Theater and film actor Oleg Dal was born on May 25, 1941 in the city of Lyublino (now one of the districts of Moscow).

As a child, Dahl dreamed of becoming a pilot, but he understood that health (a weak heart) would not allow him to achieve his goal.

Already in his school years, he thought about the acting profession.

In particular, Dal wanted to play Pechorin someday.

True, here, too, there were some difficulties: the future actor had problems with diction.

But in the end he dealt with them.

After school, Oleg Dal entered the Shchepkin Higher Theater School on the course of Nikolai Annenkov.

Together with Dal, Mikhail Kononov, Vitaly Solomin, Mikhail Kokshenov, Viktor Pavlov studied.

During his studies, Oleg Dal received his "Star Ticket".

This is the title of the book by Vasily Aksyonov, which formed the basis of the film "My little brother".

During the filming, director Alexander Zarkhi took Dahl and Alexander Zbruev from classes.

  • Shot from the film "My little brother"

  • © Still from the film "My little brother" (1962)

According to the recollections of the cameraman Anatoly Petritsky, then Dahl's addiction to alcohol began to appear.

However, the artist kept himself within the bounds of decency and did not cause great inconvenience to the film crew.

Colleagues in the film noted that Oleg Dal was the brightest of the three young actors who starred in the tape (Andrei Mironov made his company with Alexander Zbruev).

In the work on the first film, Dahl showed another side of his character.

Zarkhi noticed that the young actor could even subordinate his will to the director.

Oleg Dal neglected public opinion, subordination and discipline.

He saw no need to pretend and even while being in the image preferred to show his own individuality - and not to portray another hero.

Dahl could not repeat the same style of playing in different takes and even opposed makeup. 

“He has such a complete relaxedness of human feelings: I want to be the way I feel at the moment ... There was no such human discipline and subordination to some conventions in him,” said Alexander Zarkhi.

After graduating from the legendary "Sliver", Dal joined the troupe of the Sovremennik Theater, led by Oleg Efremov.

At that time, the actress Nina Doroshina served in Sovremennik, with whom Oleg Dal also met on the set of the film The First Trolleybus.

The artists got married in 1963, but right during the wedding there was a conflict with the participation of Efremov, who had an affair with Doroshina.

The family union did not last long.

Oleg Dahl's second wife, Tatyana Lavrova, also served in Sovremennik.

And this marriage also turned out to be short-lived.

In the theater, Dahl had few roles, and even those were mostly of the second plan.

In 1968, the artist played Vaska Ashes in the play “At the Bottom” by Maxim Gorky.

The actor was in conflict with the management and artists, left the theater several times and came back.

He did not like the repertoire of performances with a pronounced ideological component.

Contemporaries noted the outstanding talent of the artist.

He could go on stage with an injury and was more worried about the fate of the performance than about his own health.

According to the recollections of friends, Oleg Dal used alcohol to cope with constant emotional stress.

The actor changed more than one scene.

“Oleg offered his own options, but creatively narrow-minded people always get in the way.

And it was difficult for him to suppress his creative "I".

He was a man who could not find a place for himself, and hence all his throwing - "Sovremennik", Moscow Art Theater, Leningrad "Lenkom", Theater on Malaya Bronnaya, and at the end of his life - teaching at VGIK.

He did not accept lies and insincerity.

He could not find himself, ”says Alexander Zbruev.

Dahl has created many outstanding images in cinema.

Among them were Zhenya Kolyshkin (Zhenya, Zhenechka and Katyusha) and Yevgeny Sobolevsky (Chronicle of a Dive Bomber).

He starred in a number of films by Nadezhda Kosheverova, who, according to the memoirs of Lyudmila Gurchenko, sometimes even forgave the actor for the disruption of filming.

  • Shot from the film "Zhenya, Zhenya and Katyusha"

  • © Still from the film "Zhenya, Zhenya and Katyusha" (1967)

Thanks to Kosheverova, Dal got the role of a jester in the film "King Lear" by Grigory Kozintsev.

