Andrey Gromov Vanya from the film officers. What was the fate of Suvorov soldier Vanechka from the film “Officers”: why the young actor abandoned his film career

How did the fate of the boy Vanechka from movie "Officers".

Little Andrei Gromov got into cinema, like many young Soviet actors, purely by accident. He was in the second grade of an ordinary Moscow school when the assistants of director Ilya Frez came to their class, looking for a boy to play the main children's role in the film he had planned, "The Adventures of the Yellow Suitcase." They selected several people. Including Andrey. “Together with my mother, on the appointed day, we arrived at the Gorky Film Studio,” Andrei Gromov later recalled. “Everything there reminded me of a clinic. A huge line in which frightened parents and children were sitting. My turn came, I went into the office.
There are two directors at the table - the main one and the second one. I was asked to read something, but I was so frightened that I completely forgot all the serious poems and fables that I knew in great abundance at that time. The only thing that came to mind was the humorous “Robin-bobin-barabek, he ate forty people...”. The boy read the poem and was about to leave, but they stopped him and asked him to repeat: “Only so that we would be scared, and then so that it would be funny.”

A month later, a phone call rang in the Gromovs’ apartment: they were calling for a photo test. In another month - for screen tests. Another month passed when Gorky’s studio called Andrei’s parents and said: “The artistic council has approved your son for the main role in the film “The Adventures of the Yellow Suitcase.” This is how Gromov’s film career began. In the film, his partners were Tatyana Peltzer and Evgeny Lebedev. The adults helped in every possible way young talent, encouraged and made him laugh. The film had not yet been released, and Andrei was invited to the next film, this time in Odessa, where they filmed the short film “Valerka, Ramka + …” about two first-grader friends who fell in love with the same girl. Andrei He quickly became popular among his classmates, who were proud of and respected him.

But the 10-year-old boy became popularly known after " Officers". They approved the role of the boy without testing. Vladimir Rogovoy knew him from “The Adventures of the Yellow Suitcase” (he was the second director on the set of this film). " Officers" were filmed by order of the Ministry of Defense, so the director and actors had a special responsibility. Everyone had to play impeccably and authentically. The audience should not have had even a shadow of a doubt that Suvorov soldier Vanya Trofimov would grow into a real officer. Alina Pokrovskaya, who played him grandmother, later said that the boy followed all the director’s instructions exactly and was very disciplined. “At the end of the film there is an episode with a zoo - I am late for school and go to look at the hippopotamus,” Andrei Gromov recalled. - So, this episode was filmed separately. First they filmed the hippopotamus. And then they brought a heavy cast-iron grate, near which I and another ten to fifteen extras had to stand. The lattice was not reinforced in any way; visitors to the makeshift zoo held it up with their weight. They filmed the episode, turned off the camera, the actors move away from the bars, and... This huge thing begins to fall on me. Well, I managed to jump back at the last moment, otherwise I would have had to rewrite the script."

The film was a great audience success. And Andrei and his parents were faced with a question: will the boy continue his acting career or will he begin to study normally? After all, while Andrei was starring in three films, he practically neglected his studies. He, of course, was transferred from class to class, but there was no question of any serious knowledge during constant expeditions to filming. And Andrei chose to study. When he was in ninth grade, he was offered the role of a prince in the film “The Princess and the Pea,” starring Alisa Freindlich, Innokenty Smoktunovsky, Vladimir Zeldin, Igor Kvasha, and Alexander Kalyagin, but Andrei refused.

After graduating from school, he entered MGIMO and later defended his dissertation in economics. In the mid-2000s, he served as senior adviser at the Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the UN in New York. Having completed his work there, he returned to Moscow. His wife Tatyana is a doctor, his son, also Andrei, followed in his father’s footsteps - he studies English and Norwegian at MGIMO, and is interested in economics. Vladislav’s daughter is still in school. Andrei Yuryevich said that his wife did not immediately find out that her husband had once acted in films. And in no way did she associate him with the boy Vanya from the legendary “Officers”. Therefore, when her husband finally admitted to his acting past, it turned out to be a big surprise for Tatyana.

