Information Name

Vasily Alibabaevich Alibaba

Occupation

Vasily Alibabaevich- the character of the film "Gentlemen of Fortune", embodied on the screen by the Soviet theater and film actor Radner Muratov. The name of Vasily Alibabaevich has become a household name in the designation of modern scammers. The phrase “The meal is served. Sit down to eat, please!” entered under the eighth number in the fifteen main phrases of the Soviet and Russian cinema, according to the results of a sociological survey conducted by Komsomolskaya Pravda.

Brief description of the character

Role entry

As a result, Muratov was invited. Victoria Tokareva looked and looked: “We have a comedy. Therefore, play seriously, like Schweitzer in “Time, forward! ". I played seriously ... ”, Muratov later recalled. On the set, Muratov always kept aloof, because he did not know anyone, and was afraid that he would be accidentally kicked out. During the filming of "Gentlemen of Fortune" the leading actors Leonov, Vitsin and Kramarov did not want to undress at -17 ° C. Among themselves, the actors agreed not to undress and tried to persuade Muratov to this disobedience, but he nevertheless undressed and jumped out into the cold first. Then they took revenge on Muratov - Kramarov crept up to him and immediately, in front of the camera, rubbed it with snow, and Vitsin, to make it more fun, began to rub Kramarov himself. As a result, this double entered the film. Muratov later recalled his most famous role:

I will never forget how we were lowered into the cement mortar. I understood: actors are such a people - if the role is good, they will climb wherever you want. That day came when they began to lower us there. But it turns out that some kind of cement is different, but different. In general, the cement did not accept us, it threw us out ... A cistern with ordinary bread sourdough rolled up. And it was also tinted with green onion essence, but still the composition was so tart, sticky ... Remember: “What good cement! Doesn't wash off at all! The shooting was near Samarkand, and there was a factory, and with it a shower room, and only forty or forty-five minutes later we barely scraped this composition from ourselves, our pores breathed again, we began to turn into a person again, looked around, and There is no vice. It turned out that he continues to sit in the tank, because he found out that this composition is based on 23 medicinal herbs and that this prolongs youth by 15 years.

The Moscow house, in which the heroes who escaped from prison were hiding, was actually intended for demolition, so at first they gladly let the film crew go there, and then they gave it the opportunity to burn it down. The film shows how Vasily Alibabaevich lights a kerosene stove, after which an explosion is heard and the whole house lights up. Everything was really hot. Fortunately, Radner Muratov was not injured during the explosion, and in the end the film crew had to be rescued. Creative people so carried away by the process that they stopped noticing the danger.

Character characteristic

Afterword

The role of Vasily Alibabaevich became the only one for Muratov star role, although he starred in fifty paintings. “This is my first and last success,” Muratov told friends years later. - After that, it was as if someone jinxed me ... My wife left me, my son was gone ... And soon the roles ended for me. Apparently, my time has passed ... ".

Links

• Vasily Alibabaevich (English) on the site Internet Movie Database

Sources

1. Smirnov D., Gusyatinsky A. Bay fish as a mirror of Soviet cinema (HTML). culture. Komsomolskaya Pravda (August 23, 2007). Archived from the original on 17 April 2012. Retrieved 24 January 2012.

Radner Zinyatovich Muratov (Tat. Radner Zinnat uly Moratov; October 21, 1928, Leningrad - December 10, 2004, Moscow) - Soviet actor, Honored Artist of the RSFSR.

Radner Muratov was born on October 21, 1928 to a Tatar family in Leningrad. His father was Zinnat Muratov, a student at the Leningrad Polytechnic Institute, later the first secretary of the regional committee of the Tatar ASSR.

In his youth, Muratov was a candidate master of sports in chess. In 1946, he graduated from the Kazan Air Force Special School.

