V.M. Shukshin 1. Pluzhnikova S.N. Preface to the book for reading " Chistye Prudy" M., 1983.2. Kuzmuk V.A. The originality of the heroes of Vasily Shukshin's stories. Bulletin of Moscow State University. 1978. No. 2.3. Kuznetsov F. Sixties. M.,

Bandakov Vasily Anastasevich, father Vasily (1807–1890) Archpriest, rector of the Archangel Michael Church in Taganrog, spiritual mentor of the Chekhov family. The book by V. A. Bandakov “Simple and Brief Teachings” includes “Teaching on the occasion of the All-Night Vigil celebrated

Vasily Shukshin and Lydia Fedoseeva Vasily and Lydia, or Love under the red viburnum For the first time, Shukshin fell in love at the age of 15. His chosen one was his fellow countrywoman from the village of Srostki, Altai Territory, 14-year-old Masha Shumskaya. He then studied at the motor transport technical school in Biysk,

Lidiya Fedoseeva – Shukshina for a long time did not give interviews. She still remains silent about the death of her husband, actor and writer Vasily Shukshin. The death of the artist on the set of Bondarchuk's film "They Fought for the Motherland" is shrouded in mystery. Rumors spread about his violent death. The official diagnosis - heart failure - only aggravated the suspicions. Many gossiped that Shukshin died from drunkenness. So many questions remain from that disaster. Even eyewitnesses, such as the actor, Shukshin’s friend Burkov, took some secrets of Shukshin’s death to the grave. Burkov refused to death any public stories about the last day of Shukshin’s life and, if he was forced to appear at the next “wake,” he would get drunk and not come...

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After a long silence, actress Lidiya Shukshina gave an interview to a correspondent of the newspaper "World of News".

- But I heard that you allegedly went to a monastery from the bustle of the world. This is wrong. Yes, indeed, I became closer to God and visiting monasteries, communicating with true believing Orthodox Christians, finding a confessor, Archimandrite of the St. Nicholas Shatom Monastery, Father Nikon, turned my life upside down. I don’t want to act in empty TV shows anymore, although various “Dominoes” and “Washes” constantly call me there, I don’t want to engage in verbiage.

Only extraordinary, amazing husbands, friends, and colleagues have always been present in your life. You were lucky to have bright men. - Thank you, I can’t disagree with this: I was really lucky with those with whom I was happy. All my husbands are smart, talented, interesting. But do you know what the secret is? The fact is that they all loved Vasily Shukshin and were obsessed with his talent. You can't fool me. I immediately feel whether a person sincerely treats Shukshin or is just playing along with me. In general, I have a strong instinct, and Vasily Makarovich often said: “Well, what does your intuition feel?” - Shukshin also connected you with Bari Alibasov?- It all started with Shukshin. But don't believe the gossip, Bari was not my husband. good friend, Yes! We still have excellent relations.

- Probably, a sore subject for you is the drinking Shukshin. They say that he died from alcohol.

As for death, that’s a special conversation. As for alcohol, what happened was what happened. But he didn’t drink at all in front of me for seven years. About this issue, about two years ago, I quarreled with Nonna Mordyukova, in whose book “Don’t Cry, Cossack Girl,” one of the chapters begins like this: “Shukshin died from vodka.” After reading this, I was choked with lies. And so, finding myself in the company of Irina Skobtseva, Inna Makarova and Nonna Mordyukova, I said in front of everyone that I was offended by Nonna Viktorovna’s slander against Vasya.

Mordyukova looked at me: “Oh, you plebeian... Have you read the book?! I wrote it myself, and there’s nothing like that in it.” I ran home, in a frenzy I found a book on the shelf and called Mordyukova... The next morning the call: “Lida, I’m on my knees, I’m sorry... I’m sobbing,” he says, “and I’m crying that I insulted you. But yesterday you behaved heroically, if They told me that, I would have launched a samovar.”

- Did you ever have to beat Vasily Makarovich with your fists?- I? With fists? Come on! Could not.

- Did he raise his hand?- Once. Only one. But quite strongly, so that I fainted.

- Whose fault was it that the quarrel arose? Surely he was drunk?- Probably, I was more to blame: I didn’t like something, and I flew at him like a kite. The children were small and don’t remember how I sprawled on the floor. And Vasya didn’t remember anything afterwards, that’s what he said.

- How did you manage to survive the first years after breaking up with your husband?- For me, of course, this departure was tragic. That's when I really thought about a monastery. True, I only recently understood the true reason for this: I was drawn to the monastery because I wanted to get away from people...

World of News correspondent Felix Medvedev, of course, did not dare to ask Shukshina about her husband’s death. It is clear that this crown is sore for her. However, he told how he once asked this question to Sergei Bondarchuk during a chance meeting in Washington. Bondarchuk hinted that Shukshin may have been poisoned. After all, before filming, he was examined at the Kremlin hospital, but nothing wrong was found.

Someone spread a rumor that on that fateful evening a “heart attack” gas was released into the cabin where Shukshin lived, leaving no trace of a person’s actual death. According to hints from the current press, a sufficient number of unfit persons have already been disposed of in this way from gas and poisoning.

Shukshina spoke about one mystical conversation with her husband, when they, walking through the Novodevichy cemetery, were looking for the grave of Yesenin, whom Shukshin loved very much. They did not know then that Yesenin’s grave was located on Vagankovsky.

“We were leaving the cemetery,” says Shukshina, “Vasya is silent. And suddenly he spoke dully, humbly: “What happens to me, they won’t bury me here.” And I blurted out without any second thoughts: “No, Vasya, I will bury.” And he: “Well, look.” How such terrible prophetic words came out of me, I don’t know. Apparently, the Lord needed to put them in my mouth. And his grave is located in the alley with the classic writers.”

VGIK teachers were afraid to take him. He was a lover of truth, he did not understand at all what could be said and what could not be said. The teachers were afraid that he would upset everyone and they would be kicked out of work because of him. But Mikhail Romm believed in him...

Vasily Shukshin was born on July 25, 1929 in the village of Srostki, Biysk District, Altai Territory, into a peasant family. His parents were natives of the same area and, by social status, were considered individual peasants, or middle peasants. When complete collectivization began in 1930, they were forced to join the collective farm. The head of the family, Makar Leontyevich Shukshin, began working as a machine operator on threshing machines, and enjoyed well-deserved respect in the village. However, this did not save him from repression in the future: in 1933, Makar Leontievich was arrested.

Left with two small children in her arms, 22-year-old Maria Sergeevna Shukshina fell into despair. There is evidence that at that moment she wanted to poison herself and her children, just not to see what was happening around her. But this despair did not last long. Then came the sober realization that we had to live, if not for ourselves, then at least for the sake of our children. And soon Maria Sergeevna remarried, to fellow villager Pavel Kuksin.

However, this marriage was short-lived - in 1942, Kuksin died at the front.

According to the recollections of eyewitnesses, Shukshin grew up as a withdrawn boy, as they say, “on his own mind.” When communicating with his peers, he behaved strictly and demanded that they call him not Vasya, but Vasily. They, naturally, did not understand such requests and often mocked their comrade. In such cases, Shukshin acted in accordance with his character - he ran away into the channels of the Katun and hid on its islands for several days.

In 1944, Shukshin graduated from seven classes of the Srostkinsky school and entered the automotive technical school in the city of Biysk (35 km from Srostok). But he never managed to finish it - in order to feed his family, he had to quit his studies and get a job.

Shukshin’s first place of work was the Soyuzprommekhanizatsiya trust, which belonged to the Moscow office. Having settled there in 1947 as a rigger, Shukshin was soon sent first to a turbine plant in Kaluga, then to a tractor plant in Vladimir.