Officers (1971)

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“There is such a profession - to defend the Motherland,” this phrase of Marshal Grechko became a catchphrase after its release in 1971. film "Officers", filmed on his initiative. Much has been written about the difficult fates of the actors who played the main roles, but the story deserves no less attention Andrey Gromov who played the boy Vanya. Despite several successful film works, in the future he did not connect his life with cinema and reached heights in a completely different field of activity.

“There is such a profession - to defend the Motherland,” this phrase of Marshal Grechko became a catchphrase after the release of the film “Officers” in 1971, filmed on his initiative. Much has been written about the difficult fates of the actors who played the main roles, but the story of Andrei Gromov, who played the boy Vanechka, deserves no less attention. Despite several successful film works, in the future he did not connect his life with cinema and reached heights in a completely different field of activity.

Young actor in the film *Yellow Suitcase*, 1970

Like many child actors, Andrei Gromov got into cinema quite by accident. He was a second-grader when assistant directors came to their school to select several people to star in the film “The Yellow Suitcase.” The candidates were shown to director Ilya Frez. The boys were asked to read a poem or a fable, but out of fear, Andrei forgot everything he had prepared. I only remembered “Robin-bobin-barabek, he ate forty people...”. He was asked to read it so that it was first scary and then funny. And he coped with the task. Although there is a legend that what made the boy an artist was... his protruding ears. This is how Andrey got his first role.

Andrei Gromov in the film *Yellow Suitcase*, 1970

In “The Yellow Suitcase,” his partners on the set were the venerable actors Tatyana Peltzer and Evgeny Lebedev. The boy was very surprised that they behaved like children: in the story, they climbed over fences and rode on the roof of a trolleybus. In addition, they constantly made him laugh and encouraged the young actor so that he felt relaxed. Gromov was a success in this role, and when the film had not yet been released, he was already invited to the next film - the short film “Valerka, Remka +”.

Andrei Gromov in the film *Valerka, Remka+*, 1970

Still from the film *Valerka, Remka+*, 1970

But real popularity came to him after filming the film “Officers”. The 10-year-old actor was approved without auditioning - director Vladimir Rogovoy had seen his previous works. The boy looked so natural in the image of Suvorov soldier Vanya Trofimov that there were even rumors that the role was written specifically for Andrei Gromov. But in fact, this character was also in the story by Boris Vasiliev, based on which the script was created, long before filming began and the actors were approved.

The director had a great responsibility - in addition to the fact that this was his debut work, the film was shot by order of the Ministry of Defense. Therefore, Rogovoy had no right to miss the choice of actors. The audience had to believe from the first second that Vanechka would grow into a real officer. And there were no problems here - the boy diligently completed all the tasks assigned to him.

Andrei Gromov in the film *Officers*, 1971

This was Andrei Gromov's finest hour. Everyone at school was proud of and respected him. But while he was missing on set, he missed a lot of classes and fell far behind. He was faced with a choice - either study or an acting career. And he chose to study. When he was in the ninth grade, he was again invited to film - this time he was offered the role of a prince in the film “The Princess and the Pea,” where famous actors Innokenty Smoktunovsky, Vladimir Zeldin, Alisa Freundlich, Alexander Kalyagin, Igor Kvasha played. Despite the rare opportunity to work with such a stellar cast, Andrei Gromov refused and continued his studies at school.

Young actor in the film *Officers*, 1971

Still from the film *Officers*, 1971

One of his classmates later said that Andrei’s decision was influenced by a conversation he once heard between Lanovoy and Yumatov: the actors discussed the vicissitudes of their profession, admitting that roles are often given by chance, and not as a result of effort or talent. Since childhood, Gromov had a strong-willed and independent character, and he did not want to put up with this state of affairs.

Andrei Gromov in the film *Officers*, 1971

Still from the film *Officers*, 1971

His serious attitude to his studies bore fruit: after graduating from school, Andrei entered MGIMO, and later defended his dissertation in economics. In the mid-2000s. He served as senior adviser at the Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the UN in New York, then returned to Moscow. The diplomatic career of A. Yu. Gromov is still very successful today. His wife found out about the international economist’s acting background only two years after they met and was very surprised. The whole family sometimes watches films with the participation of the young actor Andrei Gromov.