In 1947, in the life of Radner Muratov, sharp turn. As he himself told reporters, he came to Moscow, walked around the city, caught the eye of one of the filmmakers, received an invitation to enter VGIK, the commission liked it and entered. They accepted Radik Muratov from the very first attempt, and not even because of his acting abilities, but because of his nationality. In all means mass media talked about the Soviet Union as a big multinational state, and among the applicants that year boys and girls predominated Slavic nationality. “Do you know why they took me? Because everyone is white, and Radik Muratov is black, ”Muratov later said in an interview.

At VGIK, Radik Muratov had a chance to study with famous directors and teachers Mikhail Romm and Sergei Yutkevich. Roza Makagonova, Nina Agapova and Ivan Kosykh studied with him. In 1951, Muratov graduated with honors from VGIK and was accepted State Theater film actor.

For the first time on the screen, he appeared in 1952 in the biographical film Composer Glinka. But that tiny episode went unnoticed by the audience, as well as subsequent roles in adventure films"Outpost in the mountains" and "The Bogatyr goes to Marto".

The first surge of fame to the actor brought a small role of the modest soldier Taxirov in the famous comedy by Anatoly Granik "Maxim Perepelitsa". The audience especially remembered his phrase “You are not a commander”, which later became winged.

Nevertheless, even after that the situation for Radner Muratov did not change. He acted in films, as before - a little, and only in episodes. To some extent, the reason for this was his nationality. The very nationality that at one time helped him enter VGIK has now become a stumbling block for him. The directors simply did not have suitable material for the actor.

1971 was the most successful in the career of Radner Muratov. It was then that he played his stellar role - Vasily Alibabaevich in Alexander Sery's comedy "Gentlemen of Fortune".

The role of the comically serious crook Vasya, who went to prison for diluting gasoline with donkey urine, was originally supposed to be played by the famous Frunzik Mkrtchyan. He already agreed, but last moment I was forced to refuse, due to employment in the theater. Meanwhile, Muratov was offered another episode in this comedy - the head of the prison. Actors of the Film Actor's Theatre, being forced people, were obliged to agree to any proposals of film directors. This was especially true for unpromoted, little-known actors. What was everyone's surprise when Muratov suddenly refused this role. When asked about the reasons for the refusal, he stated that he would not refuse the role of Vasily Alibabaevich.

After some deliberation, it was decided to give Muratov a chance. The audition was successful, and the actor was approved

"Gentlemen of Fortune" brought Radner Muratov wildly popular. But, oddly enough, this did not affect the actor's career at all. Muratov still remained the same episodic, which, in fact, suited him perfectly. There was enough work, and the episodic workers earned good money at that time.

During the period from 1971 to 1986, he starred in two dozen films, including: comedies by Leonid Gaidai "12 chairs" (chess player) and "It can't be!" (policeman), Vilen Azarov's comedy "The Incorrigible Liar" (waterer), detective series "Conscience" (Rakhimov), adventure dilogy "The Lost Expedition" and "Golden River" (Akhmetka), Georgiy Danelia's comedy "Afonya" (Murat Rakhimov), TV series "Eternal Call" (Magomedov).

Radik was a gambler and a gambler. It often backfired on him. On the set of one film, he beat the director all the way in chess. They tell him, stop, they say, the director already has a grudge against you ... And for sure. The movie came out, but he's not in any of the episodes. Only at the end of the film do they show a cemetery, a tombstone and an inscription on it: “Radik”. The director played. And in the 1960s, Moscow taxi drivers loved to tell the story of how Vasily Alibabaevich won an insane sum of money at the time - 40 thousand rubles. For two weeks, the whole hippodrome walked in the Aragvi restaurant with this money. And then he woke up somewhere under the fence. There were three rubles in the cap ... "

In 2000, Muratov suffered a stroke, after which the actor's memory began to fail - he developed Alzheimer's disease. He forgot names, surnames, dates and even simple words. Often the actor left home and got lost on the streets. In an interview that he gave to the magazine "Interlocutor", the actor could not remember on his own the name of Mikhail Romm, the director, whom he studied at VGIK; he forgot not only names and dates, but also the simplest words: the park for him was “where everyone goes and relax”, the performance was “when people buy tickets and watch”, the dining room was “where they eat”.