In April 1949 there followed new shift workplace - this time he was sent to the construction of a power plant at the Shcherbinka station of the Moscow-Kursk railway. He worked there for several months, after which he ended up working on the construction of a railway bridge at the Golitsyn station. It was there (in October) that a summons from the military registration and enlistment office found him to be called up for active military service.

After graduating from training as a radio operator, Shukshin in 1950 ended up in one of the units of the Black Sea Fleet, stationed in Sevastopol.

However, Shukshin failed to serve “from call to call” - in 1953 he was diagnosed with a stomach ulcer. According to Shukshin himself, he felt ill right on deck. He was wracked by such hellish pain that he almost lost consciousness. Seeing this, the doctor ordered several sailors to urgently take him to shore. And at that time a storm broke out at sea. But there was no other way out, and Shukshin was put in a boat. Later, V. Shukshin recalled it this way: “Just like that, you go up, and then you fall down. And in pain, you shouted right in response to the scream: “Guys, guys, get me there!” I’m ashamed, I’m crying, but I can’t, I’m screaming. And they They're rowing. They don't look at me, they're rowing. They got there."

Soon, the medical commission of the Main Military Hospital of the Black Sea Fleet dismissed Shukshin.

Returning to his native Srostki, Shukshin passed the exams as an external student and went to work at a school for rural youth as a teacher of grades 5-7 (taught Russian language and literature) and at the same time a director. However, he did not teach for long. He entered the automotive technical school, but soon realized that this was not his path either - pistons and cylinders drove him into depression. He experienced the same feelings when he got a job as an instructor at the district party committee. And then Shukshin decides to go to Moscow and enter the screenwriting department of VGIK. The mother did not interfere with her son’s desire; moreover, she did everything she could - she sold the cow and gave the proceeds to her son. So in the summer of 1954 Shukshin ended up in Moscow. He was dressed in a paramilitary suit, a tunic, from under which a vest was visible, and had bell-bottomed trousers and boots on his feet.

Arriving at the screenwriting department of VGIK, Shukshin presented his stories to the examiners, which were written down in a thick barn notebook. Since Shukshin’s handwriting was very small and the notebook was very thick, the girls on the admissions committee were too lazy to read what was written, deciding to themselves that this applicant was a typical graphomaniac. However, in order not to offend him, they decided to advise: “You have a textured appearance, go to acting.” Here’s what Shukshin’s former classmate, film director A. Mitta, said: “Here Shukshin learned from the students that there was also a directing department. But he had no idea that there was such a profession - director. I thought that to produce a film, artists gather and agree among themselves how to shoot. It turned out that the director is the owner of the picture, main man. Then he applied to direct.

VGIK teachers were afraid to take him. He was a lover of truth, he did not understand at all what could be said and what could not be said. The teachers were afraid that he would upset everyone and they would be kicked out of work because of him. But Mikhail Romm believed in him...

During the exam, Romm says to him: “Well, tell me how Pierre Bezukhov felt in the Battle of Borodino.” Shukshin replies: “I haven’t read it. It’s a very thick book, I can’t get my hands around it.” Romm frowned: “Don’t you read thick books at all?” Shukshin says: “No, I read one. Martin Eden. I really liked it.” Romm said: “What kind of school director are you, you are an uncultured person. No, you cannot be a director.” And then suddenly Shukshin began shouting at him: “Do you know what a school director is? First, knock out the chairman’s firewood for the winter, then take it out and chop it up so that the kids don’t freeze. Get textbooks, fix the desks, get kerosene, house the teachers. And a car with a tail on four hooves, and you can’t beg for one on a collective farm. Where you walk, where you run, the mud is in... Where can you read books here!” The VGIK grandmothers were happy - he was rude to Romma, now they will kick him out. And Romm said: “Only very talented person may have such unconventional views. I give him an A."

Having entered VGIK, Shukshin settled in the institute’s dormitory on Trifonovskaya Street. In 1955 he joined the ranks of the CPSU. In December of the same year, due to an exacerbation of a stomach ulcer, Shukshin was admitted to the Ostroumovskaya hospital.

In 1956, Shukshin made his film debut: in the film by S. Gerasimov " Quiet Don"(Second episode) he played in a tiny episode - he portrayed a sailor peeking out from behind a fence. With this sailor, the cinematic fate of Shukshin the actor began.

In summer next year Shukshin found himself in practice in Odessa and quite suddenly received an invitation from director Marlen Khutsiev to play the main role in his film “Two Fedoras”.

The film “Two Fedoras” was released across the country in 1959, and its premiere took place in the capital’s House of Cinema on Vorovskogo Street. Moreover, Shukshin almost missed this solemn event. The day before he drank too much and caused a scandal in public place, and he was detained by the police. When Khutsiev found out about this, he immediately rushed to help Shukshin. He arrived at the police station and met with its chief. The conversation was long, and the law enforcement officer did not want to meet the director halfway for a long time. Moreover, his arguments were quite convincing. “We are all equal before the law!” he said. “And it is even more unacceptable for an artist to behave in such a way!”

And yet Khutsiev managed to persuade the policeman. Apparently, the decisive factor was that Khutsiev invited the head of the department to the premiere of the film and promised to arrange for him best places in the hall. This is how the premiere of this film took place. It turned out to be very successful, and Shukshin the actor was noticed.

In parallel with the successes in cinema, the literary fate Shukshina. From his third year, on Romm’s advice, he began sending out his stories to all the capital’s editorial offices in the hope that one of them would pay attention to his works. And he was not mistaken. In 1958, his story “Two on a Cart” was published in issue 15 of the Smena magazine. However, this publication went unnoticed by either critics or readers, and the dejected Shukshin temporarily stopped sending his works to editors.

Shukshin’s diploma work at VGIK, the short film “They report from Lebyazhye” (1961), also went unnoticed. The film told about one everyday working day of a rural district party committee during the hot period of the summer harvest. After watching it, many of Shukshin’s colleagues considered the film outdated, and to some extent even boring.

Meanwhile actor career Shukshina's work in those years was much more successful than the director's work. After the film “Two Fyodors”, invitations to act in films rained down on him from all sides. In just a short period, Shukshin starred in a number of films: “Golden Echelon” (1959), “A Simple Story” (1960), “When the Trees Were Big”, “Alenka”, “Mishka, Seryoga and Me” (all 1962) , “We Two Men” (1963), etc.

In the early 60s, one after another began to be published and literary works Shukshina. The chronology of these publications is as follows: the stories “Truth”, “Bright Souls”, “Stepkin’s Love” were published in the magazine “October” - in © 3 for 1961; "Exam" - in © 1 for 1962; “Crankshafts” and “Lelya Selezneva from the Faculty of Journalism” - in © 5 for the same year.

In 1963, the publishing house "Young Guard" published V. Shukshin's first collection entitled "Rural Residents." The same year in the magazine " New world"(© 2) two of his stories were published: “Cool Driver” and “Grinka Malyugin” (the cycle “They are from Katun”). Based on these stories, Shukshin soon wrote the script for his first full-length film"There lives such a guy." Filming began in the summer of that year in Altai.

For the main role - the driver Pasha Kolokolnikov - Shukshin invited his classmate from studying at VGIK Leonid Kuravlev, whom he had already filmed once in his diploma work"They report from Lebyazhye." He invited a number of other roles famous actors, some of whom agreed to work with the debut director, some did not.

