"Dear Sir, President Ronald Reagan, Savely Kramarov, a popular film artist in the Soviet Union, addresses you. I don't overestimate my fame. If you walk with your spouse in Moscow, ask any Muscovite, any old lady, even if you are framed and she turns out to be a KGB agent, if she knows Savely Kramarov, then she will definitely open her mouth (even being a chekist) and say :" What about it?! Funny artist! Many times I watched films with his participation. "...The old lady, whoever she is, even the Minister of Culture, will tell you the truth, but not all of it. Indeed, the audience still laughs at the heroes of my films, but personally I myself am not laughing now. I'm not starving, but it's not just bread that keeps a man alive. And although we have different bread and we eat differently, but we both love creativity and can not live without it. Therefore, help me find an opportunity to work in my specialty in your great country…"
Kramorov's uncle emigrated to Israel, which immediately attracted the attention of the USSR state security agencies to the artist. They remembered that his father, Viktor Kramarov, had received eight years of prison camps and had not returned from them. In addition, Sawa was a devout Jew-he attended synagogue on Saturdays, eating only kosher food. On Shabbat, Jewish believers are not allowed to do anything, not even press the elevator button and pick up the phone, and Savely did all of this. This, of course, interfered with the work.
By the decision of higher authorities Kramarov suddenly stopped shooting, films with his participation were not allowed to rent. This went on for three years. "Over the past three years, I've only had 12 shooting days," Kramarov said. Of course, this presaged a miserable existence for him. And he decided to leave the country for the States. Of course, they didn't let him do it right away. According to the unwritten laws of that time, all the memories of the departed artist had to be destroyed - not a single film with Kramarov could then be shown on television. But there were many of them and they were all loved by Soviet citizens.
In America, Kramarov's career was going well. Of course, it was far from popular love as in the USSR, but after a few years of work, he was able to join the Screen Actors Guild of the United States, he had his own agent, he bought a house in California. There he married for the third time and finally had a child, the first and only daughter Basia, named after her mother. At the age of 57, Kramarov got rid of his defect - an asymmetric eyelid. I lost a noticeable trait, but not a talent.
Unfortunately, something happened that Savely Kramarov had been afraid of all his life - he was diagnosed with cancer, despite the fact that he had led a healthy lifestyle since his youth. After the operation, complications began. He died in the summer of 1995 and is buried in San Francisco. Basia's daughter lives in America and doesn't speak Russian at all.
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