Muratov was very embarrassed by his condition, so he refused to talk to journalists. in the hospital and rehabilitation center the actor was in total six months. Even earlier, Muratov began serious problems with eyes, but he did not like to go to the doctors, and therefore in last years With his right eye, the actor could not see anything.

The financial situation at the end of Muratov's life became completely unbearable - he had no furniture, no refrigerator, no TV, he slept on the door removed from the hinges. He still did not receive help from his relatives. In the last year of his life, he often left home and could not find his own way back. The actor’s neighbors on the site said: “In the summer, his health became very bad. Lost keys. Could wear different shoes. His friend, the artist, came, the lock was inserted. We ran into Alibabaich once on the site, I compliment him: “You - great artist". He blossomed right away. And so sometimes resentment slipped through him: they had forgotten him. Here, they say, his films are shown on TV, but they don’t represent him. ”

Radner Muratov passed away on December 10, 2004. Buried at the Nikolo-Arkhangelsk cemetery

The colorful Soviet actor Radner Muratov played in many cult Soviet films"Maxim Perepelitsa", "Golden Calf", "Shield and Sword", "12 Chairs", "Everyday Criminal Investigation", "The Lost Expedition", "Golden River", "Afonya", "Eternal Call", "It Can't Be !

But most of all, he was remembered for his role as Vasily Alibabaevich in the cult crime comedy "Gentlemen of Fortune". The role in which he got by accident. Alexander Gray for a long time could not find a fourth accomplice to the legendary trinity of "intruders" (Eugene Leonov, Georgy Vitsin, Savely Kramarov). For this reason, the picture even turned out to be under the threat of closure, but for our happiness, the director accidentally caught a bright Tatar guy. Perpetuating the image of a conscientious and unlucky thief in the hearts of the domestic audience.

Being the son of the first secretary of the Tatar regional committee of the CPSU, Radner did not look for easy ways in life. The youth of the actor fell on the Patriotic War. Having decided to follow in the footsteps of his idol Chkalov, at the age of 15, Radik entered the Kazan Air Force Special School, which was preparing pilots for the front. Which he successfully graduated at the very end of the Great Patriotic War, and did not get to the front.

Having chosen, again by chance (while walking around Moscow, he caught the eye of one of the prominent filmmakers), Muratov graduated from VGIK with honors as an actor. But his career did not develop either in the theater or in the cinema. Until he fired episodic role in the comedy "Maxim Perepelitsa". finest hour The artist was the film "Gentlemen of Fortune", but even this enchanting role did not allow him to get away from the role of a supporting actor. In his personal life, Radik also did not work out. The family fell apart after only a few years. The actor himself was killed by a fatal passion for gambling. He died in poverty at 76, tormented by the last years of his life with Alzheimer's disease, surrounded by numerous books collected throughout his life. Surviving his only friend Georgy Vitsin by only three years.

To remember

The famous Vasily Alibabaevich was the son of the chief Tatar of the USSR

December 10 marks one year since the terrible death of the famous "gentleman of fortune" actor Radner Muratov
They say that everyone loved Muratov for his kindness and non-conflict. But there were not so many people who were ready to talk about it.

They found him on the street. Police officers patrolling Preobrazhenskaya Square in Moscow took the worst badly dressed man for the homeless. When it turned out that he did not remember proper names and surnames, and was completely considered crazy - they were sent to a psychiatric clinic. Fortunately, the doctors recognized in their patient famous actor and contacted relatives. It turned out that Alzheimer's disease, a terrible disease that turns a person into a plant, became a consequence of a stroke he suffered a few years ago. Who knows how long Radner Zinnatovich would have spent in the hospital, but on December 6, the actor had a second stroke. After four days in a coma, he died without regaining consciousness. The famous Vasily Alibabaevich was 76 years old. They say that everyone loved Muratov for his kindness and non-conflict. But there were not so many people who were ready to talk about it. For relatives, these memories are still too painful. One of his closest friends, actor Vladimir Protasenko (in "Gentlemen of Fortune" he played a childhood friend of Fedi-Kramarov, an engineer at a ball-bearing factory), took offense at Moscow journalists and took a vow of silence. In general, this topic is not fun. How many stories do we know about how popular actors in their time ended their lives in poverty. And yet every time it is scary and insulting to talk about it ...

