A man of many talents, undeservedly forgotten by contemporaries - Mikhail Leonidovich Ancharov - lived a life typical of his time and was able to leave a significant mark in the culture of the Fatherland. Why was such a gifted man unable to fully realize his creative potential?
Writer childhood
March 28, 1923 on the outskirts of Moscow, in the family of an engineer of an electric lamp factory and a teacher of German, the first-born was born - Mikhail Leonidovich Ancharov. The boy’s father was a participant in the Civil War, in the twenties he worked on the construction of the Shukhov Tower in Moscow. Mom graduated from the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Tartu. Mikhail grew up as an ordinary Soviet boy: he went to kindergarten, played football, he studied at school 425 on Bolshaya Semenovskaya Street. He clearly demonstrated humanitarian inclinations: he loved literature very much, but mathematics and physics terrified him. He read so much that he even had inflammation of his eyes at one time. Mom insisted that the child was enrolled in a music school, he had undoubted abilities, but restlessness interfered with systematic studies. But from the age of 14 he began to write songs. First, the boy uses other people's poems, in particular A. Green.
In the fourth grade, Michael first saw Natasha Surikova, who would later become his wife, they were close friends at school, the teachers constantly made comments to him because he could not take his eyes off the girl. With discipline at school, Ancharov was not very happy, he was the ringleader of various pranks and asked a lot of questions in the lessons.
In high school, Mikhail and Natalya went to the drama circle, and the whole school was already discussing their romance. Also, the young man went to the art studio at the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions, and teachers noted his noticeable abilities.
War years
When the war began, many students immediately went to the draft board with a request to send them to the front, and Mikhail Ancharov was no exception. The biography of the future poet was forever scorched by the years of the war, where he left from the student bench. He dreamed of becoming a pilot, but did not pass the medical commission, he was sent to study at the Military Institute of Foreign Languages ​​of the Red Army, he studies Chinese and Japanese.
In 1942, Mikhail and Natalya got married, at which time the Nazis were approaching Moscow, and the Ancharovs' family was to be evacuated. Brother, mother and young wife left for Altai together. Michael graduated from the institute and was sent to the Far East; he took part in the hostilities in Manchuria. In 1947, he was discharged from the army, and it was time to find himself in a peaceful life.
Search for yourself
Even in high school, Mikhail had a difficult choice: he was attracted to several creative spheres at once. He wanted to become an artist, but was not sure that he would pass the exams at the Academy. Repin, in addition, he was interested in literature and partly music. But still, he then decided to choose a more practical profession and entered the architectural institute, from where he went into the army. But after the war he did not want to return to the profession of an architect and in 1948 entered the painting department of VGIK, but a month later, under the influence of his acquaintance with a student of the Art Institute named after Surikov, moved to MGHI, to the department of easel painting, which ends in 1954.
However, later he still studies at the courses of film scriptwriters, as this area continued to be of great interest to him. All his life, Mikhail Ancharov strove to be realized in several creative fields, and in each of them he achieved certain successes.
Literary work
Ancharov’s passion for literature translates into writing poetry. First, he creates lyrics for his songs, but gradually moves on to writing poetry and prose proper. After the war, he conveys his worldview in stories and short stories, his lyrical hero is a strong man, his characters are inventors, pioneers, scientists. Ancharov's prose is a literature that is characteristic of the thaw period, in which the problem of physicists and lyricists is solved, where there is a place for a dream about a bright future and high ideals of love and a real person. His works “Boxwood”, “Soda-Sun”, “Like a Garuda Bird”, “Notes by a Wandering Enthusiast”, “Golden Rain”, “Theory of Incredibility” had a significant impact on the generation of the sixties and remain a significant page in Soviet and Russian literature. His works in literary and art magazines were rapturously read by the whole country. Since 1966, Mikhail Ancharov has been a member of the Writers' Union.
Cinema in the life of Ancharov
After graduating from script courses, Mikhail Ancharov did not immediately come to the cinema, in 1962 he co-authored with A. Zarhi and V. Aksenov, wrote the script for the film "My Younger Brother", later worked with a group of authors on the film "Appassionate", which received several premiums. Together with A. Agranovsky, scenarios of the paintings “Indispensable” and “Going to Search” are created. He also writes scripts for several television films, including for the first Soviet TV series Day after Day. This work was a way to earn a living, but Ancharov had no permanent offers, and for the last 10 years of his life he was not in demand in the cinema at all.
Life is like a song
Nevertheless, the most famous type of Ancharov’s work is songs, they were extremely popular in Soviet times, but lost a little fame after perestroika. He is considered the founder of the bard song genre in the USSR. Many songs by Mikhail Ancharov are still heard. The most famous are: “Chimes”, “Farewell Far Eastern”, “Kap-kap”, “Song about a psycho”, “Dandelions”, “She was right in everything” and many others. In total, he wrote about a hundred songs. V. Vysotsky considered him his teacher. The song “I Stand on a Half-Station” is today perceived as absolutely folk art, although M. Ancharov was the author of its text. It was concerts with the performance of his songs in many periods of his life that were the main earnings of the author, they helped him survive, since he almost never had any other permanent job.
Private life
The life of Mikhail Ancharov is full of passions. He was an extremely charming and charismatic man. He was married four times, he had 2 children. But all marriages ended due to domestic disorder and lack of stability. He broke up with his first wife after entering the Moscow State Art Institute. The second marriage was not successful, although Ancharov was very fond of Joya Afinogenova, and lasted 10 years, and after him Ancharov was fond of alcohol for a long time. In the fourth marriage, Ancharov gives birth to a long-awaited son. But family life was hindered by the constant traveling and abuse of Michael by alcohol. The lack of demand in the profession, the lack of a permanent job, the inability to fully realize their talents, creative crises - all this did not contribute to family happiness. Mikhail Ancharov ended his life on July 11, 1990.