All the alcoholics of the Soviet Union dreamed of drinking with him. Fans considered unfortunate and sought to warm and snuggle. The progressive youth poured out quotes from his movie heroes ... The authors of the documentary film "Georgy Vitsin. No need to laugh" tried to open the viewer to one of the most beloved actors of our cinema.
Not a single book has been written about Georgy Mikhailovich Vitsin. During his life he did not give a single television interview, avoided noisy companies, hardly drank and kept to a diet. And few people let into his personal life. Perhaps that is why some called Vitsin a hermit, others - an eccentric, others - an ascetic. But all those personally acquainted with the actor agreed on one thing: he is not at all such a simpleton as he seems on the screen. And to unravel the true nature of Vitsin, hidden under the mask of a Coward, is given to very few.
1990s. Tough times for movies. The period when the best artists found themselves without a livelihood and grabbed every opportunity to earn money. This fate did not pass and Georgy Vitsin. The audience adored the coward from the famous Gaidai trinity. It is not surprising that he was often invited to work as a "face" in front of a wide variety of audiences. What did the public expect from Vitsin? Of course, jokes and antics in the style of a Coward. And Vitsin went on stage serious and collected and ... read the classics - Zoshchenko, Gogol. And very quickly subjugated the tastes of the crowd.
Georgy Mikhailovich always knew how to attract the attention of the public, regardless of the era, composition of the audience and the degree of his own fame. Even at the beginning of his acting career, in the distant 30s, the young artist attracted the attention of the audience. And no matter how significant his role was.
Like most film actors born in the early twentieth century, the actor began his road to fame from the stage. In the Yermolova Theater, where he served, the artist was considered a real star. The audience specially went to performances "with Vitsin".
But at some point, the artist was still tired of the limited theatrical repertoire, repeated every day, and the attacks of colleagues. And in order to break out of its framework, he decided to try his hand at cinema. At the beginning of his film career, the artist played the role of Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol three times. But Vitsin failed to become the embodiment of Gogol on the screen. This film image of him, unlike Coward, was not remembered by either the audience or the directors.
As a budding film actor, Vitsin was noticed after the role of a simple Soviet boy, when the film "Reserve Player" was released in 1954. His hero, football player Vasya Vesnushkin, was eighteen, the actor himself was thirty-seven. But the viewer did not even suspect the "forgery".
The image of a hero-lover does not go well with the appearance of Georgy Mikhailovich. However, the actor was known as a heartthrob. Women have always been attracted to him. And the beautiful actress, who, by age, was more suitable for Vitsin in her mother, doted on her wife. The marriage of Vitsin and Topoleva eventually fell apart. The actor dreamed of children that they could not have. Both of them took the breakup hard. The second wife gave the actor a long-awaited daughter, but the wise Vitsin, having started a new family, did not leave his first wife. He continued to communicate with her and cared for her until the end of her days.
The turning point for the actor was 1961. Director Leonid Gaidai approved Vitsin for the role of a Coward in the short film "Dog Mongrel and an Unusual Cross". Agreeing to play a poacher-klutz, the actor could not even think how much this would determine not only his career, but the rest of his life. How did Leonid Gaidai treat Vitsin? How many times did the famous trinity star together? What famous episode was invented by the actor in "Prisoner of the Caucasus"?
The role, which allowed the actor to escape at least temporarily from the "captivity" of the Coward, was offered to Vitsin by his student friend, director Konstantin Voinov. He waited almost 25 years to cast an actor in the film "Balzaminov's Marriage". The director was not embarrassed by the age of the hero either - at the time of filming, Vitsin was significantly older than his character. What incident nearly disrupted the shooting of the film "Sannikov Land"? Why was the image of the actor replicated in the press as a poorly dressed, toothless and lonely person? The authors of the documentary managed to listen to the opinion of actress Natalya Selezneva:
In each of us there is something from an eccentric, in someone more, in someone less. It was just that attention was riveted to him, so people noticed these qualities. Yes, he went outside, he fed the pigeons, he then became very interested in this.
Georgy Vitsin never managed to break out of the comedy role. And today one can only speculate about what a great dramatic artist cinema has lost. But for the public, he will forever remain an immortal Coward, someone who can make the audience laugh and cry at the same time.
Moscow. Arbat. In the entrance of one of the residential buildings - pandemonium, journalists with cameras and cameras are storming an inconspicuous apartment. A peeled door, behind which, in response to persistent calls, there is silence. A well-dressed man pushes through the crowd of people with an envelope in his hands. He came here to present a telegram of congratulations from President Yeltsin to Georgy Vitsin.
