Because of what the best Santa Claus of the country and the star of Soviet cinema Nikolai Merzlikin left too early

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

In the filmography of this actor - more than 80 works, in the 1960-1970s. he was called one of the most beautiful and sought-after actors in Soviet cinema. But he did not play his most remarkable role on the set: for 20 years, Nikolai Merzlikin remained the country's main Santa Claus on New Year's holidays at the Olimpiyskiy sports complex. In the same image, he appeared in front of the kids on January 3, 2007, not knowing that this performance would be the last in his life …

None of his relatives could even think that Nikolai would become an actor - he was born into a large peasant family, in the village of Sartynya, Tyumen region. He had 3 older sisters, and when the boy was finally born on April 1, 1945, his father celebrated this long-awaited event for so long that he got to the regional center for the paperwork for the newborn only on April 20. They wrote down the approximate date of birth - April 16. Since then, Nikolai Merzlikin celebrated his birthday twice a year.

Nikolai told about his childhood: "". In total, there were six children in the family, Nikolai was the eldest son, and therefore from childhood he was the main assistant to his father. When he was 10 years old, they moved to the Urals, where the boy helped his father build a house. But his most vivid impression of life in the Urals was the acquisition of a button accordion, on which he learned to play, and then worked as an accordion player in a pioneer camp.

After leaving school, Nikolai left for Sverdlovsk, where he entered the medical institute, but studied there for only a year. Realizing that he really only dreamed of performing in front of people, Merzlikin set off to storm the capital's theater schools. He was admitted to GITIS, but for the first time he appeared on the screens thanks to … his service in the army! When Nikolai served as a signalman, the director of the film "Early in the morning" drew attention to him. This is how the director Tatyana Lioznova presented the main character of her melodrama about the orphan, Alyosha, who remained after his parents left with his little sister in his arms.

This film was watched by more than 17 million viewers in 1966, and the first popularity came to the debutant. The highest rating for his debut work for Merzlikin was the reaction of his mother. When she first saw her son on the cinema screen, she so believed his hero, who said that he would not give her sister to an orphanage and would raise her himself, she jumped up and declared to the whole audience: “”. While serving in the army, Nikolai Merzlikin starred in two more films - "The Man I Love" and "Zosia". The command freely let him go to the shooting, being proud of the successes of such a talented "fighter". The chief reported that the soldiers of his unit were "".

During his entire career, Nikolai Merzlikin played about 80 roles in films, among which were the main roles in the films "Severe Kilometers", "Passing through Moscow …", "The Strongest", "Without the Right to Make a Mistake", "Bouquet of Violets" and etc. In addition to acting education, Nikolai also had a director's education, which he received at the Kiev Theater Institute. In the same place, in Kiev, he was the director of the local Youth Theater, the chief director of the Theater-Studio of Film Actor at the Film Studio named after I. A. Dovzhenko, chief director of the Kiev Youth Theater.

During the restructuring of roles, they were offered less and less, and in the cinema and theater of modern times, Merzlikin did not see a place for himself. He considered himself an "old school artist", about which he said: "".

The handsome actor always had many admirers, but all his life he lived in marriage with the only woman with whom, according to him, they "met in the evening and got married the next day." The couple had a daughter, Ksenia. Nikolai Merzlikin treasured his home and family comfort very much, about which he said: "".

And in the changed world, Nikolai Merzlikin was able to find something to his liking, which brought him great joy - he played Santa Claus at New Year's performances in the Olympic sports complex. The actor was a real handsome man - tall (almost 2 meters!), Stately, with a loud voice, he charmed both children and their parents. In this way, he appeared for 20 years, until his very last day. On January 3, 2007 Nikolai once again performed at a children's party and returned home. Suddenly he felt bad, he called an ambulance. But the doctors did not have time to save him - the actor died of a heart attack. He was only 61 years old.

At GITIS, Nikolai Merzlikin studied with another very famous actress, who early achieved success in the profession, but in her personal life she was waiting in the wings for many years: Olga Ostroumova's later happiness.