Andrei Yurievich Gromov at the present time and in his most famous film work

Suvorovets Vanechka developed a commanding voice and immediately left the cinema

According to legend, it was his protruding ears that made Andryusha an artist. It was they who inspired the director of the film “The Adventures of the Yellow Suitcase.” Whether this is true or not, we are unlikely to know for certain - the more important thing is the fact that out of a dozen competitors, Andrei was chosen for the role.

In “Suitcase” his partners were Tatyana Peltzer and Evgeny Lebedev. The boy later told his friends that these already worldly artists behaved frivolously on the set, and sometimes frolicked like children, fortunately the plot allowed: either this couple was riding on the roof of a trolleybus, or storming the tall fence of Domodedovo Airport.

By the way, the Il-18 plane, which the young heroes of the film are running after, was not written off for scrap metal at the end of its service life, but was placed on a pedestal in Vologda. The film had not yet been released, and Andrei was invited to the next film, this time in Odessa, where they filmed the short film “Valerka, Ramka +” about two first-grader friends who fell in love with the same girl...

“Of course, everything did not happen suddenly and not all at once,” recalls Andrei Yuryevich, now an international economist. — First, assistant directors came to our school (I was in second grade) and selected several people. Together with my mother, on the appointed day, we arrived at the Gorky Film Studio...

Everything there reminded me of a clinic. A huge line filled with frightened parents and children. My turn came, I went into the office. There are two directors at the table - the main one and the second one. I was asked to read something, but I was so frightened that I completely forgot all the serious poems and fables that I knew in great abundance at that time. The only joke that came to mind was “Robin-bobin-barabek, he ate forty people...”.

Oddly enough, the uncles did not laugh, but listened attentively. When Andryusha, sighing with relief, rushed to the door, his uncles asked him to read the poem again. “Only so that we become scared.” Then - so that they find it funny.

They liked the boy. But only a month later, a phone call rang in the Gromovs’ apartment: they were calling for photo tests. In another month - for screen tests.

“I didn’t even look forward to when I would finally act in a movie.” Until about a month later they called from the studio: “the artistic council has approved your son for the main role in the film “The Adventures of the Yellow Suitcase.”

Filming took place in Moscow and Tallinn. What a holiday it was for Andrey! Only one thing worried the conscientious pioneer - he had to skip lessons. Weeks, or even months, passed on the set. The film studio hired a private tutor for the child actors - but what kind of training was there...

At that time, serious state commissions fought with the filmmakers, monitoring whether the labor of Soviet children was being exploited in the afternoon. But... Often during filming, the camera suddenly turned off, and the children were taken in a crowd to a nearby pavilion, equipped as a circus, supposedly on an excursion to the animals. An hour later they brought us back to filming. All this conspiracy is precisely because of the inspectors.

But when the film came out, Andrei’s classmates and neighbors began to respect him greatly. Even the class teacher Lidiya Vasilievna stopped calling him Figaro (“you’re always not in class, Figaro here, Figaro there”).

The next serious work was the television film “Valerka, Ramka +” of the Odessa Film Studio, where Andrei played Valerka. It was a children's film about a love triangle - two friends fell in love with the same girl.

But the boy’s finest hour was “Officers” (How the film was made). Another persistent myth is that the role of Vanya Trofimov was written specifically for Andrei. Alas, alas! Among the characters in the story of the same name by Boris Vasilyev, on which the film is based, there is a Suvorov veteran grandson who develops a “command voice.” And when the writer was reworking the story into a script, he had no idea about the existence of a young talent named Andrei Gromov.

But it’s true that he was approved for the role without any tests. Vladimir Rogovoy knew him from “The Adventures of the Yellow Suitcase,” where he was the second director. He was the first to pay attention to Andrey at the preview.

For Rogovoy, “Officers” was his directorial debut; he had no right to miss the cast, even if it was just about a boy: the film was shot by order of the Ministry of Defense.

And the legendary phrase “There is such a profession - to defend the Motherland” belonged to the then minister, Marshal Grechko. Looking at Suvorov soldier Trofimov, no one should have had even a shadow of doubt that he would grow into a real man. This is the responsibility that lay with ten-year-old Andryusha.

