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Exclusive footage: a documentary about Georgy Vitsin on Channel One. Georgy Vitsin

In our film, the viewer will see exclusive footage of "home" filming, where Vitsin and his relatives are the same as they were in their life, closed from prying eyes. Vitsin's daughter, when they went on shooting expeditions together, always took an amateur movie camera with an eight-millimeter film with her. We will show unique drawings of the actor himself, as well as tell the story of how Georgy Vitsin was supposed to sing in the film "Gentlemen of Fortune". The song has already been recorded by the artist, but artistic director In the film, George Danelia considered that the thief could not sing, and removed from the film “The Song of the Elephant” performed by Vitsinsky Khmyr. This recording has been preserved, and for the first time, viewers of Channel One will not only be able to hear this failed hit, but also find out where in the picture it was supposed to sound.

After the death of Vitsin, his daughter Natalya gave only one interview. Journalists have caused too much pain to their family. That one time, the actor's heiress mentioned that his father's temperament was much more suitable for his first failed profession - an artist. Georgy Mikhailovich literally never parted with a pencil all his life. He painted everywhere: on trains, on set, during intermissions between performances. Most often, these were caricatures of colleagues - kind irony without malicious intent. The actor did not like to draw bad things about people, however, like talking. Vitsin himself, when asked why he nevertheless chose acting, and not drawing, answered that he had gone astray ...

At 44, Vitsin woke up not just famous - wildly popular! Yes, he was already seen by the audience in the films “Reserve Player” and “She Loves You!”, But the real glory covered Vitsin exactly at 44! Crowds of spectators went to the Yermolova Theater! Everyone wanted to see with their own eyes the legendary "Coward" from "Operation" Y "and" Prisoner of the Caucasus. But the resounding success of Gaidai's films played with the actor bad joke. His fame annoyed many. Colleagues said: “Gosh, you are a disgrace to the theater, your jokes discredit the names of our teachers!”. Management wasn't happy either. The comedian skipped rehearsals, preferring them to filming! Reprimand followed reprimand. As a result, the directorate delivered an ultimatum: "Either you are present at all rehearsals, or you leave the troupe." And Georgy Mikhailovich left the theater, which became his family. Although for all these years not a single performance under Vitsin has been staged here - despite his enormous popularity and amazing acting range.

For millions of viewers, Vitsin remained a "Coward", Vesnushkin, Balzaminov ... A simpleton, a joker, a drunkard, a virtuoso joker. His roles diverged into quotes. Georgy Mikhailovich played in more than a hundred films.

Georgy Vitsin in the movie "Moonshiners"

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"Dog Mongrel" was just one of five short stories in the humorous almanac "Quite Seriously", for which Mosfilm did not even have any special hopes. But the short film and its funny characters were very fond of the audience, and in Cannes the Soviet film was nominated for the Palme d'Or as the best short film.

Oddly enough, in his youth, Vitsin often had to play the role of old people, and in adulthood - young men. For example, in the tape of Anatoly Granik "Maxim Perepelitsa", the 38-year-old actor played grandfather Musiy, and at 47, on the contrary, he starred as the young blockhead Balzaminov.

It is known that director Konstantin Voinov wrote the script for Balzaminov's Marriage based on Ostrovsky's plays specifically for Vitsin back in 1954, but the shooting was postponed for almost ten years, as the Mosfilm management was afraid of too free treatment of the classics. During this time, the main actor managed to get pretty old and, in order to match the age of his character, went to the trick. Vitsin recalled:

I made up myself. Where he drew a grid of paint, where he made freckles so that there were no wrinkles. He came up with a wig, pulled his nose. I mixed the putty with red paint so that the face would “lose weight”. Voinov looked at my art and said firmly: “I will shoot!”

Because of the complex make-up, Vitsin himself jokingly called the comedy "The Marriage of the Embalmed".

The film "Operation" Y "and other adventures of Shurik" with the participation of Coward, Dunce and Experienced in 1965 became the absolute leader in film distribution in the USSR.

By this time, the audience already perceived the trinity as an inseparable acting trio and even came up with a name for him: ViNiMor (according to the first letters of the surnames). However, it was during the work on “Operation Y” that Gaidai himself said that the “troika” was becoming obsolete, and Nikulin recalled:

Unfortunately, the “troika” has become really cloyingly popular. We were invited to perform on television "lights", drew cartoons in magazines. Nikolai Ozerov, during hockey reports, also remembered us. This was the period of our rise and at the same time the end of our joint performance on the screen.

