Play with both soul and heart: how the kindest Winnie the Pooh lived and died Evgeny Leonov
'04.10.2020'
Source: Lady.tut.by
A hilarious barman and "undertrainer" in Striped Flight, the kindest and funniest Winnie the Pooh from an animated film, a cynical burgomaster in "Kill the Dragon" and a completely shrill father of a family in "Elder Son". Millions of viewers adore Yevgeny Leonov's acting work. How an artist went to success and what wise phrases of his are still relevant today - says Lady.tut.by.
This extremely charming and seemingly simple-minded person became a people's artist long before he was awarded this title. He said: “An actor must play with both soul and heart in order to jump into circumstances, so that 'I love you, Masha' - and tears flow. So that who he is, a comedian or a tragedian - the devil will understand him. " Perhaps that is why he was and remains always his own and even a little dear.
Evgeny Leonov was born on September 2, 1926 in Moscow. Father - Pavel Vasilievich - aircraft designer in the Tupolev Bureau, mother - Anna Ilyinichna - housewife. Zhenya was the youngest son, two years apart from their older brother Kolya. The four of us lived in the most ordinary communal apartment on Vasilievskaya Street, in two small rooms. There were always a lot of guests here: my mother, an excellent hostess and a wonderful storyteller, knew how to gather groups of friends around her.
“There was something in my mother when she told me, my mother was charming, a gray-haired Russian woman, not very literate, but very kind to her heart. An extraordinary woman. In our house, the apartments are not separate, but communal, but in our small rooms there was a herd of some sort chewing. Someone somewhere was sleeping on the floor, all the time people were drinking tea. These are relatives who were also drawn to my mother. She did not teach me and my brother to live, did not force us to be good. She didn't even make us peel potatoes or wipe the floors. It was easier for her to do it herself. And, apparently, latently my brother and I understood this, because quite often we did it ourselves, ”Leonov recalled.
Zhenya Leonov could have become an actor when he was still a schoolboy: in the fourth grade he was noticed by a director who was looking for “the funniest, plumpest boy” to film in the film. Zhenya was invited to audition, but he did not come to them - "either the parents did not let him in, or he was scared, he was shy." But next year I signed up for the drama club.
No sooner had he finished school than the war began. Seventh grader Zhenya Leonov gets a job as a turner apprentice at an aircraft factory, where his whole family worked during the war. And in the fall of 1943 he became a student of the aviation instrument-making technical school.
“War, hunger, our family got hungry, but survived. We went to work at a factory. I became an apprentice to a turner, my brother became an apprentice to a draftsman. Why was I drawn to art, why was I dragging myself up the steps to the Moscow Art Theater? And I remember “Three Sisters”, when I cried with them and remembered these birches, this extraordinary voice of Irina for the rest of my life ... I don't know what attracted me. I was at school in amateur performances, read poems, everyone laughed, but it was probably stupid and naive. In the technical school they said about me: this is our artist. Why they said so is not clear. At the evenings I read "In the Bath" by Chekhov, Zoshchenko about the fitter. The success was extraordinary. There was laughter, ”Yevgeny Leonov said.
Amateur performances won the aviator in him. And without completing his studies, Yevgeny Leonov leaves for the Moscow Experimental Theater Studio.
“With my education, it was difficult to go into a serious institution. But there were no large, serious theater institutes. GITIS was evacuated. The Moscow Art Theater was a secondary educational institution, it did not have a higher status. I found a studio. On admission, Ekaterina Mikhailovna Sheremetyeva, a student of the famous St. Petersburg actor Davydov, was sitting. A beautiful face, gray hair ... I was wearing my brother's jacket. I said I would like to be an artist and started making them laugh. Nobody laughed. They looked at me like a leper. I read Zoshchenko, but, apparently, primitive. I was asked what else I can read. I said, "In the bath," but that's even worse. " The atmosphere was thickening. They asked me: "Is that all?" I said: “I love poetry, but not all. I love Blok. " I read "In a Restaurant". I was white, then they told me, and so this attention was concentrated. I was asked: "Do you know what this is about?" I answered: "About all-conquering love." And they accepted me, ”the actor recalled.