During the filming, the artist met the editor Elizaveta Apraksina.

They got married in 1969 and were together until the actor's death.

In the film "Bad Good Man" based on the novel by A.P.

Chekhov's "Duel" Oleg Dal was filmed with Vladimir Vysotsky.

The first played Laevsky, the second played von Koren.

The shooting was not easy: Evgeny Tatarsky recalled that he had to follow Dahl so that he was sober by the beginning of the shift.

Dahl and Vysotsky maintained a relationship outside the set almost until the musician's death.

Both suffered from the same addiction and together tried unsuccessfully to get rid of it - including "stitching" from alcoholism.

In 1973, the picture "Sannikov's Land" was released, where Dal played the role of Krestovsky, intended for Vysotsky.

Togo was suspended from filming after the broadcast of songs on foreign radio.

Vladimir Vysotsky died in July 1980, and Oleg Dal was grieving at the loss.

He openly said that he would soon follow a friend.

And so it happened.

Vladimir Motyl compared the role of Oleg Dahl in Soviet culture with the contributions of Vladimir Vysotsky, Pavel Luspekaev and Pyotr Aleinikov.

“This trace is incommensurate with their lifetime position in society, when next to them unknown artisans were called the titles of“ folk ”.

Is it by chance that the immediate cause of the untimely death of each of the named actors turned out to be, in general, the same?

It is based on bitterness, bathed in bitter, ”the director noted.

According to Motyl's recollections, some colleagues in the shop offered Dal alcohol out of jealousy for his success and talent.

Although the actor was loved by the public, his contribution to cinema was not awarded the title of People's or Honored Artist.

In 1974, Oleg Dal staged the play "The Princess and the Woodcutter" together with Galina Volchek.

The artist was interested in directing and in 1976 he entered the VGIK for the Higher Directing Courses, where his master was Joseph Kheifits.

However, Dahl never finished his studies.

  • Oleg Dal

  • RIA News

  • © Boris Elin

In the second half of the 1970s, Dahl had a difficult relationship with filmmakers. His name was to appear in films of prominent directors, but the artist turned down a number of proposals. In response, the Mosfilm management issued a three-year ban on Dahl's filming. In his diary, the artist scolded the officials and managers and worried that "art remains less and less."

“The main feeling from him is freedom.

Freedom.

Relaxedness.

That very inner, most precious freedom, which was completely thrown away by our society, the intelligentsia, which has been persecuted for tens and tens of years.

From our society and our system.

It is in the blood ... it was laid in him, ”recalled screenwriter and director Leonid Agranovich, who filmed Dahl in his film“ The Man Who Doubts ”.

According to Alexander Zarkhi, Dahl did not know how to "adapt to the existing norms of human existence." 

The actor's partner in the film "The Man Who Doubts" Larisa Vikkel said that in the summer of 1980, Dahl, in his words, did not drink alcohol and felt independent - including because ill-wishers no longer "bullied" him because of his addiction ...

According to the memoirs of contemporaries, shortly before his death, Oleg Dal experienced obvious health problems.

The artist suffered pneumonia, lost a lot of weight.

However, he continued to play in the theater and act in films.

In early March 1981, Dahl was in Kiev for a screen test - he applied for a role in the comedy "Apple in the Palm".

According to one version, the actor took alcohol, knowing that it would be fatal.

Acquaintances and friends of the artist claim that he talked about death and said goodbye to those around him.

So, Leonid Markov, who also planned to appear in the tape, said that Dal said goodbye to him with the words "Well, here ... I went to my room to die! ..".

According to Valentin Gaft, on the day of his death, the artist said to him not "goodbye", but "goodbye."

Oleg Dal was found in a hotel room on March 3, 1981. Cardiac arrest is believed to be the cause of his death. Later it became known that the artist collected the money he earned, which somewhat eased the situation of his wife after his death.