Vasily Makarovich Shukshin (1929 - 1974) swept across the sky of Russian culture as a meteor. Back in 1958, he was an unknown uncouth student of VGIK, and just 15 years later his books were published in millions of copies, and the most famous actors tried to play in his films.
In reference books, when listing the professions of Vasily Shukshin, cinema is almost always put in the first place, because both the audience's recognition and the main awards went to him precisely for acting and directing. But Shukshin himself considered himself primarily a writer. Even during the periods of his peak demand for cinema, when, during a pause during the filming of one film, he had to fly to the set of another, he dreamed of leaving for his native Srostki for a year and exclusively engaging in writing.
Alas, he never got to work in solitude. Health, alcohol, undermined in childhood and adolescence, and, most importantly, the hardest work schedule did not allow Shukshin's talents to fully reveal themselves. But even in the 45 years he was given, he managed to do a lot.
- In 1929, the firstborn was born in the family of Makar and Maria Shukshin, who was named Vasily. The family lived in the large Altai village of Srostki. Father was repressed in the harsh 1930s. After the war, the mother confessed to Vasily that she knew who had slandered her husband, but she did not give the name of the scoundrel.
- Vasily's adolescence fell on the war years. Of course, the war did not reach Altai, but they also had to starve and take a sip of hard work. The writer speaks eloquently about in his stories. In one of them, children fall asleep at the table even at the moment when their mother cooked a kind of dumplings - an unprecedented delicacy.
- Shukshin, meanwhile, was a difficult teenager. Fights, hooliganism, endless tricks, and all this against the backdrop of an exacerbated craving for justice, even for his age. He was insulted by his neighbor - Vasily spied on his pig and knocked out the pig's eyes with a slingshot. How peers got it, and there is nothing to say.
- Vasily was very fond of reading, and read avidly everything that was at hand, for example, the brochures of Academician Lysenko. However, this did not affect his school performance in any way. He graduated from the seven-year school with great difficulty.
- For a year and a half, the guy studied at the automotive technical school, which he left for some unknown reason. It is only known that his mother was very upset, and the villagers became convinced of the futility of "fatherlessness" - by that time the funeral had come for his stepfather.
- In 1946, Shukshin again left his native village. Here an incomprehensible but interesting gap emerges in his biography. It is known that in 1947 he got a job in Kaluga. What did Vasily do for over a year and how did he get carried from Siberia to Kaluga? Some biographers believe that Shukshin got in touch with the gang of thieves and left it with great difficulty, and the whole story became material for “Kalina Krasnaya”. Igor Khutsiev, whose father Marlene shot the film “Two Fyodors” with Shukshin in the title role, recalled that he saw a tattoo in the form of a Finnish knife on “Uncle Vasya's” arm. Subsequently, Shukshin brought down this tattoo.
- After Kaluga, where he worked as a handyman at a construction site, Vasily went to Vladimir. He worked as a car mechanic - yet he managed to get some knowledge at the technical school. He worked, apparently, well, since the military enlistment office sent him to the aviation school. But on the way, the guy lost all the documents. It was a shame to go back, and Shukshin began a new circle of wanderings.
- In the city of Butovo in the Moscow region, Shukshin worked as a painter's apprentice. Once on a weekend, he went to Moscow and there accidentally ran into film director Ivan Pyriev. Recognizing his fellow countryman by his speech, Pyryev dragged him to his home to drink tea. Earlier, in the cities, Vasily faced only open aggression against “collective farmers”, but here the famous director invites him to his home, and another movie star Marina Ladynina pours tea. The meeting, of course, sunk into Shukshin's soul, because he had been writing stories for some time and wanted to become an artist.
- Like many guys in those years, the army, in his case, the navy service helped Shukshin to settle down. The Chernomorets seaman received the specialty of a radiotelegraph operator and prepared well for the exams for the ten-year course. The ulcer of the stomach became the payment. Because of her, Vasily was discharged, because of her, he had to go to the hospital until the end of his life.
- Returning to his native village, Vasily got a job at an evening school and almost immediately became its director. Shukshin was in very good standing, his materials were published in the regional newspaper, teachers were accepted as a candidate for party membership.
With the school staff
- Shukshin arranged a new sharp turn in his life in 1954, when he left for Moscow to enter the Literary Institute. He did not know that in order to be accepted as a writer, one had to either have published works, or send his works to the institute in advance, to pass a creative competition. Accordingly, they did not accept his documents.
Failed alma mater
- Having received a turn from the gate at the Literary Institute, Shukshin decided to try his luck at VGIK. There, most likely, he too would have faced failure, if not for the additional selection filter in the form of an essay. Shukshin wrote it very well, then liked Mikhail Romm, and was enrolled in the institute at the directing department.
