Vladimir Menchov: biography, personal life, acting and directing work

Director Vladimir Menshov is a man who brought the USSR the fourth and last in the history of this country, "Oscar". However, on this list of his merits does not end. He not only took off some of the flamboyant comedies that became hits of his time and still have not lost their relevance, but he himself played a lot of various bright roles in the cinema.

Vladimir Menshov: family

The father of the future director - Valentin Mikhailovich - was an assistant to the captain, and then became an employee of the NKVD.

Even while working as a sailor Valentin Menchov met with Antonina Aleksandrovna Dubovskaya, who served as a maid on the ship. Soon young people signed, and a year later - September 17, 1939 - they had a son - Vladimir Valentinovich Men'shov.

early years

Vladimir was born in Baku, and then his childhood passed away. In 1941, his sister Ira was born. In the capital of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the family of the future director lived until 1947, and later they were forced to move to Arkhangelsk for the affairs of Valentin Mikhailovich.

Life in the post-war decade was not easy, so parents did not have enough time to pay much attention to children. Therefore, as soon as he went to school, young Vladimir Menshov was left to himself. The biography of this person could have developed quite differently, but, fortunately, he passionately took a great interest in reading and cinema.

All his free time the young man spent in the library and cinemas. He literally swallowed many books, and most of the movies of that era knew by heart.

His childhood hobby influenced the choice of profession: after graduating from school in 1957, Vladimir Menshov announced to his parents that he intended to become an artist. This choice was not pleased with the father of the guy who dreamed that his son would follow in his footsteps - he became a military man. However, Vladimir was adamant and, collecting his things, went to Moscow: to go to VGIK.

The first steps in the actor's field

However, the capital of the USSR was not very cordially greeted by the ardent youth. He was not admitted to the institute, despite the silver medal and quite good training.

But the future director did not lose heart. He returned to Astrakhan, where his parents lived at that time, and achieved that he was accepted into the local drama theater as an auxiliary actor. Learning theatrical wisdom in practice, Vladimir earned his living by working as a turner at one of the local factories. Later he changed a number of professions: from a miner to a sailor.

Four years of work in other areas have not cooled the desire to become an actor. Therefore, in 1961, Menchov again stormed Moscow, and this time successfully: a talented young man is admitted to the Moscow Art Theater School-Studio.

Studying at the Moscow Art Theater not only helped to reveal his talent, but also allowed him to make useful acquaintances among actors and directors. In addition, it was here that Vladimir met a charming sophomore Vera Alentova, who became the main love of his life.

Despite the fact that many teachers claimed that the great actor Vladimir Menshov, not one theater in Moscow did not take him to work after the Moscow Art Theater. The place was found only in Stavropol, where the graduate went to work for as long as 2 years.

This failure did not break Vladimir Menchov - he decided to become a director.

Beginning a directorial career and first appearance at the cinema

After retiring from the Drama Theater in Stavropol, Vladimir Valentinovich Menshov applied to the VGIK for postgraduate study. His work so much liked Michael Romm, that he not only enlisted a talented young man for the second year, but also organized for him a postgraduate course in the direction of an artistic film. Thus, Men'shov became the first and last graduate student of this specialization.

In 1970, Vladimir Menshov finished his studies and signed contracts on work with three Soviet film studios: Odessa, Mosfilm and Lenfilm. In the same year, Menshov's classmate, Alexander Pavlovsky, was preparing to shoot the picture "Happy Kukushkin" and invited his friend to work with him. Vladimir Valentinovich became a co-author of the script, and later received the main role. The debut on the screen of Men'shov immediately attracted attention, and the actor was awarded the main prize of the Kiev festival Molodost-71.

After "Happy Kukushkin" all suddenly noticed the actor's talent, which Vladimir Menshov possessed. Films with his participation began to appear quite often on Soviet screens in the next 5 years. This is "The man in his place", "Salty dog", "Ar-chi-me-dy!", "Tale of how Tsar Peter therap married," and others.

Despite the booming acting career in film, Vladimir Valentinovich dreamed of making his own full-length film, and in 1976 he had the opportunity.

"Drawing"

Menshov's directorial debut was a tape about the life of schoolchildren in the scenario of Semyon Lungin - "Rally". This picture was the most successful in the Soviet box office in 1977 and won a lot of prestigious awards.

On the secondary roles, many movie stars of that time were shot (Oleg Tabakov, Zinoviy Gerdt, Natalya Fateeva, Eugenia Khanaeva and Vladimir Menshov himself). But the main characters were instructed to play the young actors.

