Row Alexander Arturovich: biography, filmography, family

They say that genuinely brilliant works do not lose their relevance over the years. It concerns a lot: pictures, books, songs and even movies. Almost eighty years have passed since the film was shot by the great Soviet storyteller Row Alexander Arturovich. And although for all this time, several generations of viewers have grown up, they all continue to also love good fairy-tale movies that were shot by him.

The parents of the director

Paradoxical as this sounds, the parents of the great Soviet director, who managed to revive old Slavic tales on screen, were foreigners. The father of the storyteller was an Irish engineer, sent to work in the Russian Empire, Arthur Howard Rowe. Here he met with a beautiful Greek woman from the local diaspora, and soon the lovers got married. From this marriage in the spring of 1906 the son - Row Alexander Arturovich was born.

The family of the future director, unfortunately, was not strong. When the boy barely managed to turn eight years old (according to other sources, ten), the father left his wife and son and returned to Ireland. Since then, the care of his mother, the health of which has not allowed her to work, has fallen on the shoulders of his young Sasha.

Alexander Rowe: Early Years

To feed himself and his mother, young Rowe undertook any work. At first he was an assistant clergyman, later began to trade all sorts of trifles, from greens to crests and needles. However, Sashenka's mother, seeing the mind and assertiveness of her son, understood that he was capable of more. Therefore, she made every effort to ensure that after the seven-year period, Row entered the local technical school.

Some biographers say that Alexandra Rowe was attracted to the career of a clergyman. Others believe that he planned to go to work on a specialty obtained in his trade and economic technical school. Despite these differences, biographers agree on one thing: all plans Row turned the agitheater "Blue Blouse", where the guy settled down to work part time while studying.

Having fallen into the world of theater, Row Alexander Arturovich was literally bewitched by him. So the future director immediately took his documents from the technical school and transferred to a school for filmmakers named after Boris Tchaikovsky.

In the film school the future director studied until 1930. For the next four years he continued to study at the drama technical school named after Ermolova.

The first works in the cinema

In parallel with his studies at the drama school, Rowe began working as assistant director Yakov Protazanov at the Mezhrabpomfilm studio (now Gorky's film studio). Since 1937 he himself began to work as a director at the same film studio. And a year later he takes off his first picture - a fairy tale "By the Pike's Wish".

While shooting a similar film, Row Alexander Arturovich was very risky, because before him no one had done anything like this. Previously, it was customary to film the fairy tales with the help of animation. However, his first-born - the movie "By the Pike's Will" - liked absolutely everything. Both children and adults enjoyed watching the wonderful film several times.

Meanwhile, the director was already ordered a new film, which was supposed to tell the audience about the eternal struggle of evil with good and love for their native land. So there was the idea of a new movie "Vasilisa the Beautiful", which was released in 1939 and again became a kind of hit of that time. Since then, Rowe began to specialize in fairy-tale subjects in the cinema.

Row Alexander Arturovich: Selected Filmography

Over the years, Alexander Rowe has shot as many as sixteen motion pictures. The seventeenth - Finist - Clear Falcon - was removed after his death according to the script of his work.

The most famous works of the director Row Alexander Arturovich are the films of Kashchei the Immortal, Marya the Master, The Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka, The Kingdom of Curved Mirrors, Fire, Water and ... Copper Pipes, Varvara- Beauty, a long braid "and, of course, the most famous film Rowe, loved not only in the USSR, but all over the world," Morozko ".

Little-known fact, but among the director's works of Alexander Arturovich there are documentary films ("Artek" and "Crimea"), as well as a film-ballet, shot together with Rostislav Zakharov, - "Crystal Shoe".

Rowe and his actors

Separate attention deserves the relationship of the great storyteller and his "apprentices". As many actors recall , director Roe did not like strangers on the set. Therefore, I preferred to work with my team. He shot many actors in almost every film story.

The most favorite actor and friend of Rowe was George Millar, whom the director met while filming his debut film. After that, Millar became practically the visiting card of the director. He played with him and Babu Yaga, and Koshchei, and the devil, and other evil spirits.

Some of his stars Row discovered himself. For example, Alexei Katyshev, the performer of the role of Vasenki ("Fire, water and ... copper pipes"), and Andrew, a fishing son (Varvara-Krasa, a long braid). Once the director saw a young assistant sound engineer with amazing eyes and a kind smile. After that, he approved him for the main role in his new film story, despite the fact that the guy did not have a proper education or experience in the cinema.

During the filming, Alexander Rowe never ordered actors how to play. He simply set the task for them: play one or the other. And how to do it and what methods, it remained at the discretion of the actors themselves.

Death of the great storyteller

In the last days of the departing 1973, the great meter of Soviet cinematography was gone. He died, and not having finished the work on the film "Finist - Clear Falcon". There was only the scenario, according to which the pupil Row - Gennady Vasiliev - was shot a film dedicated to the memory of his great teacher.

Row Alexander Arturovich: personal life

The first wife of Rowe was actress Elena Savitskaya. However, the family life with such a bright and restless woman the director did not work out. Since the two talents could not build something in common.

But life did not stand still, and a little later Alexander Row met his narrowed. She became the second wife of the director - this is Elena Georgievna Rowe. This courageous woman was for him a real war friend who devoted all her time and energy to her beloved husband. I went with him to the shooting, I watched him eat and not get sick on time. Friends and actors remember that Roe's spouses were very hospitable people.

Almost all his life, Rowe filmed a movie for the younger generation. Unfortunately, his children did not appear. Sometimes Row Alexander Arturovich liked to joke: his wife, children are actors. And indeed, he treated his subordinates: he loved them and cared about them. And the artists themselves treated the storyteller as their father. For the sake of him, they performed dangerous stunts on the set, risked their health, broke their legs - and all in order to make the film the way its director saw it.

The man of a difficult fate was Row Alexander Arturovich. The biography of this remarkable man and an incredible professional is worthy of imitation. Despite all the problems that he faced, he was able to preserve the child's purity of the soul, which he then put into his films. And even for many years this talented director is not among the living, his films have remained and will please many more generations.