Before her death, Vera Glagoleva sent a letter to her friend
Vera Glagoleva // Photo: Interpress/PhotoXPress.ru
This loss came as a shock to many. The actress and director hid a terrible disease - stomach cancer - until the very end. Doctors fought for her life for two years, but were unable to save her. Vera Glagoleva died on August 16, 2017. On the eve of the anniversary, friends told StarHit how she changed their destinies.
“I met Vera as a child,” says actress Alena Babenko. “I remember my mother turned on the film “About You,” and she was singing there... She got so excited by her voice that she started tearing her tights. Mommy was cursing, and I seemed to be under hypnosis... Many years later, Vera invited me to star in the film “Ferris Wheel.” I didn’t even really look at the script, I only thought about meeting my idol. During rehearsals, I was literally imbued with her femininity, which manifested itself in every detail: in gestures, in the manner of communication, in style. She did not part with the phone, it was constantly ringing. I remember a strange dialogue: someone called her in a panic, complaining about a broken tap. She stepped aside several times and explained to her interlocutor how to fix it. Imagine, she, an elegant blonde, knew about such things!”
Alena Babenko dreamed of meeting Glagoleva since childhood // Photo: Press service archive
Glagoleva, despite her busy schedule, always found time for her family, which was her support and rear.
“Once at the premiere, Vera gave a book of her dad’s poems - she collected them all and published a collection,” continues Babenko. — I really liked the idea. Returning home, I asked my father to write memoirs about his life. Then she secretly released the book and handed it to him!”
One of the director’s closest friends was Marina Mogilevskaya; they were friends for about 15 years.
“Vera always knew how to be there when someone was having a hard time. For example, thanks to her, my pregnancy became the most interesting period of my life,” the actress shares with StarHit. “She didn’t let me get lost in the experience, because giving birth at the age of 40 is a responsible and risky step. All the time I took her to Zhvanetsky’s concerts, then to Spivakov’s, then to poetry evenings... When Mashenka appeared, she loved to give her beautiful things. My daughter still wears these dresses. One day we arranged a photo shoot “Masha in Vera’s outfits” and sent it to her. She, of course, appreciated our joke!”
Faith became a support for Marina Mogilevskaya during her pregnancy // Photo: Artur Tagirov
Glagoleva loved not only to give gifts, but also to educate her friends, and recommended books and films. “We miss her very much,” adds Marina. – I often open mail. Vera constantly sent interesting articles, and then we could discuss them on the phone for hours. Two days before Verochka passed away, I received an email with the traditional postscript: “Be sure to check it out!” There was a link to the film “The Box” by the young director Eduard Bordukov. Vera did not lose interest in what was happening around her until the very end. Her place in my life is now empty, and it is unlikely that anyone will take it..."
// Photo: Instagram
The daughters of Vera Glagoleva still have not come to terms with the fact that their mother is no longer alive. Anna Nakhapetova and Nastasya Shubskaya left touching posts dedicated to their relative on their pages on social networks.
Vera Glagoleva hid her illness. No one could believe that the director had cancer, because at the beginning of last summer she had fun at Nastasya’s wedding with Alexander Ovechkin. However, despite the efforts of doctors, the star still could not overcome cancer.
// Photo: Instagram
Vera Glagoleva. It is not recommended to offend a woman
The youthful hobby of actress Vera Glagoleva was archery. Hence the fighting character, endurance, and ability to mobilize despite emotions and feelings. In the 10th grade, Glagoleva easily passed the standards for master of sports and could become a professional athlete. Her life changed dramatically after one chance meeting. At Mosfilm, where Glagoleva dropped in at the invitation of a friend, in line at the buffet, she was noticed by the cameraman of the film “To the End of the World” and invited her to audition for director Rodion Nakhapetov.
On the set of her first film, in 1974, Glagoleva fell in love. And how could it not have happened? According to Rodion Nakhapetov, the entire female half of the population of the Soviet Union suffered. Everyone ran to see him in the films “Tenderness” and “Lovers”: schoolgirls and pensioners. Soon Glagoleva and Nakhapetov got married. He is 30. She is 18. He is a creator, she is his wonderful muse. Her heroines captivated with their defenselessness. They seem to be open to all life's hardships. Fragile, vulnerable, ingenuous, it seems that they are so easy to offend. But in each of them there was an inner strength, a character that resists any circumstances, a core that does not allow one to lose oneself.