ACTOR ANATOLY YABBAROV: "RECENT YEARS RADIK WAS IN PROSTRATION AND DID NOT RECOGNIZE ANYONE"

- Anatoly Akhmetovich, when did you meet famous Vasily Alibabaevich - actor Radner Muratov?

I have known him for about a year since the 70th, but it was a very distant acquaintance. And in 1975, he invited me to the Cinema House to celebrate the New Year, he had an extra ticket. Sitting at the table with us were Kmit, who played Petka in Chapaev, and Borya Bystrov from the Yermolova Theater, who once played Aladdin. There we talked and after that we communicated more closely. True, they starred together in only one picture - "Gentlemen of Fortune", and even then we did not have common scenes there.

- Who did you play there?

Mitya, whom Associate Professor threw from the roof. Well, Radik played Vasily Alibabaevich, who made him famous.

Is this his only famous role?

Yes, and he got it by accident. The authors of the script - Georgy Danelia and Victoria Tokareva - wrote it for specific actors: Leonov, Vitsin, Kramarova. The fourth main role was to be played by Frunzik Mkrtchyan. But he couldn't fly. It seems that at that time the 50th anniversary of the Armenian SSR was celebrated in Yerevan, he was busy there, and he was not allowed to shoot. And in those days it was necessary to give out footage - the state demanded a report for each shooting day.

For several days the group was idle, and the then director of Mosfilm, Sizov, threatened to close the picture. In a panic, director Sery rushed to search and accidentally stumbled upon Radik, who was just walking around the studio. He was quickly made up and literally immediately approved. I always told him: "Radik, you pulled out a happy lottery ticket". So he played in the film, although it seems to me that Mkrtchyan could have done it better. Radik's image was purely comedic, and Frunzik could have made it tragicomic.

- What was the atmosphere on the set of "Gentlemen of Fortune"?

Very cheerful! The wonderful comedians who starred there were joking with each other even when the command was: "Stop! Cut!". And even more so in the frame. What was worth only one episode of a trip in a tank of cement.

- Did they dive into real cement?

God forbid! It was the sourdough from which kvass is made. Vitsin, when he found out that she was infused with 16 herbs that are very useful for the body, began to dive there twice as often. In general, this substance was very tasty and sweet, so they splashed there with pleasure.

- The audience thinks that comedians are very funny in real life. This is true?

Rather, on the contrary - sad and withdrawn. And Radik was like that. Vitsin, for example, did not like any gatherings and parties, he was not at all a public person, he lived in isolation. He even refused to celebrate his own anniversary. And comedian actors, as a rule, end their lives tragically - in poverty, in loneliness.

When mine died good friend, Boris Kuzmich Novikov (the famous "buy-sell"), his family did not even have money for a coffin. When his wife called the Union of Cinematographers and asked for help, she was told that there were no funds. And on the same day (the Moscow International Film Festival was just taking place) at the Rossiya cinema, Sophia Loren and Gina Lollobrigida were awarded 100 thousand dollars each.

Sergei Filippov also died in poverty (who played the role of Kisa Vorobyaninov in Leonid Gaidai's "The Twelve Chairs"), and even spent two weeks after his death in his apartment. He had a brain tumor... Frunzik Mkrtchyan also ended his days in poverty.

- I wonder why?

Psychologists should study this phenomenon, but there really is such a pattern. Radik did not escape this fate either.

- How did it happen that in recent years he was literally below the poverty line?

