Leonid Bykov: biography and filmography. Leonid Fedorovich Bykov - director and actor

In Kiev there is a monument to Leonid Bykov. He embodies the memory not only of the great director and actor, but of all those who gave their lives for victory in the Great Patriotic War. Every person has watched the movie "Some Old Men Are Going to Battle", but for those who passed the war, this picture in general became especially expensive. It was she who embodied the true courage and heroism of Soviet pilots.

The monument is presented in the form of Captain Titarenko, who just returned from the battle and sat down on the edge of the cockpit of his combat flying friend. And it is installed on such a platform, around which there is a lot of free space. And looking at this composition, it is felt that just next to land another plane, returning from a long flight. And this is not the only sculpture dedicated to Leonid Fedorovich, located on the territory of Ukraine and Russia.

There is no such person, whose face at the mention of the name of such a famous person as actor Leonid Bykov, would not light up a bright smile. When some time passed after his unhappy death, a film appeared in Kiev dedicated to the memory of this great man. It was called "Whom loved all." And it really was true.

Memories of co-workers, friends and just those who were once around

Many liked his unusual irony and humor. Here there is a kind person, but there is, it turns out, and the edge of this feeling. And his kindness towards people was boundless, and even in humor it was especially felt.

As many actors recollect, it was a man of special talent. Known to all Vladimir Konkin, being still a boy, several times, he revised the pictures of his beloved idol. And Galina Polsky liked absolutely all the films where Leonid Fedorovich Bykov was shot. After all, looking through them, it was impossible not to notice behind these roles and pictures the personality of this person himself.

Raisa Nedashkovskaya in her memoirs mentions that Leonid Fedorovich Bykov was a very delicate person who had a fine sense of humor. This unique and rare ability to joke often attracts people in some incomprehensible magnetic way.

An anti-hero in the stories and kindest soul, the person behind the scenes

In art, of course, talent and ability are important, but more importantly, who exactly works next to you. And this person is remembered only as a deeply honest and decent actor. Leonid Fedorovich was an anti-hero in his films. That is, if you recall Sylvester Stallone, then immediately there is an image of a superman who breaks off the cliffs, constantly waging an all-consuming and endless war with mafia structures. And Leonid Bykov always played heroes shy and modest, often even unsuccessful.

And, despite the fact that he still had excellent sports training from the institute, was fond of playing football and volleyball, in his roles he looks like a kind of weak and unlucky overgrown boy. And yet, how much love and warm emotions are caused by his characters! Of course, no super hero can afford this.

Parents who helped to become a real person

If we talk about parents, it is impossible not to emphasize their special significance in the development of Leonid as a person. Dad, mom and sister very often came to Leonidas, when he was already at the institute. They constantly conducted interesting conversations with him about Stalin, about the Motherland and the people.

And the parents' point of view on art and life in general, had a huge impact on the actor. He was constantly worried about the fate of colleagues unfairly expelled from the theater. Negligent, and sometimes even criminal, attitude towards human lives and destinies on the part of our government. He perfectly saw and understood what was then in time. He could have made any role with talent, with a special spark and a little bit of a soul! But no! Then all lived only by order and by special permission, and at times even at the cost of servility. What the actor could not stand.

He wanted to talk to the audience about the topics that thrills him and not to lie in any way. But life was breaking and ruining all his ideals at every step.

Reason for moving from Kharkov

Why Leonid Bykov, whose biography was already full of significant roles in his life, decides to leave Kharkov? There are many reasons for this. But the brightest of them is the unplayed game in the film "Overcoat" by Gogol near Batalov himself.

He was already approved for this role, when the city administration cuts down the shooting due to some unforeseen production activities. And for Leonid Fedorovich this became a great blow. Especially when he was told that it was necessary to justify the ranks he had been given. All that happened looked like a creative murder of an actor and, of course, in the depths of my soul sat insult, which after a while and made him decide to move.

Internal experiences and long search for roles

After the filming of "Alyoshkin Love" Leonid Bykov, films with the participation of which are always full of special love and distinctive charisma, can not find a suitable role for a long time. For a whole year, he refused nine proposed scenarios. It was unusual for him to play false characters.

But he understood perfectly well that the theater plan must be fulfilled and sooner or later one will have to agree. And I wanted to find the essence! Some special role that will help to express yourself. It's not easy for actors who can not find themselves in their profession. When the filmmakers who shot them forget about them, as if they fall out of the frame temporarily.

Leonid Bykov also belonged to such personalities, whose biography is simply full of facts about emotional experiences, about disagreements with the social system, and the life of the cinema as a whole. But what could he do alone? Win your name, popularity and at the same time do not lose your inner self, do not squander the good and the good that is inherent in nature.

Such doubts and emotional experiences undoubtedly left a certain imprint on the subsequent roles of Leonid Bykov. So difficult and contradictory was for him the chosen path. It did not turn out to be easier for this person to treat all the conventions that existed at that time.

A complex and emotional period of life now as a director

It is impossible not to express regret that Leonid Bykov played so little, the filmography of which, nevertheless, has more than two dozen characters. A long enough period - more than five years - he did not appear in any film at all and during this period decided to start putting pictures himself. But the director's way was not as cloudless as he seemed. How much torment then experienced Leonid Bykov, a photo of which we can now see next to the famous and beloved films, where he acted as a director.

