Description: War Thunder is a next generation military MMO game dedicated to...
Future famous film actor, songwriter and composer Dean Reed was born in March 1938. A happy event happened to the Reeds on the 22nd. Dean's father Cyril worked as a village teacher, mother Ruth was a housewife. The Reed family, in which, in addition to Dean, two more sons Dale and Vern grew up, was large and friendly.
The gift Dean received for his twelve years sealed his fate. It was a guitar with which he did not part until the end of his days. After graduating from high school, Dean, obeying the will of his parents, continued to receive education, starting his studies at the Faculty of Meteorology at the University of Colorado. During his studies, he earned money by performing in clubs. After completing his sophomore year, Dean left school and moved to Los Angeles at the age of 20. It was in this city that Reid signed his first contract with Capital Records. Thanks to the studio, Reed began to appear on television and already in 1961 his disc "Our summer romance s" has become wildly popular in Latin America. Having gone on tour around the countries of this continent, Reed, who had already gained popularity, settled in Argentina. Here he became interested in "leftist" views, becoming an active social activist.
Creativity in adulthood
Reed's biography is full of various events like a kaleidoscope. Where he just was not and what he just did not do. Dean's film debut took place in 1964. The first film "Love has many faces" was popular not only in South America, but also in the distant USSR.
In 1964, Reed met his first love. She turned out to be Patricia Hobbs, a former Hollywood actress. After 4 years, the couple had a child. The girl was named Ramona. Work in the cinema captured Reed with his head. In 1965, as many as 3 Argentine films with Reed's participation were released, and 2 years later, the Italian films "God created them, and I kill them" and "Baccarat" became the most famous in Reed's filmography.
First time in the USSR Dean Reed visited in 1965. After being deported from Argentina in 1966, the Reeds ended up in Italy, where Dean took part in protests against the Vietnam War. In 1970, Dean, having left for Chile, actively participates in various actions of pacifists, and in the elections of the Chilean president.
reed since 1973 lived in the GDR, where he began to engage in creativity, writing as many as 13 music albums and starring in a dozen films. In the mid-70s of the last century, Reed was constantly involved in filming films in the GDR and the Soviet Union.
The personal life of Dean Reed is full of love drinking. 1973 was marked by the appearance of Dean new wife. Now his wife model Wiebke Dorndeck. After three years life together The couple had a daughter, Natasha. However, already in November 1977, the couple divorced.
The third wife of Dean Reed was an actress from the GDR Renata Blume. The wedding was played in 1981.
Dean Reed repeatedly came on tour to the USSR. Firma Melodiya released records with his best songs 6 times. And the film about the struggle of the Americans with the Indians, which starred Gojko Mitic and Dean Reed, became incredibly popular in the USSR.
Mystery of death
Dean Reed was found in Lake Zeuthen on June 17, 1986. Officially announced that Reid drowned. But the actor's family is sure that Reed was eliminated for his intention to leave for the United States. Renata Blume even made a statement that Reid died from five stab wounds. And Reed's neighbor, General Fensh, said that the couple had a fight before the tragedy, thus confirming the version of an accident or suicide.
Be that as it may, the mother took the ashes of Dean Reed from Germany to their homeland in the USA, where he rests today. at Green Montana Cemetery.
In the USSR, the countries of South America, Eastern and Central Europe, the American actor and singer Dean Reed was very popular. The handsome American recorded popular songs, played honest cowboys in films, and most importantly, made speeches in which he told the inhabitants of the socialist camp about true face capitalism and cynical US world politics.
In the summer of 1986, Dean Reed was found dead in eastern Berlin at the bottom of Lake Zeuthen. The main version of the investigation is an accident, however, the circumstances of the death and many details raise questions and cast doubt on the conclusions of the authorities.
Accident or suicide
According to the official version, Dean Reed left the house after another quarrel with his wife. Sitting behind the wheel, he raced at high speed, lost control of the car and crashed into a tree on the lake. From the blow, he flew out of the window, and, losing consciousness, fell into the water, where he drowned. The body was found four days after the tragedy.
Later there was a version about the suicide of the actor. Reed took a large dose of sleeping pills, after which he jumped into the water and drowned. There are several reasons for suicide - disappointment in socialism or depression caused by the release of the documentary "American Rebel". Dean Reed dreamed of popularity in the United States and hoped that this tape would be the beginning of his career in his homeland, but everything happened exactly the opposite.
The filmmakers exposed the actor as a traitor to democratic values, the words from his interview were cut out of context, and the inserted scenes where Dean Reed hugs Yasser Arafat and stands in Lebanon with a Kalashnikov assault rifle added fuel to the fire. The image created by filmmakers caused a negative reaction from the Americans, who suggested that Reed be driven "to his beloved communists." There was no question of returning home after such a failure, Dean, unable to bear the disappointment, killed himself.
Oddities in the Dean Reed Suicide Case
The version of suicide sounds plausible, but some details do not fully accept it. Why for four days no one paid attention to the damaged car of the actor, which stood on the shore of the lake, around which the Berliners liked to walk. At the time of his death, Reed was wearing a warm jacket, although the death occurred in June, and his body was crushed with stones at the time of discovery.
The mother of the actor Anna Ruth, who came from the United States, did not show the corpse for a long time, referring to the fact that his face was eaten by fish. However, when it was nevertheless presented, it turned out that it did not look like a body that had spent four days under water. The authorities, without waiting for the end of the investigation, cremated Dean Reed, which raised the question: “Are they trying to cover their tracks?” Reed's daughter Ramona also had questions, who even sued the GDR in the case of falsifying data on the death of her father.
