Why negative characters were the favorite role of one of the most talented actors in Soviet cinema: Bogdan Stupka

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

Not many people's artists of the USSR have had the honor of being recognized and respected throughout the world. Ukrainian to actor Bogdan Silvestrovich Stupka in this he was deservedly lucky - he was one of those whom American film critics put on a par with such celebrities as De Niro, Al Pacino and Anthony Hopkins. He really was inimitable in the theater, great in cinematography, flawless in voice acting and good even in advertising. He was happy in love and his family. He succeeded in everything that was conceived by him … He could not overcome only the disease that crippled his vitality.

He is called the man of the era, which has become a symbol of Soviet cinema. By his roles, one can study history and get to know Ukraine. On account of his many roles, ranging from Shakespeare's King Lear and ending with the Master Bulgakov. He is a genius and original artist with the gift of reincarnation, an outstanding cultural figure, an outstanding talent, the sincerity of which made him a favorite of the public. During his life, Bogdan Silvestrovich played over a hundred roles in films, and also created more than a hundred characters on the stage of the theater, showing himself to be an actor who was subject to any images.

For his long film career, Stupka was awarded 15 awards and prizes, including "Nika" and three "Golden Eagles". And in 2004, the European Film Academy nominated the actor for the main prize.

Stupka was a member of the Union of Cinematographers of Ukraine, and the European Film Academy, an academician of the Ukrainian and Russian Academy of Cinematic Arts, and the Minister of Culture and Art of Ukraine, and the president of several film festivals. Until his very last day, he remained the artistic director of the Theater. I. Franko. And, what can we say about the many state awards and prizes … During his lifetime, the actor was recognized as the national hero of Ukraine, and in the rating of great Ukrainians, the name of Bogdan Stupka is in 47th place. And this, believe me, also speaks volumes.

Turning the pages of the biography of the great actor

Bohdan Stupka was born in August 1941 in a small village in the vicinity of Lviv. At the end of the war, in 1948, the family moved to Lviv. From an early age, the future actor literally absorbed the atmosphere of the theatrical stage, as he spent all his childhood behind the scenes. His father, Sylvester Dmitrievich Stupka, was a chorus player of the Lviv Opera House, his own maternal uncle performed the solo there, and his aunt worked as the chief accompanist. Growing up behind the scenes of the theater, he saw many outstanding singers of the post-war period, in particular Ivan Kozlovsky and Sergei Lemeshev. Such a creative atmosphere could not but leave its mark on the formation of young Bogdan's acting abilities.

However, after graduating from school, the young man decided to get not an acting profession at all. He applied to the Polytechnic Institute for the Faculty of Chemistry. Having failed the exams, he worked as a mechanic in a workshop, a photographer at an astronomical laboratory. He also worked as an entertainer in the Medicus youth jazz ensemble. And once, having made sure that the audience accepted his performances well, Stupka realized that fate could not escape, and, finally, firmly decided to become an actor.

Bogdan Silvestrovich entered the drama studio at the Lviv Drama Theater and already in 1961 became a member of the acting troupe. For almost 17 years, until 1978, he appeared on the stage of this theater. And having moved to the capital, he continued to work already on the stage of the Ivan Franko Kiev Academic Theater, to which he gave more than 30 years of his life.

Family is a reliable rear of the actor

Looking ahead, I would like to say that Bogdan Stupka lived in peace and harmony with his wife Larisa Kornienko for about 45 years. It was she who was, the only love of his whole life, a reliable rear, the inspirer and guardian of their home. This amazing couple brought up a dynasty of Ukrainian actors - the son of Ostap and the grandson of Dmitry Stupka.

Larisa Semyonovna Kornienko was born and raised in Baku. After graduating from the Choreographic School, as a 21-year-old girl, she came to work at the Lviv Opera House. In Lviv, a meeting of an aspiring ballerina and a 22-year-old aspiring actor of the Zankovetska City Drama Theater took place. Four years later, the young people registered their marriage and gave birth to their only son, Ostap.

The family lived together, sharing both joys and sorrows. Household chores, of course, fell on the shoulders of Larisa, who managed to combine work in the theater with taking care of the family, while being successful everywhere. In their house there were never any excesses either in everyday life or in food. Stupka was never picky, he completely trusted the taste and choice of his wife - from clothes to the choice of a vacation trip. And the head of the family himself played on stage for two dozen performances a month, often left for the shooting.

