and once, after the death of Nina Vasilievna, he asked for a meeting and said that he wanted to make a monument where he would be depicted with Nina,” artist Nikas Safronov tells MK. – I advised Tsereteli, but Kuravlev refused: the master is too large-scale. Then I suggested Rukavishnikov, and he liked this idea. I made sketches, Rukavishnikov connected. But soon Leonid Vyacheslavovich came and said that he had been to several cemeteries, saw how some famous people were modestly lying, and, apologizing, refused the order, and erected the most ordinary monument on Nina’s grave. (At the Troyekurovsky cemetery, a simple dark gray slab is installed on the grave of Kuravlev’s wife, on which two names are engraved in gold: her (with dates of life) and his (without dates). – Auth.)
– When did you last talk to Leonid Vyacheslavovich?
– We talked a year ago and saw each other two years ago. He had a hesitant state. The last time we had dinner together, we talked about making a film or undertaking some kind of project. I found sponsors for him, people were ready to take part, but it never came to a point.
– Did he have dementia, which is now being written about?
– Not. But he showed different moods even during the life of Nina Vasilievna, he could go alone to the dacha for several days. Difficult person. But Nina Vasilievna was a psychologist and knew how to help him. After her death, he became depressed. Life became not so important to him, there was no thirst for life. After all, Kuravlev is a very modest person. I agreed to have farm products delivered to him at home – he took it once and then refused. He said he was ashamed. It is clear that the years and the difficult acting work associated with stress, flights, made themselves felt. Children – Katya and Vasily – always treated dad very carefully, with respect, but he asked to pay less attention to him. At the family council, they decided that he would go to the Longevity Center.
Despite all this, in public, the great actor always retained his composure, was charming and sociable.
“The last time we saw him was in 2016, on a program dedicated to the film“ Mysterious Passion, ”says director Vladislav Furmanov. – He was invited as a guest – like a sixties. We talked with him and remembered the times when he was invited to the shooting of “Streets of Broken Lanterns”. He played there the head of the police department. There were several episodes with him, it is happiness to work with such a master. He is a simple person, sociable, interesting, modest, intelligent, wonderful. In 2016, on the show, we did not have the opportunity to communicate for a long time, but he was in excellent physical shape. Everyone admired how he knows how to behave. Charming, always with positive energy. We have not seen each other for 9 years, and when we met, I did not notice any change. I have always admired how he behaved – young.
– How did you work on the set?
– We filmed in a real police station, and there was such a little place – a small room where he went to rest between takes. There was no stardom in him. People of this generation, like Valentin Gaft or Oleg Basilashvili, are very modest, undemanding. Now the stars have riders with such conditions, but he did not have anything like it. We wanted to create comfortable conditions for him, but he: “No, no, I don’t need anything. I’ll sit here in a corner and have some tea. ” He left for this room, and we tried to protect him from the fans – there were always many who wanted to be photographed and get an autograph, but he was eliminated. On the set he was always ready for the stage, he knew the text, the task was old school. And always charming, with humor. You look at him and you smile. On the court – demanding both to himself and to others. A great artist in the frame is always magic. The energy is very positive. Let’s pray for his health!
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