The actor has an anniversary of 80 years (although Vitsin was actually born not in 1918, but in 1917, so on April 23, 1998 he was already 81 years old). As a result, the impregnable door will still open slightly. Through the gap, Vitsin's wife will stretch out her hand for a moment, take the telegram and hide again in the apartment ... The artist will never go to the press. And this will only fuel interest in his seclusion. For many years, the famous comedian carefully hid his life from prying eyes.
In our film, the viewer will see exclusive footage of "home" filming, where Vitsin and his relatives are the same as they were in their life, closed from prying eyes. Vitsin's daughter, when they went on shooting expeditions together, always took an amateur movie camera with an eight-millimeter film with her. We will show unique drawings of the actor himself, as well as tell the story of how Georgy Vitsin was supposed to sing in the film "Gentlemen of Fortune". The song had already been recorded by the artist, but the artistic director of the film, Georgy Danelia, considered that the thief could not sing, and removed “The Song of the Elephant” performed by Vitsinsky Khmyr from the film. This recording has been preserved, and for the first time, viewers of Channel One will not only be able to hear this failed hit, but also find out where in the picture it was supposed to sound.
After the death of Vitsin, his daughter Natalya gave only one interview. Journalists have caused too much pain to their family. That one time, the actor's heiress mentioned that his father's temperament was much more suitable for his first failed profession - an artist. Georgy Mikhailovich literally never parted with a pencil all his life. He painted everywhere: on trains, on set, during intermissions between performances. Most often, these were caricatures of colleagues - kind irony without malicious intent. The actor did not like to draw bad things about people, however, like talking. Vitsin himself, when asked why he nevertheless chose acting, and not drawing, answered that he had gone astray ...
At 44, Vitsin woke up not just famous - wildly popular! Yes, he was already seen by the audience in the films “Reserve Player” and “She Loves You!”, But the real glory covered Vitsin exactly at 44. Spectators went to the Yermolova Theater in droves. Everyone wanted to see with their own eyes the legendary Coward from "Operation Y" and "Prisoner of the Caucasus". But the resounding success of Gaidai's films played a cruel joke on the actor. His fame annoyed many. Colleagues said: “Gosh, you are a disgrace to the theater, your jokes discredit the names of our teachers!”. Management wasn't happy either. The comedian skipped rehearsals, preferring them to filming. Reprimand followed reprimand. As a result, the directorate delivered an ultimatum: "Either you are present at all rehearsals, or you leave the troupe." And Georgy Mikhailovich left the theater, which became his family. Although for all these years not a single performance under Vitsin has been staged here - despite his enormous popularity and amazing acting range.
For millions of viewers, Vitsin remained a Coward, Vesnushkin, Balzaminov ... A simpleton, a joker, a drunkard, a virtuoso joker. His roles diverged into quotes. Georgy Mikhailovich played in more than a hundred films. It seemed to many viewers that behind the lightness of the film images created by the actor, there is a real Vitsin - a carefree and sweetest person! But ... in reality, Vitsin's whole life was contrastingly different from the screen one.
Georgy Vitsin was born in Terioki - now it is the city of Zelenogorsk near St. Petersburg on the Gulf of Finland. The parents of the future actor had nothing to do with art. Mom came from Penza, and my father came from near Vladimir. When George was eight months old, the parents took the boy with them to Moscow. Mom got a job as a usher in the Column Hall of the House of the Unions, and Vitsin's childhood passed behind the scenes. By the way, my mother made Vitsin a year younger by correcting the year of birth from 1917 to 1918 in the documents - this was necessary in order for her son to be taken to a health forest school. Then Vitsin studied at the 26th Moscow seven-year school, where he did an excellent job in the drama circle. After leaving school, Georgy Mikhailovich entered the Theater School. Shchepkin, but in the second year he was expelled from there with the wording "for a frivolous attitude to the educational process."
In his last interview, the actor admitted: "I was always nervous and stiff, so I went into acting to get a little away from the life that is pressing me." Here are just many facts from Vitsin's biography that characterize him as by no means a notorious person. Director Vladimir Andreev recalls how, having come to the Yermolova Theater, he witnessed the stormy romance of Georgy Mikhailovich. The artist actively courted the young props master Tamara, his future wife. Vitsin loved puffy women and often joked that appetizing forms attracted him much more than skinny ones resembling pencils. Gosha and Tom signed just four months after they met. It was the first and only official marriage of the actor. But in his life there was another woman whom he completely supported almost until her death.
