“There is such a profession - to defend the Motherland,” said the main character of the cult Soviet film “Officers”. This was the motto of the life of not only the cinematic Alexei Trofimov, but also the actor who embodied this image on the screen. Georgy Yumatov, both in war and in peaceful life, was a strong, loyal, devoted man. Although addiction and led him to a tragic ending.
All the films where this actor starred instantly became, as they say today, blockbusters. But Georgy Yumatov himself never dreamed of cinema.
There is nothing to teach him
George was born in 1926. Like many boys of his generation, he dreamed of the sea and really got into the navy. But when, after the end of the war, our hero, hung with medals and orders, returned to Moscow, the textured and handsome sailor was noticed by the famous director Grigory Alexandrov. It was he who recommended the young man to enter VGIK, where Sergei Gerasimov was recruiting a new course. After listening to Aleksandrov's protégé, the master passed the verdict: "I have nothing to teach him!" And he immediately took the talented guy into his new painting "Young Guard".
It was during the filming of this film that Yumatov met his future wife, Muza Krepkogorskaya, who played a fatal role in his life.
They got married, and a life together began, full of ups and downs. From film to film, Yumatov's popularity grew. And along with fame, fees also increased. True, the young wife spent all the money on her beloved. Clothes, jewelry, expensive alcohol …
The only plus from such a marriage was that Muse could keep Yumatov's explosive character in check. And the famous actor flashed from the slightest spark. A little something wrong - the nodules began to move and the blood began to boil.
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George really wanted a child. But his wife had an abortion after an abortion, until the doctors said that she would not have more children. After this news, George for the first time seriously broke down and went into a binge. Then again and again …
The film "Officers" was the last one where Yumatov flashed his talent. All subsequent pictures did not bring the actor either moral satisfaction or money.
The perestroika years have come. There were fewer and fewer worthy offers. And then they even asked Yumatov and his wife to be a film actor from the Theater. Inflation quickly consumed all accumulated savings. The only thing Yumatov and Krepkogorskaya could count on was a beggarly pension. In order not to die of hunger, Muse began to sell all the most valuable from home.
Maybe fortune would have turned to face the actor again, if not for the tragic incident. In 1994, Yumatov committed a murder.
Dog funeral
And it was like this. In March, George's beloved dog Frosya died. The actor asked an Azerbaijani janitor to help bury his faithful friend. After the funeral, as usual, they decided to commemorate. There are different versions of what happened next.
According to one version, the guest, wishing to reassure the owner, told Yumatov that, they say, there was nothing to kill. It's just a dog. To the actor who loved Frosya like a child, these words seemed blasphemous.
According to Yumatov's written explanation, the janitor, after an abundant libation, began to swear, be rude, tell vulgar jokes, and eventually got to the point where he molested the actor's wife.
They also say that the janitor, looking around the cluttered room, contemptuously threw in Yumatov's face: “It's a pity that the Russians won the war, not the Germans. You have fought since your youth, and what you got in return - you live like a dog! The front-line soldier could no longer endure this and attacked the offender with his fists. But the janitor grabbed a knife from the table and threw it at the owner. The blade sliced through the scalp. And then the actor grabbed the gun and pulled the trigger.
A shot rumbled and the janitor fell. Yumatov was shocked. Then, seeing his wife's face turned white with horror in the doorway, he sat down exhaustedly and somehow tiredly and devastatedly said: "Muse, call the police, I killed a man!"
Naturally, the very next day the tragedy that happened in the "actor's house" on Chernyakhovsky Street shook the whole of Moscow. One after another, articles appeared in the central press in which the name of the once famous actor was rinsed by all and sundry.
The fans were perplexed. People refused to believe that their idol, who created so many vivid convincing images on the screen, could be involved in a criminal offense.
"The sharks of the feather" rushed with all their might into the house where the tragedy occurred. And they were amazed at the truth revealed to them. It turned out that the artist known throughout the country dragged out a miserable, almost beggarly existence.
Here is an excerpt from one of the articles: “I found myself in the apartment where the tragedy occurred a few hours after the incident. From the very first moment you understand: poor old people live here. For some reason, such dwellings, for some reason, are always alike. The only reminder of its former well-being is a pair of old, once luxurious chairs. And on everything is the stamp of abandonment and decay."
According to the recollections of one acquaintance, the apartment of a man who was called “the cinematic darling of fate” was more like a homeless man's haven. There was dirt everywhere, even dog excrement was scattered on the floor, in the refrigerator, as they say, a mouse strangled itself. Dilapidated furniture, chipped utensils, rags instead of clothes. It turns out that the actor hasn't had a single pair of un-torn socks lately. Of the values - only neat bundles of letters, postcards and telegrams from fans of the artist's talent.
Birthday in prison
And the "chief officer of the USSR" himself ended up in the famous Matrosskaya Tishina detention center. In the cell, Georgy Yumatov behaved calmly, during interrogations he adhered to his version. By law, the actor was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Most likely, he would have sat for this period from call to call, if not for the intervention of lawyer Boris Kuznetsov.
As he later recalled, “I looked through the file and was surprised that history had recorded that Yumatov had a cut head wound that was sewn up. At my request, the scene of the incident was re-examined. A kitchen knife with Yumatov's blood and a janitor's fingerprints was found under the bathroom. That is, it was defense. In addition, it turned out that the actor did not know that his gun was loaded - the cartridge had been on the platoon for 25 years, since the shooting at the Dynamo shooting range. In general, Yumatov had no intention of killing, but the necessary defense took place, I filed a motion to terminate the criminal case. The investigation did not agree. But since there was a threat to the actor's life, and no small one, in the end the case was reclassified as “murder in excess of the necessary defense limits”.
Yumatov was placed in a prison hospital, where there were books and a TV set. In prison, the artist celebrated his 68th birthday.
The artist's trial was scheduled for June 1994. But it did not take place - Yumatov fell under the amnesty in connection with the 50th anniversary of the Victory.
However, after all this scandal, a big fat cross was put on the actor's career. There were rumors that he even had to get a job as a doorman in one of the capital's restaurants, where he finally dropped down and became embittered by the whole world. And no one could recognize the great hero of the screen, the favorite of millions - Georgy Yumatov in the serving coat to the next drunk visitor doorman.
He finally lost heart, fell into depression, began to drink a lot. Doctors discovered an aneurysm of the abdominal aorta in Georgy Alexandrovich, he had to undergo a difficult operation. A year later, the bleeding reopened, but the actor refused to re-operate. Once his throat started bleeding, the doctors could not stop it.
The actor died in 1997. His wife had no money to bury him with dignity. As a result, he found rest … in his mother-in-law's grave. The coffin with the body of the once popular favorite was installed right on top of the old one.
Took the blame
There is a version that Yumatov did not commit any murder. But in that case, who shot that terrible evening? One friend of the family said that once, after the actor was released from custody, he and his wife had a big fight, so much so that she threw a cup at him. And then Yumatov shouted: “Muse, what else do you want from me? I already took your guilt upon myself!"
Magazine: Secrets of the USSR No. 5