End of an era: famous people we lost in 2022

2022 has been a tough year in every way. Before many people had time to recover from COVID-19, the war in Ukraine and the economic crisis hit the world. But not only this, 2022 was sad - this year brought us many losses. We have lost talented writers, musicians, rulers and other famous personalities. ForumDaily has made a traditional selection of those we lost in the past year.

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Queen Elizabeth II

Of course, the biggest loss for the whole world was the death of Queen Elizabeth II on September 8th.

Elizabeth II ruled for 70 years and appointed 15 prime ministers of Great Britain. Her eldest son, 73-year-old Prince Charles of Wales, has now become the King of Britain, and his wife Camilla has received the title of Queen Consort.

At the time of her death, 96-year-old Elizabeth II was the longest-reigning and oldest monarch in British history, as well as the longest-reigning and oldest head of state in the world.

Honorary Pope Benedict XVI

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, the German theologian who tried to revive Christianity in a secularized Europe, will forever be remembered as the first pontiff to retire in 600 years when he died on Saturday, December 31st. He was 95 years old.

Benedict stunned the world on February 11, 2013, when he announced in his characteristically soft Latin that he no longer had the strength to govern the 1,2 billion Catholic Church he had led for eight years. According to him, this is through scandals and indifference.

Pope Francis will celebrate a funeral Mass in St. Peter's Square on Jan. 5, an unprecedented event in which a current pope will officiate the funeral of a former one.

The Vatican has said that from January 2, Benedict's remains will be put on public display in St. Peter's Basilica so that the faithful can say goodbye to the pontiff. At Benedict's request, his funeral will be held solemnly, but with "simplicity," Bruni told reporters.

King of Football - Pele

Edson Arantes do Nascimento, better known around the world as Pele, died on December 29 at 82 years old.

"Football was invented for Pelé," Bobby Charlton, the legendary England and Manchester United captain, once said.

For many commentators and fans, Pele is the most vivid personification of football and the best player in history. Lightning speed was combined with his deadly accuracy of shots on goal. Pele was not only an athlete, but also a public figure who fought for the environment and a better life for the poor.

At home, he became a national hero, in the world - an idol for millions.

During his professional career, Pelé scored 1281 goals in 1363 matches, including 1091 in 1116 games for Santos and 77 in 92 matches for the national team, a Guinness world record. He was called a player who does not leave the field without a goal, although this is a certain exaggeration. But insignificant.

The first and only President of the USSR Mikhail Gorbachev

On September 30, at the age of 92, the first and only President of the USSR, Mikhail Gorbachev, died.

In February 1990, Gorbachev was elected president of the USSR. He became the first and last (and, accordingly, the only) person in this position. In August of the same year, a group of top Soviet leaders tried to remove him, announcing the creation of the State Committee for the State of Emergency (GKChP), but the coup failed.

Gorbachev resigned as president in December 1991, after the leaders of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus signed the Belovezhskaya Pact to eliminate the USSR and create the CIS.

On October 15, 1990, Gorbachev was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize - "for his contribution to the peace process in relations between the Soviet Union and Western countries."

First President of Ukraine Leonid Kravchuk

The first president of Ukraine, Leonid Kravchuk, also passed away in the outgoing year, on May 10. He was 88 years old. At the end of June 2021, 87-year-old Kravchuk underwent heart surgery. In September, he was transferred to Germany for rehabilitation. Later it was reported that the former president came out of a coma in the intensive care unit of a Munich clinic.

The period of Leonid Kravchuk's presidency was remembered for the economic crisis at the beginning of Ukraine's independence, political instability and the miners' strike in 1993. On the other hand, during the presidency of Kravchuk, the National Emblem, flag and Anthem of Ukraine were approved, as well as the Belovezhskaya Agreement on the termination of the existence of the USSR and the Helsinki Final Act on the integration of Ukraine into Europe and the recognition of the independence of the state of Ukraine by 171 countries were signed.

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Leonid Kravchuk became the only representative of the authorities of a foreign state, whose portrait was placed on the postmark of Austria (1992).

First female US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright

March 23, 84-year-old Albright died surrounded by the care of friends and relatives. A spokesman for the US State Department said the death was due to cancer.

Madeleine Albright (born Maria Yana Korbelova) was born on May 15, 1937 in Prague in the family of a Czechoslovak diplomat who was forced to leave the country after the occupation of Czechoslovakia by Nazi Germany. In 1948, Albright's father asked for political asylum in the United States. Madeleine became an American citizen in 1957. Albright was US Secretary of State from 1997 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton.

“Only in America can a refugee girl from Central Europe become a secretary of state,” she said.

Albright was known for her impressive collection of brooches. In 2009-2010 she exhibited at the Museum of Fine Arts and Design in New York. Most of the exhibits had no artistic or jewelry value, but were of interest to the public as "a symbol of a new approach to diplomacy." In her arsenal there were brooches in the form of stinging insects or a crab (a symbol of US negativity), sluggish negotiations were symbolized by a snail, patience in negotiations - a turtle, a favorable environment - butterflies, balloons.

