Who is Stirlitz, everyone knows. For younger people, this is the hero of numerous jokes and computer games, and for the older generation, the USSR intelligence officer Maxim Isaev. On the screen, this already legendary image was embodied by the great actor Vyacheslav Tikhonov. The filmography of this man has more than a hundred paintings, but for most he was remembered precisely because of this character.
Childhood and youth
The future Stirlitz was born in 1928 in the Moscow region.
His father worked as a mechanic at the factory, and his mother worked as a teacher. Grandfather and grandmother lived with them.
He studied well at school, Tikhonov was especially good at exact sciences, such as physics and mathematics, and also loved Vyacheslav and history.
The guy was only thirteen years old when Germany attacked the USSR, the school was converted into a hospital, and Tikhonov went to school to learn the profession of a turner. After graduation, he was sent to work at a military factory, where he worked until 1944. This year, Vyacheslav entered the Automechanical Institute, but a year later he dropped out of school and submitted documents to VGIK.
At the entrance exams, a young guy who longed for becoming an actor failed, but one of the teachers noticed a talented young man and, contrary to his estimates, took Tikhonov to his course.
The first movie roles, filmography of the 40-50s
Talent, as well as excellent external data of the actor helped him to make his film debut while studying at VGIK. And even if his character (Vladimir Osmukhin) was not the main one, the very participation in such a famous film as “The Young Guard” was already a success.
After graduating from school and getting a job at the Theater Studio of a film actor, Vyacheslav Tikhonov became quite in demand in the cinema. Unfortunately, at that time, most directors saw in a young handsome artist, first of all, a suitable type of nobleman, intellectual or student. Therefore, the actor had to play the same type of characters.
Despite similar roles, in the 40-50s, the actor managed to establish himself well and fall in love with the audience, so many already knew who Vyacheslav Tikhonov was.
The filmography of the artist during this period totals as many as five roles for sailors (films “In Peaceful Days”, “Maxim”, “Stars on Wings”, “Emergency. Emergency Incident”) and three military men (“Heart beats again ...”, “Thirst” "," May Stars ").
Among the same type of characters of this period, the most striking were the sailor Victor Raysky from "state of emergency. Extraordinary incident "and tractor driver Matvey Morozov from" It was in Penkov. " The restless rural Buyan Morozov, who, being married, falls in love with another and changes for the better, brought the actor the love of the audience.
In addition, in this film, the actor got a chance to show his vocal abilities by singing the song “You can’t hide from the people in the village”, which, along with other sounds in the film, instantly became a hit of that time.
It is noteworthy that in the film of that period, "Thirst" Tikhonov first played the role of a scout in the German rear.
Tikhonov Vyacheslav Vasilievich: biography, filmography in the 60s
In the sixties, Vyacheslav Tikhonov became already quite well-known to the audience and loved by the directors, in particular Stanislav Rostotsky, who shot the actor in many of his films, starting with “It Was in Penkov”. Often Rostotsky allowed Vyacheslav Tikhonov to perform songs in his paintings (“On the Seven Winds”, “Let's Live Until Monday”).
Back in the fifties, everyone noticed that the actor looks great in military uniform. Therefore, in the first half of the sixties, almost all the films in which Vyacheslav Tikhonov was shot (the filmography of the actor in these years already has five military roles, including Andrei Bolkonsky in War and Peace, 1965-1967), these were films about military operations.
Despite the fact that the directors brutally exploited the character of the military, which was fixed for Tikhonov, his characters become more different than in the fifties. This is the midshipman, who became a revolutionary in "Michman Panin", and the White Guard officer and nobleman Naschekin in "Two Lives", and the captain of the Soviet army Suzdalev in "On Seven Winds", and the anarchist Alexei from "Optimistic Tragedy".
A turning point in the artist’s career is participation in Bondarchuk’s epic based on Tolstoy’s novel War and Peace. Hero Prince Andrei Bolkonsky, played by Vyacheslav Tikhonov (the filmography of the actor after this work is full of completely different films), showed his remarkable talent.