Nevertheless, after "Operation" Y "" another movie hit followed - " Prisoner of the Caucasus", where Coward, Dunce and Experienced starred together in last time. Moreover, Nikulin and Morgunov continued to assert that "Vitsin is damn talented" and both of them "are not worth his fingernail."

The scripts of the films in which Vitsin starred changed, but the image of a simpleton and a drunkard remained unchanged.

In 1971, in "Gentlemen of Fortune" by Alexander Gray, the actor played the role of Gavrila Petrovich (better known as Khmyr). The role of the Associate Professor's accomplice further cemented Vitsin's fame as a drunkard and a bully, although he did not drink alcohol in his life, trying to replace mugs of beer with a rosehip drink in the frame.

Savely Kramarov, Georgy Vitsin and Evgeny Leonov in the film "Gentlemen of Fortune"

"Gentlemen of Fortune" became another box office hit, despite the fact that the management of "Mosfilm" for a long time feared the release of the comedy on the screens due to the abundance of prison jargon and gangster heroes. First, the finished film was personally watched by the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Nikolai Shchelokov, and after the comedy of the former criminal (the director had previously been sentenced to six years for a fight), Leonid Brezhnev himself appreciated it. Fortunately, they did not find anything wrong with the film and, according to eyewitnesses, they laughed so loudly that they even drowned out the dialogue of the actors.

Georgy Vitsin has more than a hundred films on his account, but last years In his life, he did not act in films and did not play in the theater. The famous actor for many years did not give a single interview, and at the end of his life he either did not make contact with others, or laughed it off, but did not seriously speak to almost anyone.

The illness and death of Georgy Mikhailovich caused a storm of rumors and speculation. "The actor dies in poverty!" the newspapers shouted, but the wife and daughter did not accept help and did not answer calls. Vitsin's death, like his life, is surrounded by mystery.

October 2001, Vagankovsky cemetery, Georgy Vitsin is buried. Among those who came to say goodbye to the actor, not only people, in the sky - pigeons are circling, a pack of stray dogs stretches behind the coffin. “The more I know people, the more I love dogs,” the actor liked to repeat. A familiar flock gathered near his house every morning, and patiently waited for the food to be taken out. Once, Vitsin, noticing that one mongrel was lying indifferently at the sewer manhole, brought her home, went out and left the Boy at home. In addition to the yard terrier, two more parrots lived in the tiny apartment of the Vitsins. The actor's favorite food was nuts, because they could always feed the birds.

When Leonid Gaidai's comedy "The Dog Mongrel and the Unusual Cross" came out on Soviet screens, everyone immediately fell in love with the trinity in the person of Coward, Dunce and Experienced. Many were sure that Vitsin (Coward) was not in the cinema before Gaidai. In fact, Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol himself opened the way to the wide screen for him. Director Grigory Kozintsev for a long time was looking for a suitable actor for the role of the Russian classic for his film "Belinsky": so that the nose is long and the figure is thin. And suddenly I saw the actor of the Yermolova Theater Georgy Vitsin ... In the theater "Gogol" they predicted the future of a dramatic actor, but the cinema made him a comedian. If not for the Coward, then Vitsin would become Hamlet! Samples for these two roles went on at the same time, but Gaidai's shooting began earlier.

After the "Unusual Cross" Vitsin was Khmyr from "Gentlemen of Fortune" and a drunken dad from the comedy "It Can't Be!" The names of the directors changed, but the image remained the same - a funny simpleton and a drunkard, so there was no longer any talk of King Lear. The alcoholic Chokolov from the movie "Dangerous for Life", the lover of strong drinks Tebenkov from the movie "Guardian", the drunken dead man in "Bunny", the intoxicated cook in "Tobacco Captain" ... Over time, the audience even began to think that the actor was not just so brilliantly plays lovers of the green snake ... However, Vitsin never took a drop in his mouth in his life. The cult scene from the “Prisoner of the Caucasus, where the remark “Life is good, and life is even better!” sounded. Vitsin, who was considered a person without conflict and complaisant, flatly refused to participate in the filming of this episode: “I will not drink beer! "The props poured rosehip broth instead of an intoxicating drink, but there was no foam. The actor had to put up with it and take a sip.

The famous Vitsin could afford oddities, and they all betrayed an ascetic in him: he doesn’t drink, doesn’t smoke, doesn’t eat meat, and stands on his head in between rehearsals. Real fame came to Vitsin after 40, immediately after the premiere of the comedy "Dog Mongrel". But instead of resting on his laurels, the actor began to struggle with his popularity. "If glory creeps up - hide!" - Vitsin repeated all the time. He hid not only from his fame, but also from colleagues in between filming.

