Soviet movie stars Lyudmila Gurchenko and Yuri Nikulin were very close. The artist called his old friend dad. “When I had gray days, when I started getting nervous for no reason, it was a definite sign, Yu.V. hasn’t called for a whole week.” admitted Gurchenko.
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The celebrities starred together in the film “Twenty Days Without War” in 1976. During the period of work on the painting, Yuri Nikulin and Lyudmila Gurchenko lived in a railway carriage with no services in the neighboring compartments.
“For nearly a year and a half of filming, we existed in really tough conditions. You cannot hide all human vices, stupidity and weaknesses there. In those “Twenty days without war” they lived almost like in a war. It was his own war, in which friendship and loyalty are the strongest, “said the artist.
It was thanks to Nikulin that Gurchenko was able to keep faith in the good. Yuri Vladimirovich turned out to be the only person Lyudmila Markovna could turn to in a difficult time. The artist believed that only Nikulin was able to understand her.
After learning about the betrayal of her husband, composer Konstantin Cooperweiss, Lyudmila Gurchenko first of all shared her misfortune with Yuri Nikulin. She the artist recalled how she fled to the circus on Tsvetnoy Boulevard, finding herself on the verge of despair. In an elderly comrade’s office, she Gurchenko sobbed like a baby.
Once Yuri Nikulin called Lyudmila Gurchenko from the hospital. The artist suffered from diabetes, she had diseases of the heart and blood vessels. Nikulin said he accepted a risky operation after another attack. The artist had a narrowed vessel in his heart, the doctors were about to insert a stent through the femoral artery.
“Here I was so caught up that I was all wet and tears were tearing … I thought, if it happens again, I can’t stand it … I’ll end my life … Pray for me on August 5th. You are true and true. I love you for this … ”- Yuri Nikulin said to a friend.
This was the last conversation between Nikulin and Gurchenko. During the surgery, the artist fell ill. Within 30-40 minutes the patient was in a state of clinical death. Doctors fought for the artist’s life for 16 days. Unfortunately, stardom cannot be saved. Yuri Nikulin died on August 21, 1997 at the age of 75. Yuri Vladimirovich’s departure painfully affected Lyudmila Markovna. After Nikulin’s death, Gurchenko said the emptiness settled in her heart forever.