The film “There Lives a Guy Like This” was released on screens across the country in 1964 and received enthusiastic responses from the public. Although Shukshin himself was not too happy with his fate at the box office. The fact is that for some reason the film was classified as a comedy and, having been sent to the Venice International Film Festival that same year, it was entered into the competition for children's and youth films. And although the picture was awarded Grand Prize Shukshin was not satisfied with this turn of events. He even had to appear on the pages of the magazine “Iskusstvo Kino” (© 9) with his own explanation of the film. This is what he said: “I understand comedy very seriously. May God grant us more of them from the masters of this business. But in comedy, as I understand it, someone has to be funny. The hero is first of all... The hero of our film is not funny ".

In those same years, significant changes took place in Shukshin’s personal life. In 1963, many gossiped about his affair with the famous poetess Bella Akhmadulina, whom he even starred in his first film, “There Lives Such a Guy” (she played a journalist). However, after a few months, their romance ended happily, and fate brought Shukshin together with another woman - Victoria Sofronova. She was 33 years old at that time, she was divorced and worked as an editor at the Moscow magazine. This is what she remembers about those days: “Once I read in the New World a series of stories “They are from Katun.” Author Shukshin. I liked it. Later I found out that in Central house There will be a discussion among writers about his new story, and I went there with my friends.

Frankly, that story by Shukshin was weak. She was criticized. And me too. When everyone began to leave, I felt that... my legs were not moving. I felt sorry for Shukshin. I approached him, began to console him, and reminded him of his other successful works.

Then I went with friends to a cafe. We booked a table, and suddenly Shukshin comes there. With Bella Akhmadulina. Their romance was ending then, and it was their farewell evening. Andrei Tarkovsky and his wife were also with them. By chance or not, we ended up face to face with Shukshin at the tables. And all evening they looked into each other's eyes. Although, in general, such courage is unusual for me.

Then he found me. I had just divorced my husband and had no children...

We lived together, but Vasya was often on the road, filming. When he came, his friends came to us: cameraman Sasha Sarantsev, Vasya Belov. We all argued. My mother and I defended the Soviet regime, and Vasya scolded us. His father was repressed. And he was generally very different from everyone else. For example, he had an icon in his closet.

I loved Shukshin very much. And he was jealous. Once I even got into a fight with Sarantsev because he kissed me when saying goodbye.

One day he called me to his homeland, to Srostki. Vasily’s mother and sister seemed strict to me, but good. As long as Shukshin and I were together, they maintained a relationship with me. Then something happened to Vasya, he lost interest. I realized that we would soon part ways. Told him about it. And soon she became pregnant..."

Apparently, the first serious crack in their relationship occurred in the summer of 1964, when Shukshin went to Sudak to film the film “What is it like, the sea?” (director E. Bocharov). And there fate brought him together with 26-year-old film actress Lydia Fedoseeva.

L. Fedoseeva came to the capital from Leningrad and in 1957 entered VGIK. Then she started acting. In 1959, the film “Peers” was released on the screens of the country, in which Fedoseeva played one of the main roles - student Tanya.

In the same year, during the filming of another film in Kiev, she met the actor of the Dovzhenko film studio Vyacheslav Voronin (starred in the films: “First Echelon”, “Ivanna”, “Kochubey”, “Dream”, etc.) and in 1960 gave birth from him a girl named Nastya. However, the birth of a child had a negative impact on her studies at VGIK - soon Fedoseeva was expelled from the institute for systematic absences from classes. Her young husband had to bow to the dean of the acting department of VGIK. This campaign ended in success - Fedoseeva was reinstated at the institute and enrolled in the workshop of S. Gerasimov and T. Makarova.

Meanwhile, Fedoseeva’s return to the capital played a role in the young family cruel joke. Since Voronin continued to live in Kyiv, and Fedoseeva in Moscow (while their daughter lived with her grandmother in Leningrad), they saw each other extremely rarely and eventually became unaccustomed to each other. Therefore, by 1964, when Fedoseeva graduated from VGIK and left to star in the film “What is it like, the sea?”, her marriage to Voronin managed to turn into a pure formality.

When Fedoseeva found out that her filming partner would be Shukshin (he was supposed to play the role of a former criminal, sailor Zhorka), she was upset. There had been talk about this man's drunken sprees for a long time in the cinematic environment, so the actress did not expect anything good from meeting him. There was even a moment when she asked the director to find a replacement for Shukshin before it was too late, otherwise they would all screw him up. But the director assured her that everything would be fine.

The first meeting between Shukshin and Fedoseeva took place on a train on the way to Sudak. She was traveling in the same compartment with her daughter Nastya and the cameramen of the film. Shukshin came to visit them, and he did not come empty-handed - he brought a bottle of wine with him.

L. Fedoseeva recalls: “I slowly watched Shukshin: his eyes were green - cheerful, mischievous and hooligan. The company turned out to be extremely pleasant, and I began to sing. And I sang, “Red Kalina.” He suddenly looked at me strangely and picked me up. ..

When everyone fell asleep, I felt someone entering the compartment. I look - Vasya. He quietly sits down next to me and says: “Well, come on, tell me about yourself.” We talked all night.

When we were on the bus to Sudak, we stopped in a small forest. I remember that I was the first to get on the bus, and Shukshin was behind me and was holding something under his jacket. I ask: did you catch the animal? And he gave me a small bouquet of flowers. Then I found out that these were the first flowers that he gave to the woman. I kept them for a long time."

Despite the sudden feeling that flared up in him for the young actress, Shukshin allowed himself to get drunk during these filmings. True, he did this in his free time from filming. He always entered the frame fresh. During the filming process, he called his little nephew and niece, the children of Natasha’s sister, from Altai. I did this so that the kids could finally see the sea, which they had only read about in books.

Meanwhile, on February 12, 1965, Victoria Sofronova gave birth to a girl from Shukshin. They named her Katya. Having learned about this, Shukshin came to the maternity hospital and gave the young mother... a bottle of port wine. And the most amazing thing is that this program was accepted.

A few days later, Victoria and the child were discharged from the maternity hospital, and when they went outside, Shukshin was already waiting for them. But there was no joyful meeting. Victoria already knew that her beloved was dating another woman, and immediately demanded that he make the final choice. But Shukshin could not tell her anything intelligible. And she kicked him out. And although he continued to come to her and the child after that, there was no longer a warm relationship between them.

V. Sofronova recalls: “Vasya found himself between two fires. He lived either with Lida or with me. He was given an apartment in Sviblovo, and when something didn’t work out with her, she left, he invited Katya and me to ourselves. We arrived, but I felt uncomfortable there, and besides, Vasya was drinking. We went to our place..."

Meanwhile, Shukshin's creative energy is being transformed into a number of new literary and cinematic projects. Firstly, it comes out A new book his stories entitled “There in the Distance...”, secondly, in 1966 his new film appeared on the screens - “Your Son and Brother”, which a year later was awarded the State Prize of the RSFSR named after the Vasilyev brothers.

Thoughts about Russia led Shukshin to the idea of ​​making a film about Stepan Razin. According to Lydia Fedoseeva, throughout 1965 Shukshin carefully studied historical works about the second peasant war, took notes on sources, selected the ones I needed from anthologies folk songs, studied the customs of the mid- and late 17th century and made a study tour of the Razin places of the Volga. In March of the following year he applied for literary script"The End of Razin", and this application was initially accepted. Filming was scheduled for the summer of 1967. Shukshin was completely captivated by this idea and, in order to implement it, abandoned all other activities: he even stopped acting in films, although many famous directors invited him to their set. Only for S. Gerasimov he made an exception, starring in the episodic role of an international journalist in his film “The Journalist” in 1966. However, everything turned out to be in vain - the high cinematic authorities suddenly changed their plans and the shooting of the film was frozen. At the same time, the following arguments were put forward: firstly, what is needed now is a film about modernity, and secondly, a two-part film on historical topic will require huge amounts of money. In short, Shukshin was made to understand that the filming of the film about Razin was postponed indefinitely.