The case died out after the unification of Germany. The autopsy report states that death occurred on June 12, 1986, and he was found on June 17. Dean Reed stayed in the water for 5 nights, however, in the conclusion it is written that the lungs are relatively light with a slight loss of tissue elasticity. This coincides with the mother's information that he did not look like a drowned man. Pathologists found no traces of alcohol, sleeping pills or other drugs in the singer's stomach.
Dean Reed and the Secret Service
Based on all the inconsistencies, another version arises. An American actor and singer was killed by Stasi secret police agents, after which an accident was staged. The Ministry of State Security of the GDR, or Stasi for short, was one of the best and most influential intelligence agencies in the world. Each East German had his own dossier, and such a person as Dean Reed could not help but be under the "guardianship" of agents of the service.
The fact that among the 160 kilometers of racks left by the Stasi with personal files of citizens of the GDR there is no Dean Reed folder proves that after its development, all documents were seized. His friend and personal translator Oleg Smirnov is sure that the singer was killed by the special services, who claims that after arriving at the scene of the tragedy, Dean Reed's wife Patricia was given her husband's wallet completely dry, not having been in the water.
Another important detail is the body, which is nailed with stones, which excludes the possibility of an accident. A supporter of the version of the murder, Estonian actress Eva Kivi, with whom Reed had a long-term affair, said that the singer really liked the USSR, but he was not allowed to buy an apartment in Moscow. The image of an American socialist was needed in the West and he was settled in the GDR. In one of the conversations, Reed told Eva that he hates this country and the people living in it.
Those who believe that the special services killed the rebel singer are sure that Dean Reed fulfilled his task of propaganda, he knew a lot and should have been in the shadows. From a creative personality, he was made a symbol of the confrontation between East and West, but the American decided to return to the United States, and the special services could not allow this. Only Stasi agents had the decisiveness and the ability to carry out the elimination of such a person as Dean Reed.
Name: Dean Reed
Date of Birth: September 22, 1938
Age:
47 years old
Date of death: June 13, 1986
Place of Birth: Denver, Colorado, USA
Activity: singer, actor, film director, public figure
Family status: was married
Dean Reed: biography
Dean Reed is an actor, singer, musician, director and composer from the USA, beloved by the public in the Soviet countries. He was an amazingly handsome, stately man, photo- and telegenic, artistic, besides, he played the guitar perfectly. His songs were known all over the world, and women in different countries went crazy with the crooked smile, athletic figure and incredible timbre of the voice of this talented and charismatic singer. He became a legend during his lifetime.The legendary Dean Reed
Born in 1938. The first musical instrument - a guitar - young Dean received as a birthday present, he wrote his first song about passionate love at the age of 16. Having entered the university, the impulsive young man quits his studies and decides to check if his talent is enough for a full-fledged successful career musician. This adventurous act leads to the fact that Reed signed his first contact with a major music label at the age of 20. His tracks were not immediately noticed by the audience, but the songs from the second and, especially, the third album received numerous rotations on the radio, fell in love with the people and even entered the charts of the “hottest hits” of those years.
Dean Reed in his youth
He goes on tour first in the United States, and then comes to Latin America, where he is waiting for a dizzying success. Here he stays to live for several years to create, give concerts, act in TV shows and even host his own TV show.It is in Latin America that he becomes interested in "leftist" political views and becomes a social activist who advocates the fight against poverty and world peace. This greatly unnerves his managers and director of tours, but the artist is adamant. He begins to show interest in local politics and participate in public dialogue, but this does not end well - during the national revolution, Dean is first imprisoned and then deported from Argentina.
The inhabitants of the USSR will forever remember him with the performance of the songs "Bella, Chao", "Hava Nagila" and many others. The main legendary moment in his career on Soviet soil was the performance of the song "Elizabeth" in new year's eve on the country's main TV channel. After that, the records with his recordings were sold out in Soviet Russia multi-million copies.
Personal life
Dean Reed lived a life full of love ups and downs. The first time he married an actress from Hollywood, with whom he traveled half the world and eventually divorced in Italy. Dean's second wife was named Wibke Reed, this marriage also ended in divorce.
Dean Reed with wife Renata Blume
The singer then had civil marriage with an actress from Estonia named Eva Kivi. But the lovers were quarreled by the difference in political views. The artist moved to live in the GDR, married for the third time.Entered the cadet school. I studied there for one year.
Dean's father bought Blondie's horse for $150.
In honor of his girlfriend, Dean writes his first song called "Don" t let her go "(" Do not let her leave ").
July - Dean sets a marathon record by running 110 miles.
Dean enters the University of Colorado in the Department of Meteorology.
August - For the summer holidays, Dean goes to Hollywood and signs a contract with the Capital Records record company (Los Angeles).
February - Dean Reed's "Search" is #96 on Billboard's Hot 100 charts.
With the song "Twirly twirly" Dean Reed performs on TV in the "Bachelor Fater Show".
Dean Reed enters the acting school of the film company Warner Bros. under the guidance of Paton Price.
October 4 - Dean Reed's song "Our summer romance" ("Our summer romance") takes 2nd place in the "Top 50" list.
Dean Reed lives in New York.
March - from Capital Records, Dean Reed goes on his first tour - to Latin America (Chile, Brazil, Peru, Argentina). In Chile, he meets the future president of the country, Salvador Allende.
December - the song "Our Summer Romance" takes 1st place in the Latin American hit parade.
Beginning of the year - Dean Reed goes on a journey (several months) to the Indians of the Brazilian Amazon.
May - Dean Reed writes a letter to a prominent Chilean newspaper against US testing nuclear weapons.
Dean Reed is filming Guadalajara in Summer. At the festival in Acapulco (Mexico), the film wins two prizes.
In Mexico, Dean Reed marries Hollywood actress Patricia (Patty) Hobbs.