Ukrainian actress and TV presenter Ruslana Pysanka

Pysanka died from a serious illness at the age of 57 on July 19.

The viewer knows her from numerous successful TV projects, comedy series, including "Matchmakers". The celebrity toured Europe, hosted radio broadcasts and tried herself as a singer.

Pysanka's filmography as a television actress is quite extensive - more than 30 projects, including the four-episode blockbuster "Fire and Sword". In the series of Jerzy Hoffman, Pysanka played the witch Gorpina.

In the spring of 2022, Ruslana left Ukraine for a course of treatment in Germany, where she was seriously diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer. This was preceded by an incident with a fainting on the theater stage in a play where the artist played the main role.

Legendary Russian singer Boris Moiseev

On September 27, after a long illness, at the age of 69, another Boris Moiseev passed away.

He was a Russian pop star. So few of the male artists dared to go against the current and “light up” on stage: skirts, feathers, rhinestones, nudity, bright makeup, which even women did not dare to apply. True, the artist claimed that he felt a sense of shame for what he did in his youth, only to be noticed and started talking about him.

Boris Moiseev became the first Russian artist to come out. For many years, the public believed without a doubt that the singer was gay. But in 2010, Moiseev made a sensational statement in which he admitted that he was not a homosexual and invented a legend about it in order to create a kind of outrageous image and achieve success. He was going to marry US citizen Adele Todd.

Leader of the Russian LDPR party Vladimir Zhirinovsky

Zhirinovsky spent more than 30 years in big politics. In early February, Vladimir Volfovich was hospitalized at the Central Clinical Hospital with COVID-19. After that, there were reports that he was put into an artificial coma due to a serious condition and inflammation of the brain. According to rumors, up to 75% of the lungs were affected by the politician.

Since hospitalization The media has repeatedly written about the death of Zhirinovskybut officials have denied this. Officially, the message about the death of the politician was confirmed only on April 6.

Zhirinovsky was called a "political clown" and a Great Russian sovereign, a populist and an anti-Westernist, a Jew and an anti-Semite, a misogynist and a favorite of the female electorate. Some ridiculed and despised him, others admired him, they wrote jokes about him, he became a character in memes. At the time of his death he was 75 years old.

Cult Russian actor Leonid Kuravlev

On January 30, Leonid Kuravlev died. Doctors fought for the life of the actor until the very end, but chronic diseases left no chance. He died in a Moscow hospice at the age of 86.

Leonid Kuravlev was born on October 8, 1936 in Moscow into the family of Vyacheslav Yakovlevich Kuravlev, a mechanic at the Salyut aircraft plant, and Valentina Dmitrievna Kuravleva, a hairdresser. In the cinema, the artist made his debut as a student in the role of a sapper soldier Morozov in the film by Andrei Tarkovsky and Alexander Gordon “Today there will be no dismissal ...” (1958). At the same time, the aspiring actor starred in Vasily Shukshin's graduation work “They Report From Swan” and in the adventure film by Mikhail Schweitzer “Midshipman Panin” (both films - 1960).

In 1960-1992, Kuravlev was a member of the troupe of the Theater-Studio of the film actor. He participated in the TV show "White Parrot". In 1998-2000, he hosted the program “The World of Books with Leonid Kuravlev” on the RTR TV channel, in which he talked about book novelties. In 2014, on the NTV channel, in the program “New Russian Sensations”, a 44-minute story “Leonid Kuravlyov. I'm leaving".

But most of all we know him as the legendary Afonya and Georges Miloslavsky.

Latvian theater and film actor Arnis Licitis

The famous Soviet and Latvian theater and film actor Arnis Litsitis died on January 21 at the age of 76.

He is known for his roles in the films Long Road in the Dunes, Mirage, Turkish March and others.

In total, Litsitis's filmography includes about 120 projects. Among the most famous are "Musketeers 20 years later", "Starting Rus'", "Mirage", "Prisoner of If Castle", "Lost in Siberia", "Turkish March", "Ranetki", "Saboteur" and others.

In addition, the actor is known for his roles in such series as "Saboteur-2: The End of the War", "Red Chapel", "Forgotten", "Inquisitor", as well as the films "Confess Guilty", "Favorite", "For You Really" and other pictures. Arnis Litsitis often starred in films, played on the stages of theaters in Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus, Lithuania, Russia.

Artist Dmitry Vrubel

In Berlin, at the age of 62, died the artist Dmitry Vrubel, the author of the graffiti "Brotherly Kiss" depicting the Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev and the head of the GDR Erich Honecker on the Berlin Wall, as well as many other famous works.

According to media sources, the cause of the artist's death was complications from the coronavirus.

