Translated material
Yuri Stepanov died
Yura Stepanov, who had already graduated from the Irkutsk Theater School, was one of the senior actors in Fomenko’s Gitis course, and almost from the very beginning he was his legend. Stepanov played the soft-hearted smart guy Lynyaev from “Wolves and Sheep,” who was so easily wooed and married by the cunning beauty Glafira, from his student years to the present day. This charming production by Fomenko, which has not faded at all over almost 20 years of stage life, is worth entering into the list of legendary performances of the 20th century. And one of the main miracles that it contained, an episode worthy of any textbook on the art of acting, was the seduction scene played with Galina Tyunina by Yuri Stepanov, who had fallen under her spell.
The fact that the capabilities of this actor are incredibly wide was learned very soon. Of course, we have always admired its unique, “animal” organic nature - it will outplay even a dog. He was also an incredible comic actor, and a paradoxical one at that. If we recall his fidgety liar and braggart Sobachkin from Gogol’s “Vladimir III Degree,” it becomes clear that, of course, not only Khlestakov cried for this actor, but also absurdist humor in general, which Stepanov, with all his sly warmth, was able to present as both illogical and very convincing. At the same time, not yet graduating from college, he played another unexpected and very important role - the mentally retarded Benji in Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury, his graduation performance directed by Sergei Zhenovach. In this tragic epic, where students played their heroes starting from almost the age of six, the first part was dedicated specifically to Benjamin - the clumsy, unable to explain anything, a closed vessel of grief and despair.
Cinema and television quickly spotted Stepanov, although more often they used his long-discovered and win-win acting qualities, first of all, the ability to instantly inspire trust in the viewer - such was the investigator from Nikolai Dostal’s “folk” series “Citizen Chief”, with peasant thoroughness, reliability. Apparently it was precisely because of these properties that he began to play age-related roles early on; his heroes were often much older than him, they seemed wise, tired, and had experienced a lot. However, Stepanov also played tough roles, merciless towards scoundrel heroes, sarcastic (remember, for example, the Moscow bandit Kaban from Balabanov’s Zhmurok). But first of all, they loved his good-natured people, among whom was the sad, intelligent Doctor Chebutykin, the hero of Chekhov’s “Three Sisters” in the play, which became the last for Yuri Stepanov. Peace to his ashes.
Farewell to the actor will take place at the Pyotr Fomenko Workshop theater on March 6 at 11 am, and then he will be buried at the Troekurovsky cemetery.