Dean Reed performs on Argentine TV in the show "Todo es amor".
The film "First Love" (Argentina) with the participation of Dean Reed was released.
Dean Reed hosts his own show on Argentine TV every Saturday.
July 10-15 - As part of the Argentine delegation, Dean Reed travels to Helsinki for the World Peace Congress. After the forum he visits Moscow.
August - Dean Reed participates as a guest at the festivities in honor of the 15th anniversary of the independence of Argentina.
Dean Reed enters in absentia for the 1st year of the University of Colorado (Department of Meteorology).
The movie came out New wave"(Argentina) with the participation of Dean Reed.
February - Dean Reed in Caracas (Venezuela) writes a poem "Without wars, the planet does not live."
March - Che Guevara spends one night at Dean Reed's house in Buenos Aires.
End of June - Dean Reed leaves Argentina and moves to Spain.
October 1 - November 30 - Dean Reed in the USSR: October 3-5, 7-9 - concerts at the GTE; October 8 - press conference at the Soviet Peace Committee; October 11-15 - concerts in Leningrad; October 17-21 - concerts in Yerevan; October 24-28 - concerts in Tbilisi; October 30 - November 1 - concerts in Baku; November 5 - performance at the Taganka Theater in Moscow; November 12-13 - concerts in Rostov-on-Don, November 15-18 - concerts in Kislovodsk, November 20-23 - concerts in Riga; November 27-29 - concerts at the Variety Theater in Moscow.
Patricia lies in the "Kremlin" and loses her child there.
December - Dean Reed is blacklisted in Spain and moves to Italy with Patricia.
Spring - Dean Reed and Patricia break up: Dean remains to live in Italy, and she leaves for the USA, where she is going to marry a football player from Texas. But Dean takes her back to Rome.
July-August - Dean starred in his first "spaghetti western" "Buccaro" (Italy - Spain).
August - Patricia became pregnant.
September - Dean Reed in Rome writes a poem "We are revolutionaries", dedicated to the 50th anniversary of October.
January-March - Dean starred in the "spaghetti western" "God gave birth to them, I will kill them" (Italy - Spain).
April-June - Dean starred in the film "Zorro's Nephews" (Italy - Spain).
Summer - Dean Reed visits Mongolia.
The film "The Nephews of Zorro" (Italy-Spain) with the participation of Dean Reed was released.
Autumn - Dean Reed participates in a demonstration against the Vietnam War in front of the US Embassy. Arrest for several hours.
The films "Gang of Three Chrysanthemums" (Italy-Spain), "Death Knocks Twice" (Italy-Germany) with the participation of Dean Reed were released.
April 2-6 - Dean Reed in Moscow at the plenum of the World Peace Council, convened in honor of the 100th anniversary of the birth of V. I. Lenin.
August 28 - Dean Reed washed the American flag in front of the US Embassy in Santiago. Participates in the election campaign of Salvador Allende.
There were films with the participation of Dean Reed: "Saranda", "Pirates of the Green Island" (all - Italy-Spain).
January 27 - Literaturnaya Gazeta publishes an open letter from Dean Reed to Alexander Solzhenitsyn.
January-April - Dean Reed gives concerts in Chile in support of Allende.
July 3-18 - Dean Reed illegally enters Argentina through Uruguay. He is arrested and thrown into the Vila Dovoto prison. After 16 days behind bars, Dean is released and expelled from the country.
July 20 - August 3 - Dean Reed is present at the International Film Festival in Moscow. Acquaintance with the Estonian film actress Evi Kivi.
August 10 - September 30 - Dean Reed gives concerts in eight cities of the Soviet Union: Leningrad (August 12-16), Kyiv (August 20-22), Odessa (August 24-26), Tbilisi (September 5-11), Novosibirsk ( September 13-19), Vladivostok, Moscow (September 29-30), etc.
November 25-29 - Dean Reed is present at the International Documentary Film Festival in Leipzig. Acquaintance with the 30-year-old teacher and relative of the SED chairman Erich Honecker Wiebke Dornbach.
The film "Farewell Sabata" (Italy-Spain) with the participation of Dean Reed was released.
February 12-28 - Dean Reed in Moscow, concerts at the GTE (February 12-13, 15-16), October (February 18-19), Rossiya State Central Concert Hall (February 24, 27-28).
June-July - Dean Reed is filmed in Spain in the film "Clash of the Titans" (Italy-Spain).
August 22-26 - Dean Reed is present as a guest at the international pop song festival in Sopot (Poland).
September-October - Dean Reed is removed in the GDR and Romania in the film studio "DEFA" "From the life of a slacker" (Slacker).
Director Wernfried Huebel is shooting the film "Dean Reed - Singer of Another America".
November - Dean Reed attends the International Documentary Film Festival in Leipzig as a guest of honor.
February 24 - Dean Reed takes part in the Chile-Vietnam solidarity festival in Uruguay. There's also a Dean Reed CD.
Dean Reed is filming in Spain in the film "Fist, Beans and ... Karate" (Italy-Spain).
End of May - Dean Reed took part in the Asian Congress of Peace Forces in Dhaka (Bangladesh).
Early June - Dean Reed visited Panama, Venezuela, USA.
June - the film "From the life of a slacker" is released on the screens of the GDR.
July 28 - August 6 - Dean Reed participates in the festival of youth and students in East Berlin.
July 31 - Dean Reed marries Wiebke. The marriage took place in the city of Debeln (28 thousand inhabitants).
August - Dean Reed is in Mexico and Chile.
August 27 - Dean Reed participates in the art festival in Montevideo (Uruguay), hosted by the newspaper of the Uruguayan communists "Popular" (at the invitation of the 1st secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Uruguay Rodney Arismendi).