VGIK building. Shukshin - sitting
- At VGIK, the Siberian guy studied with many future famous directors and actors. Alexander Mitta recalled that Shukshin did not even know that there was a director's profession. In his view, there was enough communication between the actors for the production.
- As soon as he saw Shukshin, who was still unfamiliar to him, on a walk in Odessa, Marlen Khutsiev decided that the actor would suit him for the main role in the film “Two Fyodors”. The director even had to fight a little with his colleagues, but Shukshin starred in “Fedory”, and very successfully.
In the film "Two Fyodors"
- At the premiere of "Two Fedorov" the performer of the main role could not get. Shukshin had a known weakness for alcohol, but this time he also made a brawl. Khutsiev himself had to bail out the actor from the police, and the head of the department did not want to release Shukshin for a long time precisely because he was an actor. I had to invite a policeman to the premiere.
- In August 1958, V. Shukshin's debut story, entitled “Two on a Cart”, appeared in No. 15 of Smena magazine. According to Shukshin, he sent his stories “in a fan” different stories to different editions, and when they came back, he simply changed the editorial address on the envelope.
- The film “From Lebyazhye Inform” Shukshin's colleagues assessed ambiguously. Many did not like that Vasily played a major role in his thesis, was a director and screenwriter. And for 1961, the film was simple. Everyone around was looking for new forms of solution, and here is the story of the regional party committee and the battle for the harvest ...
- Despite the fact that Shukshin was already a fairly famous actor, he did not have a Moscow residence permit until the end of 1962. He was able to buy his own housing in the capital only in 1965.
- In the summer of 1963, Shukshin became a "real" writer - under the general title "Rural residents" a book was published, which included all his previously published stories.
- Shukshin's directorial debut was the film “Such a guy lives”. Shukshin wrote the script based on his own stories. The main role was played by Leonid Kuravlyov, with whom the director became friends on the set of the film “When the trees were big”. At the same time, Shukshin drew attention to the operator Valery Ginzburg.
- The film “Such a Guy Lives” won the All-Union Film Festival prize as the best comedy and the Venice Festival prize as the best film for children. Both awards upset the director utterly - Shukshin did not consider his film a comedy.
- The film “There is such a guy” turned out to be the debut one more and for the following reason. It was the first Soviet picture that they decided to show and discuss with ordinary people before the rental. It was in Voronezh, and Shukshin was much more worried at this meeting than before the film was shown to his colleagues.
- In 1965, the first major literary work of Vasily Shukshin was published - the novel "The Lyubavins". The book was published by the publishing house "Soviet Writer". Prior to this, the novel was published in three issues of the magazine "Siberian Lights".
- In the opening shots of the film "Stove Benches" you can see a virtuoso balalaika player. This is a real person named Fyodor Teletskikh. He was so popular in the Altai Territory that in order to ensure his arrival at the wedding, the wedding day was postponed. Almost the entire film was filmed in Shukshin's native places in Altai.
- During the premiere of Red Kalina, Shukshin was still in the hospital with the same stomach ulcer. But he was present at the premiere - incognito, in a hospital gown he was hiding behind a column. Kalina Krasnaya, in addition to the great love of the audience, received the Main Prize of the All-Union Film Festival.
- Shukshin's relations with women were complicated. He first married in Srostki, but the newlywed refused to go to Moscow with unclear prospects right in the registry office. Vasily, in order to register a new marriage with Victoria Sofronova, the daughter of a famous writer, throw out the old passport and received a new one, but without a marriage mark. This marriage was also short, but at least Victoria had a daughter. True, this happened when Vasily Makarovich was already married to actress Lydia Chashchina. This happened in 1964. A little later in the same year, Shukshin's romance with Lydia Fedoseeva broke out - they starred in the same film. For some time Shukshin lived as if in two houses, but then he still went to Fedoseeva. They had two daughters, who later became actresses.
With Lydia Fedoseeva-Shukshina and daughters
- Vasily Shukshin died of a heart attack on October 2, 1974. He was on the set of the film "They Fought for the Motherland", part of the film crew lived on a river boat. Shukshin and his friend Georgy Burkov - their cabins were nearby - went to bed early the night before. At night Shukshin woke up and woke Burkov - his heart ached. Of the drugs, except for validol and Zelenin's drops, there was nothing on the ship. Shukshin seemed to fall asleep, and the next morning Burkov found him dead.
- After Shukshin's death, 160,000 letters of condolences came from readers of newspapers and magazines. More than 100 poems on the death of Vasily Makarovich have been published.
- Thousands of people attended the funeral of the outstanding writer, director and actor on October 6. Many brought twigs of red viburnum, which not only completely covered the grave, but also rose in a hill on it.
- In 1967, Shukshin was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor. Two years later, he received the State Prize of the RSFSR. Two years later, Shukshin was awarded the USSR State Prize. He received the Lenin Prize posthumously