The same thing happened with another idea of ​​Shukshin - the desire to film his own satirical tale"Point of view". During a discussion of this application at the Gorky Studio, Shukshin’s colleagues suddenly received his idea with hostility. The famous director S. Yutkevich, for example, stated: “The picture as a whole appears so disappointing that it is unlikely to bring much joy to the audience, even those who want to laugh at their shortcomings and difficulties in the coming anniversary year” (the 50th anniversary was approaching Soviet power). The damning conclusions of his colleagues made a painful impression on Shukshin.

S. Rostotsky recalls: “In my desk there is a copy of a letter that I once sent to Vasily Shukshin in his Altai Srostki. Not so long ago, a woman gave me this copy. At one time, Vasily Makarovich was in a very difficult situation - both creative and household. He was treated in two ways: the Russian national drink and trips to his homeland in Srostki. So he left for Once again. I was filming a film during this period. And suddenly the director of the Gorky Film Studio, Grigory Ivanovich Britikov, calls me and says: “Flock, Vasya is bad, go and bring him.” I couldn’t go then - it was impossible to leave the film crew and stop the film. I sat down to write this letter. In it I talked about suicide - after all, everyone was afraid of this, that Shukshin would do something to himself. And I wrote about my generation, about the war, about the fact that I was among the lucky three percent of those born in 1922 who returned in May 1945. Vasily Makarovich has arrived. I should have known him... He came up to me in the corridor of the film studio and shook my hand: “Thank you.”

And here is what L. Fedoseev-Shukshin’s husband recalled about the condition of his husband at that time: “Vasya could drink for two or three weeks, he was aggressive, violent. I kicked everyone he brought out of the house. I dragged him with me more than once. There was even a case when I saw my husband lying near the house, and I was pregnant then. The elevator didn’t work. What should I do? I pulled him onto myself and dragged me. I thought I was going to give birth. Before that, we had not had children for two years, for me it was a tragedy. When was Masha born ( in 1968), he stopped drinking for a while. His children saved him...

In the 10 years of our life, he declared his love to me only three times, maybe five, and even then - out of resentment or jealousy. And at the same time he knew me well and understood me."

A year after the birth of Masha, another girl was born into the Shukshin family - Olya. This joyful news found Shukshin in the vicinity of Vladimir on the set of his next film - “Strange People”. It is based on three Shukshin stories: “Weirdo”, “Pardon me, madam!” and "Duma".

The path of this film to the screen turned out to be quite difficult. Shukshin rented it out for eight whole months. During the filming and delivery process, he managed to star in several films: S. Gerasimov’s “By the Lake”, I. Shatrov’s “Men’s Conversation”, Yu. Ozerov’s “Liberation” and the Soviet-Hungarian film “Hold on to the Clouds” "(in November 1969, he flew to Budapest for filming). And early next year, the film "Strange People" was finally accepted and soon released.

In November, Shukshin was invited to the premiere of “Strange People” in Paris. Director Gleb Panfilov also went there with him. This is how he recalled it:

“Shukshin, wearing Stepan Razin’s beard, wearing a mass-made cap and a raincoat of unknown origin, is going to the Paris Film Center for the premiere of his film “Strange People” and my “Inception.” We are going together. I remember before the demonstration we were treated to some wonderful, super-vintage champagne - from the cellars of time. I don’t remember the taste - I was so worried. But Vasya didn’t drink at all. At that time he made a vow not to drink a drop and kept his word until his death. Then he said that one day he went for a walk with his little daughter . Met a friend, went in for a moment to celebrate the meeting. They left my daughter on the street. And they forgot. And when he left the cafe, his daughter was gone. He ran around the whole area in horror. He didn’t tell me what he experienced, but, apparently, that’s his way of life. I was shocked that he vowed never to drink again, which he did. It seems to me that he generally did everything he set his mind to, everything that depended on him, on him personally, on the strength of his will, his character. But, of course, nothing “I couldn’t do it when they interfered with him, when they decided for him.”

A. Zabolotsky’s story is about the same thing: “Since 1969 (I worked with him until his last days), Shukshin never drank with anyone. Even on his two birthdays, he didn’t touch alcohol, but he poured it out for us without a pause, he told us not without pride: I didn’t have a drink while visiting Mikhail Alexandrovich, to which the offended Sholokhov said to him: “I’ll be with you in Moscow, I won’t touch your cup of tea.”

Once I asked him: “How do you manage to do this? Wow, I was in Czechoslovakia and didn’t try beer there! How is this possible for a Russian?! Or did you sew some kind of spring into yourself?” He was not angry, walking around the hotel room: “It’s not about the springs. Under the patronage of Vasilenko, I was with an old doctor who, I knew, treated Yesenin, and from that conversation I took away - only I myself, without drugs, was the smith of my body. We need to curb ourselves..."

In 1969, V. Shukshin was awarded the title of Honored Artist of the RSFSR. Concerning creative plans Shukshin at that time, he was still hopeful of getting a film about Stepan Razin staged. In February 1971, he wrote another application addressed to the director of the Gorky Film Studio G. Britikov with a request to allow him to film this picture. But they again told him that what was needed now was a film about modernity, and as a result, for the second time, Shukshin was forced to shoot a completely different picture instead of Razin. This film was “Stoves and Benches”. In his application, Shukshin sets out the content of the script for this film as follows: “This is again the theme of the village, with a “call”, so to speak, to the city. Ivan Rastorguev, an Altai tractor driver, was going to go on vacation to the Black Sea. The story of this trip is the plot of the film. The story this one should be adapted to talk about:

1. True human value.

2. About inner intelligence, about nobility.

3. About civil and human dignity..."

From the very beginning, Shukshin nominated his favorite actor, Leonid Kuravlev, for the role of Ivan Rastorguev. However, he suddenly refused this offer and invited Shukshin... to take this role for himself. Shukshin did just that. And I was not mistaken. N. Zorkaya later wrote: “It was then that it was discovered what kind of artist Soviet cinema has in Vasily Shukshin! It opened up to the full width of the wide screen, as close as possible to us in close-up and super close-ups: the director and cameraman in “Stove-Benches” got carried away wide screen and super-close-ups, they specially highlighted and enlarged in a person’s face a kind of central “zone of communication” and facial expressiveness - eyes, lips. Probably humor is the first property acting Shukshina in "Stoves-Benches". And also a subtle, simply filigree, exquisite finishing of the role." However, the public, unlike the critics, accepted this film quite restrainedly.

At the end of 1972, Shukshin moved from the Gorky Studio to Mosfilm. This was done for one reason: Mosfilm promised to help him implement his long-standing plan - to produce a film about Stepan Razin. S. Bondarchuk recalled: “Shukshin moved to the First creative association film studio "Mosfilm" artistic director which I am, when the script “I came to give you freedom” was already written - about Stepan Razin. It seemed to me that it would be difficult to produce a film based on this script at the Gorky Children’s Film Studio. It was not easy for Shukshin to work there. He himself spoke about this. And his transition to Mosfilm was internally predetermined.”

However, here too the situation with “Razin” turned out to be quite complicated. The leaders of Mosfilm got off with vague promises and did not give Shukshin specific dates for the production. He even had to seek help from the Central Committee of the CPSU, but even there the answer was vague: “We will try to figure it out...”