The audience adored this acting couple. They seemed lucky: beautiful, talented, lucky. One after another, Nakhapetov’s paintings with Glagoleva’s participation were released: “Umbrella for the Bridal,” “Don’t Shoot White Swans,” “Enemies,” “About You.” But many directors dreamed of directing Glagolev. Nakhapetov was jealous of his muse and wife. On the set of the film “On Thursday and Never Again” with Anatoly Efros, he was personally present and did not let Vera go one step away from him. And nearby are partners: Smoktunovsky, Dal. And when the same Efros made Glagoleva a tempting offer to play in his theater, Nakhapetov was adamant and did not let his wife go to him. However, despite her previous film work, Glagoleva became widely known for her role as journalist Lena in Vitaly Melnikov’s melodrama “Marry the Captain.” It was for this role that Glagoleva was recognized as the best actress of 1986 in a poll by the magazine “Soviet Screen”. It is interesting that Glagoleva got this role completely by accident. She recalled: “There was such a situation: at first one director was filming, but the filming was stopped. And in general they filmed a different story. A border guard officer is looking for a wife. And in the film at first there were four heroines: one was a teacher, the second was a milkmaid, the third – I don’t remember, and the fourth was my heroine, a correspondent. But then director Vitaly Melnikov and scriptwriter Valentin Chernykh reworked the script together, and only one woman remained - Lena. Viktor Proskurin and I were approved.” Vera Glagoleva believed that she was born as an actress during the filming of this film:
– Of course, this happened after the release of the film “Marry the Captain.” Undoubtedly. And we talked with Valentin Konstantinovich Chernykh, and when the picture was on TV, I called him and said: “We won again.” Because again the rating is great, again people are watching, again many are calling and thanking me. This is truly a picture so beloved by viewers. One generation has grown up, children have become adults - and they, too, discover this film. It is so delicately made. Melnikov and Chernykh are such an alliance, apparently very correct, and Vitya Proskurin is wonderful. In my opinion, the picture is perfect. It looked good in the 80s and 90s, and it looks good now. Perhaps today’s youth do not quite understand some of the realities of the past. For example, when the heroes go to film these orchards, apples disappear. Now no one understands how this is? Or they quarrel over film - and young people now don’t even remember what film cameras are. It’s worth closing your eyes a little to this. After all, as far as human relationships are concerned, the picture is very accurately tailored. The characters are so unsuitable for each other, they are so different psychologically, they are so different socially, one is so bohemian and ugly, and the other is so correct... But something important keeps them together. This correctness of the hero Proskurin, his desire to serve his fatherland - I think that this is one of those values that will last forever. Just like love. There are many paintings that have captured something most important, and that is why they exist, and that is why they last forever. But while Vera Glagoleva’s acting career was steadily going up, a crisis began to brew in her personal relationships. On the eve of the filming of the film “Umbrella for the Newlyweds,” heated battles broke out in the family of Nakhapetov and Glagoleva. Glagoleva still starred in the film, but then she and her husband had a serious quarrel for the first time. Rodion realized that his wife was no longer the same naive girl in a funny overalls that he first saw on the Mosfilm set. Vera grew up and no longer wanted to obey him in everything. From film to film she gained experience, grew and, despite the lack of acting education, became a great dramatic actress. At the very end of the 80s, Nakhapetov left for America. Glagoleva and her daughters Anya and Mashenka remained in Moscow and waited for his return for two whole years. Vera had no idea that Rodion had begun a new romance overseas. For the honest, sincere, principled Vera Glagoleva, this was a blow. After 14 years of marriage, Nakhapetov and Glagoleva divorced. He stayed in America with his new wife, she decided to try herself in another profession - she walked towards it slowly, gradually, step by step. Glagoleva decided to become a director. In a country where cinema was quietly dying, she began filming her film about the fate of unemployed actors. Glagoleva did not choose the script for her first film “Broken Light” by chance. Just like the heroes of her painting, then she risked everything. The picture turned out well, and this first directorial experience inspired Glagoleva. She dreamed of filming more and more. She stayed on business trips around the country, looking for money to implement her new film projects... Even a happy marriage with businessman Kirill Shubsky and the birth of her third daughter Nastya did not change Glagolev. Vera Glagoleva has become a rare example of how it is possible and necessary to combine creative work and family life, leaving behind disappointments, reproaches, tears...
Vera, Vera, Verochka...