February - Dean Reed is filmed in Czechoslovakia in the film studio "DEFA" "Kit and K" based on Jack London's book "Smok Belyu".
April - shooting in "Kit and K" in the GDR; tour of the GDR and Czechoslovakia.
July - Dean Reed performs at the song and dance festival in Thuringia (GDR).
August - October - Dean Reed is filmed in the GDR and Romania in the film "Blood Brothers" by the DEFA film studio, where he acts in two roles: as a screenwriter and a leading actor (Harmonica).
December 13 - Dean Reed performs at the Friedrichstadtpalast Hall in Berlin in a concert in honor of the 25th anniversary of the pioneer organization named after Ernst Thalmann.
January - Dean Reed is filmed in the GDR and Romania in the film studio "DEFA" "Blood Brothers" (Dean is the scriptwriter and the lead actor is Harmonica).
March-April - Dean Reed performs on tour in the USA, Cuba, Hungary, Czechoslovakia (in the latter he gave 13 concerts, which were attended by 57.5 thousand spectators).
May - Dean Reed infiltrates Pinochet's Chile and goes to jail. According to the court's verdict, he was given 10 years in prison for calling for the overthrow of the existing system.
After a three-day hunger strike, Dean Reed is released and expelled from the country.
June - the film "Blood Brothers" is released on the screens of the GDR.
September 23 - the newspaper "Soviet Culture" published a poem by Dean Reed "Think of you, miss you, love you", where we are talking about his stay in a Chilean prison (translated by Evgeny Dolmatovsky).
October - Dean Reed meets his mother during the World Congress of Women in East Berlin.
November - Dean Reed tours the USSR for the 4th time: November 15-16 gives concerts at the Variety Theater in Moscow; November 19-20 - in the Sports Arena in Riga; November 22-23 - at the Sports House "Kalev" in Tallinn; November 26-27 - at the Oktyabrsky Grand Concert Hall in Leningrad (in Leningrad he participates in world conference representatives of national peace movements on November 24-25); November 29-30 - at the Moscow Variety Theater (all concerts accompanied by the Dieter Julik Orchestra).
January - March - Dean Reed records the disc "Dean Reed a jeho svet" at the Suprafon studio (Czechoslovakia).
Summer - Dean Reed visits the USA, where he stays with his ex-wife Patricia.
February - Filming of the film "El Cantor" ("The Singer") began. Dean Reed is the scriptwriter, director and lead actor (Chilean singer Victor Leben).
July-August - shooting of the film "El Kantor" ("The Singer").
September - Dean Reed records in Prague, at the Suprafon studio, the disc "My Song for You".
September-October - Dean Reed is in southern Lebanon, at the base of the guerrillas of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).
November - Dean Reed and Wiebke divorce.
December 22 - in East Berlin, at the cinema "Cosmos", the premiere of the film "El Kantor" ("The Singer") took place.
January 9 - Dean Reed in Moscow, where he is awarded the medal of the Soviet Peace Committee "Fighter for Peace".
January - February - Dean Reed records the disc "My song for you" in Prague.
May - Dean Reed is present at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival (Czechoslovakia) with the film "El Kantor" ("The Singer"). Together with the actor and friend Václav Nekar, Din attends a youth rally in the city of Kralov.
June - Dean Reed participates in the press festival in East Berlin.
October 28 - Dean Reed in the USA. Screening of the film "El Kantor" ("The Singer") to students of the University of Minneapolis (Minnesota).
October 29 - Dean Reed is arrested for participating in a farmers' demonstration in Delano, Minnesota.
November 11 - Soviet newspapers published an open letter to US President D. Carter, with a request to release the singer to freedom. This petition was signed by eminent people: Maya Plisetskaya, Maxim Shostakovich, Ilya Oistrakh, Yuri Temirkanov, Evgeny Nesterenko.
November 13 - Dean Reed appeared before a jury in Wright County (Minnesota) and was found not guilty.
December - concert tour of Dean Reed in 20 cities of the GDR.
January 8-12 - Dean Reed in Moscow: participates in the New Year tree in the Kremlin; January 9 - gives a concert at the Palace of Pioneers on the Lenin Hills; January 12 - performs at the Enthusiast cinema.
January - Dean Reed performs in a concert in the city of Hetsstadt (GDR). He is working on the script for the next film - "Cowboys" ("Sing, cowboy, sing").
February - Dean Reed filmed the East German TV program "The Man from Colorado" with his friend Phil Everly. Shooting in Karl-Marx-Stadt.
March - Dean Reed performs at the 15th high school in Schmokwitz (East Berlin).
March 10-18 - Dean Reed performs in the revue "Alex Bummel" at the "Palace der Republik" in East Berlin.
April - Dean Reed's concert tour in Czechoslovakia.
May 21 - Dean Reed gives a concert at a rally of solidarity with Chile at the Nepstadion in Budapest (Hungary) in the presence of 70 thousand spectators.
July - Dean Reed on one of the fishing islands in the North Sea is working on the script "Cowboys" ("Sing, cowboy, sing").
August 1-3 - Dean Reed in Moscow, rehearsing with VIA "Verasy" a concert program for a tour of the Baikal-Amur Mainline.
August 8-20 - a trip to the BAM. Concerts were held right in the taiga, on impromptu venues (once Dean even sang on the roof of a train).
August 21 - Dean Reed gave a press conference at the Committee of Youth Organizations in Moscow, where he spoke about his tour at BAM.
September 2-3 - Dean Reed in Vienna participates in the celebration of the newspaper of the Austrian communists "Volksstimme".
September 7 - Dean Reed takes part in a rehearsal of the television program "Kessel Buntes" ("The Motley Cauldron") at the Friedrichstadpalas in East Berlin.