In the meantime, while the Central Committee was sorting things out, Shukshin began filming his next film, “Kalina Krasnaya.” Work on it began in the spring of 1973 in the Vologda region, near Belozersk. As in “Stoves and Benches,” Shukshin appeared in three roles in this film: director, screenwriter and leading actor. At a meeting with viewers in Belozersk that same spring, Shukshin explained the concept of the film this way: “This picture will be closer to a drama. It’s about a criminal. A criminal... Well, what kind of plan is a criminal? Not out of love for the cause, but for some reason, so to speak, a coincidence of everyday circumstances...

He (Yegor Prokudin) is already, in general, forty years old, but there is no light in his life. But his soul rebels against this way of life. He's not inclined to be cruel person... And so, in fact, at this stage we find our hero - when he leaves prison for the last time. And again the whole world, the whole life is before him.”

The final part of the work on the painting coincided with an exacerbation of Shukshin’s peptic ulcer. V. Fomin recalls: “I myself saw with my own eyes how Shukshin was literally dying, melting before his eyes, having escaped from the hospital in order to carry out the imposed “corrections” and thereby save the picture from the worst. “Kalina Krasnaya” was already all cut up, but he himself the author had to immediately return to the hospital. But he was afraid to leave the film in a “disassembled” form in order to somehow “lick” it, to compensate for the wounds inflicted, he wanted to carry out the final re-recording himself. Shifts in the tone studio seemed endless - twelve hours or more per day. But literally every two or three hours, Vasily Makarovich began another attack of the illness that tormented him. He became pale, and then white as a sheet, shrank into a ball and lay face down directly on the chairs. And so he lay motionless and scared, until the pain subsided. He was embarrassed to show his weakness, and his assistants, knowing this, usually left the pavilion, leaving him alone. They turned out the lights and left.

We sat in the smoking room in silence. Twenty to thirty minutes passed. Shukshin was coming out of the pavilion. Still pale as death. Staggering. Smiling somehow guiltily. He also smoked with everyone else. I even tried to joke to somehow lighten the mood. Then everyone went to the pavilion. And again the attack..."

The film "Kalina Krasnaya" was released across the country in 1974 and literally shocked audiences. Without exaggeration, it could be said that nothing like this had ever happened in Russian cinema. S. Bondarchuk says: “I remember one of the first screenings of the film. It was at the USSR State Planning Committee. It so happened that until the last minute we did not know whether we would show the film or not. Everyone was very tense, especially Shukshin. The screening did take place. When the film ended, the audience applauded and many had tears in their eyes, Shukshin kept repeating to me: “You see, they liked it!” He was jubilant.”

At the VII All-Union Film Festival in Baku in April 1974, “Kalina Krasnaya” was awarded the main prize - the first time in the practice of holding domestic film forums. Moreover, the jury specifically qualified its decision: “Noting the original, bright talent writer, director and actor Vasily Shukshin, main prize of the festival was awarded to the film of the Mosfilm studio "Kalina Krasnaya".

In addition to this award, the film will later receive a whole bunch of others: the Polish critics' prize "Warsaw Siren-73", the festival prize in West Berlin and the FEST-75 prize in Yugoslavia.

The last year of Shukshin’s life was extremely successful for him, both creatively and personally. In 1973, he and his family finally moved from a cramped room on Pereyaslavskaya Street to new apartment on Bochkova street. Coming out into the world new collection his stories "Characters", which immediately becomes the main event in prose and the subject of heated debate. In big drama theater G. Tovstonogov decides to stage a play based on Shukshin’s play “Energetic People”. (This was Shukshin’s first collaboration with the theater - before that he did not like theater, having inherited this dislike from his teacher M. Romm.) The dress rehearsal of the play took place in June 1974 with Shukshin’s participation and made a wonderful impression on him.

And finally, he never forgot for a day about his old dream - to direct a film about Stepan Razin. Despite the fact that its filming was constantly postponed indefinitely, he did not lose hope of filming it. S. Bondarchuk gave his firm promise to help him in this matter, but in return for this help he persuaded Shukshin to star in his new picture- “They fought for their homeland.” Shukshin was to play the role of armor-piercing officer Lopakhin. Filming was supposed to take place in August - October 1974 on the Don. Since these months turned out to be the last in the life of V. Shukshin, it is worth dwelling on them in more detail.

On September 4, the Literaturnaya Gazeta published Shukshin’s story “The Slander,” which aroused great interest among readers (even L. Brezhnev himself read it) and heated discussions. What was this essay about? Shukshin described in it a real incident that happened to him several years ago. S. Bondarchuk tells about the essence of it: “The woman guard brazenly insulted Shukshin in front of children and strangers. At first she did not want to let her daughters into the hospital with him, making the usual excuse of “not allowed,” although children were allowed to see other sick people. Someone advised him to “give her fifty dollars.” But he could never “give.” He didn’t know how. A few hours later, the same woman did not allow writers who had come to Moscow specifically for business conversation with him. The unbridled rudeness of the watchwoman, to whom he had done nothing wrong, amazed him. And Shukshin, in hospital clothes and slippers, left the hospital, despite the fact that it was December and that the doctors diagnosed him with “acute pneumonia.”

When the story was published, Shukshin received a letter from the doctors of this hospital, who wrote that he, by “slandering” their staff, thereby discredited all medical workers. Shukshin was confused. He didn't know what to do. And we didn't know how to help him. It was a period of despair that he could not bear..."

For almost the entire month of September, Shukshin was on the Don, near the village of Kletskaya, filming the film “They Fought for the Motherland.” The filming schedule was so tight that Shukshin couldn’t even get to Moscow on September 1 to see his daughter Masha off to first grade. He left there only a few times: in the second half of the month to the capital, where the preparatory period for the film “Stepan Razin” began, and to Leningrad, to film an episode in G. Panfilov’s film “I Ask for Your Word” (the episode was filmed on September 18, Shukshin played in it provincial playwright Fyodor).

By the beginning of October, Shukshin had almost completely completed the role of Lopakhin, and he only had to film the last episode. On October 4 he was supposed to return to Moscow.

Yu. Nikulin recalled: “An amazing coincidence. The day before his death, Vasily Makarovich was sitting in the dressing room, waiting for the master makeup artist to start working. He took a pin, dropped it into a jar of red makeup and began to draw something, draw on the back side packs of Shipka cigarettes. Burkov, who was sitting next to him, asked:

What are you drawing?

“You see,” Shukshin answered, pointing, “here are the mountains, the sky, the rain, well, in general, a funeral...

Burkov cursed him, snatched the pack and hid it in his pocket. So he still keeps this pack of cigarettes with a drawing of Vasily Makarovich."

Despite this mystical episode, Shukshin was in in good condition, looked good in appearance. That day, he called home to Moscow from the post office in the village of Kletskaya, inquiring about the affairs of his daughters (Masha was then in first grade, Olya in kindergarten). My wife was not at home, since on September 22 she flew to the film festival in Varna. After calling home, Shukshin went to the bathhouse with Burkov, then returned to the Danube ship (all the actors who starred in the film lived there). Then up to late at night We watched the USSR-Canada hockey match on TV. At the end of it, they went to their cabins. But for some reason Burkov could not sleep. At about 4 am he left the cabin and saw Shukshin in the corridor. He held his heart and groaned. “Validol doesn’t help,” he complained. “Don’t you have anything stronger?” The paramedic was not on the ship that night (she had gone to a wedding), but Burkov knew that one of the artists had drops of Zelenin. He went and brought them to Shukshin. He drank them to excess, washed them down with water and went to his cabin. Several more hours passed after this. At about nine in the morning, Burkov again went out into the corridor with the firm intention of waking up Shukshin (it was he who did this every day).

G. Burkov talked about it this way: “I knocked on Shukshin’s door. The door was not locked. But I didn’t go in, but from the door I saw... a hand, it seemed to me, somehow... I was scared of something. I called out to him. . It was time for him to get up for filming. He didn’t respond. Well, I think, let him sleep. Again he wrote all night.