All his life he worked in the Theater-Studio of a film actor, and at the age of 60 he suddenly decided to quit. We tried to dissuade him for a long time, but he stood his ground: "I promised myself that I would leave as soon as I earned a pension!" For 10-12 years he did not work anywhere. And then, when perestroika began and it became impossible to survive on a pension, he was forced to ask to return. We consulted with the director and took it. But if earlier he was a full-time actor, now he was on contract. He did not participate in any performance, he just received a salary. We tried to support him financially. The Screen Actors Guild of Russia helped a lot, they gave him money and food packages. And so he lived.

- They say he was very sick?

The last years of his life were tragic. He barely had the strength to come for a paycheck. He was in a state of prostration all the time, did not recognize people with whom he had worked for decades. When they addressed him, he did not answer anything, only smiled bewilderedly in response. And all the time he said: "I will probably die soon ...". He had such a hint.

- Alzheimer's disease, from which he suffered, completely erases the memory ...

We have the Humorina program in Moscow, he worked there with a number. And then one day Radik went on stage, said a few words, and then everything - the failure of the text! He usually sang the song "Come on, teahouse owner, tea!". And then he muttered something inarticulately, went backstage and said: "That's it, I don't go on stage anymore!"

We didn’t understand then how terrible everything that was happening to him was. But this is a very clear man, analytical mind! in an amazing way knew how to calculate lottery winnings and indeed often won - both in the lottery and at the races. How did he play chess? Often his partner was the world chess champion Smyslov. And Radik beat him! At one time they even hosted the "Chess School" on television. But that was a long time ago, 25 years ago, when Radik was still, as they say, in the juice.

- It looks like he should have become a chess player, not an actor.

Perhaps then his life would have been better. By the way, once he suffered because of his chess talent. Once he told me how he filmed with the Kazakh director Shaken Aimanov. He was attached there by Erast Pavlovich Garin, he went to Leningrad to shoot with Shaken and put in a good word for Radik. And then one day the camera went haywire. And Aimanov, who considered himself an unsurpassed chess player in the acting environment, suggested: "Well, who's the chess player here? Let's play!" He did not know that Radik also plays well.

Then Radik recalled: “I purposely lost the first three games to him. He revived, perked up. And then I won 10 games dry! Shaken became gloomy and said: “I don’t want to see this Tatar in the group anymore! Send him to Moscow today! "But after a couple of days it cooled down, and they still filmed me." After some time, Radik had to go through billing, without which then it was impossible to raise his salary. And he called Aimanov with a request to insert his last name in the credits - for billing than more pictures, all the better. Shaken promised.

When Aimanov brought his picture to Moscow (before, the allied film studios rented their work to the State Film Agency), he invited Radik to surrender. He arrived, sat modestly in a corner. The credits rolled, but his name was not there. Radik tensed, but decided to wait. I must say, the plot of the picture is very similar to famous movie"Father of a Soldier" Only here, not a Georgian, but a Kazakh old man is looking for the grave of his son who died in the war. He finds her only in the finale, there is an amazingly dramatic scene. And when main character moves away from the grave, the camera zooms in on the monument. And on it is written: "Radik Muratov is buried here." Radik recalled that he left the hall pale, on wobbly legs.

- Why, see your own grave!

And Shaken also laughed: "Well, I saw how capital letters Are you in the credits?!"

A few days later there was a premiere of the film at the Cinema House, after which Aimanov arranged a banquet there, in a restaurant on the fourth floor. It was attended by a large number of people, and film crew, and invitees. But before they had time to fill their glasses, Shaken was summoned to Goskino to sign papers - his picture was sent to some kind of film festival. He said he would be back soon and left. It didn't take long to sign the papers. When they drove up to the Cinema House, he said to the driver: "Get me out here, otherwise, while you are turning around, I will lose a lot of time." And went out on the opposite side of the street. At first, he was going to go down to the underpass, but then he saw that the street was empty and began to cross over. It is not known where the car that came from knocked him down. To death ... And those gathered at the banquet had to not only congratulate Shaken on the premiere, but also commemorate him.