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Photo: Valentin Mastyukov/TASS
There were three of us at that memorable performance: Vera, Rodion and me. We didn’t know each other yet, we were just sitting next to each other. She was then brown-haired and wore a hairstyle that was popularly called a “page.” By the way, being blonde suited her much better. When I told her about this, she was as happy as an eighth grader. Although she never hid the fact that she still felt a little sorry for that skinny page in denim overalls. And the names “Anatoly Vasilyevich” and “Innokenty Mikhailovich”, which came up from time to time in our conversations, made us for a moment almost relatives. In general, there is no friendship without a common past. And Vera Glagoleva and I had it. And that “Month in the Country” at the Theater on Malaya Bronnaya, at which for some reason we ended up in the same row, was like a sign of fate. Years later he would respond in her film Two Women. But while 1977 is still going on, we are sitting in the stalls, and against the backdrop of the iron carousel-gazebo, Natalya Petrovna, performed by the beautiful Olga Yakovleva, is rushing about, repeating endlessly: “Vera, Vera, Verochka...” Every time this name is heard, my neighbor he shudders internally and even seems to suppress a laugh. I don’t yet know that she, in fact, is Vera. And Anatoly Vasilyevich Efros, after filming the film “On Thursday and Never Again,” himself will invite her to play the role of Verochka in “A Month in the Country” in the theater. But she then refused. Then filming in the film of her husband Rodion Nakhapetov was approaching her, and she was simply afraid that she would not be able to cope. Then I reproached myself for it all my life. Then Rodion was the leader in their pair. A silent and coldly handsome man, he had already played his most important roles and was taking his first independent steps in film directing. Faith could not let him down. She was a woman of duty. That's how she was raised. And even the fact that she had the rank of master of sports in archery also spoke volumes. She always had a goal: first to be an ideal wife and mother, then to become a first-class actress, then to master the profession of director herself. Somehow the name Vera really suited her. Just so modestly, strictly, without pretensions. A careful look through the glasses, a white starched collar, an ironed pleated skirt. An ideal name for a librarian or an old maid. However, Glagoleva got married so early and acquired beautiful daughters so quickly that it would be strange to even think about her being somehow “not in demand,” “not engaged.”
In my memory, she was always with her husbands, children, houses, dogs... She loved big cars, which she drove famously at a very decent speed. She traveled a lot and with pleasure around the world. But at the same time, until her last breath, this impetuous Turgenev young lady lived in her, whom she never played. A girl-child who has not yet fully realized her youthful charm and angular, long-legged beauty. In the mid-70s, our cinema was intensely looking for such a female type. And Vera appeared very opportunely. At some point, it became incredibly fashionable and in demand. Everyone wanted to film her. And even the fact that her best films received the shameful lowest category did not stop the directors. They saw her as a new heroine, the Russian Jane Birkin. Without making allowances for her young age and lack of acting school, she performed on equal terms with recognized luminaries in “Torpedo Bombers”, and in “Starfall”, and in “Sofya Petrovna”. It was there that she played her best roles. Wasted youth, dressed in a military overcoat, wasted life spent in prison lines and waiting for funerals. How did she know all this? Where did she, an excellent girl from a good family, get this burn of trouble and grief? Some kind of internal pain that did not let go, even when everything seemed to be going well and heading towards a happy ending?
Much later, Vera will tell me the terrible and so ordinary story of her family: her grandfather’s arrest in 1937 and his sentence of “10 years without the right to correspondence,” which meant execution, which no one knew about until the early 50s. The camps and prisons of my grandmother, who spent a total of 16 years there. And her early death at fifty-something years old. Vera never forgot this. And when she had the chance to remember these wartime women in their flirtatious berets and poor, chilly coats, lined with the wind, she played fearlessly, toughly and accurately, as if she was in a hurry to tell the whole truth about them, known only to her.
She will make her first film, “One War,” about the terrible fate of women, about insulted and humiliated femininity, which cannot survive in a male, rough and merciless world. And as an attempt to hide from him, to run away, to take refuge - the beautiful, cozy world of Turgenev’s estate in “Two Women”, a film for which she fought for more than four years, but brought it to the end. And she even cast a real English aristocrat, Ralph Fiennes, in the role of Rakitin. A library soul, she loved everything authentic and beautiful. And I wanted to make films about noble and beautiful feelings.