I walked down the corridor and ran into Gubenko. “Nikolai,” I asked, “look at Vasya, he’s going to be filming soon, but for some reason he’s not getting up...”

He came in to see him. He began to shake him by the shoulder, his hand felt like it was lifeless... he touched the pulse, but there was none. Shukshin died in his sleep. “For heart failure,” the doctors said. I think they killed him. Who are they? People are the little people of our system, about whom he often wrote. Well, not peasants, but city swindlers... bastard bureaucrats..."

Shukshin’s body was taken to Volgograd on the same day, where the doctor performed an autopsy in the presence of students. Diagnosis: heart failure. From Volgograd, the zinc coffin was delivered to Moscow on a military plane. The coffin was packed in a huge wooden box with four handles. He was accompanied by Bondarchuk, Burkov, Gubenko, Tikhonov, cameraman Yusov, and other members of the film crew. Shukshin’s body was brought to the morgue of the Sklifosovsky Institute. However, they refused to perform a second autopsy, citing the fact that one autopsy had already been performed. Then began the long epic of arranging the funeral. Shukshina's mother Maria Sergeevna wanted to take her son's body to his homeland, to Srostki, and bury him there. But she was persuaded to leave him in Moscow. The burial place was initially determined to be the Vvedenskoye cemetery. A grave had already been prepared there, but Shukshin never lay down in it (in February 1975, the famous boxer V. Popenchenko was buried in it). The fact is that on the day of the funeral, Bondarchuk personally went to the Moscow City Council and began to demand that Shukshin be buried in Novodevichy Cemetery. The matter then reached the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR A. Kosygin himself. “Is this the Shukshin who wrote about the hospital?” he asked, referring to the article by “Klyauza” in the Literaturnaya Gazeta. Brezhnev was in the GDR at that moment, and Kosygin took responsibility for solving this problem. In the end, the issue with Novodevichy was resolved positively.

That day, Moscow taxi drivers decided, as one, to drive in a column past the Cinema House, where the funeral service was taking place, and sound a signal of sadness with their horns. However, they were not allowed to do this. The Union of Cinematographers learned about their initiative and immediately contacted the KGB. Immediately after this, all taxi fleets were ordered to delay the entry of cars into the city.

E. Klimov recalls: “Larisa Shepitko and I arrived at the House of Cinema, where the farewell was taking place. The coffin was on a pedestal. An ocean of tears. The funeral guard changed every few minutes. And we are getting ready to put on these terrible bandages. And at that moment he takes me by the sleeve a certain Kiyashchenko. There was such an editor at Goskino, he headed the historical film department. And he leans close to me and whispers: “We consulted here,” and the coffin stands nearby, two steps away, “what “Razina,” Elem Germanovich, you should do . We have already consulted with the Central Committee..." It was as if I had been hit by an electric shock! I turned around - I would have probably killed him on the spot. Larisa managed to grab me: "What are you doing?! Here..."

When the coffin was taken out of the Cinema House, they didn’t even know where they would have to bury it. In the heavens they were still deciding what Vasya was worthy of and what he was not worthy of. A rumor spread: in German! IN last minute They brought another message: permission was granted at Novodevichy..."

A. Zabolotsky recalls: “Towards the end of the funeral service, Maria Sergeevna (V. Shukshin’s mother) asks me to pull the viburnum out of the coffin, there is a lot of dampness from it - they really put a lot of it - and while removing small branches, under the white blanket I felt a lot of crosses and icons and bundles... Many Russians passed near the coffin, and they put Shukshin’s treasured in the coffin. He was buried as a Christian. During the last farewell of his relatives, Lidiya Fedoseeva gave me a crumpled strand of his hair, did not say anything. I put this hair in the coffin too ( or maybe from them it was possible to determine from what kind of “intoxication” death occurred (after all, the doctor in Volgograd said: death from coffee or tobacco intoxication).

I also remember clearly: when they carried the coffin after the farewell meeting to the cemetery to the burial site, the frightened director of the Gorky Studio, Grigory Britikov, was trotting from the side, through the piles of graves. He looked like an excited schoolboy who had committed a prank. And I suddenly remembered Makarych’s words in the kitchen: “Well, I’m finished, I deciphered it to Grigory. I told him all my thoughts about genocide against Russia.”

After Shukshin’s death, rumors suddenly spread among the people that he did not die a natural death - they say, they helped him do it. These rumors circulated even in the cinematic environment: Bondarchuk himself once admitted that for some time he believed that Shukshin had been poisoned. But these rumors never found any real confirmation. And now we are talking about them again. Here are some publications.

L. Fedoseeva-Shukshina: “I’m sure: that night there was a murder. That’s what Vasya was afraid of lately. He showed me a list of his relatives who died a violent death. He was afraid that he would share their fate. There was a premonition. (According to this list, at different times, Shukshin’s father, seven uncles and two cousins ​​died.) “Lord, let me return from filming soon! God grant that nothing happens!” It happened.

When they say at different levels that Shukshin’s sick heart couldn’t stand it, it hurts me. Vasya never complained about his heart. That year my mother said: “Vasya, you are so handsome!” “This is wormwood!” he answered. “I am as strong, as healthy as steppe wormwood.”

He felt great, despite the crazy shooting, the terrible war that Bondarchuk was filming.

Just before filming “They Fought for the Motherland,” Bondarchuk arranged for him to be examined at the best Tskov hospital. Doctors did not find any heart problems. I still have the cardiograms. Everything is there, thank God.

They say he died because he drank a lot. Nonsense! Vasya hasn’t taken a drop in his mouth for almost eight years.”

What’s strange: neither Sergei Fedorovich Bondarchuk, nor Georgy Burkov, nor Nikolai Gubenko, Yuri Vladimirovich Nikulin, nor Vyacheslav Tikhonov - not a single person met with me later or spoke openly about that night. I was so hoping to find out from them what really happened..."

N. Drannikov, Chairman of the Volgograd branch of the V.M. Center Shukshina, a resident of the village of Kletskaya: “There are still different rumors in the village. And there are reasons for this. Evgenia Yakovlevna Platonova, partisan, wife of Hero of the Soviet Union Venedikt Platonov, is still alive. She was taken as a witness. Evgenia Yakovlevna says that when they arrived on the "Danube", everything in the cabin was scattered. As if someone was looking for something. And Shukshin himself lay crouched. This in no way fits with the photograph of criminologists, where Vasily Makarovich lies in a well-kept cabin, covered with a blanket, as if sleeping.

Clean boots also arouse suspicion among village residents. Why did he need to wash the kirzachi? After all, the next morning we’ll go back to filming in the morning. Our Cossacks are wondering who and what washed off his boots.”

A. Vanin: “There is, there is a secret in Shukshin’s death. I think Zhora Burkov could have told a lot. But he took the secret to the grave. What are my suspicions based on? Twenty times we invited Zhora to the studio of the sculptor Slava Klykov to talk frankly about last days of Shukshin. Zhora lived nearby. He always agreed, but never came. And another fact. At the evenings in memory of Shukshin, Burkov usually got drunk to death. Once I dressed and washed him to bring him to the stage in a divine form. He wanted to send me away. I answered: “Zhora, don’t forget about my fists!” And then the drunken Burkov said something that made me scared and even more wary..."