- And how did Radner Zinnatovich himself leave?

Quiet in the hospital. They called me and said: "Radik Muratov died!" He was taken directly from the hospital morgue to the Khovanskoye cemetery. The funeral was modest, few people came to them. Strange, because many people loved him. I think most of the viewers did not even know that his name was Radner, they called him Vasily Alibabaevich. Or they said: "The one who diluted gasoline with donkey urine at the gas station went out!"

FILM ENGINEER OF THE THEATER-STUDIO OF THE FILM ACTOR NIKOLAY BOBRIKOV: "RADIK OFTEN SAID:" I WANT TO DIE TO FALL UP BY BOOKS!

- Nikolai Fedorovich, they say that in the last years of his life you talked a lot?

Radner Zinnatovich came to see me at the theater almost every day. If I was not there (creative work, I don’t sit still), I just sat near the central staircase and waited for hours. It used to happen that our director, Oleg Mikhailovich, would pass by and ask: "Why are you here?" - "I," he says, "to Kolya Bobrikov!" And he himself is unshaven, poorly dressed - it is clear that he is in need. When he sees me, he rejoices like a child. I always tried to feed him, drink tea. His appetite, thank God, was good, healthy. I ate a cauldron at a time, especially loved dumplings self made. And he made sure everything was fresh. Before eating, be sure to sniff. "What if, - he says, - you want to poison me!" Then, as usual, they drank tea, sometimes poured 100 grams for him. And he told me all his life.

What did he say about his parents?

His mother was a teacher at school, she died tragically. I got on the bus, but the driver did not notice, the doors began to close. She fell, and he dragged her a few more meters ... And Radik's father was the secretary of the Kazan City Party Committee and at the same time the First Secretary of the Tatar Regional Committee. In his homeland, in Kirov (now Vyatka), there was the House-Museum of Zinnat Muratov. When we came to Kirov on tour, Radik never lived in a hotel, he went there. He was greeted as a dear guest, settled. There were even maids there, we saw them when we came to visit him one day.

Radik, by the way, was also a party member. For his silence and modesty, he was elected chairman of the party control. It seems to me that he had these qualities from his father (after all, he worked under Stalin, and this is a harsh hardening), he was generally a non-conflict, harmless person, as a rule, such people are treated well in any team.

- How did a boy from the family of a party functionary decide to become an actor?

Actually, Radik first graduated military school wanted to become a pilot. But the war was already over by then. Yes, and his eyesight let him down, some kind of defect was discovered, due to which he could not fly. And then he decided to enter VGIK. And the building of the institute, as you know, is located opposite VDNKh.

Radik arrived in Moscow, sat down near a fountain, lit a cigarette (he was still smoking at the time, eventually quit). A man approached him and asked for a light. Then he asked: "You look so closely at the institute. Perhaps you want to do it?" - "Yes," Radik admitted, "I want to try." - "And what can you do?" - the interlocutor asked. Muratov read Mayakovsky's poems. He did it very expressively and emotionally - after all oriental man. The stranger liked it. "Come to the institute tomorrow," he said, "directly to room 122. Tell me to come to me!" He turned out to be the famous director Mikhail Romm.

When Radik arrived, there was a queue in the auditorium. But he did look in, and Romm immediately said in front of everyone that he was taking him on his course. “And do you know why?” he asked those present. “Now we have taken an acting course, and there everyone is either white or red-haired. And I need this black one!” So Muratov did without exams. After the war, Stalin ordered men to enter institutes without exams. There, at VGIK, Radik met his future wife Lena. He has a son and a granddaughter.

- Muratov is known only as the performer of the role of Vasily Alibabaevich. And did he act a lot?

He had only one main role in his entire life - in the film "Return of Feelings", filmed for the 50th anniversary of the Tatar ASSR. The film is romantic, a little naive, somewhat reminiscent of Indian. For this work, by the way, he was supposed to receive the title of Honored Artist of the RSFSR. But his high-ranking and principled father called and said that Radik was still too young and not worthy of such an award. So Radik received the title much later, already under Yeltsin.