This novel could cost Vitsin his career. The fact that the aspiring actor took his wife away from the People's Artist of the USSR Nikolai Khmelev was gossiped by all theatrical Moscow. The scandal was incredible! Beauty Dina Topoleva was 35, George - 19, and she reciprocated. There was another piquant detail in this vaudeville: Khmelev is the artistic director of the theater, where Vitsin got a job just now. But the master forgave the unfaithful wife and his student. Georgy Mikhailovich still received roles.
Dina and Gosha lived together for more than 15 years without signing. Dina got old, and Vitsin wanted children. Did not work out. But even parting will not put an end to their story. Even having married another, the actor could not part with his former lover. His daughter was friends with Dina, and his wife came to terms with this strange situation over the years. Topoleva was very sick. Georgy Mikhailovich fully supported her: he paid for the housekeeper, medicines, rented a dacha for the summer.
By the way, the Vitsin couple did not have not only a country house, but also a separate living space. For many years the family lived in a communal apartment. The actor got his own housing only at the age of 50. The famous trinity - Vitsin, Morgunov and Nikulin - the doors to any offices were opened, but the modest comedian did not want to use his fame. He liked to repeat that he was ashamed to fuss.
When Vitsin had the opportunity to buy his own car, he publicly joked: "The worst thing that mankind has come up with is a car." Everything would be fine, only this phrase was uttered immediately after the war, during a concert at the Stalin plant. For such jokes, you could get a term. The actor was lucky - he was not taken seriously. Although the actor was extremely honest. Until old age, he will faithfully ride public transport.
“Live unnoticed” - this was the life credo of the famous comedian. And it's not a joke. When the actor was recognized on the street, he answered: I am not Vitsin, I am his brother. Colleagues Georgy Mikhailovich also did not favor. In between filming, he slept alone behind the scenery, regardless of the time of day.
But the complaisant and accommodating actor once staged a real strike. During the filming of "Prisoner of the Caucasus" he flatly refused to drink beer in the frame. I don't drink - and I won't! The props broke their heads. In the course went a decoction of wild rose. But no matter how much it was poured, there was no foam. Cotton wool over the liquid did not solve the problem. And Vitsin gave up - he took a sip of the "potion", with difficulty restraining his disgust.
In the history of cinema, there was probably no actor who played the same number of drunkards as he did. But Georgy Mikhailovich not only did not drink alcohol at all, but also did not eat meat, never drank medicines and fanatically practiced yoga - right on the set! True, the “yogi comedian” honestly admitted that his goal was to strengthen the vessels of the brain in the hope of avoiding a stroke. By the way, for a long time there was a legend among the acting brethren that Vitsin unraveled the secret of eternal youth. Otherwise, how did he manage to play the 18-year-old athlete Vesnushkin at 38, and the young blockhead Balzaminov at 48?!
At the end of his life, Vitsin will spend his performance fees and presidential pension on food for pigeons and stray dogs. He bought himself cheap noodles, and the yard pack - expensive sausage. “The more I get to know people, the more I love dogs” ... Vitsin recalled this famous phrase especially often in the last years of his life. Why did mere mortals annoy Georgy Mikhailovich so much? Apparently, he was annoyed by the persistent attention to his person from journalists. After all, what the press did not write in the 90s: the actor is sick, in poverty, collects bottles, his home is in a terrible state. Newspapers opened charitable accounts to help the “unfortunate actor”, and his family only remained silent in response. Only those closest to him knew that Georgy Mikhailovich finally lives as he wants.
It is symbolic, but at the end of his life the famous comedian earned money by reading the stories of Mikhail Zoshchenko from the stage, with practically no teeth. Vitsin often repeated: “We come here without teeth, and we must leave without teeth. Everything is natural." The aged artist stopped fighting with time. He did not take medication and every day he felt worse. At the same time, Vitsin assured that he was absolutely happy: he was finally left alone.
Today, many years after the filming of the films that made Vitsin the idol of millions, new generations of viewers are happy to review these tapes and admire the amazing actor, so unlike today's fashionable artists.
