The memory of prominent people who have long been dead is forever in the hearts of relatives, friends and other connoisseurs of their work. Alexey Wild is a man with a capital letter. Its popularity today has not lost its relevance. And the work with his participation in the theater and cinema makes us think not only of the old generation, but also of a younger audience. Who is this talented and unforgettable person?
Biographical data
The future actor and director Alexei Denisovich was born in February 1889. Yekaterinoslav became his hometown, where he was born and raised. And there, the young man became interested in theater and cinema.
The starting point in his fate, according to those close to the actor’s entourage, was the literary work of such outstanding Ukrainian dramatic writers as Panas Saksagansky, Mark Kropyvnytsky, Maria Zankovetskaya and Ivan Karpenko-Kary. At that time, Alexey Dikiy was so carried away by reading that he immediately desired to become a national artist.
The realization of the plan conceived by Alexei began with the participation of a young talent in the Kharkov theater group of Sukhodolsky. When the child was six years old, he played in his first performance. To the surprise of the parents, the baby was so able to get used to the role that he was immediately noticed by the right people. In particular, Ilya Uralov examined the burgeoning talent in the little boy, who later invited Dikogo to a small section of the arts at the modern Art Theater.
The granite of science and the first steps in an acting career
When Alex was 20 years old, he decided to engage in acting on a professional level. To do this, Alexey Dikiy (photos of this wonderful Soviet artist can be found below) went to Moscow, where he quickly got a job on special acting courses. His teachers at that time were the theater teacher Vakhtang Mchedelov and director Konstantin Mardzhanishvili.
A year after his move to the capital, the aspiring artist was in the main part of the Art Theater. It was there that he received one of his small roles in a production called The Living Corpse.
Partial change of role
At the end of 1911, Alexei Dikiy received a diploma from the completion of theater courses and decided to test himself in directing. To do this, he agreed with the representation of the Prechistensky rabfakov courses, which allowed him to lead a small drama circle for a while. This time, the experience of a dramatic actor already gained earlier combined with his unusual creative approach to training came in handy to Alexei.
At the same time, the actor played in performances. So, he could be seen in the role of Misha from “The Provincials” (an excellent production based on the work of Turgenev). He also brilliantly coped with the role of Alyosha in the play “At the Bottom” (M. Gorky) and participated in the production of “The Death of Hope” by G. Heyermas.
War and a short break in acting career
Despite the growing popularity, Alexey Dikiy (actor and popular theater director) was still forced to take a temporary timeout. He made such a decision in connection with the outbreak of the First World War.
In his own words, the war years were a terrible test for him, since they did not carry anything useful and were characterized by wasted time. Three years later, he returned to the stage of the Maly Theater (Moscow Art Theater), where he was to play Lvov and Epikhodov in the performances of Ivanov and The Cherry Orchard (according to Chekhov).
Master of acting and theater
Since the beginning of 1918, Alexei Dikiy was a guest actor for the stage of the first Studio, later renamed the Maly Theater. There he was lucky to play roles in productions based on the works of domestic and foreign authors. For example, on this stage, he was Duke John from the play “Eric XIV,” playing the role of Pinguingle in “Cricket on the Oven” (C. Dickens) and Molchanov in the production of “The Wasterer”. In a word, at that time the young man got the roles of colorful and mischievous characters.
In parallel with the play of the actor, Alexei Denisovich was attracted by the direction. So, in mid-1919, he managed to work on the production of the play “Stream” (according to G. Berger) and show this play on the stage of the Vakhtangov studio. After about three years, the promising director completed a new work called “The Green Parrot” (according to A. Schnitzler). Moreover, this production has become a landmark for the Wild. As it turned out, she was positively appreciated not only by the audience, but also by theater critics.
Later, Alexey Dikiy (the biography of this theatrical figure is full of creative successes and spectacular works) staged another play that made a splash in the whole directorial community. It was the "Flea" N.S. Leskova.
Other directorial productions and work at the Bolshoi Drama Theater
At the beginning of 1928, Aleksei Denisovich set about staging a new play called “A Man with a Briefcase”. The premiere of the play took place in the capital's theater of the Revolution. Then he was invited to Tel Aviv, where the director successfully worked from 1928 to 1929.
Even later, Alexey Dikiy (whose personal life remained in the background after his creative activity) organized his own theater workshop, where he taught everyone who wanted to know the intricacies of acting and directing. It was with this young collective that Wild set up his legendary Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk.
In March 1936, Alexei was appointed to the post of chief director of the Bolshoi Drama Theater, where he staged a lot of wonderful performances, among which are the following:
- "Mermaid";
- “Sailors from Cattaro”;
- "Scenes from the knightly times";
- "Big day";
- "Petty bourgeois" and others.
Personal life
Since Alex was a creative person, his personal life left much to be desired. He often fell in love, but this feeling was so fleeting and only helped him to bring a certain note of variety to the work. However, I met that one Alexei Dikiy. His wife was not a famous person.
And although not much is known about his beloved Shurochka, eyewitnesses say that her actor was afraid like fire. According to them, she was short, but she spoke very loudly, especially when she scolded the director. Therefore, Alexei was often "turned over into nuts." And sometimes it was even deserved, because because of his creative nature, the artist often sinned with light love affairs.
The work of Alexei Wild in the cinema
Special attention in the life of Alexei Denisovich deserves his film career. And although there are not many roles in his acting piggy bank, they are all associated with famous personalities, politicians and statesmen. So, at one time, the artist played Admiral Nakhimov, the great commander Kutuzov and Stalin. For the role of the latter, he received personal praise from the leader.
In October 1955, the beloved artist died. After the unexpected death of Alexei Dikoy, they buried in the second section of the Novodevichy metropolitan cemetery.