Vladimir Mashkov - 57: What fans of the famous artist don't know about

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

On November 27, one of the most famous and sought-after Russian actors and directors, artistic director of the Oleg Tabakov Theater, multiple winner of numerous theater and film awards, People's Artist of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Mashkov, celebrates his 57th birthday. His popularity today can be called nationwide, but at the same time he remains a rather closed person. Why no one knows Mashkov's second name, how he became a Catholic, what connects him with Italy, why the actor mastered the profession of a machinist and other little-known facts - further in the review.

Many pay attention to the stormy temperament, spectacular appearance and charisma of Vladimir Mashkov. This can probably be explained by his Italian roots: hot southern blood was passed on to Vladimir from his maternal grandmother, who was a Swiss Italian. A few years before the revolution, she came to Russia to work as a governess, married a Russian and stayed to live in his homeland. Her daughter Natalya Nikiforova, married to Lev Mashkov, gave birth to a son, whom she decided to give the first Russian name and the second European. Thus, at birth, he was named Vladimir Leon Mashkov. His mother was a Catholic, and Vladimir himself professes Catholicism. When he lived for some time in Lviv, he became very interested in this religion and even studied at a Catholic school.

Vladimir inherited his hobby for theater from his parents: his mother was a director in a puppet theater, and his father was an actor. For the first time he appeared on stage during his school years, when he was engaged in a drama circle. Parents sometimes attracted him to performances in their theater, and in the summer he went on tour with them - he worked as a stage editor and set the scenery. Mashkov believed that his parents equally influenced his choice of profession - he tried his hand both as an actor and as a director, making the films "Kazan Orphan" and "Daddy" and preparing several performances. However, he considers himself primarily an actor - it is difficult for him to sit in one place, at the monitor, which is required of the director.

The actor calls Oleg Tabakov his father in the profession. Before Mashkov became a student of his course, he managed to study for one year at the Faculty of Biology of Novosibirsk University, "flying out" for a fight from the Novosibirsk Theater School. For the same reason, he was expelled from the course of Mikhail Tarkhanov at the Moscow Art Theater School. And in VGIK he was not accepted because of his "non-cinematographic appearance": the commission was embarrassed by his long hair, close-set eyes, tracksuit and gold fixation on his front tooth. In this form, he looked more like a criminal who had been behind bars, besides, everyone knew about his reputation as a rude and rowdy man.

For many teachers of the Moscow Art Theater School, it was a complete surprise when Oleg Tabakov took him on his course and entrusted him with roles in his theater. In addition to professional lessons, he taught him “everyday” ones: he taught him to control anger and restrain emotions. Today Mashkov says: "".

On the actor's neck, you can often see two royal gold pieces, with which he part only during filming. He received one of them as a gift from Oleg Tabakov, and the second from Denis Evstigneev, the son of the famous actor Evgeny Evstigneev, to whom this chervonets used to belong. Mashkov considers these coins to be his talismans.

Some actors categorically refuse to play the roles of negative characters so that the audience does not identify them with them. And Mashkov, on the contrary, always takes on such roles with pleasure. He claims that he himself is not perfect, and besides, such a hero gives more creative freedom. "" - says the actor.

Preparing for a role for him is a very serious and laborious process. Mashkov not only gets used to the image, but also tries to master the profession of his character. So, on the set of the film "The Copper Sun" he learned to conduct, on the set of "Kandahar" - to operate the plane, and in order to play a machinist in the film "Edge", Mashkov learned to drive steam locomotives for 9 months and received a driver's license. This was dictated not only by the role - the actor's grandfather was a machinist, and Mashkov believed that the interest in this profession was passed on to him. He prefers to perform all the tricks on the set on his own, which is why he risked his health and even his life more than once. Director Alexei Uchitel told how one day Mashkov almost drowned, and then in just a couple of minutes he came to his senses and continued to work as if nothing had happened.

If his characters have prototypes, Mashkov tries to get as much information as possible about these people before filming. Thanks to this, such a rapprochement occurs that, as they say, it is not the actor who plays the role, but the actor plays the role. This happened on the set of the film "Moving Up", where Mashkov played the coach of the USSR national basketball team. The prototype of his hero was the famous basketball coach Vladimir Kondrashin. In one of the episodes, the character of Mashkov had to throw the ball into the basket, while the goal was not necessarily to get into it. From the very first take, the actor got into the ring. Later he said that he did not even remember how he did it, as if it was not his hand, but the hand of Kondrashin himself. Mashkov admits that he always tries to understand and feel his hero. Therefore, each of the roles leaves a mark on the soul and, according to the actor, influences his fate.

He is often referred to as one of the most attractive actors and the man that no woman can resist. He often has to act in bed scenes, but in fact Mashkov hates this occupation. On this occasion, he says: ""

In 2018, Vladimir Mashkov headed the Oleg Tabakov Theater after his teacher passed away. Today he devotes all his time to the theater, announcing a temporary pause in his film career in 2019. We can only hope that this pause will not be too long, because every appearance of Vladimir Mashkov on the screens is a real holiday for the audience!

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