The stars of Soviet cinema Lyudmila Gurchenko and Yuri Nikulin were very close. The artist called her older friend dad. “When I had gray days, when I started to get nervous for no reason, it was an accurate sign, Yu.V. didn’t call for a whole week.” Gurchenko admitted.
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Celebrities starred together in the film “Twenty Days Without War” in 1976. During the period of work on the painting, Yuri Nikulin and Lyudmila Gurchenko lived in a train carriage without amenities in neighboring compartments.
“For almost a year and a half of filming, we existed in oh what difficult conditions. You can’t hide all human vices, stupidity and weaknesses there. In those “Twenty Days Without War” they lived almost like in a war. It was its own war, in which friendship and loyalty are the strongest, ”said the artist.
It was thanks to Nikulin that Gurchenko was able to maintain faith in the good. Yuri Vladimirovich turned out to be the only person to whom Lyudmila Markovna could turn to in a difficult period. The artist believed that only Nikulin was able to understand her.
Upon learning of the betrayal of her husband, composer Konstantin Cooperweiss, Lyudmila Gurchenko first of all shared her misfortune with Yuri Nikulin. The artist remembered how she fled to the circus on Tsvetnoy Boulevard, finding herself on the verge of despair. In the office of a senior comrade, Gurchenko sobbed like a child.
Once Yuri Nikulin called Lyudmila Gurchenko from the hospital. The artist suffered from diabetes, had diseases of the heart and blood vessels. Nikulin said that he agreed to a risky operation after another attack. The artist had a narrowed vessel at the heart, the doctors were going to put a stent through the femoral artery.
“Here I was so seized that I was all wet and tears themselves … I thought, if it happens again, I can’t stand it … I’ll end my life … <…> Pray for me August 5th. You are true and true. I love you for this … ”- said Yuri Nikulin to a friend.
This was the last conversation between Nikulin and Gurchenko. During surgery, the artist became ill. Within 30-40 minutes the patient was in a state of clinical death. Doctors fought for the artist’s life for 16 days. Unfortunately, the celebrity could not be saved. Yuri Nikulin died on August 21, 1997 at the age of 75. The departure of Yuri Vladimirovich hit Lyudmila Markovna painfully. After the death of Nikulin, Gurchenko said that emptiness settled in her heart forever.
Photo source: Legion-media