The unbelievable fate of the star of Soviet cinema fairy tales: The years of oblivion and loneliness of the Water Vodokrut and King Yagupop

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

November 1 marks the 110th anniversary of the birth of the Soviet theater and film actor, one of the most famous heroes of film fairy tales, Anatoly Kubatsky. More than one generation of viewers grew up watching these films and probably remembers him in the images of Water Vodokrut 13 from “Marya the Master”, godfather Panas from “Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka” and King Yagupop from “Kingdom of Crooked Mirrors”. But the fate of the actor himself was not much like a fairy tale: he spent his last years in the House of Film Veterans, in oblivion and loneliness.

Anatoly Kubatsky was born in 1908 in Moscow. In 1913, when the 300th anniversary of the Romanov dynasty was celebrated, Kubatsky had a chance to see the last Russian emperor: his mother and her children stood in the crowd when Nicholas II drove through Moscow streets. Before the revolution, Anatoly studied for 3 years in a parish school, during the October Revolution he ran to look at the barricades with other boys, then survived the times of famine and typhoid fever, entered a school, participated as an artilleryman in the Soviet-Finnish war, was surrounded …

He became interested in theater in his youth - his older brother participated in amateur performances, often rehearsed at home, together they drew posters, in the Kubatskys' apartment they often staged theatrical performances. Kubatsky received his theatrical education in the studio of Yuri Zavadsky, and even during his studies he starred in his first film. It was in 1928, when the actor was only 20 years old, and then he disappeared from the screens for a long time and performed only in the theater for 25 years.

Anatoly Kubatsky received his first notable film role only at the age of 45. The film "A Case in the Taiga" in 1953 helped Kubatsky to reveal his acting talent, after which he began acting in films. All-Union popularity was brought to the actor by roles in the famous movie tales of Alexander Row, in each of which he appeared in a different image, creating a whole gallery of bright fairy-tale characters: King Unilio in the film "The New Adventures of Puss in Boots", the chieftain of robbers in "Frost", godfather Panas in "Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka", Vodyanoy Vodokrut 13th in "Mary the Master", King Yagupop 77th in "The Kingdom of Crooked Mirrors", clerk Afonya in the film "Barbara Beauty, Long Braid". Throughout his creative biography, he played about 40 roles, and although most of them were episodic, viewers still remember all of his heroes.

Their collaboration with Alexander Rowe continued until the director's death. And although Kubatsky was one of his favorite actors, their relationship did not always go smoothly. Once the actor tried to categorically convince the director that he should not shoot the same actors in all his films. And in the next movie he didn't get a role! But this conflict did not put an end to their joint work, and soon Rowe again invited him to appear.

Since 1931, Anatoly Kubatsky worked on the radio and voiced cartoons, it was in his voice that the Dwarf from “The Enchanted Boy” sang: “”. Once at the stadium at the "Comrade Cinema" concert, the actor heard a loud female exclamation: "" Many spectators could say the same thing, but he was rarely recognized without makeup, and even the actor's name was little known to the general public.

All his life he remained a modest and principled person - he never asked for anything, did not remind the directors of himself, did not fight for titles and awards, rarely gave interviews, did not participate in social events. At 65, the actor retired and after that he almost stopped acting in films. Anatoly Kubatsky never hid the fact that his first place was not work, but his family. He lived with his wife for 52 years, until she passed away in 1987. Her death was a great shock for the actor. At that time, their son already had his own family, and he spent little time with his father. Kubatsky felt superfluous and decided to move to the House of Cinema Veterans. When he was almost 80 years old, he left the apartment to his son and left.

His last years could hardly be called happy and prosperous. In the House of Veterans, the actor, whom the whole country knew, felt forgotten, lonely and useless. His son rarely visited him, he had almost no friends left, there was no one to communicate with in the House of Veterans - there were no more than 20 people. In one of his last interviews, Kubatsky bitterly said: "".

In recent years, the actor lived only on memories. It was a big blow for him that when he was in the hospital, his most precious thing was stolen - a suitcase with personal belongings of his deceased wife. The police never found the guilty ones; the directorate of the House of Veterans claimed that the old man had lost him himself. These experiences completely knocked him down. December 29, 2001 Anatoly Kubatsky passed away at the age of 93. The country was preparing to celebrate the New Year, and his departure went almost unnoticed …

The life of another artist, who was also called the king of the episode, was similar. Gottlieb Roninson's 75 Years of Solitude: The Tragic Fate of a Comedian.