The film features:
Vladimir Andreev - actor, director;
Oleg Anofriev - actor;
Tatyana Konyukhova - actress;
Larisa Luzhina - actress;
Natalya Selezneva - actress;
Zoya Zelinskaya - actress;
Vladimir Tsukerman - creator of the Museum of the Three Actors, biographer of the Gaidai Trinity;
Inna Kostyukovskaya - daughter of playwright Yakov Kostyukovsky;
Yakov Kostyukovsky - playwright, screenwriter of Gaidai's films (shooting in 2009);
Natalya Drozhzhina - actress;
Alexander Oleshko - TV presenter;
Producer: Ivan Tsybin
Producer: Daria Pimanova
Production: CJSC "Telecompany "Ostankino""
In our film, the viewer will see exclusive footage of "home" filming, where Vitsin and his relatives are the same as they were in their life, closed from prying eyes. Vitsin's daughter, when they went on shooting expeditions together, always took an amateur movie camera with an eight-millimeter film with her. We will show unique drawings of the actor himself, as well as tell the story of how Georgy Vitsin was supposed to sing in the film "Gentlemen of Fortune". The song had already been recorded by the artist, but the artistic director of the film, Georgy Danelia, considered that the thief could not sing, and removed “The Song of the Elephant” performed by Vitsinsky Khmyr from the film. This recording has been preserved, and for the first time, viewers of Channel One will not only be able to hear this failed hit, but also find out where in the picture it was supposed to sound.
After the death of Vitsin, his daughter Natalya gave only one interview. Journalists have caused too much pain to their family. That one time, the actor's heiress mentioned that his father's temperament was much more suitable for his first failed profession - an artist. Georgy Mikhailovich literally never parted with a pencil all his life. He painted everywhere: on trains, on set, during intermissions between performances. Most often, these were caricatures of colleagues - kind irony without malicious intent. The actor did not like to draw bad things about people, however, like talking. Vitsin himself, when asked why he nevertheless chose acting, and not drawing, answered that he had gone astray ...
At 44, Vitsin woke up not just famous - wildly popular! Yes, he was already seen by the audience in the films “Reserve Player” and “She Loves You!”, But the real glory covered Vitsin exactly at 44! Crowds of spectators went to the Yermolova Theater! Everyone wanted to see with their own eyes the legendary "Coward" from "Operation" Y "and" Prisoner of the Caucasus. But the resounding success of Gaidai's films played a cruel joke on the actor. His fame annoyed many. Colleagues said: “Gosh, you are a disgrace to the theater, your jokes discredit the names of our teachers!”. Management wasn't happy either. The comedian skipped rehearsals, preferring them to filming! Reprimand followed reprimand. As a result, the directorate delivered an ultimatum: "Either you are present at all rehearsals, or you leave the troupe." And Georgy Mikhailovich left the theater, which became his family. Although for all these years not a single performance under Vitsin has been staged here - despite his enormous popularity and amazing acting range.
For millions of viewers, Vitsin remained a "Coward", Vesnushkin, Balzaminov ... A simpleton, a joker, a drunkard, a virtuoso joker. His roles diverged into quotes. Georgy Mikhailovich played in more than a hundred films.
2017 marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of the great artist Georgy Vitsin. The first channel on Saturday, December 23, will show a documentary in which he will talk about little-known facts from the life of the actor. The project also included rare photos and videos from the family archive of a truly national artist and an amazing comedian with sad eyes.
In a documentary Channel One entitled " Georgy Vitsin. Whose shoe?"The viewer will see exclusive footage of "home" filming, where the actor and his relatives are the same as they were in their life, closed from prying eyes. Vitsin's daughter, when they went on shooting expeditions together, always took an amateur movie camera with 8mm film with her.
Besides, the authors of the project, with the permission of the relatives of Georgy Vitsin, will show unique drawings of the actor himself, as well as tell the story of how the artist was supposed to sing in the film “ Gentlemen of Fortune» and the song was already recorded by him. But the film's artistic director George Danelia considered that the thief could not sing and removed from the picture " Song about an elephant»performed by Vitsinsky Khmyria. This recording has been preserved, and viewers of Channel One will not only be able to hear this failed hit, but also find out where in the picture it was supposed to sound.
After the death of Vitsin, his daughter Natalia gave only one interview. That one time, the actor's heiress mentioned that his father's temperament was much more suitable for his first failed profession - an artist. Georgy Mikhailovich literally all his life he did not part with a pencil. He painted everywhere: on trains, on set, during intermissions between performances. Most often, these were caricatures of colleagues. Good irony without malicious intent. The actor did not like to draw bad things about people, however, like talking. Vitsin himself, when asked why he nevertheless chose acting, and not drawing, answered that he had gone astray ...
