Now a square in Moscow is decorated with a bronze figure of Mikhail Ulyanov.
Photo: Anastasia Pleshakova
On March 27, International Theater Day, a monument to Mikhail Ulyanov was unveiled in the center of Moscow.
He played more than 60 leading roles in films. And dozens of roles in the Theater. Vakhtangov, where he served for 57 years. People’s Artist of the USSR, Lenin Prize and State Prize of the USSR and Russia, Hero of Socialist Labor, artistic director of the Vakhtangov Theater (1987 – 2007). He was the actor’s. And in itself a monument. They say that when the sculptures sculpted the bust of Marshal Zhukov, the monumental commission did not accept the model: he is not Marshal of Victory, he does not look like one. Everyone wanted to see an artistic portrait. Portrait of a commander. Until it occurred to them to make a bust of a marshal that looked like Mikhail Ulyanov. With Ulyanov’s face, Zhukov began to look like himself.
In the films, Mikhail Alexandrovich embodied the image of Zhukov 17 times. Zhukov’s artistic incarnation is not separate from him.
Well, in the monument that was opened today, Ulyanov is not depicted in the picture, nor on paper, nor as the director of the theater, although, as Mikhail Alexandrovich’s colleagues noted, he achieved the role of the boss like no other. but as he was in life. Five years ago
Vladimir Putin ordered the Moscow government to consider opening a monument to Mikhail Ulyanov. They began to look for a place for the monument. He found.
In the Zamoskvorechye area, in the Mikhailovsky Garden park, between Bakhrushin and Tatarskaya streets, not far from the Theater Museum. Bakhrushin. You can see the name of the square and the name of the People’s Artist, Mikhail, who promoted this decision.
The author of the sculpture is the People’s Artist of Russia Andrey Balashov. He also made a monument to Mikhail Ulyanov in his homeland in Tara, Omsk region, and a memorial plaque in the Moscow house where the People’s Artist of the USSR lived.
And now Moscow Square is decorated with a 2.2-meter-high bronze figure of Mikhail Ulyanov (total height: 3.6 meters). Next to it is a granite bench.
The opening ceremony was attended by the director of the Vakhtangov Theater Kirill Krok, People’s Artists of Russia Irina Kupchenko, Yulia Rutberg, Evgeny Knyazev and Honored Artist Vladimir Vdovichenkov.
A monument to Mikhail Ulyanov was inaugurated in Moscow
Photo: Anastasia Pleshakova
Kirill Krok recalled that thanks to Ulyanov, who led the theater during the difficult years of perestroika,
The Vakhtangov Theater did not collapse, it did not split into groups.
Deputy Evgeny Gerasimov called Ulyanov a master artist: “I am happy that I was on the same stage with him as a student. I was in the crowd. It was in a play where Mikhail Ulyanov played Vladimir Ulyanov-Lenin… In Mikhail Alexandrovich, in front of everyone, “his merits and successes met a difficult fate. He achieved everything in life on his own.”
Irina Kupchenko touched Mikhail Ulyanov’s hand
Photo: Anastasia Pleshakova
Actress Irina Kupchenko recalled that she was also in the same crowd (we are talking about the play “The Man with a Gun” from 1970).
“It is very sad that Lena Ulyanova (Mikhail Alexandrovich’s daughter) did not live to see the unveiling of the monument,” said Irina Kupchenko. “Not every artist manages to become a symbol of the era. But Mikhail Alexandrovich was. A bust of Zhukov was sculpted in his image. He elevated this image to epic heights. Everything he did in the cinema and on the stage was prominent , different, intelligent and deep. He was a great artist. And how much good he did for people. an apartment for Vasya (Vasily Lanov) and me. I was always surprised by his incompatible character traits. Despite his external severity, he was a gentle, pure and morally chaste person. He was a brilliant partner on the stage. Mikhail Alexandrovich, we will “I will always remember you. But Nonna (Nonna Mordyukova -Ed.) was wrong. You are also a good man and an eagle.”
Kupchenko played on a quote from the movie “A Simple Story.”
Evgeny Knyazev said that Mikhailovsky Square finally found its owner. Not just an owner, but a person you want to be like. Both in profession and in civic position. Ulyanov was a great citizen of his country.
“For us he was not an artistic director, but a loved one, dear,” summed up Yulia Rutberg.