Vanin does not say what exactly Burkov “suffered,” but actor A. Pankratov-Cherny lifts the veil of secrecy over this. Here are his words:

“Zhora Burkov told me that he did not believe that Shukshin died a natural death. Vasily Makarovich and Zhora stood on the deck that night, talking, and it so happened that after this conversation Shukshin lived only fifteen minutes. Vasily Makarovich went to in his cabin, cheerful and cheerful, he said to Burkov: “Well, to hell with you, Zhorka! I’ll go pee.” Then Burkov said that the smell of cinnamon was felt in the cabin - the smell that happens when “heart attack” gas is released. Shukshin did not scream, and his manuscripts - when he was gone - were scattered around the cabin. Moreover, it was already cool, and, returning to the cabin, he had to take off his overcoat, riding breeches, boots, tunic... Vasily Makarovich was found in his underwear, in soldiers' underpants, he was lying on the bed, only his feet on the floor. I saw these photographs in the museum of the Gorky Film Studio ". But why were the manuscripts scattered? There couldn't have been a draft, the windows were battened down. Zhora said that Shukshin was a very neat person. And Lidiya Nikolaevna Fedoseeva-Shukshina talked about how when they lived in a one-room apartment, there were two children, it was cramped , so everything was distributed in its place - the typewriter, manuscripts, and so on. And when the children were sleeping, smoking was forbidden, and Shukshin went to the toilet, put the board on his knees, a notebook on it and wrote. Manuscripts scattered on the floor of the cabin were not in Shukshin’s style, not in his habits: someone was digging, they were looking for something.

Such were Burkov's suspicions. But Zhora was afraid to talk about it during his lifetime, he shared it with me as a friend and said: “Sanya, if I die, then you can talk about it, not before.”

Here is an interesting list of signs that accompanied the death of V. Shukshin:

In the summer of 1972, Shukshin’s daughters visited their grandmother near Leningrad. The father-in-law caught a hare in the forest, and by autumn they brought it with them to Moscow. The hare grew up and madly threw itself at the walls and curtains. I had to take it to Durov's Corner. When Lidia Nikolaevna told Maria Sergeevna Shukshina about the “living toy,” she began to wail: “Oh, Lida, dragging a live hare from the forest means death!”

Fedoseeva-Shukshina was given the script for the film “They Fought for the Motherland,” in which she was to play one of the roles. And it turned out that she had to play... a widow. And this while my husband is still alive! “You don’t play a widow, but a woman,” Shukshin reassured her. Alas, the role turned out to be prophetic.

On that last evening of October 1, Shukshin and his friends went from the post office to the bathhouse of the village resident Zakharov. And it’s necessary! While driving into the yard, the owner's beloved cat was run over. Shukshin, who had never before been noticed in superstition, for some reason became upset: “This is unfortunate!” And a few hours later he was overtaken by death...

Vasily Shukshin And Lidiya Fedoseeva- one of the brightest couples of Russian cinema. They met on film set, when Shukshin was 35 and Fedoseeva was 26. Each had a marriage behind them. But it was the Shukshin-Fedoseev couple that went down in history.

First meeting

As Lydia Nikolaevna herself later said, it was Shukshin who gave her a bouquet of flowers for the first time in her life. Field ones. They were traveling with a film crew on a bus across Crimea. A stop was made. Shukshin managed to collect the flowers and hid them under the hem of his jacket. And then he presented it to Lydia, who at that moment was sitting alone on an empty bus. Before that, they traveled together from Moscow on a train. And even earlier, Fedoseeva, having learned that her partner in the film would be Shukshin, to put it mildly, was not happy. Before this, she encountered Vasily Makarovich almost 10 years ago, as a first-year student at VGIK. Shukshin at that time was a senior student (he came to study after the army, having served 3 years in the navy, and also managed to work, including as the director of a rural school in his native Altai village of Srostki). There was a conflict between them at the institute. Shukshin scolded young Lidochka, so emotionally that it seemed to the girl that if he had a twig at hand, he would have whipped her. In general, the memories of him are not the most pleasant.

Of course, she later heard his name more than once. Shukshin's stories were published in central literary magazines, he starred in several films, and they all “shot.” The very first was the film “Two Fyodors,” where he played while still a student. And Shukshin’s first book, entitled “Village People,” was published a year before he met Lydia on the set.

Vasily Shukshin in the film “Two Fedoras”, 1958. Photo: Still from the film

Fateful "Kalina Krasnaya"

As an already famous writer and actor, Shukshin rode in a soft compartment, but did not sit in his mansion and went to the artists in a regular reserved seat. They were already singing there. At some point, Lydia began to play Kalina Krasnaya. Shukshin began to sing along. When the people began to go to bed, Vasily went home, but soon returned again. They talked in whispers all night. She did most of the talking, and he, as was his habit as a writer, asked about his childhood and youth.

Lidia Nikolaevna grew up in a Leningrad communal apartment. Survived the blockade. She was discovered early acting skills which she developed from school - she went to the drama club at the House of Cinema. In high school, she starred in episodic roles in the films “Maxim Perepelitsa” and “Two Captains”. She entered VGIK, where she met her first husband, an actor. Vyacheslav Voronin. In this marriage, a daughter, Nastya, was born. However, the union itself turned out to be fragile. After the divorce, Nastya grew up with her father and his mother. Lidia Nikolaevna was finishing college at that time. However, Nastya’s stay with her father and grandmother dragged on until she grew up.

Margarita Kosheleva and Lydia Fedoseeva in the film “Peers”. 1959 Photo: RIA Novosti

Vasily Shukshin also had a little daughter, Katya. Her mother, Victoria Sofronova worked as an editor in one of the literary magazines. They met Vasily while discussing one of his stories. This marriage was not officially registered. Shukshin treated Katya, his first-born, with reverence. This is evidenced by the letters he wrote to his daughter, then still an infant. He wrote, as they say, “for growth.” When Vasily Makarovich formed a family with Lydia Fedoseeva and Masha and Olya were born one after another, Shukshin did not stop caring about eldest daughter. Ekaterina Shukshina always spoke and speaks of her father with great respect and love. She recalls that when her mother got married after the final separation from Vasily Makarovich, she hung a portrait of Shukshin in the apartment. To the surprised questions of those around her, she answered: “This is Katya’s father!”

Family nest

The rapprochement between Shukshin and Fedoseeva continued upon their return from filming to Moscow. One day Vasily handed Lydia the keys to his small bachelor apartment. Capital registration and housing went to Shukshin with with great difficulty. After graduating from VGIK, he wandered around Moscow for almost ten years - he spent the night at train stations, sometimes with friends, and sometimes climbed into the window of the dormitory of his native VGIK, where young comrades gave him shelter bypassing existing rules. Among the things I have with me is a briefcase with manuscripts.

Vasily Shukshin with his mother Maria Sergeevna, 1932. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org

With his first large fee, Shukshin bought a house for his mother in his homeland, in the Altai Territory. Maria Sergeevna. Then he built the bathhouse himself. And in the Moscow apartment there was only a mattress. Shukshin’s daughter Maria said that Lidia Nikolaevna bought her first furniture at a reasonable price in the Detsky Mir store. It was a small table and two chairs. Showing off - this will not be about them in the future. After the birth of two daughters, they continued to live in the same one-room apartment. While the girls were sleeping, Shukshin was working on a typewriter in the toilet. He put a board on his knees and placed the typewriter on it. Housing appropriate to his status famous writer, actor and director, he received a few years before his death. It was a four-room apartment in the center of Moscow, where he laid tiles in the kitchen with his own hands. By the way, after half a century she continues to decorate family nest Shukshins.

Vasily Shukshin and Lydia Fedoseeva. Photo: www.globallookpress.com

“Died” on screen and in life

Over time, the family union with Lydia Nikolaevna also became a creative tandem.

