Viktor Bortsov in the film “Pokrovsky Gate”
Photo: still from the film.
You say “Viktor Bortsov” and they will immediately answer you: “Savva Ignatievich.” “Pokrovsky Gate”, a masterpiece by Mikhail Kozakov, became the main film in the career of the wonderful actor. The whole country recognized and loved him, but many years later he said: “I had a lot of equally good work before and after that. “The First Trolleybus”, “Tatyana’s Day”, “And Again Aniskin”, “The Flying Dutchman”, “Chicha”, “Drugs for Angels”, “Guardian”, “The Lady’s Visit”, ” My Family”, “The Ballad of Old Weapons”, “Year of the Good Child”, “Midshipmen, forward!” – Do you remember these paintings?
No.
Well, that is, of course, “The First Trolleybus”, “Aniskin” and “Midshipmen” are constantly shown on TV; many have also seen “The Lady’s Visit” (another film by Mikhail Kozakov, much darker and less popular than “Pokrovsky Gates”), – and everything else is almost erased from memory. And Bortsov’s roles in these films were not the main ones. Spectators, of course, remember the performances of the Maly Theater with the participation of Bortsov (artistic director Yuri Solomin said: “he is a wonderful and very original artist, of which there are few not only in the Theater Maly, but in general, ” and gave Viktor Andreevich the best roles). But in the cinema, Savva Ignatievich overshadowed everything. Inna Ulyanova, who played Margarita Pavlovna, suffered exactly the same fate, but she did not complain: in an interview she remembered the outstanding actor Boris Babochkin, who forever remained in the memory of the public as Chapaev. It’s probably better to play a popularly beloved role than to play none at all.
“HE WAS FREE AS A BIRD”
He was born in Orenburg in 1934. His mother was seriously ill (multiple sclerosis) and died in 1942; then Viktor Andreevich remembered that he had never seen her walk. And my father was arrested in 1937 as an enemy of the people. In such situations, family members always hoped that the “authorities” would solve the problem and release him. A rare case: they actually solved it and released him a year later: it turned out that the person who wrote a complaint against Victor’s father claimed his living space.
When Victor was seven years old, the war began. Of course, this did not directly affect Orenburg (which at that time was called Chkalov), the city was in the rear, but many Moscow and Leningrad theaters were evacuated there. The boy, who previously listened to radio programs, began to go to plays, tried to imitate something at home based on what he saw (once he put on his grandmother’s dress and tried to dance the cancan). When I grew up a little, I enrolled in a theater studio at the House of Pioneers and then a studio at the Chkalov Youth Theater. At first he played comic roles, but as he was a teenager and grew up, he changed his role: in “A Profitable Place”, for example, he was cast in the lead role of Vasily Zhadov. After the tenth grade, naturally, he went to Moscow to enter the theater school and enrolled for the first time at the Shchepkinsky school.
Yuri Solomin lived with him in the same dormitory, in a room for seven people, and recalled that Victor did not miss a single important performance, even at some point he began to make special trips to Leningrad to see the productions of Georgy Tovstonogov. While his neighbors were writing cheat sheets for the CPSU history exam, he was sitting in the hall of the Moscow Art Theater, looking at his idol Boris Livanov. Then Solomin was very jealous of him: it turned out that Bortsov had seen everything, but he never saw many of the brightest performances. “Borstsov was free as a bird, now he is free,” said Yuri Methodievich in the early 2000s.
Bortsov began acting at the Maly Theater in 1957, appearing in the production “When the Heart Burns” in the role of a heroic Komsomol member who fights against the White Guards in the Far East, losing first his leg and then his life, but remaining faithful to The Party. However, he was still drawn to character roles, which he eventually switched to.
THE “MIDDISHERS” ALMOST DESTROYED IT
Nikita Mikhalkov was supposed to play Savva Ignatievich in Pokrovsky Gates. At least it was him that Mikhail Kozakov initially saw in this role. But Nikita Sergeevich, after reading the script, flatly refused the role. In general, if you read the memoirs, you will get the feeling that at the stage of the script, filming and the first screenings, almost no one liked “Pokrovsky Gates”: not even Elena Koreneva, who agreed to play Lyudochka with a terrible creak , neither to Sofya Pilyavskaya, who took on the role of Alisa Vitalievna mainly for a fee, nor to Tatyana Dogileva, who at first simply did not understand anything from the script, nor to Mark Zakharov, who after watching the film called it kitsch, no to the main head of television, Sergei Lapin, who declared that the film was a smear… And Viktor Bortsov treated “Pokrovsky Gates” coldly. “During filming, Kozakov allowed us to see the already filmed material, shots; in vain he did, because, you know, somehow… we ate too much of this movie. And today I have no particular desire to see it from beginning to end.”