September-October - Dean Reed tours the GDR (concerts in 26 cities).
October 29 - the decision of the Central Committee of the Komsomol to award Dean Reed the prize Lenin Komsomol for songs dedicated to anti-imperialist solidarity, peace and friendship of peoples.
December 15 - Dean Reed participates in a rally of solidarity with the people of Kampuchea at a high school in the East Berlin neighborhood of Mitte.
March-April - Dean Reed records in Prague, at the Suprafon studio, the disc Rock and Roll, Country and Romance.
May 24-26 - Dean Reed takes part in a meeting of friendship between the youth of the GDR and the USSR in the city of Karl-Marx-Stadt (GDR).
June-July - Dean Reed filmed in Romania in the film "Sing, Cowboy, Sing."
March 14 - Dean Reed performs at the Motley Cauldron concert at the Palace der Republik in East Berlin.
April - Dean Reed participates in the concert "Give Peace a Chance" in the largest concert hall in East Berlin "Congress Hall".
April-May - Dean Reed's tour of the USSR: Minsk (April 18-20), Kyiv (23-26th, Palace of Culture "Ukraine"), Leningrad (April 28 - May 1), Moscow (May 7 at the State Central Concert Hall " Russia").
July 7-21 - Dean Reed and Renata Blume participate in the Moscow International Film Festival with the film Sing, Cowboy, Sing.
August 28 - Dean Reed takes part in a rally of journalists at Alexanderplatz in East Berlin.
September - Dean Reed records in Prague, at the studio "Suprafon", the disc "Dean Reed Country".
September 22 - on the day of his 43rd birthday, Dean Reed marries Renate Blume (registry office in the East Berlin district of Kopenick).
November 29 - Dean Reed participates in a solidarity concert at the Palace der Republik in East Berlin.
March - Dean Reed in Moscow, concerts at the Variety Theater 3-5, 7-9, 11-12, 14-15, accompanied by the Evergin Juniors Ensemble (GDR).
March - Dean Reed meets in Berlin with Yasser Arafat, who is in the GDR on an official visit.
May-June - Dean Reed participates in a tour of the GDR.
January - the film "Sing, cowboy, sing" was released in the USSR.
Dean Reed visits Lebanon for the second time.
July 8-9 - Dean Reed participates in rehearsals for the TV show "The Motley Cauldron" at the Palace der Republique. Dean's mother Ruth Anna is a guest on the recording.
August 19 - Dean Reed gives a concert at the University of Santiago for 2000 students. The next morning, Dean is expelled from the country.
August 25 - Dean Reed in Moscow gives a press conference at the Soviet Peace Committee about his trip to Chile.
September 3-4 - Dean Reed in Vienna participates in the celebration of the newspaper of the Austrian communists "Volksstimme". Upon returning to the GDR, he completes work on the script for Wounded Knee (Bloody Heart or Dangerous Proximity).
November 27 - Dean Reed performs in a political song concert at the Palace der Republik in East Berlin.
February - Dean Reed participates in the annual political song festival in East Berlin.
May 18-20 - Dean Reed in Moscow performs in the concert program "Prospect Mira meets friends" in the sports complex "Olympic" as part of the II International Music Festival.
August 31 - Dean Reed speaks at a press rally at Alexanderplatz in East Berlin. On the same day he leaves for Potsdam, where he performs at Weberplatz.
September 8 - Dean Reed performs at the Motley Cauldron at the Friedrichstadtpalas in East Berlin.
September - Dean Reed comes to Argentina at the invitation of the Argentina Peace Council. He has not been in this country for 18 years.
November 18 - Dean Reed participates in a solidarity concert at the Palace der Republik in East Berlin.
January 11 - Dean Reed at a rehearsal of the youth television show "Around" in Frankfurt an der Oder (GDR).
July - Dean Reed in the USSR chooses nature in Yalta for the film "Bloody Heart" ("Dangerous Proximity").
On September 22, Dean celebrated his last birthday in Moscow in the company of his friends. Negotiations were also held there for Dean's new film - "Dangerous Proximity" ("Bloody Heart").
October 16 - Together with director Will Roberts, Dean Reed arrived in his hometown of Denver (USA). They brought to the International Film Festival documentary"American Rebel" (about Dean Reed).
October 17 - Dean Reed gave an interview to radio host Peter Boyle. On the same day, American Rebel was screened at the Tivoli Center in Denver.
January - Dean Reed participated in the recording of the disc "Dean Reed" in Prague.
February 10 - Dean Reed arrived in Moscow to give an interview to the American television program "60 Minutes" of the ABC television company.
March - Dean Reed is present at the Leipzig Book Fair, where, among other books, there is also his biography (2nd edition since 1980).
April 20 – The ABC television program 60 Minutes airs in the United States, featuring an interview with Dean Reed.
May 6-7 - Dean Reed in Leipzig rehearses the next episode of the television country show "The Man from Colorado".
Dean Reed is resting in Karlovy Vary (Czechoslovakia). Together with musician Neil Jacob (USA), Dean Reed makes a trip to Prague.
June 8 - Dean Reed quarrels with Renata Blume and commits failed attempt suicide - cuts his arm with a machete
June 24 - Dean Reed was cremated in one of the crematoriums (Baumshulenweg) in East Berlin.
Dean Reed's mother transported her son's ashes to the Green Montana Cemetery in Boulder (USA).
The material is taken from the book by F. Razzakov
"Dean Reed: Tragedy of the Red Cowboy"
In the years cold war"typical American guy" Dean Reed was the most popular rock star - behind the "Iron Curtain". In Moscow, crowds of fans rushed to his concerts; among his admirers was Yasser Arafat himself. But in 1986, his body was fished out of the lake. Who did it - the KGB? CIA? Or did Reed simply realize that he had become a stranger in the world of perestroika and glasnost?
