Alexander Shirvindt - 86: Little-Known Facts About the Famous Artist

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

July 19 marks the 86th anniversary of the famous actor, director, screenwriter and teacher, artistic director of the Theater of Satire, People's Artist of the RSFSR Alexander Shirvindt. Viewers often identified him with legendary movie heroes and presented him as a reveler and female admirer. To some extent, he really looked like his characters, however, this was manifested in another. Why his friends called him "The Iron Mask", how he "lured" planes to Sheremetyevo, why he owed his marriage to a cow and other interesting facts - further in the review.

Alexander Shirvindt grew up in a creative atmosphere: his mother began as an actress of the Moscow Art Theater, but later changed her profession and got a job at the Moscow Philharmonic, his father was a musician, played the violin and performed in the orchestra of the Bolshoi Theater, and also taught at a music school. Prominent figures of art often gathered in their house, among whom were Leonid Utesov, Vasily Kachalov, Rostislav Plyatt, Rina Zelenaya and others. During the war, his parents performed as part of concert brigades for military units. Father wanted Alexander to become a musician too. But he, having studied at a music school for 5 years, dropped out - he was much more interested in the theater.

Shirvindt applied to several Moscow theater universities and entered the Shchukin School, after which he was invited to the Film Actor Theater. For more than 10 years he performed on the stage of Lenkom, then at the Drama Theater on Malaya Bronnaya, and in 1970 he came to the Theater of Satire, to which he gave 50 years of his life.

It is rather difficult to list all the brilliant roles of Alexander Shirvindt. Mark Zakharov said that he never fit into the framework of theatrical and cinematographic professions - he was an actor, a screenwriter, a director, a writer, a teacher, and a pop artist, and art director of the Theater of Satire, and Zakharov can only describe him in this way: "" His name has really long become synonymous with good humor and the key to the success of any project with his participation. On the set, he often improvised, and the phrases uttered by his heroes became aphorisms.

Both in the theater and in the cinema, Shirvindt was lucky with roles, and he created dozens of memorable images, but still in his creative biography there were unplayed roles that he regretted. So, the actor admitted that he always dreamed of reincarnating as Ostap Bender and even auditioned for this role with Leonid Gaidai. The director could not find the main character of his version of "The Twelve Chairs" for a long time and watched many actors, among whom were Andrei Mironov, Valentin Gaft, Evgeny Evstigneev, Spartak Mishulin and others. As a result, he opted for Archil Gomiashvili and later regretted it. On the set, they often clashed, and after the completion of the film, they did not even speak for several years. And Gaidai once told Shirvindt: ""

There was also an unplayed role in the theater, which Shirvindt told about: "".

For many years, Shirvindt's best friends were his colleagues Andrei Mironov and Mikhail Derzhavin, with whom he played on the same stage, and starred in films, and participated in "skits", and performed on the stage, and had a rest. But even in the circle of friends, he remained the same as in many films - ironic and unflappable. When everyone around was crying with laughter, on his face there was an expression of the same serenity and calmness, for which Mironov gave him the nickname "Iron Mask".

They constantly arranged practical jokes for each other, and each meeting was remembered for some new entertainment. Once Andrei Mironov and Mark Zakharov presented a rusty battery to Shirvindt for his birthday, which they had picked up in his yard. When they starred in the film Three Men in a Boat, Not including a Dog, they persuaded the divers, who were always “on duty” near the boat with the artists, to attach a huge perch, “caught” in the nearest store, to Mironov's fishing rod. Shirvindt was an inveterate fisherman, and he could not be fooled in this way, and "Dryusik", as he called his friend, was a layman in this matter. "" - laughing, said Shirvindt.

Mark Zakharov recalled: "".

Shirvindt is an avid smoker, and everyone is used to seeing him with his pipe in hand. This was not always the case - the pipe appeared after one day, more than 40 years ago, his friend brought him such a souvenir from a business trip abroad. Since then, the artist really does not part with the pipe. In his collection there are already more than 200 specimens of pipes, although he himself calls it not a collection, but a "dump".

On the screens, the actor more than once appeared in the form of an "experienced walker", a womanizer and a reveler, and the audience was sure that he and in real life had a lot in common with his characters. In fact, Shirvindt was distinguished by a rare constancy in the acting environment - he said that he "ruined the life" of only one woman, his wife Natalya Belousova, with whom he had been married for more than 50 years. At the theater, fans were always waiting for him, but the actor repeated: "".

And with his inherent irony he talked about his acquaintance with his wife: "".

Both professional and family life of Alexander Shirvindt was very successful, but he answers the question about happiness ambiguously: "".

More than one film could be made about his life: Amusing incidents from the life of Alexander Shirvindt.