What trials fell in real life to Budulai's son from the cult film "Gypsy": Alexey Nikulnikov

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

More than 40 years have passed since the release of "Gypsy", and viewers are still happy to watch the film and remember the actors who starred in it. For Alexei Nikulnikov, the role of Vanya, the son of Budulai, became a debut and truly stellar. It seemed that for the young actor, who had started his film career so brightly, the doors of all film studios in the country would be open in the future. But fate did not spoil Alexei Nikulnikov at all. He had a chance to survive oblivion in the profession, the death of his son and wife. And go through many more trials.

Complex nature

He was born in the city of Shakhty, Rostov Region, in a simple family. Mom served in a design organization, my father was a miner. And little Alyosha dreamed of learning to play the violin. True, the violin was never bought for him, since there was simply no one to carry him to a music school located in another part of the city. But his father took him to the Palace of Pioneers and gave him to sail. The future actor chose this sport for two reasons. Firstly, he loved the movie "Amphibian Man", and secondly, after he almost drowned at the age of seven, he dreamed of conquering the water element.

During his school years, Alexei Nikulnikov brought a lot of trouble to both parents and teachers. The boy's behavior caused many complaints, although in his studies he was one of the best in the class. I left an imprint on the guy and the divorce of his parents. At the same time, he categorically refused to live with his mother, having made the decision to stay with his father at the age of 12. His motives at that moment were very simple: my mother had a new family, she was not alone, but his father alone would have had a hard time.

Alexey later, when his father began to kiss the bottle more and more often, insisted on his moving to his sisters in a village in the Kuban. Thanks to him, the father found himself in the village and even met a woman he fell in love with. Alexei did not forget about his mother either, he came to her on vacation.

After the eighth grade, the guy entered the theater department of the art school in Rostov-on-Don. It was there, at the school, that the second director of the film "Gypsy" saw Alexei Nikulnikov and invited him to audition. When Alexei Nikulnikov was approved for the role of Ivan, he almost lost the opportunity to receive a diploma, as the director insisted on his expulsion. But, fortunately, the teacher and classmates were able to defend his right to graduate from college.

The tragedy that turned life

During the filming, Alexey Nikulnikov made friends with many actors, but he had a really close relationship with Klara Luchko. The actress advised Alexei to go to VGIK and even made him patronage, persuading Yevgeny Matveyev to take the guy on the course. But the young actor did not use connections, but entered the Moscow Art Theater School on his own.

The glory that fell on Alexei after the release of "Gypsy" on the screens, rather weighed down the young man. He was embarrassed, blushed and did not know how to react when he was recognized on the street.

Back in Rostov, Alexei Nikulnikov met Olga, his first wife. Together with him, the girl moved to Moscow, entered the pedagogical. Together they rented an apartment in the suburbs, supported each other as best they could. In 1984, Alexey graduated from the Moscow Art Theater School, but for a long time he could not get a job at the theater without a Moscow residence permit. Fortunately, filming of "The Return of Budulai" soon began, otherwise the young family would have had a hard time. Moreover, at the same time, in 1984, the son of Alexei and Olga, Boris, was born.

After the divorce from his wife, the actor still took part in the life of his son, met him from school and after training. The boy was only 10 when a tragedy struck: he was hit by an electric train. Doctors fought for Boris's life for two weeks, but they could not save him. The ex-wife of Alexei then took the tonsure and became a nun, and the actor himself could not cope with his grief for a long time. It seemed that he simply did not see the meaning in life: there is no son, he lives in a rented apartment, receives a meager salary at the theater "Near Stanislavsky's House" and has no prospects.

Perhaps that is why he accepted a friend's offer to move to New Zealand.

Find yourself

There, in New Zealand, he worked on construction sites, cleaned offices, delivered food in the evenings, even went on a ship off the coast of Antarctica for three months, was engaged in fish cutting. Hard physical work helped him to sort out himself and his own thoughts. He began to go to the Orthodox Church, met the priest, began to sing in the church choir, and communicate with new people. And gradually I found peace of mind.

Later he became a presenter on New Zealand radio, broadcasting for the Russian-speaking diaspora. At this time, he wrote poems and songs, even composed a solo performance of them, which he performed, gathering an audience of about two hundred people. But all this time he knew for sure that someday he would return to Russia. He actually returned to Moscow two years later, in 1997.

In the capital, Alexei Nikulnikov began to give concerts as a bard, then he was again invited to the theater "Near Stanislavsky's House", and gradually he returned to the cinema.

In 2006, the actor married for the second time, having met the vice-president of the festival, Elena Avvakumova, at Amur Autumn. Unfortunately, the happiness of Alexei Nikulnikov was not too long: in 2016, the actor's wife died of cancer.

He had to get used to being alone again. This time Aleksey Alekseevich was saved by work. From the poems and songs of the actor, first a one and a half hour solo performance turned out, and after that - a full-fledged production in which the author's works are performed by himself and other actors.

Alexey Nikulnikov, despite all the trials that fell to his lot, did not stop loving life. He continues to write poetry, participates in theatrical performances, accepts infrequent proposals from directors for filming in films and serials, collaborates with the Orthodox TV channel "Spas". He is grateful to fate that she gave him many vivid meetings with wonderful people and endowed him with the gift of transmitting his feelings through word and music.

The fate of Mihai Volontir, who played Budulai in Gypsy, was not easy. In Soviet times, the image of a gypsy captured the hearts of millions of women. The actor received thousands of letters, some of which were signed very simply: “Kino. I'm going to. And Budulay was happily married for a long time, raised a daughter, made a lot of films and played in the theater. But in the last years of his life, Mihai Volontir suddenly became a recluse.