When giving an interview, the actor assessed his family relations as follows:

Despite being very busy, Bogdan Silvestrovich believed that in a person's life there is nothing more important than a family, therefore, more than once he argued that his main legacy was not roles at all. The most important thing that he will leave behind is a new generation of talented artists. He taught his son and grandchildren, who followed in his footsteps, to be not only actors, but, first of all, people. And when the family was replenished with grandchildren, he liked to joke that the Stupok clan was growing.

Bogdan Stupka and cinema

Stupka became an actor at the age of 29, making his debut in the film "White Bird with a Black Mark" by Yuri Ilyenko, in which the actor got the role due to a scandalous situation. The script for the film was written jointly by director Ilyenko and actor Ivan Mykolaichuk, who was supposed to enter the image of the Ukrainian nationalist Orest Zvonar. But then, unexpectedly, censorship forbade Mikolaichuk to play this role. At that time, the artist was quite famous and the Soviet authorities, suspecting the actor of "nationalism", decided not to provoke the viewer in order to avoid the popularization of that very "nationalism". Thus, the role was given to a little-known theater actor Bogdan Stupka.

So then it happened … At the beginning of his film career, Stupka almost always got negative roles. However, it was these roles that appealed to him himself. He repeatedly noted, speaking about the characters of party workers and other feigned goodies:

After the role of Orest Zvonar in the drama "White Bird with a Black Mark", Bogdan Stupka became a demanded actor, who was often invited to the "big cinema". Now, watching modern films with the participation of Bogdan Stupka, it is difficult to believe that the first role in the cinema was given to him very difficult. As Stupka himself later said, it was very difficult for him to switch from a theatrical actor to a movie character:. Emotions were also difficult. In the theater, Bogdan Stupka was used to showing emotions exaggeratedly, while in front of the cameras it was necessary to play more restrained and natural. However, the great actor soon coped with this.

In his filmography you can see pictures of a wide variety of genres. So at the age of 67, Stupka decided to star in the erotic melodrama "Sappho", where he played the role of a Russian archaeologist who came with his daughter to the Greek island of Lesbos.

However, the actor showed himself to the greatest extent in the historical genre. Here is a small list of historical figures played by the actor: Hetman Ivan Bryukhovetsky ("Black Council"), Ivan Mazepa ("Prayer for Hetman Mazepa"), Bogdan Khmelnitsky ("With Fire and Sword"), as well as Genghis Khan ("The Secret of Genghis Khan") … However, for many, he remained a powerful and strong Taras Bulba in a stunning the film by Vladimir Bortko "Taras Bulba" (2009), where Stupka played the main role.

Read more about this historical epic. in the next review.

Bogdan Stupka and politics

In 1999, Bogdan Silvestrovich found himself in big politics, becoming the Minister of Culture of Ukraine. However, he headed the ministry for a short time. Two years later, he left this post. After his death, the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine announced that the history of the national theater and cinema was divided into two eras: before and after Stupka.

As the actor himself admitted, this position was a burden to him, as he realized that politics is the dirtiest game that has captured the minds of mankind. Therefore, Stupka decided to return to the theater. In 2001, he became the artistic director of the Ivan Franko National Academic Drama Theater, and remained in this post for more than 10 years.

Generic connection

The actor had a strong bond with his mother. It was to her wise advice that he listened throughout his life. They were even born with her on the same day - August 27. Before his death, when he felt that his vitality was leaving him, he said that he wanted to die on the very day his mother died - July 23. Until this date, Mortar did not last only a day …

The life of Bogdan Silvestrovich was cut short a month before his 71st birthday at the Feofania clinic in the capital from a heart attack, where he had been struggling with oncology for a long time.

The legend of cinema and theater - Bogdan Stupka was a happy person not because of his great popularity, but because he had been doing what he loved all his life and received universal recognition and fame for this. He called himself "Actor Akterych" and loved when Bodya, Stupochka or Sylvester Stalonovy addressed him on the set. It is enough to name his name now - and everyone, even people far from art, knows who they are talking about … So it was during the life of the great Master.

Continuing the theme of the great actors of our time, read: Reliable rear of the actor Anatoly Kotenev: 30 years on the roads of life with his beloved woman.