Of course, with any difficulties that fall on the share of each person, help to cope in the first place, close people. Parents, friends, family. Leonid Bykov's wife is Tamara Konstantinovna, in the girlhood of Kravchenko. He met her during his studies at the Kharkov Theater Institute. She also became an actress, but, unfortunately, not as famous as her husband.

The children of Leonid Bykov, the daughter of Maryan, who was born in 1951, and son Oles, born in 1953, were very beloved and dear to the actor. His family was for him the most reliable rear. Wherever he was: on tour, at a friendly party or on the set, - Leonid always very hurry home. It was there that he was the source of inspiration and new vitality.

Difficulties in promoting the script for a new film

How long he promoted the script "In the battle go alone, the old people!" He performed with him from the stage, it was in the form of a huge concert. "The audience burst into applause, the pilots cried." With this program, "the old people go alone" he performed in hundreds Military units, independently playing all the roles, and everywhere there was a stunning success. And the cinema did not manage to break through. But when Leonid Bykov, the filmography of which was finally replenished with the footage of "The Old Men Are Going to the Battle," communicated with colleagues, everyone was amazed at the number of talented actors who participated in the shootings, but he managed to collect exactly those actors, Who for a long time walked around the corridors of the theater with all the forgotten and unclaimed ones, it was with the help of these people that Leonid made the picture so unforgettable and interesting for viewing.

Assignment of the main prize to the long-awaited picture

I especially want to note another remarkable character trait, which Leonid Bykov possessed. The biography of the actor describes in sufficient detail the very event of receiving the main prize for the picture he shot. It happened in Baku at the festival, where Leonid Fedorovich could get the most important prize. But then Vasily Shukshin would not be awarded a single prize.

The fact is that in those days there was such practice. Long before the event of awarding prizes at the highest level, the grouting of the film, which did not like it for some reason, began. Workers of the Central Committee knew in advance who should be encouraged and whom to put in second place.

Of course, a lot of paintings participated in the competition, but Shukshin's film was overwhelmed. And it was quite a firm position. So they did not want to give the prize to Kalina Krasnaya, which even offered the Ukrainian delegation to do so that Leonid Bykov, whose photo was also among the contestants, in no way refused the main prize.

But Leonid Fedorovich's answer was obvious. According to him, the picture he shot was just an ordinary film about the war, and Vasily Makarovich created a masterpiece that was a breakthrough in the restricted area! In that sphere, which no one even thought of before him. And therefore, for those tears shed by the main hero of the film Shukshin, who did not have time to repent his mother, Vasily Makarovich simply had to get the main prize.

So Leonid Bykov films of this director and the bright talent of cinematography present in them valued above their own. He could sincerely and without envy rejoice and admire other people's achievements.

"Aty-bata were soldiers ..." and the subsequent illness from overwork

The shooting of this film took place in forty-degree frost, and Leonid Fedorovich, so absorbed in his work, often forgot about his own health. Constantly watching their actors, so that they do not catch cold, do not get sick, he was on the set in one tunic, then without a hat.

With red cheeks chilled in the cold, he did not spare himself, he continued to work with inspiration over the painting, giving his best in the chosen role, and as a director. These physical and emotional stresses, which he subjected his body to within a month and a half and very difficult conditions for life, all this led to a rather deplorable result. Back in Kiev, Leonid Fyodorovich was taken with a heart attack.

But, nevertheless, he coped with the disease and was even able to be present at the screening of the footage to a representative of the Central Committee, who, asleep throughout the whole picture, stood up and criticized her title dedicated to the child's trap. In response, Leonid Fedorovich did not say a word. He sat silently, clasping his head in his hands, full of emotions and unspoken emotions.

The last and unfinished film

Nobody expected that Leonid Bykov, whose biography is so unexpectedly cut off for all, will not even have time to finish work on his latest film. In one thousand nine hundred and seventy-eighth he begins shooting a picture called "The Stranger". At this time, many colleagues began to notice his special seriousness, even some sadness and fatigue.

But he continued to work as usual, not paying attention to his body. And so, the favorite of many TV viewers Leonid Bykov, an actor and director, who starred in a huge number of films: Maxim Perepelitsa, Tamer Tiger, Volunteers, On the Seven Winds, Zaychik and many others, died in a thousand Nine hundred and seventy-nine.

No more great actor

When Leonid Fedorovich was gone, a lot of gossip, gossip and rumors appeared, someone said that this was a murder, others assumed even suicide. And the reason for all this was a somewhat unusual letter, which he wrote and sent shortly before his own death to his friends Nikolai Mashchenko and Ivan Mikolaichuk.

In that letter, he painted his own funeral, as if anticipating a passing death. As if death was already so close that he could feel her presence, as something tangible. In this letter he asks to take care of the family, and also begs not to utter at his funeral any solemn, laudatory and insincere pompous speeches, so that there is no requiem, and instead of the orchestra performed his favorite and all very well-known song about the dark-skinned.

Of course, it was unusual to bury it. But how else, because the last desire was this. The death of Leonid Bykov for many was a surprise and an irreparable loss. Thousands of people wept at his funeral. And the hardest was the actors performing the song about the dark-skinned. The tears that ran down their cheeks and the restrained emotions did not stop him from completing, just as his beloved friend, colleague and director Bykov Leonid Fedorovich asked. And then came a great and grave silence!