Dmitry Vrubel was born in Moscow in 1960, in 1975 he created his first work of art - the painting "The Judgment of Pilate".

In 1990, Vrubel moved to Berlin. In the same year, on the surviving fragment of the Berlin Wall, he wrote his famous work "The Fraternal Kiss", where Secretary General Leonid Brezhnev kisses the leader of the GDR, Eric Honecker.

Graffiti has become one of the most famous street art in the world. In 2009, the "Brotherly Kiss" was erased as part of the restoration of the wall for the 20th anniversary of its demolition, but Vrubel agreed to restore it.

Russian writer and poet Yuz Aleshkovsky

Writer and poet Yuz Aleshkovsky died in the USA at the age of 92. С In 1979, he lived in the United States, where he was forced to move from the USSR after publishing in samizdat, under his last name, texts for songs dedicated to the camp theme, as well as the realities of Soviet life. One of the most famous works of that stage in Aleshkovsky's life is the story "Nikolai Nikolaevich" written in 1979 and published abroad in 1980.

In 2001, the writer became a laureate of the Pushkin Prize of the Hamburg Alfred Töpfer Foundation "for the work created by the writer since the 50s, which made him one of the leading personalities of Russian literature of the XNUMXth century."

Vivienne Westwood designer

British fashion designer Vivienne Westwood has died at the age of 82. Until the last moment, she continued to do what she loved - design, creativity, writing a book and changing the world for the better.

Vivien has lived an amazing life. Its innovation and influence over the past 60 years has been enormous and will not fade into the future.

Westwood died on December 29 with her family in Clapham, London.

Rock and roll pioneer Jerry Lee Lewis

He was torn between his Christian upbringing and his desire to create rock and roll. During his career, Lewis has created many hits, including Great Balls of Fire and Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On.

Like Chuck Berry's guitar, Lewis's piano was instrumental in shaping rock and roll in the mid-1950s.

Lewis was part of Sun Records' brilliant all-star cast that included Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins and Roy Orbison. He survived them all.

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Lewis, known by the nickname The Killer, was one of the first performers inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986. The musician had such an impact that when John Lennon met him backstage at a show in Los Angeles, he fell to his knees and kissed the cult performer's feet.

The actor who played Hagrid in Harry Potter, Robbie Coltrane

Audiences know Coltrane well from his role as Rubeus Hagrid in the Harry Potter films. He played a kind teacher, key keeper and forester at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Coltrane acted as a criminal psychologist in the British detective series The Cracker Method and Russian mobster, former KGB agent Valentin Zhukovsky in two James Bond films - GoldenEye (1995), The World Is Not Enough (1999).

Wright Coltrane was called the owner of a unique talent. His performance of Hagrid brought joy to children and adults all over the world.

Actor Ray Liotta

Renowned Hollywood actor Ray Liotta has died at the age of 67. He died in his sleep in the Dominican Republic, where he was on the set of a new film.

Liotta is best known for his starring role in Martin Scorsese's 1990 crime classic Goodfellas.

His film career spans four decades. In addition to his famous role in Goodfellas, Liotta is known for films such as Cop Land and Field of Dreams. The actor's real breakthrough came in 1986 in Jonathan Demme's film Something Wild. He was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor.

In recent years, Liotta's popularity has seen a resurgence. He has appeared in projects such as the prequels The Sopranos, The Many Saints of Newark, and Noah Baumbach's Marriage Story.

Rapper Coolio

Famous American rapper Coolio has died at the age of 59. He is the performer of the hit Gangsta's Paradise, which was released in 1995 and became one of the most popular songs not only for a decade, but for entire generations.

The rapper began his career back in the 1980s, and gained worldwide fame after the release of the hit Gangsta's Paradise. The musician received a Grammy award for it, the song was also used in the popular film Dangerous Minds starring Michelle Pfeiffer.

Over a four-decade musical career, Coolio has recorded eight studio albums and won the American Music Award and three MTV Video Music Awards.

He toured extensively until his death and was on tour with other stars of the 1990s, including Vanilla Ice.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest star Louise Fletcher

Louise Fletcher, the imposing, steel-eyed actress who won an Academy Award for her role as the domineering nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, has died at her home in Monduro, southern France. She was 88 years old.

Fletcher, 40, was virtually unknown to the public when she was cast as the chief administrative nurse at the Oregon Mental Hospital in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

Directed by Milos Forman and based on the hit novel by Ken Kesey, the film won Best Actress and four more Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (Jack Nicholson as a rebellious psycho) and Best Adapted Screenplay ( Bo Goldman and Lawrence Hauber).

Fletcher's acceptance speech stood out that evening - not only because she thanked voters for hating her, but also because she used American Sign Language to thank her parents, who were both deaf, for "taught me how to dream."

The American Film Institute named Sister Ratched one of the most memorable villains in film history and the second most important female villain behind only the Wicked Witch in The Wizard of Oz.

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