Most of them had no acting experience and were simple pupils of schools. "Rally" became their lucky ticket to the cinema. For example, Dmitri Kharatyan (Igor Grushko) was previously an ordinary schoolboy who came to try for a company with a friend. But Natalia Vavilova, who played Tayu Petrov, earlier acted with Sergey Bondarchuk in "Such high mountains". Also there was a small experience with the performer of the role of Dasha Rozanova - Evdokia Germanova - and Andrei Gusev (Oleg Komarovsky). All these young artists after participating in the "Draw" became famous throughout the country.

The song "Farewell Waltz", sounding in the finale of the film, became a school anthem and is still popular.

This amazing picture of love, betrayal, talent and the way to success glorified Men'shov throughout the USSR as a director. Now he was free to choose almost any picture, and in 1978, Vladimir Valentinovich began work on a project under the script of Valentin Chernykh "Twice lied."

"Moscow does not believe in tears"

From the very beginning of the work the director had a lot of problems. First, he did not like the script, so he changed it beyond recognition. In addition, it was not easy to find actresses for the main roles. In the role of Katya Tikhomirova Menchov wanted to shoot Margarita Terekhova, but she preferred to play Milady in "D'Artagnan and the Three Musketeers", and Anastasia Vertinskaya, who was also invited to try, simply refused. Then the main character played the wife of Vladimir Men'shov - Vera Alentova.

Little Tohsya also wanted to play very little: Galina Polsky called this heroine vulgar, and Raisa Ryazanova crazily wanted to be Lyudmila, but subsequently agreed to this role, since the role of Sviridova had already been given to Irina Muravyova.

Katya Tikhomirova's daughter was played by Natalia Vavilova, who is familiar to everyone in the "Rally". It is noteworthy that the parents of the young actress were against her participation in the picture, and Alexei Batalov (Gosh), who was at that time already a legend of Soviet cinema, persuaded them.

In addition, the stars of the fifties played themselves in the tape: Innokenty Smoktunovsky, Georgy Yumatov, Leonid Kharitonov, and the poet Andrey Voznesensky.

Despite the fact that a little more than half a million rubles were allocated for the shooting, the director tried to hide the budget deficit with all his might.

Although many blamed the director that he took on the main role of his wife, eyewitnesses of filming confirmed: to Alentovoy Menshov was very strict when working. Moreover, she even had to appear in several pretty juicy scenes (with Oleg Tabakov and Alexei Batalov), but most of this did not get into the finished picture.

In 1980, the second film directed by Vladimir Menshov finally came out on the screen. Critics met her cool, but viewers loved the movie at first sight. Moreover, about 100 foreign countries acquired rights to rent a tape, and the Americans awarded the picture "Oscar". Unfortunately, at that time the director was forbidden to go abroad, and an honorable award for him was taken by the representative of the USSR. Only in 1988 Vladimir Menshov received an Oscar.

"Love and pigeons"

In the following years, Vladimir Valentinovich focused on acting career. He starred in such famous films as "Under one sky," "Time for reflection," "If the enemy does not give up ..." and "Magistral." Despite the demand for acting, I wanted to continue to shoot Vladimir Menshov films.

And his next work as a director was the 1984 film "Love and Doves." The script was written on the basis of Vladimir Gurkin's play. Unlike the previous works of the director, a new film told about the fate of the inhabitants of the province.

The main roles in the project were performed by Alexander Mikhailov, Nina Doroshina and incomparable Lyudmila Gurchenko. In the episodes, Sergei Jursky and his wife, Natalya Tenyakova, starred . And Vladimir Menshov himself played in the episodes.

This film was again coolly received by critics, because it came out during Gorbachev's anti-alcohol campaign, and the main characters were often drunk on the screen. However, the viewer's new brainchild Menshov had a liking, and later "thawed" and critics.

Other director's works

The next decade, Vladimir Menchov was known only as an actor. During this time he played over twenty different roles in such projects as "Courier", "Doll", "Suicide", "New Odeon", "Trotsky", etc.

However, in 1995, Vladimir Valentinovich again sat down in the director's chair of the Shirley-Myrli picture. Menshov's new comedy-farce has never been able to achieve the success of his previous works. The main roles in the project were performed by Valery Garkalin and Vera Alentova. The director himself acted as the president of the Russian Federation.

