In Kiev there is a monument to Leonid Bykov. He personifies the memory not only of the great director and actor, but of all those who gave their lives for victory in the Great Patriotic War. Each person at least once in his life watched the film "Only the elderly go into battle," and for those who went through the war, this picture generally became especially expensive. It was she who became the embodiment of the true courage and heroism of Soviet pilots.
The monument is presented in the form of Captain Titarenko, who has just returned from battle and crouched on the edge of the cockpit of his combat flying friend. And it is installed on such a platform, around which there is a lot of free space. And looking at this composition, one gets the feeling that another plane is about to land next, returning from a long flight. And this is not the only sculpture dedicated to Leonid Fedorovich, located on the territory of Ukraine and Russia.
There is no such person whose face at the mention of the surname of such a famous person as actor Leonid Bykov would not be lit up with a bright smile. When some time passed after his unfortunate death, a film dedicated to the memory of this great man appeared in Kiev. It was called "Everyone Loved". And that really was true.
Memoirs of colleagues, friends and just those who were once near
Many liked his unusual irony and humor. Here is a kind person, but there is, it turns out, the edge of this feeling. And his kindness to people was somehow unlimited, and even in humor it was especially felt.
As many actors recall, this was a man of special talent. Famous to everyone, Vladimir Konkin, while still a boy, reviewed the paintings of his beloved idol several dozen times. And Galina Polskikh liked absolutely all the films where Leonid Fedorovich Bykov was shot. After all, looking through them, it was impossible not to notice the personality of this person behind these roles and pictures.
Raisa Nedashkovskaya in her memoirs mentions that Leonid Fedorovich Bykov was a very delicate person who possessed a subtle sense of humor. This unique and rare ability to joke often attracts people in some strange magnetic way.
The antihero in the plots and the kindest soul man behind the scenes
In art, of course, both talent and ability are important, but more importantly, who exactly works next to you. And everyone remembers this man only as a deeply honest and decent actor.
Leonid Fedorovich was a kind of antihero in his films. That is, if you recall Sylvester Stallone, then the image of Superman immediately arises, which breaks off the cliffs, constantly wages an all-consuming and endless war with mafia structures. And Leonid Bykov has always played shy and modest heroes, often even unsuccessful.
And, despite the fact that he still had excellent sports training from the institute, he was fond of playing soccer and volleyball, in his roles he looks like a kind of weak and unclean teenage boy. And yet, how much love and warm emotions his characters evoke! Of course, no super hero can afford this.
Parents who helped become a real person
If we talk about parents, it is impossible not to emphasize their special significance in the formation of Leonid as a person. Dad, mom and sister very often came to Leonid when he was already studying at the institute. They constantly had interesting conversations with him about Stalin, about the Motherland and the people.
And the parental point of view on art and on life in general, had a huge impact on the actor. He was constantly worried about the fate of colleagues unjustly expelled from the theater. Negligent, and sometimes criminal attitude to human lives and destinies on the part of our government. He saw and understood perfectly what was then in time. He could make any role talented, with a special spark and a piece of soul! But no! Then everyone lived only by order and with special permission, and sometimes even at the cost of servility. What the actor especially could not endure.
He wanted to talk with the audience on topics of concern to him and in no case lie. But life broke and destroyed all his ideals at every turn.
Reason for moving from Kharkov
Why does Leonid Bykov, whose biography was already full of significant roles in his life, decide to leave Kharkov? There are many reasons. But the brightest of them is the failed game in the film "Overcoat" according to Gogol by Batalov himself.
He was already approved for this role when the city administration cuts down the shooting due to some unforeseen production cases. And for Leonid Fedorovich it was a big blow. Especially when they pointed out to him that it was necessary to justify the titles that he was awarded. Everything that happened looked like a creative assassination of the actor and, of course, deep in his heart resentment, which after a while and made him decide to move.
Inner experiences and long quest for roles
After filming Aleshkina’s Love, Leonid Bykov, films with the participation of which are always full of special love and distinctive charisma, cannot find a suitable role for a long time. Throughout the whole year, he refused nine proposed scenarios. Playing false characters was unusual for him.
But he perfectly understood that the plan of the theater had to be fulfilled and sooner or later he would have to agree. And I wanted to find the essence! Some kind of special role that will help express myself. It’s not easy enough for actors who cannot find themselves in their profession. When filming their directors forget about them, as if they temporarily fall out of the frame.
Leonid Bykov also belonged to such personalities, whose biography is simply overflowing with facts about emotional experiences, about disagreements with the social system, with the life of cinema as a whole. But what could he do alone? To win your name, popularity and at the same time not to lose your inner self, not to waste that good and good that is inherent in nature.
Such doubts and emotional experiences undoubtedly left a definite imprint on the subsequent roles of Leonid Bykov. The path chosen was so difficult and contradictory for him. It did not work out for this person to relate more simply to all the conventions existing in those days.
The difficult and emotional period of life is now as a director
It is impossible not to express regret that Leonid Bykov played so few roles, whose filmography includes, however, more than two dozen characters. For a sufficiently long period - more than five years - he did not star in any film at all and during this period he decided to start putting on his own paintings. But the director’s path was not as cloudless as it seemed. How much torment then experienced Leonid Bykov, whose photo we can now see next to the famous and favorite films, where he already acted as a director.