In April 1986, in my New York apartment, I half-heartedly watched "60 Minutes," a CBS news program. Suddenly there was a story called "Defector". It was about a pop star named Dean Reed. He sang "Hotel where heartbreak" ("Heartbreak Hotel") and "Tutti-frutti", and where - in the USSR! But this was still only the very beginning of glasnost, when a rock singer on Red Square could be seen infrequently. His name meant nothing to me: I shook myself and listened.
As it turned out, Reed - absolutely unknown in the West - had been a real star in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe for twenty years: he was called "red Elvis", "communist Johnny Cash", the man who brought rock and roll to Russia. He made films - an Eastern European version of westerns - performing in the "singing cowboy" genre. This typical American - which no one would doubt, one had only to see his blond hair, excellent white teeth, flexible toned body, charming smile - zealously promoted the "CPSU line", and did it amazingly. Six weeks later he was no longer alive.
Reed's body was found in a lake near his home in the East Berlin suburb of Schmeckwitz. According to Russell Miller, who published an article about this in the Sunday Times, the circumstances of Reed's death were shrouded in a thick veil of secrecy. The Berlin Wall still stood unshakably, the Stasi still dominated the GDR, information was hidden, and a thin stream of facts turned into a stream of speculation. Who killed Reed - the Stasi? KGB? CIA? Neo-Nazis? Officially, an accident was given as the cause of death, but no one believed this. I was determined to find out who killed Reid and what kind of person he was, and today I can say that I spent half my life tracing the incredible fate of the singer and working on a book about him. Tom Hanks bought the rights to its adaptation - he is also going to play in the film leading role. When I met him in Los Angeles (trying my best to pretend that drinking Coca-Cola and talking about the Cold War with Tom Hanks is the most common thing for me), what struck me most was that this story of his is so excited. Still - after all, in it, as in a drop of water, an entire era was reflected! The comic, monumental, tragic, heroic, incredible figure of Dean Reed is somewhat reminiscent of Forrest Gump [the hero of the famous film by R. Zemeckis, played by Tom Hanks - approx. transl.], partly - dodgy politician, partly - a rock star. Today it is simply hard to believe that in November it will be 15 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall. When Reid left the US, it was just being built, and soon after his death it collapsed. He was a legend of the Cold War era, and the Wall was his unknown "wild west". Once on the other side of the Wall, he gained fame. He became a "fellow rock star".
Reid was born in 1938 in Whit Ridge, a suburb of Denver (Colorado); a place so provincial that it was impossible to find a traffic light there during the day with fire, and almost all the inhabitants traveled on horseback. His mother, Ruth Anna, a former teacher, was a housewife who kept chickens and a pig. Cyril's father, also a teacher, was a strict disciplinarian; he was proud of Dean, although he often took up the belt for educational purposes. Dean has two brothers - Vern (Vern) and Dale (Dale); he lacked his father's attention. Cyril was one of the first to join the far-right John Birch Society. (Perhaps, becoming a communist, Dean experienced a sweet sense of revenge. But this is yet to come).
Dean grew up like most American children: he studied at a military academy [in the USA - boarding schools for boys of a paramilitary type - approx. trans.], rode, swam, joined Future Farmers of America; at the age of seventeen he took part in an "endurance contest" on mules along a route 110 miles long; however, his mule lost. "Some thought it was his tenacity and resilience," his mother told me. "I always thought Dean was born under a lucky star." However, a lot of trouble Dean brought his big protruding ears. He was a thin and shy guy. Dean began to play the guitar, hoping in this way to get the attention of the girls. In those years, he was nicknamed "Skinny Reed." Post-war America was a recklessly cheerful victorious country: at that time it seemed that any boy, if he really wanted to, could become president, the main thing was that he be white and follow the "rules of the game." Conformity and fear were mixed with optimism: the Cold War was on, the country was shaken by anti-communist hysteria, at school in the classroom civil defense children were taught to hide under desks in case nuclear explosion(It was called "crouch and hide"). The newfangled "subversive" trend called "rock and roll" was taking its first steps - the song "Rock Around the Clock" by Bill Haley and his band "Comets" was already breaking popularity records.
reid finished high school in Wheat Ridge and went to college, aiming for a career as a television weather forecaster. In 1958 he dropped out and went to Hollywood. His father "all these songs", to put it mildly, did not cause enthusiasm, but Reed considered himself an excellent singer and longed for fame. This trip has become a family legend: in a blurry black-and-white shot, Reed, driving a white "Chevrolet Impala" convertible, huge as a liner, looks extremely imposing. On the way, he gave a lift to one person, and he, as a token of gratitude, suggested who to contact at Capitol Records, and Reed signed a contract to record a record. It was all like a movie, his mother recalls.
He entered the Warner Brothers School of Dramatic Arts, where acting was taught by Peyton Price (Paton Price), and Reed's classmates were Don and Phil Everly (Don and Phil Everly). The Everly Brothers duo had already achieved fame with their 1957 album Wake Up, Little Susie; the record labels, feverishly searching for the "new Elvis," jumped at any rock musician they could find. Reid was friends with Phil Everly until the end of his days.
Best of the day
I spoke with Phil in Burbank. This handsome man with a truly southern charm recalled what role Price had played in their lives. "He was one of those who can be called a "life teacher"" - said Everly. “And for Dean, he also became a second father.”