However, success and popular love for Vera Glagoleva were brought by simple comedies and TV series. And this is also natural. No one knew how to have fun and laugh heartily like Vera. It was surprisingly easy with her - joking, reminiscing, laughing, interviewing, just chatting. She went to all the Moscow premieres and opening days, and was aware of all the new products and bestsellers. She contained this incomprehensible passion for me to go everywhere and have my own opinion about everything. It seems that she was simply bored sitting at home on Nikolina Gora, and she tried to fill her life to the limit. Or maybe, as a director, she was eagerly looking for new sources of inspiration? Be that as it may, every time her golden bangs and familiar glasses with a teacher’s chain flashed in the distance, I joyfully rushed towards her, knowing that a delightful story or another funny story awaited me, or an interrogation: “Did you see?” "Was?" "Read?" At such moments she became like a funny teacher. She attacked me with particular passion when it came to her own roles and films. “What, you haven’t seen “One War”? How is this possible?
This means that the tape will be delivered the very next morning, and I will sit transfixed in front of the monitor, although I had completely different plans. But this is Vera! It was impossible to refuse her anything, it was impossible not to obey. She herself, if she liked something, always called first to share her impressions and feelings. Always accurate and unconditionally sincere. Only two topics in our conversations were tabooed once and for all: her divorce from Rodion Nakhapetov and her relationship with her second husband, Kirill Shubsky. Here she turned into a rock. She seemed ashamed of her Nikologorsk well-being and the material opportunities acquired in this marriage.
- Well, Vera, you look like an old maid in this interview! - I was angry. — People love to read about the rich lives of celebrities.
“But I don’t,” she insisted. - And in general, it’s terrible if I’m interesting only because I have a rich husband.
If only she knew that in most of the obituaries posted online yesterday, she would appear as the mother-in-law of the famous hockey player Ovechkin!
Her number was never detected on my phone, but I always felt when she called.
This was the case the last time we talked about the scenario that she presented to the Ministry of Culture, where she was hacked to death. And it’s not that she was upset - this outcome was quite predictable, but she was somehow offended that other, much weaker, in her opinion, applications received a grant, but she did not. Why? For what?
- Tell me, where is justice? - Vera asked into the phone.
- There is no justice. Forget. You will find money. Life doesn’t end there,” I repeated stupidly, trying to console her.
Well, life is over. It is incredible that this happened in the same Baden, which Turgenev loved her so much and where she sent me her encouraging text messages when I was sick there. I still can’t believe it, but in my memory everything sounds and sounds like a booming echo: “Vera... Vera... Verochka,” as if she had forever moved to the endless and beautiful Lichtental alley.
She had a favorite expression: “You should never rush to hell.” Now that she left us so suddenly, so quickly, I am convinced that, as a woman of action and purpose, she calculated exactly where she needed to go and where she could continue making her films. Because if heaven exists, then yesterday there was one more angel there. And his name is Vera.
On Wednesday, fans of Russian cinema were shocked by the news of the death of the 61-year-old actress, who bravely fought cancer and did her best to hide her illness from everyone.
Blooming, sensual and deep Vera Glagoleva was for millions of viewers in our country an example of femininity and at the same time strength. The unique type of actress - a combination of external fragility and at the same time amazing integrity and energy - made her a cinema star. Until the very last day, Vera Vitalievna preferred not to advertise information about her terrible illness.
“In June there was a very difficult shooting in the city of Aleksin near Tula. Vera felt fine. She worked 12 hours a day, everything went according to schedule, minute by minute. Vera is a man of iron will, a fighter with a strong character, especially in matters related to work,” colleagues recall.
Vera Glagoleva with little Nastya
The first talk about the illness of the People's Artist of Russia arose at the end of May. Then it was alleged that Vera Glagoleva was undergoing treatment for cancer in one of the clinics. Later, the actress herself denied these rumors, saying that they were untrue. The star noted that she leads a normal lifestyle and is working on a new project. In addition, Glagoleva called on the public to pay attention to her work, and not to her state of health.
About a month and a half after information about her deteriorating health appeared in the media, Vera Glagoleva attended the wedding of her daughter Anastasia Shubskaya. Many found that the woman looked amazing. The actress had a wonderful time having fun in the company of family and friends. Footage of Glagoleva singing in the company of soloists of the group “Ivanushki International” spread all over the Internet. From the outside it seemed that everything was fine with the artist, and there was no talk of any illness.