Of course, with any difficulties that fall to the lot of each person, close people help to cope first of all. Parents, friends, family. The wife of Leonid Bykov is Tamara Konstantinovna, in the girlhood of Kravchenko. He met her back in the years of his studies at the Kharkov Theater Institute. She also became an actress, but, unfortunately, not as famous as her husband.
The children of Leonid Bykov - the daughter of Marian, who was born in nineteen fifty-first, and the son of Oles, born in fifty-three, were very beloved and dear to the actor. His family was the most reliable rear for him. Wherever he is: on tour, at a friendly party or on the set, - Leonid was always in a hurry to go home. It was there that it was its source for inspiration and new vitality.
Difficulties in promoting the script of the new film
How long did he promote the script “Only old men go into battle! He performed with him from the stage. It was a huge concert. The audience burst into applause, the pilots cried. With this program,“ Old men go into battle, he performed in hundreds military units, independently playing all the roles, and everywhere was a stunning success. But in the cinema it was not possible to break through.
But when Leonid Bykov, whose filmography, at last was replenished with the shot film “Only Old Men Go to Battle”, talked with his colleagues, everyone was amazed where he got so many talented actors who took part in the shootings. who walked along the corridors of the theater for a long time, forgotten and unclaimed by all. It was with the help of these people that Leonid made the picture so unforgettable and interesting to watch.
Awarding the main prize to the long-awaited picture
I would especially like to note another remarkable character trait that Leonid Bykov possessed. The biography of the actor describes in sufficient detail the event of receiving the main prize for the picture he shot. This happened in Baku at the festival, where Leonid Fedorovich could receive the most important prize. But then Vasily Shukshin would not have been awarded a single prize.
The fact is that in those days there was such a practice. Long before the awarding ceremony at the highest level, the grouting of the film, which did not like for any reason, began. The workers of the Central Committee knew in advance who exactly needed to be encouraged and whom to push into the background.
Of course, a lot of pictures participated in the competition, but it was Shukshin’s film that was wiped out. And it was a fairly firm position. They didn’t really want to give the prize to Kalina Red, that they even suggested that the Ukrainian delegation make sure that Leonid Bykov, whose photo was also among the contestants, in no way refused the main prize.
But the answer of Leonid Fedorovich was obvious. According to him, the picture he shot was just an ordinary film about the war, and Vasily Makarovich created a masterpiece that was a breakthrough into the restricted area! In that sphere, about which no one even dared to think about him. And therefore, for those tears shed by the main character of the film Shukshin, who did not have time to repent to his mother, Vasily Makarovich simply had to get the main prize.
So much Leonid Bykov films of this director and the bright cinematography talent present in them valued above their own. He could sincerely and without envy rejoice and admire other people's achievements.
"Ati-bats were soldiers ..." and the subsequent illness from overwork
The shooting of this film took place in a forty-degree frost, and Leonid Fedorovich, so absorbed in his work, often forgot about his own health. Constantly watching his actors so that they did not catch a cold, did not get sick, he himself was on the set either in the same tunic or without a hat.
With red cheeks weathered in the cold, without sparing himself, he enthusiastically continued to work on the picture, giving all the best for both his chosen role and as a director. These physical and emotional stresses to which he subjected his body for a month and a half and very difficult living conditions, all this entailed a rather deplorable result. Returning to Kiev, Leonid Fedorovich fell ill with a heart attack.
But, nevertheless, he coped with the disease and was even able to attend the Central Committee representative who, asleep throughout the picture, got up and criticized its name, dedicated to the children's room. In response, Leonid Fedorovich did not utter a word. He sat silently, clasping his head in his hands, full of emotions and unspoken emotions.
The last and unfinished film
No one expected that Leonid Bykov, whose biography was suddenly cut short for everyone, would not even have time to finish work on his last film. At nineteen seventy-eighth, he begins filming a picture called "Alien". At this time, many colleagues began to notice his special seriousness, even a certain sadness and fatigue.
But he continued to work as usual, not paying attention to his body. And so, the favorite of many viewers Leonid Fedorovich Bykov, an actor and director who starred in a huge number of films: Maxim Perepelitsa, Tamer of the Tigers, Volunteers, On the Seven Winds, Bunny and many others, died in a thousand nine hundred and seventy-nine.
No more great actor
When Leonid Fedorovich died, a large number of gossip, rumors and rumors appeared, someone said that this was a murder, others even suggested suicide. And the reason for all this was a somewhat unusual letter, which he wrote and sent shortly before his death to his friends Nikolai Mashchenko and Ivan Mikolaychuk.
In that letter, he paints his own funeral, as if anticipating a near demise. It was as if death was already so close that he could sense its presence as something tangible. In this letter, he asks to take care of the family, and also begs not to make any solemn, eulogy and insincere pompous speeches at his funeral so that there is no memorial service, and instead of the orchestra they performed his beloved and well-known song about the dark-skinned girl.
Of course, it was so unusual to bury. But how else, because the last desire was such. The death of Leonid Bykov for many was a surprise and an irreparable loss. Thousands of people cried at his funeral. And the hardest was the actors who performed the song about the dark-skinned girl. The tears running down their cheeks and still restrained emotions did not stop her from finishing it to the end, as their beloved friend, colleague and director Bykov Leonid Fedorovich asked. And then there came a great and grave silence!