People’s Artist of Russia died on August 3 at the age of 82
Photo: Anastasia PLESHAKOVA
A few days ago, Irina Miroshnichenko was admitted to the intensive care unit of the Moscow Clinical Hospital for Infectious Diseases No. 1. Her condition fluctuated between serious and extremely serious. The doctors were not encouraging: we are not gods. At the Moscow Art Theatre. Chekhov, on whose stage Miroshnichenko shone for 57 years, everyone knew that her condition was critical. But they hoped: Irina Petrovna, with her strong-willed character, would pull through. They remembered how Stanislav Lyubshin ended up in the hospital a few years ago, then he, too, was in the balance between life and death. But the young wife of Lyubshin and the desire to live raised Stanislav Andreevich. Irina Petrovna, as they say now in the theater, was quite lacking. She lost the will to live…
A year ago, Miroshnichenko turned 80 years old. On October 22, 2022, his anniversary was celebrated on the stage of the Moscow Art Theater. “Life is beautiful” was the name of the evening. And that was the motto of Irina Petrovna. She gave a lot of energy to this vacation, in return she received a boost of energy and positive. How many praises, admiration, epithets – in prose, in poetry, she heard from the guests: Armida, Sylphide, Irina, the beautiful, our talisman … All the guests were on the rise. Miroshnichenko rejoiced both at declarations of love and at Putin’s order – for services to the Fatherland of the third degree. The party was a success. The theater did the best it could.
A year ago, Miroshnichenko turned 80 years old. On October 22, 2022, his anniversary was celebrated on the stage of the Moscow Art Theater.
Photo: Anastasia PLESHAKOVA
But the next day, he realized that the way it had been for these 57 years would never happen again. “Behind every success there is a lot of work,” Irina Petrovna said on the night of her anniversary. – Serving art is a mission. I live with this feeling. And it’s true: being a cousin, shining, reciprocating is hard work. It was physically impossible to be what she had been all these years. And she couldn’t do it any other way. After that, she no longer went to the theater, in which she played all the main roles in all Chekhov’s performances, and not only in them …
At the Moscow Art Theater, she is called a superwoman and a wonderful actress. About what Irina Miroshnichenko was like offstage, we asked actress and writer Tatyana Bronzova, who served at the Moscow Art Theater for 30 years, of which she was the head of the troupe for 10 years.
– Once upon a time, back in the 80s, Ira had a terrible accident. He had a damaged spine. After that, she walked in a corset. She is a very strong person. Overcoming constant back pain, she played on stage, says Tatyana Bronzova. -The theater was the most important thing in her life. This terrible injury from the accident reminded the story of Lyuba Polishchuk, who also suffered a serious back injury, which later ended up in oncology. And Tanya Lavrova told the same story: she had an accident and damaged her vertebrae. And she also became a serious illness.
Ira held out for a long time, although her back pain was constant. She spent a lot of money on treatment, all for the good of the theater. For the sake of the stage, she sacrificed her motherhood. This terrible fear of actresses to lose the “dream role.” There were no children, and without them, at the end of life, empty. At the same time, Ira was very touching about other people’s children.
She fell passionately in love, but never sought to find a wealthy husband. She liked talented men. Her first husband was the playwright Mikhail Shatrov. He gave her an apartment in a cooperative house on Tverskaya, which she later exchanged for a large one in the same house. Furnished with tasteful antique furniture. After Shatrov, she had different hobbies, like any beautiful woman, moreover, an actress. Then she began an affair with the actor of the Moscow Art Theater Igor Vasiliev, with whom she was truly in love (After her divorce from Mikhail Shatrov, Irina Miroshnichenko married the director Vytautas Zhalakyavichyus. The actor Igor Vasilyev became her third husband – Ed.). But she drank. This has become a problem. If she had not drunk, her anger would not have left. Her illness distracted her too much from her work. And her profession, the theater was the main thing for her. She was a person absolutely devoted to the stage and to art.
Miroshnichenko rejoiced both at declarations of love and at Putin’s order – for services to the Fatherland of the third degree. The party was a success. The theater did the best it could.
Photo: Anastasia PLESHAKOVA
He has gotten fat in recent years. She lived with a woman who helped her with the housework. She lived mainly outside the city in the state dacha, which she rented. She although she loved her apartment on Tverskaya very much. Ira was a very good hostess, she cooked well, she set the table wonderfully.
In the theater everyone treated her with great respect. And it was for what. Never intrigued. But she was a very strong person, strong-willed. She got away with it. She was president of the union committee. She was respected because she always made honest and fair decisions, for example, in the distribution of apartments for artists. She was trustworthy. She was a disciplined artist, she didn’t let her down, she didn’t miss performances, she wasn’t late for rehearsals. She was always ready to work. Very correct, reliable, like a safety hook. On the stage, everything was clear, brought to the end. She is not an improviser. But her partners were always sure in her that she would not throw anything unexpected …
READ ALSO
Magnificent film career and fidelity to the theater until the end of days: what the actress Irina Miroshnichenko will remember
One of the most beautiful actresses in Soviet cinema, Irina Miroshnichenko, died a few days after celebrating her 81st birthday (more)