In the studio, he was one of the most diligent students. Therefore, after graduation, he was immediately enrolled in the Moscow Theater of the Dzerzhinsky District, later reorganized into the Stanislavsky Drama Theater. Only they did not trust serious roles: extras and, at best, small episodes. I had to try myself in the cinema.
At first, there were also only cameo roles. But further - more: gradually began to offer and central. And in 1961, "Striped Flight" was released, after which, as they say, the actor woke up famous. In just a year, the comedy was watched by over 32 million people.
But Evgeny Pavlovich managed not to get stuck in a comedy role and starred in The Don Tale. The actor succeeds 100 percent with the dramatic role of Yakov Shibalko: for its performance he receives an award from the All-Union Festival in Kiev and the 3rd International Festival in New Delhi.
Since then, comedy and tragedy will closely coexist in his work: in "Don't Cry!" George Danelia, in "The Magician" by Pyotr Todorovsky or "Zigzag of Fortune" by Eldar Ryazanov.
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In the theater he is finally noticed and given a serious role - the tyrant king Creon in the classic "Antigone" (1966). But this will not affect his decision to go to the Mayakovsky Theater in 1968, where, by the way, he will play one of his best theatrical roles - Vanyushin the father in Children of Vanyushin.
Evgeny Pavlovich is loved by ordinary audiences, he tours a lot. Of all his trips around the country, he invariably brings a bunch of gifts to his beloved ones - his wife Wanda and son Andryusha. They met Wanda in the late 50s: Leonov came to Sverdlovsk on tour with the Stanislavsky Theater and went for a walk with a friend.
“And it turned out like this: I walked with the artist Leonid Satanovsky. In front of the girls are beautiful, tanned. Satanovsky is brave, he stuck to them: "Can I meet you?" And I trudged a little behind, but then I ran to them, holding my pants. As luck would have it, the belt did not hold on my belly ... In general, I said that I also want to meet. And he invited the girls to the theater, ”the actor recalled.
A casual acquaintance ended in a wedding: on November 16, 1957, Eugene and Wanda got married, and in 1959 their only son, Andrei, was born. The boy was always incredibly proud of his father. Friends were jealous: still - the son of Winnie the Pooh (in 1969, Evgeny Pavlovich voiced this cute cartoon character). Many years will pass, and Andrey, by the way, is phenomenally similar in appearance to his father, will also become a good actor. The country knows and loves him as an unlucky father - the main character of the sitcom Daddy's Daughters.
But back to the 70s. The next 20 years will be the prime of Leonov's career as an artist. He was chosen for one of the central roles in the drama about former fellow soldiers "Belorussky Station" (1970), preferring his candidacy to Nikolai Rybnikov himself.
And literally a year later, the comedy "Gentlemen of Fortune" was released, where Leonov plays two main roles at once and the release of which simply "blows up" Soviet cinemas - over 65 million viewers in 1972 alone.
At this time, unfortunately, Leonov has to say goodbye to the Mayakovsky Theater. The artistic director has many times expressed his dissatisfaction with the fact that Leonov more often makes a choice in favor of filming, rather than performances. But the "egregious" incident was the actor's participation in a fish commercial. The entire team was assembled to analyze the flight: the artistic director suggested that the actors put their hat in a circle and raise money for Evgeny Pavlovich, "since he needs them so much that he goes down to advertising." Leonov did not tolerate such humiliations and left.
“After I left the Mayakovsky Theater, no one could play Vanyushin, no one after me played Tsar Kreop in the Stanislavsky Theater. Not because I am so brilliant, but simply because it was born by me, ”the artist will tell later.
As for advertising: Leonov had to work hard. He did not know how to ask his superiors for himself. For others - please: treatment, an apartment, work. But to myself - no.
Leonov's new place of work was the Lenin Komsomol Theater, under the wing of the most talented Mark Zakharov. Thanks to Zakharov, Leonov will be able to play the role of the King in the film "An Ordinary Miracle" and the burgomaster in "Kill the Dragon".
Secondary, but no less wonderful characters turned out in Leonov in "Athos" (1975) and "Autumn Marathon" (1979).
