Anyone who has seen the film “The House I Live in” can hardly forget the role of Vladimir Zemlyanikin. He very convincingly played the boy Seryozha Davydov, who immediately became his own for everyone and everyone. However, the other roles of the actor were not so brilliant. What happened to Vladimir?
The difficult life of the actor
Vladimir Zemlyanikin was a positive person not only on stage, but also in ordinary life. It was very important for him to always be a person to rely on. Modesty and pride, skill and passion, ups, downs, disappointment in love, health problems, fortitude and high moral principles - these are the character traits embodied in the actor.
Behind him are dozens of films and hundreds of performances, but only one significant role, which brought him fame and, as often happens with actors, drove him into the framework of one stereotype of behavior. He was endlessly offered to play himself - good and reliable, in the board of his boyfriend. But, like any actor, Vladimir Zemlyanikin dreamed of playing, and not just living on camera.
The disappointment in love and illness, which the doctors considered incurable, could not break his character and discourage the desire to be in demand by the actor. Perhaps the woman who eventually became his real companion in this life helped him to endure many adversities. But more on that later.
Military childhood
The biography of actor Vladimir Zemlyanikin does not mention the years of early childhood. He was born on October 27, 1933. Before the war he lived in Moscow. At the beginning of World War II, he and his mother were evacuated. About this period of his life, Zemlyanikin recalled that they constantly had to hide from air raids, and listened with alarm to the howling of air sirens. From experiences, his mother stopped walking. How the boy lived at this time, one can only imagine. But they survived. Moreover, he expected the happiness of his father's return home. When the war ended, Volodya was twelve years old. His father went to work at a car factory, his mother was ill. A boy left to his own devices could very well go off the right track. However, despite his father’s fears, he did not join a gang of gangs, of whom there were a great many after the war.
Vladimir went to the Palace of Pioneers and was engaged in amateur art there. Then he moved to the ZIL Culture House, which at that time was considered very strong in preparing amateur performances. Its art director, Sergei Stein, was sure that Vladimir would make an excellent actor. It was impossible not to believe this man, since he had raised many stars for our cinema.
Choices: actor or builder
Actor Zemlyanikin Vladimir dreamed of becoming from childhood. However, innate modesty did not allow him to hope that he had a chance to enter the university of acting. Having submitted an application to three of them, he simultaneously applied for admission to the construction institute. In those days, acting was not considered a profession that could feed a man and his family. Therefore, Volodya, like many young people at that time, chose a profession suitable for himself, which he could master in case of failure with acting dreams.
And yet he was admitted to the Shchukin school. As a student, he has already starred in films. When the actor was supposed to play a role in the play “Attacker,” Vladimir’s mother died. This was a big blow for the student. He was asked to refuse to participate in the play. But Zemlyanikin decided to play. Strength of mind, discipline and dedication to his work were manifested by the actor in the very early years of his creative activity. The question of a possible mistake in choosing a profession was no longer standing.
Friends for life
In the early photos, actor Vladimir Zemlyanikin is often shot with a quiet and kind smile on his face. His friends, with whom he had made friends as far back as ZIL DC, Vasily Lanovoi and Lev Borisov, played with him in the film "Maturity Certificate". They knew the roles well, since they played this performance more than once in the Zilov House of Culture. The film turned out so high-quality that it was difficult to believe in the lack of professionalism of the actors. The honesty with which the guys played their roles conquered many.
Their friendship, which only grew stronger over the years, and the numerous trials of distance, time, and glory were truly worthy of praise. For many years, until the death of Vladimir, the actors remained the closest friends.
The role of the actor
Vladimir Zemlyanikin began to play the role of “his guys”, with whom I want to be friends. He himself was such a man. Therefore, positive roles were given to him easily. Sometimes he himself understood that he was not playing, but simply remained himself. This could not but alert Zemlyanikin. After all, his talent in these roles was not disclosed. This depressed the actor, but he could not get other roles, since the directors simply did not see him in the image of a villain or at least a bad guy. In some projects, he tried to play the formation of a good man from a bully, but the paintings themselves did not receive public recognition, which did not allow him to show his skill.
First difficulties
As often happens, the roles that make actors famous are ruining a career in the bud. For his fame after the film "The House I Live in" Zemlyanikin paid a lot of acting failures. The actor considered many roles a personal failure, as he played them rather mediocre. These were mainly supporting roles, which were poorly remembered due to the smoothness of character. Chauffeurs, neighbors, losers in love who fell from the screens performed by Zemlyanikin, served him poorly.
People recognized Vladimir on the street, but only Seryozha Davydov was recognized in him. And the directors related any of his wishes rather to whims, did not take them seriously. He was besieged, put in place, made comments. Vladimir, being a humble and at the same time proud man, silently endured the vicissitudes of fate, which in an instant lifted him upstairs, but immediately forgot about him. The biography of Vladimir Zemlyanikin is similar to a mountainous area: peaks, cliffs, plains ...
Films with the actor
- "Certificate of maturity";
- "Test of fidelity";
- "Son";
- "Different fates";
- "The house I live in";
- "A Tale of First Love";
- "Street of youth";
- "Soldier's heart";
- "Black Sea";
- "Unresponsive";
- "Noisy day";
- "Voices of our quarter";
- "Young green";
- "Cheryomushki";
- "Silence";
- "Traveler with luggage";
- "A bridge is being built";
- "Red sun";
- "Eternal Call";
- "Big change";
- "Step towards", etc.