After participating in this film, the artist was often invited to the roles of intellectuals and bosses.
In 1968, Stanislav Rostotsky affirms Vyacheslav Vasilyevich for the central role of a history teacher Melnikov in his motion picture "Let's Live Until Monday." Interestingly, the author of the script was against Tikhonov’s candidacy, considering him overly beautiful and self-sufficient for his character. However, the artist still got this role and coped with it perfectly.
The following year, Tikhonov appears on the screen in the small role of Kapitonov in the movie "There is nothing to do".
Vyacheslav Tikhonov: acting, filmography of the 70s
In the seventies, Vyacheslav Tikhonov still remains an sought-after actor, despite the fact that he is already forty years old. This decade in his work becomes one of the most fruitful, besides, the artist comes to worldwide fame, and one of the films with his participation is nominated for an Oscar (White Bim Black Ear).
Actor Vyacheslav Tikhonov (the filmography of this decade is full of the most diverse genre films) begins the seventies with the role of the head of the family in the short story “Razmaznya” based on the works of Chekhov.
In 1971, two films with the participation of the actor were released at once: “Egor Bulychov and others”, a joint Soviet-Swedish project “A Man from the Other Side”.
In 1973, Vyacheslav Tikhonov was invited to put on the uniform of a German officer again, as in the film "Thirst", and play the Soviet scout in the serial film "Seventeen Moments of Spring". This film instantly became famous and even cult throughout the USSR and beyond, and the image of Stirlitz was forever fixed to Tikhonov. Although, as close and friends of the actor, Vyacheslav Vasilievich himself did not particularly highlight this role and did not consider it his greatest achievement. Nevertheless, after the death of the artist, a monument was erected on his grave, where Tikhonov was depicted precisely in the role of the SS Standartenfuhrer Stirlitz.
As if trying to prove something, the following two roles in the movie Tikhonov played in films about the events of the Second World War. These were the “Front without Flanks” and “They Fought for the Homeland” tapes.
After the tremendous success of the 1976 White Bim Black Ear film, Vyacheslav Vasilievich starred in two films about everyday problems at the country's enterprises. These were the paintings “... And Other Officials” and “Dialogue”.
Next, the actor again puts on the military uniform of a Soviet officer in the 1977 film Front to Front Line.
In 1978, two films were released with Tikhonov at once: the Czechoslovak film “The Ballad of a Tree and a Rose” and “How a Dresser Was Carried Through the Streets”. The second film was the only comedy in which the actor starred.
Tikhonov’s decade ends with participation in the documentary film “Profession - Film Actor”, which is featured in the work of the famous “Shtirlitsa”.
The filmography of the actor in the 80s
After the unexpected success of the seventies in the next decade, Vyacheslav Tikhonov (the filmography could have been much larger, but perestroika struck, to which the actor was skeptical, and many of the roles that were offered to him contradicted his beliefs) he could choose his characters, however, the subject cinema has changed a lot over the years.
The first acting work of Tikhonov in this decade was the role of Ivan Mlynsky in the 1981 film "Front in the rear of the enemy." The following year - an episodic role in the film "Monogamous".
In 1984, the actor perfectly played the role of Peter Losser in the film "European History". In the same year, another film project came out with Tikhonov - a multi-part film based on real events “TASS is authorized to declare ...”. Here, the actor got the main role of the KGB colonel Konstantinov.
The next few years in the filmography of Tikhonov there were no particularly striking films, although he was often shot (“Approaching the Future”, “Appeal”, “Riders”, “Impatience of the Soul”, “Why Olof Palme Was Killed?”). Only closer to the end of the decade, the artist had the opportunity to star in interesting roles. So, in 1988 in the movie "Kill the Dragon" he successfully played the archivist.
Uncharacteristic for the style of Vyacheslav Tikhonov was the role in the 1989 film "Love with Privileges." His character - the head of the old school, unable to come to terms with new trends in the country, Konstantin Gavrilovich Kozhemyakin evoked conflicting feelings among the audience: he irritated with his proud arrogance and at the same time he felt sorry for him humanly.