In the rest of the tapes, and he had about a dozen of them (the most famous are "Liberation", "Duel", "Look at both!"), Radik got episodes. But, as a rule, bright, colorful.

For example, in the film "Mission in Kabul" Radik played the driver of our ambassador to Afghanistan. By the way, there happened to him a funny episode. After the first day of filming, several of our actors went to the local bazaar to try the famous oriental sweets. And there a little Afghan came up to Radik. I don’t know what language they spoke there, but the boy made it clear that he loves Soviet artists and glad they came to Afghanistan. And then he held out a karakul skin and a felt-tip pen. Radik thought that he was asked for an autograph, and signed it. And a couple of days later this boy came up to him again, gave him an astrakhan hat and said: "Give me a thousand!" - "What a thousand, Afghani?!" - Radik was taken aback. And then the boy turned his hat inside out and showed him his own autograph.

There was nowhere to go, Radik had to borrow money from Gleb Strizhenov and pay for the hat. That's the kind of story he's in! True, then he always carried this hat in his pocket and did not go on stage without it. And for some reason he called her a cap of invisibility.

- Did he perform a lot?

While he could, he often participated in the "Around Laughter" program. And then, when he fell ill, he filmed with the audience in the lobby during the intermission. He was paid 200 rubles for this... He had a small pension. Our theater helped him as much as he could, but he still lacked. And he often borrowed from me to play on the run...

- And how long has he had this hobby?

Yes, he went to the hippodrome for 50 years and, imagine, almost always guessed right. He took the programs of all races and precisely built a scheme for how they should run. And all 15 horses finished exactly as he predicted. Interestingly, for this he needed special conditions. He was waiting for the last tram to pass and the last window in the house opposite to go out. And then, in complete silence, he literally conjured over his tables. Although he rarely played. He gave his calculations to the guys - the regulars of the hippodrome, and thanks to him they won good money.

In recent years, when his illness progressed and he was no longer so good at thinking, they pitied him. If he played unsuccessfully, they secretly collected 500 rubles for him and said that this was his winnings. He was so happy!

Books were another hobby of Radik. At one time he traveled a lot Soviet Union with concerts. And wherever he came, he settled in a hotel, right there, without even shaving, he found out from the porter where the largest bookstore was located, and ran there.

Books at that time were in great short supply, but in the provinces it was sometimes possible to buy something good. And in one of the largest bookstores in Moscow, on Kalininsky Prospekt (now Novy Arbat), he had a familiar saleswoman. And the purchase of a book, as they said then, "from under the counter", they turned into a whole ritual. Radik sometimes took me with him, so I saw him. We came, went up to the second floor, where there was a department fiction, and Radik rummaged through the shelves for a long time. Then he told me: "Do you know where the best good books? In the children's department! ". We went down to the first floor, he approached his friend and asked for some very scarce publication. She smiled and said:" Pay to the cashier! "In fact, she had already got this book for him a long time ago and waited for him to come in. So Radik gathered a good library, several thousand volumes. And he often said: "I want to die so that books fill me up!".

His shelves with books were not very stable, they swayed, so he thought that someday they would fall on him. And then he also retold these books! Yes, so peculiar that many thought that it was he who wrote it. Most of all, for some reason, he liked to poison such tales on trains: he would gather around him listeners from all over the car and tell what he read as a story from own life. By the way, he never went to NE, although for a long time financial situation it allowed him. He loved compartment cars. "There," he said, "there are more people."

The ex-wife of the actor, actress Elena Muratova, recalls: "He never had complexes about the fact that someone the main role, and he has an episode. He treated each role equally responsibly and reverently.