In two of their famous films- “Stoves of the bench” and “Kalina Krasnaya” - he chose Fedoseeva for the role of the main character. The duet was so organic that the audience unconditionally accepted the couple. By the way, the title of the story “Kalina Krasnaya,” based on which Shukshin made the film, was invented by Lidia Nikolaevna. Vasily Makarovich wrote this story in the hospital, where he was taken ill with an exacerbation of an ulcer. This disease has plagued me since my military service in the navy. He gave the manuscript to his wife first to read. As she later recalled, the story about the fate of the former criminal made such a strong impression on her that she cried all night. The manuscript had no title. And while talking with her husband on the phone, Lydia suggested: “Let it be called “Kalina Krasnaya.” Shukshin agreed. It was assumed that in the film Shukshin and Fedoseeva would perform the song “Kalina Krasnaya” together, but for this it was necessary to buy copyrights from the composer Frenkel. There were absolutely not enough funds for this. The budget for the film was not even meager - it was beggarly. The filming equipment is old. All this was more than covered by the directing and acting talent of Shukshin, who also took on the main male role. According to the memoirs of Lidia Fedoseeva, when Shukshin “died” on camera, the entire film crew cried. And when this episode was voiced, the actress herself suffered from a hypertensive crisis.

"Red viburnum". The duet was so organic that the audience unconditionally accepted the couple. Still from the film

“I killed Matvey!”

Shukshin, by his example, raised the creative bar incredibly high. He couldn't do it any other way. His close friend and fellow countryman, documentarian Alexander Sarantsev, I once remembered an episode that was indicative in this sense. He came to Vasily Makarovich. He was home alone. I sat at my typewriter and cried. - “What happened, Vasya?” - “Sanya... I... killed Matvey!” (character in the novel “I Came to Give You Freedom”). He passed each of his heroes through his heart. Maybe that's why it couldn't stand it...

Shukshin left at the peak of his glory, in his prime creative forces, he was only 45 years old. This happened in 1974 - when the film “Kalina Krasnaya” became the absolute leader at box office in the country. It sold 62 million tickets.

The tragedy happened in the fall on the set of the film Sergei Bondarchuk“They Fought for the Motherland,” where Vasily Makarovich had one of the main roles. There were only a few days left until the end of filming. The group had been living on the ship for several months, since filming took place on the banks of the Don River. Actor Georgy Burkov, also involved in this picture, recalled that shortly before his unexpected death, Shukshin shared a dressing room with him. Vasily Makarovich was drawing something on a pack of cigarettes. When a colleague asked what exactly, Shukshin replied: a funeral. Burkov cursed his friend, said that all this was nonsense, and took the pack from him. And a couple of days later, on the morning of October 2, looking into Shukshin’s cabin, he found him dead. The arriving doctors named the cause of death as heart failure.

"Be human"

Many close friends refused to believe it. It seemed strange to them that the tidy Shukshin had papers scattered around his cabin. At the same time, he himself was lying on the bed. There were other oddities in this story. But official version remained the same - heart problems.

Thanks to the persistence of Sergei Bondarchuk, Vasily Makarovich was buried at the Novodevichy cemetery. And thanks to my mother who came from Altai, they secretly sang the funeral service. And he publicly repented on the screen, when his hero in “Kalina Krasny” just before his death says: “Lord, forgive me if you can!” Viewers compared the feeling of watching this episode with spying on someone else's confession.

Believe that everything was not in vain: our songs, our fairy tales, our incredible victories, our suffering - do not give all this for a sniff of tobacco.

We knew how to live. Remember this. Be human".

....Lidiya Nikolaevna experienced the death of her husband very hard. She said that after the funeral I heard an unexpected phrase from his mother Maria Sergeevna. Like, you're still young. You can get married. Then it seemed strange to the grief-stricken widow. But that's exactly what happened. There will be two more marriages in her life, but in history she will forever remain Fedoseeva-Shukshina.

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  © Vasily Shukshin and Lydia Fedoseeva-Shushkina in the film “Kalina Krasnaya”, 1974
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  © Lidiya Fedoseeva-Shukshina in the film “They Fought for the Motherland”, 1975
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  © Lidiya Fedoseeva-Shukshina and Andrei Mironov in the serial film “12 Chairs”, 1976
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  © Lidiya Fedoseeva-Shukshina in the film “You Never Dreamed of It,” 1980

In this biographical article we will try to follow the main stages of Vasily Shukshin’s work, as well as reveal some of the secrets of his life and fate.

Early years, childhood and family of Vasily Shukshin

All the relatives of our today's hero were ordinary peasants, and therefore early childhood Vasily Shukshin did not even expect that one day he could become a famous director. After graduating from the seven-year school in the village of Srostki, he moved to the city of Biysk, where he soon entered the automotive technical school. In this place future director I studied for two and a half years, but never received a diploma. In 1945, he returned to his native village, where he soon got a job on a collective farm. He worked in this place for another year and a half, but ultimately decided to change his occupation again.

In 1947, he began working as a mechanic. In this capacity, he traveled to many cities and various enterprises. He visited Kaluga, Vladimir, and also the village of Butovo, from which he was soon drafted into the army.

In 1949 he entered service in the Navy. In this capacity he served in the city of Baltiysk, and then on the Black Sea. It is quite remarkable that it was during his army years that Vasily Shukshin first became interested in creativity. In his free hours, he wrote various poems and stories, which he later read to his colleagues.

Returning to his native village in 1953, our today’s hero graduated from high school as an external student and began working as a Russian language teacher, and then as a director of the Srostkino school for working youth. After working in this capacity for only a few months, Vasily Shukshin thought about moving to Moscow. Having collected all his savings, he bought a train ticket and soon arrived in the capital of the USSR. In this city, our today's hero entered the directing department of VGIK, and at the same time began sending his stories to various literary publications. Thus, in 1958, our today’s hero made his writing debut - his first story, “Two on a Cart,” was published in the Smena magazine.

Life in art: Vasily Shukshin in literature and cinema

In 1958, while still a student at VGIK, Vasily Shukshin played his first leading role in the film “Two Fedoras”. This was followed by others acting work. Everything was going very well, but at some point our today’s hero realized that he wanted to create cinematic works, prescribing the actions of the characters from beginning to end.

First similar work Vasily Makarovich became the film “They report from Lebyazhye”. Shukshin took part in the creation of this film not only as an actor, but also as a director and screenwriter. The author's debut turned out to be very successful and soon our today's hero began to think about new cinematic projects.

In total, Vasily Makarovich made six films during his career, in which he most often also took part as a screenwriter. In parallel with this, our today's hero also worked fruitfully as an actor. His filmography includes about thirty roles, each of which became bright and interesting in its own way.

For his outstanding contribution to art, the actor and director was awarded many prestigious awards, including State Prize RSFSR, Lenin Prize, as well as the title of Honored Artist of the RSFSR.

Shukshin gave all of himself to his creativity, and therefore it is not at all surprising that even his death coincided with the filming of his next film. In the mid-seventies, he suffered from a worsening stomach ulcer, but despite this, he continued to work on new projects. He suffered serious attacks during the filming of the film “Kalina Krasnaya”. Some time later, while working on another film - “They Fought for the Motherland” - one of these attacks became fatal for Shukshin.

The actor lying on the deck was found by his close friend Georgy Burkov. At that moment, Vasily Makarovich’s heart no longer beat.

Personal life and legacy of Vasily Shukshin

In addition, the legacy of the great Soviet director is his children. From his marriage to Victoria Safronova, Vasily Makarovich has a daughter, Katerina. In addition, Shukshin also has two children from a love union with actress Lydia Fedoseeva. Both daughters - Maria and Olga - are this moment are famous Russian actresses.