Theater work
Nevertheless, it cannot be said that Vladimir Zemlyanikin sharply turned out to be unclaimed. He acted in films less successfully than he played in the theater. The audience loved the young actor, received him so enthusiastically that many of his colleagues were indignant. At that time, you could buy a photo of Vladimir Zemlyanikin at any kiosk. It was a success that could not be ignored. When there was a discord in Sovremennik, and Efremov left, he called with him many actors, but not Zemlyanikin. The actor himself talked about this without a bribe, that he would have gone after him if he had been called. But he did not know how to impose.
Women in the life of an actor
The personal life of Vladimir Zemlyanikin at the very beginning was somewhat unsuccessful. His first love was classmate Nina Doroshina. Their relationship developed harmoniously. The young man accompanied the girl after class home. Everyone considered them a couple. Once upon a time lovers were attacked by hooligans, from whom Vladimir had to fight back. In the heat of a fight, a fur hat flies from Zemlyanikin, which one of the hooligans immediately grabs and runs away with it. It was not possible for Vladimir to buy another such one. Then Nina told the guys on the course how exactly Vladimir lost his hat. With the whole course of chipping, he got a new hat. And everything would be fine, but Nina fell in love with the talented director Oleg Efremov. She honestly said this to Vladimir. They separated. Vladimir came for her to Sovremennik and was forced to take down a lot of nit-picking from the director, who considered his triumph his failure.
Soon Vladimir met Lyubov Lifentsova, who became his wife. Their happiness did not last long. Love met Oleg Strizhenov, left Zemlyanikina and became Love Strizhenova.
Vladimir did not like to talk about his failures, preferring to leave rubbish inside the hut. However, being a public man, he could not hide many facts of his life. So the case of his meeting with his last wife, Lyudmila Egorova, was not told by the actor himself, but by one of his friends. It turns out she was the girlfriend of his close friend Mark. A friend introduced them, not suspecting an opponent in Zemlyanikin. But Vladimir was subdued by the beauty and intelligence of the girl, honestly told a friend that he intended to fight for her. After some time, Lyudmila became his wife.
Actor's children
Personal life and children in the biography of Vladimir Zemlyanikin were a very important link. From his first wife, Lyubov, a daughter was born to him. When she left him for Oleg Strizhenov, for a long time it was not clear with whom the daughter would remain. She lived for a long time with her dad, then with her mother, then again returned to her father. Soon, Love gave birth to a son from Oleg, and the girl finally moved to her mother and brother.
Lyudmila Egorova could become the mother of a child from Vladimir, but she had to terminate the pregnancy.
Scary news
The news they received from the doctors was almost a verdict: Vladimir Zemlyanikin had an open form of tuberculosis. In the immediate vicinity with such a patient it is unacceptable to bear a child. This became a sentence, since then Vladimir and Lyudmila no longer had children. Vladimir had to fight the disease. He was asked to have surgery and remove a lung that was particularly affected by the disease. However, the actor did not agree to the operation, which did not give him any guarantees that the disease would recede. He decided to go jogging. Starting from two hundred meters, a year later he defeated the disease completely.
Health is the main wealth
Since then, he began to pay attention not only to his profession and his wife, who supported him in the days when many despaired, but also to his health. Thanks to the correction in terms of caring for his own body, Vladimir lived another forty-odd years. In his films, Vladimir Zemlyanikin plays heroes who are full of health. But only a few loved ones knew that he stood on the edge of the grave several times and could die.
Return to the stage
The biography of Vladimir Zemlyanikin is full of surprises. After a year of illness, his fame was almost over. People stopped recognizing him. It was extremely difficult to return to the stage, as new actors came, new names. Then Vladimir received a strange offer from the KGB, who insisted that Zemlyanikin inform his friends who were unhappy with the authorities. In return, he was offered takeoff through the ranks, roles to choose from, work in any troupe. Vladimir refused. He told insistent KGB officers that he was suffering from a nerve disorder and often spoke in a dream about what tormented him during the day. In such a situation, it was not possible for him to keep the secret of his cooperation with the authorities. All that Zemlyanikin achieved after the illness, he received with even greater difficulty, since now he was also pursued by the KGB.
Deadly diagnosis
And yet, even the most talented people are not given away from fate. He received the title of Honored Artist of Russia only in 1994. And in 2011, he was diagnosed with cancer of the third degree. He was getting worse, but the actor was in no hurry to be examined. Only at the very insistent request of his wife did he pass blood tests that confirmed the terrible diagnosis. Chemotherapy treatment has led to hair loss and increasing weakness. Friends advised a change of scenery and go to the sea. Spouses Zemlyanikiny did so. They left for the Crimea. The sea, sun, sand and the support of his wife helped him hold out for several years.
Until the last month of his life, he went to performances at the Sovremennik Theater and remained an acting actor. Each time it became harder and harder for him to play roles, but, like the very first time that the news of his mother’s death could have become an excuse for not working, he continued to work with the confidence that only work prolongs his life. He devoted the short moments when the disease receded to his family: his wife, daughter, three grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. In the last photos it is difficult to recognize in an elderly, exhausted man a cheerful guy who could be a friend to every person.
The actor died on his birthday, when he was 83 years old. Such a coincidence could not be accidental, like his whole life. After him, there were many films in which the actor played both great guys helping the main characters to achieve their own, and not very good people, thinking about personal gain or evil intent.
The filmography of Vladimir Zemlyanikin has more than fifty paintings. His roles, most often of the second plan, remain in the memory of fans with a unique kaleidoscope of persons both good-natured and frankly negative.