Roles in the movie Tikhonov in the nineties and two thousandths
After the collapse of the USSR, many actors were left without work, but Vyacheslav Tikhonov was often invited to shoot, although he refused many roles. Being a man brought up at another time, it was very difficult for the actor to adapt to new trends, in particular to the denial of all his ideals of youth. Since in the nineties Tikhonov was already almost seventy, he was almost not offered the main roles. However, many directors wanted the actor to play venal politicians, which Tikhonov himself did not like, and he refused.
In total for the nineties, about thirteen films were released with Vyacheslav Tikhonov. The brightest ones are “Demons”, “Code of dishonor”, ​​Oscar-winning “Burnt by the Sun”, “Boulevard Novel”, “Waiting Room” and “Composition for Victory Day”.
In 1998, on the seventieth anniversary of the actor about his work, they shot the documentary television movie “Moments of Vyacheslav Tikhonov”.
In the 2000s, the actor starred extremely little. In 2002, Vyacheslav Vasilievich played a major role in the movie "Berlin Express". And in 2005, at the urgent request of her daughter, she starred in the movie of her husband, “Through the Eyes of the Wolf”. The final appearance of the artist on television was the 2006 Eldar Ryazanov television movie Andersen. Life without love. ”
In December 2009, the actor died in a Moscow hospital. In 2013, in a ceremonial setting, a sculptural composition was placed on his grave.
Voice acting for films and cartoons
In addition to photogenic appearance and talent, this amazing artist also had a pleasant voice. With the light hand of his close friend, director Stanislav Rostotsky, the audience heard Vyacheslav Tikhonov singing. The full filmography of this outstanding actor would contain white spots, if not to mention the participation of the artist in the dubbing of films. Since 1956, the actors of many foreign films begin to speak with the voice of the artist Tikhonov.
The first film the actor was working on dubbing was the French film “If the guys of the whole world” in 1956. The audience liked Tikhonov’s pleasant voice so soon that such famous actors as Jean-Louis Trentignan, Alain Delon, Boy Gaubert, James Fox spoke to them . Cyril Juan and many others.
Fans of the epic about the adventures of the French beauty Angelica will be surprised to learn that her lover Joffrey in Russian dubbing spoke in the voice of Vyacheslav Tikhonov.
Often, Vyacheslav Vasilievich was assigned to be the voice of the narrator, as, for example, in two films from the cycle about the adventures of brave Russian “musketeers” - midshipmen (Viva, midshipmen! And Midshipmen III). The actor also read the author’s text in the films “The Tale of the Human Heart”, “Vacation at one’s own expense” and “Battle for Moscow”.
Wives and children of Vyacheslav Tikhonov
It is generally accepted that for most male actors, family life is difficult to give, as they are amorous persons who are unable to remain faithful to their wives. However, Vyacheslav Tikhonov, although he was married twice, was an exception to this rule.
Tikhonov's first wife was Nonna Mordyukova, whom he met while studying at VGIK. Together they first appeared on the screen in the film "The Young Guard". Having married at the institute, the couple had been married for thirteen years. The couple had a son Volodya Tikhonov. The guy followed in his parents' footsteps and became an actor in cinema and theater. Unfortunately, he died very early (at the age of forty).
The second wife of Vyacheslav Vasilyevich was a French teacher Tamara, who was sixteen years younger than the artist. He met her during one of his work on dubbing films. Soon the lovers got married. From this marriage, Vyacheslav Vladimirovich had a daughter, Anna Tikhonova, who also became an actress, and later a producer.
Vyacheslav Tikhonov was not only a great actor, but also a worthy person, trying his whole life to adhere to his principles. Evidence of his extraordinary talent was that this artist was in demand throughout his career: at twenty and seventy.
It’s regrettable that he is no longer there, but the audience was left with all the films with Vyacheslav Tikhonov (the filmography was mentioned above), in which he makes one sympathize, be sad and rejoice with his characters. His main professional achievement is that after so many years his characters remain beloved spectators of all ages.