Which of the fans of Soviet cinema does not remember the good-natured, cheerful, slightly rustic and never discouraged Savva Ignatievich from the film “Pokrovsky Gates”? This is mainly the older generation, who lived surrounded by teleclassics. Viewers - representatives of the generation of the 70s-80s - adore him in the trilogy of Svetlana Druzhinina about midshipmen. In total, this amazing person played about 50 roles.
Most of the images of this actor are cute, cute, healthy mattresses. But, despite the fact that he had an inexhaustible comic talent, he also had male lyrical charm. And this is all about him, about one of the handsome men of the twentieth century in the cinema of the Soviet Union, about a man who radiated strength, nobility and courage. So, Victor Bortsov, an actor who embodied the pride and glory of the Maly Theater.
Childhood
The future People's Artist of the RSFSR was born on June 14, 1934 in the city of Orenburg. He grew up in the most ordinary Soviet family, in which the correct upbringing of children was encouraged, instilling in them moral standards and responsibility.
He studied well at school, but at the same time he liked to play pranks, breaking glass in the windows. During these years he studied in a drama club. It happened that he was so carried away by the role that on the way to school, constantly repeating the text to himself, he missed his studies, because he was in art with all his thoughts.
The continuity of generations
After leaving school, without leaving a thought about the stage and backstage, Viktor Bortsov enters the Shchukin school, and immediately, the first time. This course brought together under its wing very talented children - Yuri Solomin, Alexey Eibozhenko, Roman Filippov. And they were taught by Vera Pashennaya herself - one of the most famous Russian actresses who has played in the Maly Theater since 1907. Thus, Bortsov was the brainchild of the giants of the Russian school, formed before the revolution.
As a student and speaking on the stage of Ostrovsky’s House, he was able not only to express directly the essence of the image proposed to him, but also added very bright and interesting properties and qualities of his own personality to each character played. He enriched each character with colors of personal addiction.
His theatrical work
Even among the actor’s very early works in the theater, there are many clearly successful ones: Shvandya in Lubov Yarovoy, Peter in Les, Valerian in Before Dinner ... Victor Bortsov, photo which very often appeared on the pages of magazines of the Soviet era, was an actor with unique creative abilities. In each of his many works, he exclusively creatively revealed the most typical features of a Russian national character with its breadth, scale, but at the same time, with kindness of heart, captivating purity and naivety, touching lyricism and straightforwardness, which could easily disarm.
It is impossible not to mention that from the very moment when Viktor Andreyevich crossed the threshold of the Maly Theater, the latter got the opportunity to show on his stage a large number of Ostrovsky's works, because Victor Bortsov was the best performer of the "island" repertoire. Lynyaev, Bruskov, Potrokhov, Goretsky, Dosuzhev, Akhov - they all received a long life thanks to him.
Cinema, cinema, cinema ...
With famous directors - Igor Ilyinsky, Leonid Kheifets, Pyotr Fomenko - an actor named Victor Bortsov was lucky to work. His biography does not end with magnificent theatrical works. He is one of the most popular and beloved viewers of film artists. Many of his films have occupied their niche in the treasury of Soviet cinema - “The First Trolleybus”, “The Lady's Visit”, “Walking through the Agony”, “And Aniskin Again” ...
Nevertheless, the actor’s calling card is the amazing Savva Ignatievich. Later he recalled: despite his many years of friendship with Mikhail Kozakov, the second director of the film brought him to this film. A huge number of famous actors have been tried for this role, but it was thanks to Viktor Bortsov that instead of the front-line joker set as the script turned out to be a touching and kind character.
It was easy for him to act, because he grew up in a similar courtyard. Therefore, the actor suggested to Kozakov what it is better to put on Savva, what kind of mustache he should come up with, what kind of gait he should have, and so on. But the actor did not really like to remember this film, - he became boring. Indeed, in almost every interview a couple of questions are about the Pokrovsky Gate. And then, in 1982, during the filming, Kozakov allowed the actors to review the footage and all the duplicates, so the effect of "overeating" occurred.
In the famous "Midshipmen" Victor Bortsov, whose biography is still of interest to fans of his talent, played Gavril, the wise servant of Nikita Olenev. In the film, he cooks ointments, sells them with success, and often helps out money to his young master. Especially for the role of Wrestlers, he went to the doctors and learned phrases from them in Latin. The actor regretted that many interesting scenes with his participation were cut out during installation.
A family
One cannot but mention another important aspect of life. Recent years, Victor Bortsov lived with his second wife. The family consisted of two people - himself and his wife. From his first marriage, the actor had a daughter Olya, whom he always helped as he could. He loved to lie on the couch and watch political programs on TV. Sometimes I reviewed the tapes with performances. He believed that he had already lived his life. But he lived, doing his favorite thing, which not everyone succeeds in. And he only regretted that he played very little comedic roles.
In recent years, Viktor Bortsov has been very ill. Everyone hoped that this would not be for long, and he would soon recover again for work. But, unfortunately, this did not happen. The actor died on May 20, 2008 in Moscow.