A memorable work of those years is the role of Lednev in the four-part film about the evening school "Big Break" (1972): the touching father of an adult daughter. However, his best work on the topic of fathers and children, as well as a dozen other very personal topics, was the role of Sarafanov in Vampilov's Eldest Son. Today it is considered the benchmark.
“He was not too eager to communicate, but I was meticulous, young, impudent and pestered him:“ Evgeny Pavlovich, tell me how to play here? And here?". And he showed. Only it was impossible to repeat it ... He could play my hero Silva, and a woman, and a cat - anyone. But most of all I envied his ability to cry in the frame. For me, it was an unattainable acting dream. Well, I just couldn't get tears, no matter how I trained! And it was easy for Leonov, ”recalls Yevgeny Pavlovich's filming partner, actor Mikhail Boyarsky. We filmed the last scene in the episode, where Evgeny Pavlovich says: "Well, where are you guys ..." - and cries. They shot one take. Then the director asks: "Maybe we can make another duplicate?" - "Oh sure". And his tears are rolling down again. “Evgeny Pavlovich, maybe we'll repeat it again? - does not appease Melnikov. - Suddenly a marriage or a speck on the film. In general, Evgeny Pavlovich cried without any problems for the third, and then for the fourth time. I stand there, frozen in admiration, and think: “Here is a man, that's great! No, I will never achieve this! " And Leonov had a table there with makeup, crumpled script sheets, cigarettes and a piece of cotton wool. I somehow mechanically took it, squeezed it - and tears gushed out of my eyes: the cotton wool was soaked in ammonia, ”recalls Yevgeny Pavlovich's filming partner, actor Mikhail Boyarsky.
In 1978, Yevgeny Leonov was awarded the title of People's Artist of the USSR. The commission that met to make this decision was shocked: “How? Is Leonov still not popular? " And he jokingly referred to all these titles:
“What if I was even named the first theater actor of the year? It won't change anything in my life. It's just such a funny game: who is better, who is worse - pay off! First, second, third, fourth, fifth! Come out, even! ”, The atrist joked.
Kin-dza-dza (1986) and Kill the Dragon (1988) were among the last major works in cinema. A difficult time began, which Evgeny Pavlovich might not have seen: in 1988, during the Lenkom tour in Hamburg, he experienced clinical death. The heart stopped, had an operation, and immediately after it - a massive heart attack. For many weeks the actor was in a coma.
“Why did your heart give in: the time has come, or is your profession nervous? I believe that a person does not wear out from creativity - from fate. Because constantly fighting for the spot under the sun. Right to the field. I was already in the next world. And if not for the Germans ... They performed the operation on me. Dear. And they didn't take the money. Yes, I did not have them. The son was there all this time and talked to the corpse. The doctor told him: you call him here, back, if he hears you, he will return. Andryusha sang to me, ”Leonov told reporters.
Leonov heard and returned. And six months later he took the stage in a new production of "Memorial Prayer", playing the main role of Tevye the milkman. Evgeny Pavlovich was very fond of this work and considered the play an answer to many questions.
“In our time of national strife, the ideas that are put forward should not pay off with hatred, which burns the heart of a child, which can suddenly trample on a mother, father. This is an avalanche of moods displeasing to God. Maybe you need a little time? Maybe everything is not necessary so hastily, so that with blood, with hatred? Still humanly - is it possible? I believe - I don't believe, it doesn't matter. All the same, God must be: for someone in heaven, for someone in his heart. To prevent you from hitting the dog, putting your child in a shelter, forgetting your parents. It was impossible some years ago ... In Moscow tea-drinking, where, greeting each other, they took off their hats and went to visit each other ... ", - said the atrist.
On January 29, 1994, Evgeny Pavlovich was going to the theater. In the evening they gave a "Memorial Prayer". But the audience did not see Tevye in his performance that evening. At home, a blood clot came off the actor - and in an instant, Evgeny Pavlovich died. True, no one began to hand over tickets, and a crowd gathered at the theater building with lighted candles: this is how people said goodbye to the departed idol.
