Victor Pavlovich Govorov is a character in the cult domestic detective series Gangster Petersburg, a crime boss named Antibiotic, played by People’s Artist of Russia Lev Borisov. In this article we will talk about the actor himself and about one of his most famous characters.
Actor Biography
Prior to the role of Viktor Pavlovich Govorov in Gangster Petersburg, Borisov had several dozens of roles in film and theater. He was born in the small town of Ples in 1933. His brother Oleg was also an actor and in 1978 received the title of People's Artist of the USSR.
Lev Borisovich in 1956 graduated from the Schukin School. He worked in the theater studio of a film actor, then in the drama theater at Spartakovskaya, the Ostrovsky Theater, the Moscow Drama Theater named after Stanislavsky, and the Yermolova Theater Center.
In the last years of his life he played in the entreprise "Alien wife and husband under the bed" with his daughter from his second marriage, Nadezhda.
In November 2011, Borisov died in the intensive care unit of the Botkin hospital after a stroke. He was 77 years old. The actor was buried at the Troekurovsky cemetery.
Filming a movie
In the movie, Lev Borisov made his debut in 1954 in the drama of Tatyana Lukashevich "Certificate of Maturity".
Among his notable works on the big screen, one should mention the drama by Alexander Zarha “Height”, the comedy by Mark Zakharov “Twelve Chairs”, the melodrama by Leonid Maryagin “Citizen Nikanorov is waiting for you”, the detective Eldor Urazbaev “Visit to the Minotaur”.
In the 90s, Borisov remained a sought-after actor. Among his most striking works are filming in Nikolai Dostal’s comedy Cloud of Paradise, Vladimir Menshov’s farce “Shirley-myrli”, Valery Lonsky’s crime comedy “Barkhanov and his bodyguard”, Nikolai Solovtsov’s adventure drama “The Whole Wolf”, and the multi-part military drama Nikolai Dostal The Shtrafbat.
His last role was the role of the dog breeder at the tyrant station in Dolgoprudny Viktor Timofeevich Zarubin in the Russian-Ukrainian detective series Nikolai Khomeriki "Dragon Syndrome".
The role of criminal authority
The role of the Antibiotic for Lev Ivanovich Borisov became most noticeable in the 90s. This film was released in the form of several mini-series. Its creator is Vladimir Bortko.
The 5-part painting "Gangster Petersburg. Baron" was released in 2000. Now you know who in this tape plays the criminal authority of Viktor Pavlovich Govorov (Antibiotic). The actor played a thief in law, having influence in police circles. He orders one of the heads of the anti-crime department to find the missing painting by Rembrandt, which was stolen by a recidivist nicknamed Baron from an antiquary’s apartment.
This is the plot of the first film, in which Viktor Pavlovich Govorov becomes one of the key characters.
In total, 7 mini-series were released on the screens under the general name "Gangster Petersburg", in which through main characters acted.
"Lawyer"
The second part of the detective saga was called "Gangster Petersburg. Lawyer."
In it, Antibiotic Viktor Pavlovich Govorov confronts the senior investigator of the prosecutor’s office, Sergey Chelishchev, who in the next episodes becomes a lawyer and introduces himself into criminal structures in order to avenge the brutal murder of his parents.
Third film
In 2001, the mini-series "Gangster Petersburg 3. The Collapse of the Antibiotic" was released. It is based on the novels by Andrei Konstantinov "The inventor" and "The writer."
In this film, Victor Pavlovich Govorov becomes the main character. The plot is based on the fact that the journalist Andrei Seregin decides to take revenge on the thief in law for the death of Chelishchev. He collects documents for Govorov, negotiates with the police authorities to put him in jail.
However, the antibiotic orders to kidnap the journalist and brutally beat him in the garage. However, at the last moment Govorov is still detained along with his closest assistants. In the film "Gangster Petersburg 3. The Collapse of the Antibiotic" the character of Lev Borisov is behind bars, having received what he deserves.
The antibiotic also appears in films from the Gangster Petersburg series under the names “Arrester” and “Journalist”.
Prototype
The biography of the Antibiotic, Viktor Pavlovich Govorov, is based on the fates of several domestic criminal authorities. According to the creators of the series, the main prototype was the metropolitan thief in law, who was nicknamed Antibiotic.
In general, it was a collective image in which you can find the features of St. Petersburg businessman Vladimir Barsukov (Kumarin), Vyacheslav Kirpichev, Victor Gavrilenkov.
It is interesting that Kumarin himself presented information about the majority of these authorities to the writer Andrei Konstantinov.
Lev Borisov admitted in an interview that the main prototype of the criminal king of St. Petersburg was the leader of the so-called Tambov criminal gang Vladimir Kumarin.
Borisov admitted that he had personally met with him, and after the release of Gangster Petersburg, he even thanked him for his vivid image of a criminal authority. The actor noted that for him it was the highest praise, as it came from the lips of a man whom Lev Ivanovich himself called a professional. Besides Kum, Kumarin had such a nickname, at the end of the conversation guaranteed Borisov any help if he ever needed it.
Who is coumarin?
The main prototype of the Antibiotic from the Gangster Petersburg series was the leader of the Tambovskaya organized crime group operating in St. Petersburg, Vladimir Barsukov.
He was born in the Tambov region in 1956. He studied at the Leningrad Institute of Optics and Precision Mechanics, but left him. He began to work as a doorman in a restaurant, eventually became a bartender. In 1985, he received his first criminal record for false documents and cartridges that were found in his apartment.
In 1987 he was released ahead of schedule. Once at large, he began to assemble a brigade of natives of the Tambov region.
Already in 1989, he arranged one of the very first in the history of criminal Russia showdowns against Malyshevsky organized crime groups. After that, 72 of his supporters were arrested, he was put on the wanted list and detained in 1990.
Vivid reports of Alexander Nevzorov brought him fame. Kumarin himself noted that for them it was a wonderful advertisement, since everyone wanted to be in the ranks of the Tambovites.
In 1993, he was released, but the next year he suffered an assassination attempt. He survived, but lost his arm.
In 1996, he took the name of his mother (Barsukov), became an entrepreneur in St. Petersburg. In the late 90s, he even served as vice president of the Petersburg Fuel Company.
In 2012, he was convicted of extortion and sentenced to 15 years in prison. Accused of attempting to co-own an oil company, he was acquitted by a jury. In 2014, Mikhail Glushchenko, accused of the murder of Galina Starovoitova, called Barsukov the customer of the murder.
In 2018, a new process began on the creation of a criminal community.