After Mikhalkov’s refusal, Kozakov formed two ensembles of artists who auditioned for key roles. The first was the “star”: Khobotov – Andrei Mironov, Margarita Pavlovna – Natalya Gundareva, Savva Ignatievich – Evgeniy Lazarev. The second brought together theater artists little known to the general public: Anatoly Ravikovich, Inna Ulyanova and Bortsov. Kozakov showed screen tests at the artistic council and everyone began to loudly demand the approval of Mironov, Gundareva and Lazarev. Only Mosfilm director Nikolai Sizov said: “Both actors are good. It is up to the director to decide which one to film.” And Kozakov was relieved to approve the “non-star” cast, with whom he initially wanted to work.
Viktor Andreevich recalled: “In principle, it was easy for me to act. I myself grew up in a community yard, so to speak. Therefore, I knew it very well and I told Misha how my hero should dress, how he should walk, what kind of mustache he should wear, what game he should play; back then everyone played “langa”… So I went. I am only afraid of one thing: that I will not have time for a month of filming and I will have to go on tour to Tbilisi. We did it… And, frankly, I don’t like to talk about this movie much. It was a long time ago”.
In another television hit, “Midshipmen”, he played Gavrila, Nikita Olenev’s valet. At first he was supposed to play the episodic role of a bath attendant who flies to the Chevalier de Brilly, but at that time he was tired of the episodes and refused. Svetlana Druzhinina was forced to give him a more important and interesting role. She not only gave an excellent performance, but also suggested to the director a theme for a sequel: telling the story of Princess Sophia Augusta Frederick of Anhalt-Zerbst, nicknamed Fike, and her journey to Russia (where she eventually became Empress Catherine II). . And this trip became the theme of the second “Midshipmen”, on the set of which Bortsov almost died: he was driving a carriage and at some point flew out of it with his head down. “Thank God, a place was passed and I landed on it. I come to my senses: the horse is fucking with me! And how did I manage to cover my head with my hands?… Half the city saw it. And a driver from the film group pulled me out from under the horse. Later, when I met him on other sets, I gave him everything to drink…” said the actor in an interview.
Viktor Andreevich did not live long in the world: only 73 years old. In 2006 he was diagnosed with bowel cancer and underwent surgery, but he could not be cured. They say that in the last week they called an ambulance for him every day. And the day before he died and the day he died, the ambulance came six times a day… On May 20, 2008 he passed away. His wife, crying, told reporters: “I didn’t think this would happen so soon. We try not to broach this topic with him; We never discussed where he would like to be buried. Now I am left completely, completely alone, because we don’t have children…”
In his first marriage, Viktor Andreevich’s only daughter was born; They say that he tried to support her, while he denied himself in many ways. And in recent interviews he talked a lot about colleagues whom he admired: Pavel Luspekayev, Gene Hackman, Innokenty Smoktunovsky, Alisa Freundlich, Oleg Efremov, Pavel Olenev. And among contemporary artists he highlighted Viktor Sukhorukov, Vladimir Ilyin and Roman Madyanov: “He plays in a very fun way, while remaining surprisingly serious. This is a rare talent!
SEVERAL UNFORGETTABLE PHRASES BY SAVVA IGNATIEVICH
– Naturlikh, Margarita Pavlovna!
– Shtikhel is different from shtikhel. Spitzstihel is one thing. And something completely different – bolshtikhel!
– Lev Evgenievich, his ex, ask Kostya, this is an extraordinary phenomenon. He is, I must say, exceptionally intelligent. He sings like a bird in all languages. But for the same reason there is no balance in the head.
– You speak all languages, but you don’t understand Russian. They do not live from joy, but from conscience!
– I remember that a person came up to me and asked me to engrave an inscription on the watch. And the inscription was: “Thank you for the sweet seconds.” Well, I ask: the artist? No. Writer? No. It turned out to be my husband.