Vera Glagoleva with her daughter Nastya
Vera Glagoleva generally always took care of her health and tried to stick to a diet. Even during pregnancy, the actress usually gained only the weight of the child. The woman believed that she was lucky with her genetics. In addition, Glagoleva led an active lifestyle since childhood.
“I was a tomboy, I was friends with my brother Boris’s classmates. We spent hours playing all sorts of outdoor games like Cossack robbers, I was even the goalkeeper of the neighborhood football team. So the calories were burned,” the actress recalled. In her youth, Glagoleva’s weight was 45 kilograms with a height of 164 centimeters. The actress said that she likes thin people. Therefore, she controlled her loved ones and forbade them to overeat. Vera Glagoleva believed that a person’s health depends on his weight.
“I always watched my daughters, then my grandchildren, so that they did not gain weight. I adhere to the position of pediatrician Benjamin Spock, who believed that a healthy child intuitively knows how much to eat. I’m sure that when a child who has not been overfed grows up, he will thank his parents,” the star explained.
Vera Glagoleva with her daughter Nastya
At the same time, Vera Glagoleva did not visit the fitness club or swimming pool. It was difficult to catch the actress on a cardio machine; she preferred to ride a bike, play football with her grandchildren, or do yoga. Over the years, the artist believed, it was necessary to limit calorie intake. Therefore, she did not eat flour and sweets, and also gave up meat.
In the 90s, Glagoleva made the film “Broken Light.” Then the actress was going through an extremely difficult period in her life - she was divorcing her first husband Rodion Nakhapetov, who had once discovered her to cinema. Nakhapetov left for the United States in search of work and eventually planned to move his wife and children there. However, there he met a woman with whom he fell in love and decided to connect his life with her. For Vera this was a big blow. She was never able to forgive Nakhapetov for his betrayal and no longer communicated with him, while her daughters maintained normal relations with their father.
After the divorce, Glagoleva actively took up directing and was able to achieve certain heights in it. In 2014, the film “Two Women” was released with the participation of the world famous actor Ralph Fiennes.
Vera Glagoleva, Kirill Shubsky, Anastasia and Alexander Ovechkin
Vera Glagoleva was a demanding and even strict mother and grandmother. The woman rarely complimented her daughters so that they would not become arrogant. The actress tried to monitor the upbringing of the heiresses, believing that they should grow up with the right life guidelines.
“I don’t like spoiling children, I don’t like it. We were just raised differently. Mom was picky about me. My father was delighted in every way. Mom never said I did a good job. Never. It’s not that she scolded me, she just didn’t want to. So as not to become arrogant. I didn’t suffer from this,” said the star.
During a conversation with Yulia Menshova, Vera Glagoleva admitted that sometimes men made her suffer. The actress went through a divorce from her first husband Rodion Nakhapetov and came to the conclusion that women should not dissolve in men.
In January 2020, on the eve of her birthday, Vera Vitalievna gave Antenna what turned out to be her last interview. The actress said that for many years she had left Russia with her family for her birthday. Have you traveled to South Africa? We showed our grandchildren the safari. The kids got up at five in the morning and enthusiastically went to look at the lions and giraffes. It was important for Vera to discover new countries and cities for her children and herself.
Vera Glagoleva with Anna and Maria Nakhapetova
Glagoleva stopped acting in films because she became uninterested. “Usually the main roles go to young people, and we are invited to play secondary ones - mothers, grandmothers,” admitted the actress.
“I’m not a homebody; I rarely get up at the stove. I can only envy those who roll up jars and preserve jams and pickles. Such a wife is a treasure for the family. But I have neither the time nor the desire for this,” said Glagoleva.
Anna Nakhapetova studied ballet from the age of three and graduated from college. Now works at the Bolshoi Theater. From the age of four, Masha took a drawing class at the Pushkin Museum, attended art school, and graduated from Steven Spielberg’s Gnomon visual effects school.”
“Both I and her father, my husband (Kirill Shubsky), dissuaded Nastya from her acting career. I know from myself that the acting profession is dependent. If they offer roles, then, as a rule, they are passable ones, in series that do not make a name. Nastya graduated from VGIK, but with a degree in producer. Still, this opens up more room for growth. And she’ll still have time to take up acting if she wants,” she talked about Glagolev’s youngest daughter.
Farewell to Vera Glagoleva will take place on Saturday, August 19, at the House of Cinema in Moscow.
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