Alina Pokrovskaya, who played his grandmother, told us that he followed all the director’s instructions exactly and was very disciplined: all pranks were played only outside the set.

— At the end of the film there is an episode with a zoo - I am late for school and go to look at the hippopotamus. So, this episode was filmed separately. First they filmed the hippopotamus. And then they brought a heavy cast-iron grate, near which I and another ten to fifteen extras had to stand. The lattice was not reinforced with anything; it was held up by the “zoo visitors” with their weight...

They filmed the episode, turned off the camera, the actors moved away from the bars, and...

This huge thing begins to fall on me. Well, I managed to jump back at the last moment, otherwise I would have had to rewrite the script,” Andrei Yuryevich laughs.

After “Officers,” Andrei again faced the question - either acting or studying. It turned out to be impossible to combine these two activities. And the young actor, who was already known throughout the country and who was offered very interesting roles, chose to study. In addition, he really assessed his capabilities and realized that cinema was not his calling after all.

After school, Andrei entered MGIMO. He became neither a military man nor an actor - he chose diplomacy. There, a command voice can also sometimes come in handy. Having found some difficulty in finding one of his school friends, we asked why the boy, whom the whole country knew, did not become an actor.

It turned out that one day Andrei accidentally overheard Lanovoy and Yumatov discussing the vicissitudes of their profession. And Andrei has always been distinguished by his independent character: he could not come to terms with the fact that each subsequent role was given more often by chance than as a result of his own efforts.

Although fate still gave him a chance to return to cinema: in the ninth grade he was offered the role of a prince. Boris Rymarev was then filming “The Princess and the Pea,” in which Alisa Freindlich, Innokenty Smoktunovsky, Vladimir Zeldin, Igor Kvasha, and Alexander Kalyagin were involved! But the boy Gromov refused. But he entered MGIMO and later defended his dissertation in economics.

In the mid-2000s, he served as senior adviser at the Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the UN in New York. The representative office confirmed: “Andrey Gromov completed his business trip in New York and returned to Russia several years ago. Unfortunately, we know nothing about his further fate.”

Today Andrey Yuryevich is an international economist, candidate of economic sciences. He is satisfied with his diplomatic work.

His son Andrei, who grew up watching his father’s films, is almost 20 years old. He, like his dad, has been mastering foreign languages ​​since childhood - he studies English and Norwegian, is interested in economics, and his youngest, Vlada, is now a schoolgirl.

She is the main favorite in the family. And all the family comfort is created by his beloved wife Tatyana, who only two years after meeting her future husband learned about his acting past. Tanya is a doctor by training.

And the cassette with “The Yellow Suitcase”, with which Andrei Yuryevich’s film career began, lies in a prominent place in the Gromovs’ apartment - as a reminder of that other, wonderful world of cinema...

More than fifty years have passed since Soviet audiences were able to enjoy Vladimir Rogovoy’s film “Officers”. The film was shot on the initiative of the USSR Minister of Defense of that time, Andrei Grechko, who...

More than fifty years have passed since Soviet audiences were able to enjoy Vladimir Rogovoy’s film “Officers”. The film was shot on the initiative of the USSR Minister of Defense of that time, Andrei Grechko, when he uttered the words “There is such a profession - to defend the Motherland!”

A lot has been said and written about the actors who played the main roles; their lives and creative careers are known to everyone. But little is known about the little boy who talentedly and charismatically played the role of Vanya Trofimov, the grandson of the Trofimov couple. What happened to the boy? What is the future fate of the aspiring actor Andrei Gromov?

Nothing foreshadowed that young Andrei Gromov would become an actor and act in films. Just like other little actors of the Soviet Union, Andrei found himself under the camera's gun involuntarily. A 2nd grade student in the simplest school in Moscow had no idea that the people who entered the class would choose several classmates and him to audition for a role in a children's film. Director Ilya Freza’s assistants were looking for a boy who would become the hero of the planned film “The Adventures of the Yellow Suitcase.” But the screen tests, which took place at the film studio named after. Gorky Andrei arrived with his mother. Andrey’s memories of these tests remain very ambiguous. Everything in the studio reminded him of a children's hospital: a large queue consisting of frightened parents and their children. When it was Andrei’s turn to go, he appeared before two directors (the main and the second). And despite the fact that the boy knew many poems and fables, at that moment he was so embarrassed that he could not say a word. All he could do was recite the humorous verses “Robin-bobin-barabek, ate forty people...”, recited it and turned around to leave. However, he was detained and asked to read the same thing again: “Only so that we become scared, and then so that it is funny.”