Price had a huge impact on Reed. He was a liberal in the classical sense of the word, and in Hollywood at that time the memories of the nightmare of McCarthyism were still alive, so Price inspired his students: a good artist can only be a good person. Reed learned his lesson hard. For many years, Price encouraged Reed's interest in politics: some believed that in the future he became a kind of "godfather" for him. True, Reed's mother remarked: "In my opinion, everything Payton taught Dean was related to sex." By the early 1960s, the handsome Reid was making CDs, making cameo appearances in bad films, and occasionally appearing on television. He met Patty - the girl who became his first wife. But Dean could not calm down, he always wanted more. Hearing that one of his songs - "Our Summer Romance" - became a hit in Chile, he went there without warning literally anyone. In Santiago, he was greeted by thousands of fans shouting "Viva Din! Viva Din!"
"He was just a naive gringo who decided to 'conquer' Latin America," says a DJ from a radio station in Santiago. By analogy with the hero of the popular musical film, Dean received the nickname "Magnificent Gringo".
He was handsome, he had blue eyes and an amazing smile. He sported a blue gabardine jacket and tight trousers. But in South America, Reed became addicted to politics. Once he saw the inscription on the wall: "Yankees, go home." Like most Americans, he was hurt by the sudden realization that some might not like them. But Reed did not become discouraged: he decided to save the whole world.
“South America has changed my life because there justice and injustice, wealth and poverty are visible to the naked eye,” he told the authors of the biographical documentary American Rebel. “They are so obvious that you cannot help but take a clear position. I I was neither a capitalist nor a blind man. It was there that I became a revolutionary."
Literally nothing could stop him. He sang for the poor and the rich, protested against the Vietnam War and nuclear weapons, went to prison, became friends with the poet Pablo Neruda and folksinger Victor Jara, traveled the Amazon with Indian friends.
Active participation in politics affected him the way fame affects other stars - it spurred Reid on. But his real career as a "fellow rock star" began in Helsinki in 1965.
In the mid-1960s, Soviet official ideologues were just looking for some showman with acceptable views who would prevent the youth from getting out of hand. True, on World Congress in defense of peace in Helsinki in 1965, Moscow journalist Nikolai Pastukhov did not expect to find a suitable candidate. Complete confusion reigned at the congress: the Russians and the Chinese did not talk to each other, the delegates yelled at each other, the matter was about to come to a brawl.
And suddenly a young man jumped onto the stage and sang, accompanying himself on the guitar. He made everyone present join hands and sing "We Shall Overcome" with him. It was Dean Reed. Pastukhov immediately assessed the situation: a handsome American, a supporter of socialism, singing songs in defense of peace. He said to himself: "In the bull's-eye!" It was he who helped organize Reed's first tour in the USSR.
In 1966, when he performed at the Moscow Variety Theater, Reed turned 28 years old. He sang folk ballads and popular songs like "Maria" - the Soviet listeners especially liked her. He knew how to dance the twist, he behaved on stage like a real rock musician.
It was an exciting sight. He usually started with "Ghost Riders in the Sky" - this tune became his "calling card". Giving concerts in the countries of the so-called "socialist camp", he somehow performed it for Yasser Arafat - on the newsreels you can see how he taps out the melody with his fingers.
Speaking about Reed's concerts, Pravda noted that "Dean left his country in protest against the unjust US war in Vietnam." Soon he signed a contract with Melodiya, a state-owned recording company that had not released a single rock record before.
During the first tour of the Soviet Union, Reed gave concerts in 28 cities. He was greeted by crowds of people. He still lived in Latin America, but often came to the USSR - sometimes with concerts, sometimes at conferences in defense of peace. Everyone I met in the Soviet Union remembered Reid; even today, if you ask any Russian over forty, he will answer: "Oh yes, Dean Reed. I remember!"
“Every time Dean left the house, he was surrounded by a crowd of fans,” says Everly, who once visited Reed in East Berlin, where they gave a joint concert. “Boy, he was more popular than Elvis!”
Was he talented? Reed had a pleasant voice, he played the guitar well, had some acting skills. But that was not the point. No one understood the meaning of Dean Reed, his rise and fall, better than Artemy Troitsky, the first and best music critic in the USSR, a specialist in rock and roll, the author of the book "Back to the USSR". "No Western rock musician ever came to the USSR," says Troitsky. "Dean Reed was young. He played the guitar. He was an American. Rock and roll meant a lot to literally every Soviet teenager. freedom, the opportunity to be different from his parents in some way. Besides, he was a kind of window to another world, a window to the West. Politics did not bother us, but the terrifying quality of the "official" Soviet pop music worried a lot. The word "West" was synonymous the words "good". And Dean Reed wore cowboy boots, came from "the free land, the homeland of heroes" and Chuck Berry. For the next six years, Reid shuttled between South America, Europe and the Soviet Union. He filmed "spaghetti westerns", including one featuring Yul Brynner, briefly became interested in Maoism in Rome, recorded CDs in Prague, where the best rock musicians in the entire "Eastern bloc" worked. However, in the West, he was still little known: Reed's popularity was limited to the borders of the Berlin Wall. (By the way, he was not, in fact, a defector: he retained American citizenship and annually sent income declarations to the US Internal Revenue Service). Perhaps if he had been a truly outstanding singer and actor, things would have turned out differently; perhaps he would have become more famous. But his talent lay in his unique status as an American living "on the other side", his talent lay in a bizarre combination of music, politics, sex, energy, even just being "in the right place at the right time". Perhaps he understood this. For all his political naivete, for all his conceit, he had the ability to take a sober look at himself. Reed was a man of moods: he could light up like a light bulb and quickly dim if things went wrong. However, more often than not, the main thing for him was the movement as such: it allowed him not to think about reality.
In 1971, when Reid arrived in East Germany, he was already a real star. There he began making films and met Renate Blume, a GDR movie star who became his third wife (after his divorce from Patty, he was briefly married to another East German woman).
