Stanislav Govorukhin’s 5-episode television film “The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed,” released in 1979, became one of the most recognizable films shot in the USSR. Even though the legendary Gleb Zheglov and Sharapov did not penetrate into popular culture as firmly as Stirlitz performed by Vyacheslav Tikhonov, they still gave us a whole series of catchphrases. And not only them – including, for example, the composition of the Lyube group “Atas”, which became the Song of the Year in 1990.
We have already told a number of remarkable stories related to the creation of the cult film. For example, about the historical prototypes of the main characters of the series and that same “Black Cat”. And also about the phrase that became popular, which actually was not in “The Meeting Place.”
The great success of the film was largely due to the performance of Vladimir Vysotsky – Gleb Zheglov in his performance turned out to be unique. By the way, it was Vladimir Semenovich who suggested the Weiner brothers to film their novel “The Era of Mercy”!
However, Vysotsky not only played the role perfectly: he also almost disrupted the filming (he was given the long-awaited permission to leave the country, Marina Vladi persuaded her husband to go on a trip), clashed with Konkin, who played Sharapov, and sometimes even invited him to “The Meeting Place” new actors.
No, this is not a joke. Vladimir Semenovich dragged the wife of his friend (Iranian businessman Babek Serush) Natalia Petrova into the series. It’s unlikely that you remembered her when watching “The Meeting Place,” but you definitely remember the scene with her. It is the heroine Natalya who is thrown out of the window by Fox, who senses an ambush at the restaurant.
Babek Serush told in more detail how his wife (before that she had only starred in “Ruslan and Lyudmila” in 1971) ended up in the same movie with Vysotsky:
“It was such a funny incident… Natalya in her youth was well acquainted with [режиссером фильма] Slava Govorukhin. And later, when Slava came to Moscow, we saw each other. And on this day my cousin had a housewarming party in Moscow… And suddenly Volodya Vysotsky called there: “Listen, we have an emergency here! They rented a restaurant for one night, hired waiters from National – they had to film it, but one actress got sick. And Slava says that Natalya can play this role well … ” Natalya was at home, at the River Station – they began to persuade her … And it was already late at night, about twelve o’clock … She, of course, did not want – it was late, she had to get ready, wash head. She refused. But it’s inconvenient, she knew both Slava and Volodya, so she said: “Babek forbade me to act in film…”
Volodya calls me:
– So it was you who forbade Natalya to film?!
– I didn’t forbid anything!
– Okay, where are you? I’ll drop by and we’ll go pick up Natalya.
We arrived, and she said: “Okay, I’ll go, but only if Babek is with me.” And Volodya: “Yes, this is a very good scene! It won’t take long—a couple of minutes—and everything is ready…” We arrived. Of course, they filmed this couple of minutes until six in the morning… I even dozed off somewhere in a chair. And Volodya kept dragging me into the hall: “Come on, we’ll film you too!”
The role was not a breakthrough for Petrova. In her career, after that she starred in only one more film – also the 1988 serial film “The Big Game”.
However, the actress, who was widowed in 1992, had no particular need to return to cinema. She traveled a lot and was very successful in business since the early 90s. According to the latest information, Petrova lives in two places – Moscow and Switzerland.
More interesting things about Vysotsky
The meeting place cannot be changed: watch online
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