In 2000, another screen work by Vladimir Valentinovich appeared on the screens - the melodrama "Envy of the Gods". This tape was the third joint project, on which Vera Alentova and Vladimir Menshov worked.

Acting career in recent years

Since the beginning of the new millennium, the demand for Men'shov as an actor has increased. So, in 2004 he played Gesar in the "Night Watch", based on the book of the same name by Sergei Lukyanenko. A year later Vladimir Menshov returned to this role in the "Day Watch".

The biography of Vladimir Valentinovich as an actor has since mostly consisted of roles of chiefs and military.

So, he played generals in "Time to collect stones" with Vladimir Vdovichenko (also was the producer of the project); In the "Code of the Apocalypse" with Anastasia Zavorotnyuk; In the "Saboteur" and its continuation.

In parallel with these same characters, Menshov embodied on the screen and completely unusual images. For example, in the tape "Oh, lucky!" On a couple with Sergei Shakurov, the actor played a wizard of non-standard orientation. In the third picture of the popular comedy cycle "Love-Carrot" Menchov embodied the image of the father of the protagonist who exchanged his body with him. In the tape "Generation P", shot on the cult novel by V. Pelevin, the actor got the role of the leading news television show Farsuk Farseykina.

In the comedy "Quartet I" "What else do men say" played a moral landmark and the conscience of the traitor Lecha - Leo Tolstoy - himself Vladimir Menchov.

Biography director Menchova knew and failure. So in 2008 he began work on the picture "The Great Waltz", but this project was never finished.

Today, despite a solid age (the actor has long passed seventy), he continues to withdraw a lot.

Vladimir Menchov: personal life

It is commonly believed that actors and directors are very unstable people, and therefore their personal life does not develop. Vladimir Valentinovich became a happy exception to this rule: all his life he loved only one woman - the actress Vera Alentova. However, their life together was not always smooth.

They were married as students of the Moscow Art Theater. But after studying were forced to part. The reason was Menshov's departure to Stavropol. Unlike her husband, Alentova after the Moscow Art Theater got a job at the Moscow Theater. A. S. Pushkin.

A few years later, Vladimir Valentinovich returned to Moscow and established relations with his wife, and in 1969 they had a daughter, Julia.

Despite the birth of the child, the couple had a lot of problems. First of all, they did not have a joint housing. Therefore, Vera and Vladimir lived separately for many years.

Only when Menchov became a famous director and got an apartment in the center of Moscow, the couple could start living together.

Julia Menshova

The only daughter of the star couple - Julia - went to the parents' footsteps and became an actress.

It is worth noting that she achieved everything by herself, and neither Vera Alentova nor Vladimir Menchov helped her.

Biography of Julia Vladimirovna as an actress begins in 1990, when she graduated from the studio of Alexander Kalyagin in the Moscow Art Theater School. After that she played in the theater, cinema and on television.

A real breakthrough for Julia Menshova happened in 1994, when she began to work on television. She led a TV show "I myself", "My movie", "To be continued", "Teach me to live" and "Alone with everyone".

In the cinema, her most significant works were: "Picky fiancé", "Big love", "Everything was mixed in the house" and "The Balzac age, or All the men ...".

Interesting facts

• For "Drawing" Menshov became the winner of the award to them. NK Krupskaya, and for the film "Moscow does not believe in tears" was awarded the State Prize of the USSR.
• Since 1984, Vladimir Men'shov is a Honored Artist of the RSFSR, and five years after that he also received the title of People's Artist of the RSFSR.
• Participated in the voice acting games "Day Watch" and "Night Watch". He played the role of Gesar.
• He is an ideological communist who has not changed his outlook after the collapse of the USSR. Because of this, being the host of the MTV 2007 ceremony, he refused to give the award to the film "Bastards" on the air. A similar situation was repeated with the picture "Burnt by the Sun 2: The Citadel". Menchov protested against her nomination for an "Oscar" from the Russian Federation.
• He has two grandsons: Andrew and Taisia.
• In 2007, the artist received the title of honorary citizen of the city of Astrakhan.
• He voiced the Mayor of the Zveropolis in the eponymous cartoon film of 2016.

Vladimir Menshov could not immediately conquer the capital of the USSR. He achieved a lot, becoming one of the most successful directors and actors of Russian cinema in its entire history. Despite his services, Menchov still does not rest on his laurels, but actively works for the benefit of culture. In addition to working in film, he also shares his invaluable experience with the younger generation, teaching in the acting and directing workshop in VGIK.