One month later, Gromov’s parents received a call and said that they were waiting for their son for a photo test. And after a month, screen tests took place. Another month passed and Andrei’s parents were informed that Andrei had been approved for the main role in the children’s film “The Adventures of the Yellow Suitcase.” This film marked the start of the career of actor Andrei Gromov. Together with Andrey, such famous actors as Tatyana Peltzer and Evgeny Lebedev were involved in this film. Celebrities supported the young talent in every possible way, encouraged and amused him.

It’s amazing that the film has not yet been released, and Andrei has already been invited to star in another film. The short film “Valerka, Remka + ...” was filmed in Odessa, and Andrei was invited to play the role of one of the main characters. According to the plot of the film, two classmates were in love with the same girl. A little time passed, and Andrei began to be popular among his peers, who felt respect for him and were proud to know him.

The film “Officers” brought real fame to ten-year-old Andrei. He was appointed to the main role without any tests. The second director of the film “The Adventures of the Yellow Suitcase”, Vladimir Rogovoy, this time was the director of the film “Officers”. He knew the boy very well and chose him to star in his film. The Ministry of Defense initiated the creation of the film “Officers,” so the requirements for the director and actors were very high. Everything, without exception, had to be flawless and precise. Anyone who watched the film should have had no doubt that the Suvorov slob Ivan Trofimov would become a real officer in the future. Later, Alina Pokrovskaya, who played the role of Ivan’s Grandmother, recalled that Andrei very diligently followed the director’s instructions and always maintained discipline on the set. An interesting fact: a tragedy could have happened on the set if it weren’t for Andrey’s quickness. When they were filming a scene in the zoo, where Andrei’s character ran to see a hippopotamus, despite the fact that he was late for school, it was decided to film it in parts. First they removed the hippopotamus, and later they delivered a huge heavy cast iron grate, and it was there that our hero and about 10-15 other people from the crowd stood and watched the hippopotamus. This lattice was not secured anywhere; it was held in place by the guests of the makeshift zoo with their own weight. And as soon as the words “Cut” were heard, everyone moved away from the bars and... She begins to fall on Andrey, and if not for his quick reaction and jump to the side, the tragedy would not have been avoided.

The film was a resounding success. And sooner or later, Andrei’s parents, and even he himself, had to face the question: whether or not to continue his acting career or devote himself to study? Since participating in the filming of three films, he could not help but neglect his studies. As a popular boy and out of respect for his success in films, his teachers helped him move up to the next grade. However, with the boy’s almost constant absence from school due to filming, any good knowledge was out of the question. And Andrei himself makes a decision and chooses to study. Already studying in the 9th grade, he received an offer to star in the film “The Princess and the Pea”, where his partners would be Alisa Freindlikh, Innokenty Smoktunovsky, Vladimir Zeldin, Igor Kvasha, Alexander Kalyagin. But Andrey rejected him.

After graduating from school, the young man decides to enter MGIMO, successfully passed the exams, then wrote and defended a dissertation on economics. In the 2000s, he worked in New York, holding the position of senior adviser to the Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the UN. Later he returns to Moscow. Andrey’s wife is a doctor by training, but his son decided to enroll in MGIMO, like his father; in addition, he studies several foreign languages ​​and is interested in economic sciences. The daughter is a schoolgirl. Funny but true. For a long time, Andrei’s wife did not know about her husband’s childhood film career, and certainly did not suspect that he played Vanya Trofimov in the famous film. Of course, over time, Andrei told his wife everything about his childhood successes, which came as a complete surprise to her. Currently, the Gromov couple periodically enjoy watching films with the participation of the head of the family, Andrei Gromov.