Vasily Alibabaevich Alibaba is a character in the legendary comedy "Gentlemen of Fortune". Soft, obedient and accommodating, Vasily Alibabaevich became the standard of a "good criminal", millions of Russians sympathized with him. Alibaba's phrases like "The meal is served, sit down to eat, please" and "Everyone ran, and I ran" have long become golden quotes, and the character of Vasily Alibabaevich turned out to be so strong and whole that after this film hardly anyone remembered that the actor had another real name. Everyone called Radner Muratov - Vasily Alibabaevich. In a white cotton T-shirt and astrakhan hat on his head, with a sad and inquisitive expression on his kind and very naive face - this character was forever remembered by Russian viewers.

According to the plot, Vasily Alibabaevich was born in Dzhambul and really missed hometown and home. He does not hesitate to speak warmly about his mother and loves children. Alibaba's term is only a year, he went to prison on a "household" article, for diluting gasoline with donkey urine when he worked at a gas station. He behaved in prison quietly and without conflict, earning, if not authority, then at least respect. This is also evidenced by the fact that Alibaba even occupied in the cell the best place until he was removed from there by a criminal authority, a thief in law Associate Professor.

What happened next, perhaps every Russian knows - in search of stolen antiques, the double of the famous bandit Associate Professor, Troshkin (played by E. Leonov), who is actually peaceful and kind person head of the kindergarten. The police are interested in two - Oblique and Khmyr, partners of the runaway Associate Professor. Pretending to be an Associate Professor, Troshkin "organizes" an escape from prison for them. It was during the escape that Vasily Alibabaevich appeared with his famous phrase "Everyone ran, and I ran." native of Central Asia, he speaks with a funny accent, thinks with visible difficulty, but for the good-natured Troshkin it turns out to be simply indispensable, because Vasily, unlike Khmyr and Kosoy, has no problems with discipline.

The role of Vasily Alibabaevich was played by a wonderful artist Radner Muratov, and this role became the brightest in his career, despite the fact that he also played in a number of excellent films, such as "Afonya", "Golden River", "Shield and Sword" , "Eternal Call" and many others. It is known that unusual name- Radner - means "rejoice new era", but Muratov himself always preferred to call himself Radik, that was the name of him and all relatives and friends.

Initially, Frunzik Mkrtchyan was supposed to play the role of Vasily Alibabaevich, it was with him in mind that the script for the picture was written. But Frunzik Mushegovich still could not fly out of Armenia, and the filming time was already holding up. The management again began to hastily conduct casting, trying to replace Mkrtchyan, which was very, very difficult - the role was simply written out for him.

At the same time, the actor Muratov auditioned for the role of the head of the prison, and at some point he simply stated that he would not refuse the role of Vasily Alibabaevich. At first, the authorities were even taken aback by such an "impudence" of a not-so-famous actor, because the composition of the film was supposed to be unambiguously "star" - Leonov, Vitsin, Kramarov ... He was refused, and when the time for filming came, and it became clear that Mkrtchyan would never arrive, he had to urgently remember the name of that eccentric who asked for the role of Alibabaevich.

Later it became clear that the best Vasily Alibabavich simply could not be - this role suited Muratov so much that he seemed to get used to it, and even many years and decades later he was called that by the people - Vasily Alibabaevich, and few people remembered or even knew the real name of the actor. Even when the actor died in 2004, many publications still gave headlines: "Vasily Alibabaevich died ..."

Muratov himself said about this role that it was his first and last success. Alas, he never received any significant roles after "Gentlemen of Fortune".

The film "Gentlemen of Fortune" was released in 1971, but remains one of the most beloved films of Russians so far, more than forty years later. It is difficult to say who managed to immortalize this good comedy - Evgeny Leonov, Savely Kramarov, Georgy Vitsin or a modest native of Leningrad Radik Muratov? Although it is safe to say that without Vasily Alibabaevich, as we know him, this film would never have become what it has become.

The phrases uttered by the unlucky fugitive criminal have long become winged, and his image has firmly entered the history of Russian cinema - a comically serious plunderer of Soviet property, who diluted gasoline with donkey urine at a gas station. Kind, accommodating, simple, honest and infinitely funny - this is exactly what I remember