They married in 1983 and settled in a pretty house in Schmeckwitz, on the outskirts of Berlin; when I visited Blume, she remarked with captivating sincerity: "The interior is in a cowboy-Biedermeier style." On one of the walls hung an American flag, which Reed once publicly washed in Chile in protest against the Vietnam War: as he himself explained, in this way he symbolically washed away the blood of the Vietnamese from him. Blume is a real beauty with a straightforward look of black eyes. "He was my friend, husband, companion," she says. In general, he and Reed lived together, and in 1985 they even got together to shoot a film called "Bleeding Heart". Reed was to serve as writer, director, and play the title character; the main female role was assigned to Blume. The plot was a love story set against the backdrop of the 1973 Indian uprising at Wounded Knee, one of the favorite themes of socialist propaganda. However, in the fall of 1985, Reed went to America. "Bleeding Heart" was never filmed.
"Welcome, welcome home. God, man, you're not even bald," greeted his old friend Johnny Rosenberg as Reed stepped off the plane in Denver. "He literally jumped out of that plane," says Rosenberg. - looking like he's the greatest star of all time."
It was Reid's longest trip to the US in a quarter of a century. He took part in Denver film festivals where a documentary about his life was shown. He met with high school girlfriend Dixie Schnelby (Dixie Schnelby), and she promised that he would prepare for his return to the States as a star musician. And he suddenly fell in love with America. He was delighted with blue sky over the Colorado mountains, from the bright sun, from the easy behavior of friends and their sincere joy at meeting him. They pushed him to the idea that he could return home as a star; when it was time to leave, Reed's heart was breaking with grief. Before leaving, he gave a small concert at Rosenberg's home in Loveland, Colorado. It became Reed's only performance on American soil.
"After the trip to Colorado, he missed his homeland a lot," says Blume. "He was terribly homesick. That's all he talked about."
Meanwhile, in the USSR, everything began to change rapidly. “With the advent of glasnost, in 1985-86, the public was finally able to see the heroes of Russian rock,” explains Toritsky. “American rock and roll, even if it was about Prince (Prince), and not about Dean Reed began to lose popularity.A man like Dean Reed could become a star only in a very provincial, Eastern Europe began to gradually draw closer to the world community in cultural terms. . . In the light of new information, the image of Dean Reed has become increasingly dimmed. "As the truth about the Soviet system came out, people began to look at Reed with contempt for the fact that he unconditionally supported the system: they realized that Reed was just a puppet of official In the spring of 1986, a rock concert was held in Moscow to help the victims of Chernobyl: Reed was present, but no one asked him to perform.
Even in the GDR, the ranks of Reed's fans were dwindling. Victor Grossman, an American writer who lived in the GDR and was friends with Reed, says: “People who began to be disillusioned with the system did not like those who supported it. Fewer spectators came to his concerts, and for a star to perform in empty hall is not very pleasant. By the mid-eighties, Reed felt that the doors in front of him slammed one after another. "
His main hope was the program "60 minutes". He was sure that a big story on CBS would be his "entry ticket" to restart his career in the United States. Indeed, in the winter of 1986, Mike Wallace, America's most famous reporter, flew to Berlin to see him. The interview went well. The show was supposed to air in the fall, but instead it aired on April 20, 1986 - that's when I saw the interview in my New York apartment and 60 million Americans first knew who Dean Reed was.
It cannot be said that in the program the image of Reed was presented in a negative way. However, answering the interviewer's questions, he said that he considered the Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev to be a more moral and peace-loving person than US President Ronald Reagan, and even defended the need for the existence of the Berlin Wall. His American friends were horrified - after all, the Cold War was still going on. They realized that Reed had nothing to hope for in America. As Rosenberg put it, "the only thing that should never be done in our country is to defend the Wall." Later, the editors of "60 Minutes" forwarded letters to Reed from viewers; in some of them he was called a traitor, or, even worse, a opportunist who could only succeed east of the Berlin Wall.
Reid was desperate. But he still had the Bleeding Heart project. Filming was supposed to start in June despite money problems. On June 12, 1986, Reid received a phone call from his German producer Gerrit List, who had just returned from Moscow, where he discussed the financing of the film. Reed, worried, said that he would come to his house that evening. But List did not wait for him. The search for Dean continued for several days. On June 17 at 8:20 am, his body was found in a lake near his home.
For a long time, I was sure that Reed was the victim of a crime, that by his ambition, his subversive actions, or his longing for America, he attracted someone's malevolent attention. Then, during the Cold War, hypotheses associated with the secret services - the Stasi, the KGB, the CIA - invariably looked tempting. In fact, he most likely committed suicide. When all the doors closed in front of him, Reed could not help but feel like a "man from the past" - although some, especially his friends, always held, and still hold, a different opinion. "Dean laughed a lot," says Phil Everly. "A person who can still laugh won't commit suicide."
After the fall of the Berlin Wall, information about his death was declassified, and I spoke with the former head of the criminal police of the GDR, Thomas Sindermann (Thomas Sindermann). "I was convinced it was suicide," he recalls.
But that Reed's death was a suicide, or at least a self-staged accident, I was not convinced by the dry facts given by Zinderman or the autopsy report, and not even by seemingly genuine suicide note, but the words of one young Russian writer.
“Dean’s death did not come as a surprise to me,” says Ksenia Golubovich. “I think he committed suicide, because that’s what the hero had to do. If a person really wants to become someone, he becomes one. He died when he completely destroyed himself. In his own way, Dean still became what he wanted."
After so many years, the story of Dean Reed still haunts me, partly because of its sheer scale - his biography, tragic and comic at the same time, is huge, bloated and oversaturated with details, like a birthday fruit cake. After all, for better or worse, he was not an outside observer in this world. He was truly a Cold War legend.
