Leonid Alekseevich Filatov (1946-2003) - Soviet and Russian theater and film actor, film director, poet, writer, publicist, TV presenter and playwright.
People's Artist of Russia and laureate of the State Prize of the Russian Federation in the field of cinema and television.
There are many interesting facts in Filatov's biography, which we will talk about in this article.
So, before you is a short biography of Leonid Filatov.
Filatov's biography
Leonid Filatov was born on December 24, 1946 in Kazan. He grew up and was brought up in the family of the radio operator Alexei Eremeevich and his wife Klavdia Nikolaevna.
Childhood and youth
The Filatovs often changed their place of residence, since the head of the family had to spend a lot of time on expeditions.
The first tragedy in the biography of Leonid happened at the age of 7, when his parents decided to leave. As a result, he stayed with his father, who took him to Ashgabat.
After some time, the mother persuaded her son to move to her in Penza. However, having lived with his mother for less than 2 years, Leonid again left for his father. Back in his school years, he began to write small works that were published in Ashgabat editions.
Thus, Filatov began to earn his first money. Around the same time, he developed a keen interest in the art of cinema. He read many specialized magazines and watched all films, including documentaries.
This led to the fact that Leonid Filatov decided to enter the VGIK at the directing department.
Having received a certificate, he went to Moscow, wanting to become a student of a famous institute, but he could not achieve his goal.
On the advice of a school friend, the young man tried to enter the Shchukin School for the acting department. He successfully passed the exams and studied acting for 4 years.
It is worth noting that Filatov did not show much interest in studying, often skipping classes and attending unofficial screenings of films disguised as discussions. At this time of the biography, he continued to engage in writing.
Theatre
After graduating from college in 1969, Leonid got a job at the famous Taganka Theater. In the production "What is to be done?" he got the first major role. He later played in dozens of performances, including The Cherry Orchard, The Master and Margarita and Pugacheva.
When the famous Shakespeare's tragedy "Hamlet" was staged in the theater, Filatov got the role of Horatio. According to the actor, he considered it a real luck that he managed to work with such artists as Vladimir Vysotsky and Bulat Okudzhava.
In the mid-80s, Leonid played for a couple of years on the stage of Sovremennik, since the leadership of the Taganka Theater changed. Instead of Yuri Lyubimov, deprived of his citizenship under a contrived pretext - an interview with foreign journalists, Anatoly Efros became the new leader.
Filatov was critical of the appointment of Efros. Moreover, he participated in his persecution, which he later sincerely regretted. The actor returned to his native "Taganka" in 1987.
Films
For the first time on the big screen, Leonid appeared in 1970, playing a secondary role in the melodrama "The City of First Love". His first success came after filming the disaster film "Crew", where he was transformed into a loving flight engineer.
After this role, Filatov gained all-Russian popularity. Then he played the main characters in such films as "From Evening to Noon", "Rooks", "The Chosen", "Chicherin" and others. The most successful works with his participation were "Forgotten Melody for the Flute" and "City of Zero".
An interesting fact is that according to political scientist Sergei Kara-Murza, "City of Zero" is an allegorical encrypted scenario according to which the USSR collapsed.
In 1990, the man was transformed into a bureaucrat in the tragicomedy Children of Bitch. In this film, Leonid Filatov acted as an actor, director and scriptwriter. Interestingly, this film was shot in just 24 days.
In the process of filming "Children of Bitch" Leonid Alekseevich suffered a stroke on his legs, but still continued to work. At this time of his biography, he was often exposed to nervous tension, smoking 2-3 packs of cigarettes a day.
All this led to a deterioration in the artist's health. The last role of Filatov was the psychological drama "Charity Ball", where he played the main character.
TV
In 1994, the first release of the program "To be remembered" was released on Russian TV. It told about talented, but unfairly forgotten actors. This project has become one of the most significant for Leonid.
Filatov remained the host of the program for 10 years. During this time, more than 100 issues of "To Remember" were filmed. For his work, Leonid Alekseevich was awarded the State Prize of Russia in the field of art.
Literary activity
In the 60s, Filatov, in collaboration with Vladimir Kachan, wrote songs. After 30 years, the album "Orange Cat" was released.
The first fairy tale "About Fedot the archer, a dashing fellow" Leonid wrote in 1985. A couple of years later, the fairy tale was published in the "Youth" edition.
This work was replete with satire and poignant aphorisms. It is curious that in 2008 a cartoon was shot based on Fedot the Archer. Such famous artists as Chulpan Khamatova, Alexander Revva, Sergey Bezrukov and Viktor Sukhorukov took part in his scoring.
As of today, this tale has acquired the status of a folk tale. Over the years of his creative biography, Filatov became the author of many plays, including "The Cuckoo Clock", "Stagecoach", "Martin Eden", "Once Upon a Time in California" and many others.
The writer has published several books, including "Love for Three Oranges", "Lysistrata", "Theater of Leonid Filatov" and "Children of Bitch". In 1998, he won the October magazine's annual prize for the comedy Lysistrata.
By that time, Filatov's health had seriously deteriorated, but he continued to engage in writing. Later his works were combined into the collection "Respect Luck".
Personal life
The first wife of Leonid was actress Lydia Savchenko. There was a complete idyll between the spouses until the man fell in love with another actress - Nina Shatskaya, who was married to Valery Zolotukhin.
Initially, the colleagues looked closely at each other, but soon their platonic love grew into a whirlwind romance. Nina and Leonid met in secret for 12 long years. They broke up several times, but then began a relationship again.
The divorce of both was very painful. Filatov broke up with Lydia, leaving her an apartment. After that, he married Nina Shatskaya, with whom he knew real family happiness. In none of the marriages, Leonid did not have children.
However, the man treated Denis, the son of his first wife, like his own. He prompted the young man to enter VGIK, while paying for his education. However, Denis later decided to become a clergyman.
Death
In 1993, Leonid Filatov suffered a stroke, and 4 years later his kidneys were removed. For this reason, he was forced to spend about 2 years on hemodialysis - an "artificial kidney" apparatus. In the fall of 1997, he underwent a donor kidney transplant operation.
On the eve of his death, the man caught a cold, which led to the development of bilateral pneumonia. Soon he was taken to the intensive care unit, where he was in serious condition. After 10 days of unsuccessful treatment, the actor was gone. Leonid Filatov died on October 26, 2003 at the age of 56.
Filatov Photos