Nevertheless, Georgy Mikhailovich played in more than a hundred films. And in the history of cinema, there was probably no actor who played the same number of drunkards as Vitsin. Not only did he not drink alcohol at all., but also did not eat meat, never drank medicines and fanatically practiced yoga - right on the set. True, the “yogi comedian” honestly admitted that his goal was to strengthen the vessels of the brain in the hope of avoiding a stroke.
At the end of his life, Vitsin will spend his performance fees and presidential pension on food for pigeons and stray dogs. He bought cheap noodles for himself, and expensive sausages for the yard pack. The more I get to know people, the more I love dogs ... Vitsin recalled this famous phrase especially often in the last years of his life. Why did mere mortals annoy Georgy Mikhailovich so much? Apparently, he was annoyed by the persistent attention to his person from journalists. After all, what the press did not write in the 90s: the actor is sick, in poverty, collects bottles, his home is in a terrible state. Newspapers opened charitable accounts to help the “unfortunate actor”, and his family only remained silent in response. Only those closest to him knew that Georgy Mikhailovich, finally, lives as he wants and is absolutely happy ...
Georgy Vitsin in the movie "Moonshiners"
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"Dog Mongrel" was just one of five short stories in the humorous almanac "Quite Seriously", for which Mosfilm did not even have any special hopes. But the short film and its funny characters were very fond of the audience, and in Cannes the Soviet film was nominated for the Palme d'Or as the best short film.
Oddly enough, in his youth, Vitsin often had to play the role of old people, and in adulthood - young men. For example, in the tape of Anatoly Granik "Maxim Perepelitsa", the 38-year-old actor played grandfather Musiy, and at 47, on the contrary, he starred as the young blockhead Balzaminov.
It is known that director Konstantin Voinov wrote the script for Balzaminov's Marriage based on Ostrovsky's plays specifically for Vitsin back in 1954, but the shooting was postponed for almost ten years, as the Mosfilm management was afraid of too free treatment of the classics. During this time, the main actor managed to get pretty old and, in order to match the age of his character, went to the trick. Vitsin recalled:
I made up myself. Where he drew a grid of paint, where he made freckles so that there were no wrinkles. He came up with a wig, pulled his nose. I mixed the putty with red paint so that the face would “lose weight”. Voinov looked at my art and said firmly: “I will shoot!”
Because of the complex make-up, Vitsin himself jokingly called the comedy "The Marriage of the Embalmed".
The film "Operation" Y "and other adventures of Shurik" with the participation of Coward, Dunce and Experienced in 1965 became the absolute leader in film distribution in the USSR.
By this time, the audience already perceived the trinity as an inseparable acting trio and even came up with a name for him: ViNiMor (according to the first letters of the surnames). However, it was during the work on “Operation Y” that Gaidai himself said that the “troika” was becoming obsolete, and Nikulin recalled:
Unfortunately, the “troika” has become really cloyingly popular. We were invited to perform on television "lights", drew cartoons in magazines. Nikolai Ozerov, during hockey reports, also remembered us. This was the period of our rise and at the same time the end of our joint performance on the screen.
Nevertheless, after "Operation" Y "" followed by another movie hit - "Prisoner of the Caucasus", where Coward, Dunce and Experienced starred together for the last time. Moreover, Nikulin and Morgunov continued to assert that "Vitsin is damn talented" and both of them "are not worth his fingernail."
The scripts of the films in which Vitsin starred changed, but the image of a simpleton and a drunkard remained unchanged.
In 1971, in "Gentlemen of Fortune" by Alexander Gray, the actor played the role of Gavrila Petrovich (better known as Khmyr). The role of the Associate Professor's accomplice further cemented Vitsin's fame as a drunkard and a bully, although he did not drink alcohol in his life, trying to replace mugs of beer with a rosehip drink in the frame.
Savely Kramarov, Georgy Vitsin and Evgeny Leonov in the film "Gentlemen of Fortune"
"Gentlemen of Fortune" became another box office hit, despite the fact that the management of "Mosfilm" for a long time feared the release of the comedy on the screens due to the abundance of prison jargon and gangster heroes. First, the finished film was personally watched by the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Nikolai Shchelokov, and after the comedy of the former criminal (the director had previously been sentenced to six years for a fight), Leonid Brezhnev himself appreciated it. Fortunately, they did not find anything wrong with the film and, according to eyewitnesses, they laughed so loudly that they even drowned out the dialogue of the actors.