In 1993, the "Museum of Three Actors" was opened in Moscow, dedicated to the famous trinity from the films of Leonid Gaidai. For Nikulin and Morgunov, this event caused delight, for Vitsin - annoyance. “My house is my fortress,” Vitsin thought so, and there were no guests in his apartment. He did not let the curious into his personal life. And, meanwhile, Shakespearean passions sometimes boiled here.

famous theater studio, which later became the theater. Yermolova, in 1936 it was headed by People's Artist of the USSR Nikolai Khmelev, married to the beautiful actress Dina Topoleva. Everyone was shocked when they found out that Dina was leaving her eminent husband for a young actor, desperate Georgy Vitsin. He was then 19. Dina - 35. In official biography Vitsin not a word about this woman. The actor had only one wife - the niece of the famous Soviet breeder Tamara Michurina, she is also a props, costume designer, make-up artist in many theaters. Vitsin's 80th birthday was celebrated for 2 years in a row - no one knew exactly when he was born. The year 1918 was in the passport, but in reality it was significant event happened twelve months ago. Vitsin himself said - celebrate when you want, the main thing is without me, and locked himself in his apartment. There was also no clarity with the place of birth of the actor for a long time. The city in which he was born was not mentioned at all in his biography. For a long time it was believed that Vitsin was born in St. Petersburg, but in fact, his homeland is the Finnish town of Tereoki. There were also difficulties with the surname. He was terribly worried when they began to write "Vitsin", and insisted on the second letter "Y". The ancestors of the famous comedian wove baskets from a flexible wicker - vitsa.

Georgy Vitsin lived for famous artist modestly, but did not live in poverty, as the newspapers wrote after his death. He did not amass great wealth, not because he could not, he simply did not want to. "Never ask for anything, then they won't touch you either" - this is Vitsin's main life credo. In the first place, the actor has always had personal freedom.

Larisa Luzhina, Nina Grebeshkova, Vladimir Andreev, Tatyana Konyukhova, Vladimir Tsukerman take part in the film.

Type: Documentary
Genre: Biographical
Production: TV Center

Georgy Vitsin was born in Petrograd on April 18, 1917. However, according to the entry in the Metric Book of the Petrograd Holy Cross Church for 1917, Vitsin was baptized on April 23, on the day of the Holy Great Martyr George, and April 5 (April 18 according to the new style) 1917 is indicated in the “birthday” column. And his mother Maria Matveevna corrected the year 1917 in metrics to 1918 in order to send sickly Georgy to a health-improving forest school, where there was a place only in the younger group.

When George was eight months old, his parents moved him to Moscow. Maria Matveevna alone carried all the household chores, since her husband returned from the war as a seriously ill person - he was poisoned by gas and did not live long. When Maria Matveevna, having changed many professions, went to work as an usher in the Column Hall of the House of the Unions, she often took her son with her to work.

Georgy Vitsin was a very shy boy from childhood. To overcome his complexes, George made a firm decision to become an actor. Georgy Vitsin really became interested in theater at the age of 12, when he began to play in school amateur performances. Here is what he recalled about this: “I grew up very shy child. And in order to get rid of this complex, I decided to learn how to perform. Went to fourth grade in theater Club. By the way, a very good remedy, even the psychologist Vladimir Levy wrote about this. I know him, he treats stutterers in this way, people with all sorts of complexes - arranges a theater at home, distributes roles, and they improvise. Here I am cured…”

IN school theater as a therapy for shyness, in one of the performances, Vitsin performed the shaman's dance so passionately and emotionally that he received advice from the teachers to seriously take up ballet. But after graduating from school, Vitsin decided to seriously engage in theater.

After leaving school, Georgy Vitsin entered the Maly Theater School. But soon he was expelled with the wording "For a frivolous attitude to the educational process." In the fall, Vitsin again decided to test his strength. He was tested in three studios at once - Alexei Diky, the Theater of the Revolution and the Moscow Art Theater-2 - and was accepted into all at once. He chose the Vakhtangov Theater School of the Moscow Art Theater Studio-2, where he studied from 1934 to 1935, where he studied with S. G. Birman, A. I. Blagonravov and V. N. Tatarinov.

In 1936, the secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine, Postyshev, in a personal conversation with Stalin, complained that there were two Moscow Art Theaters in Moscow, and not a single one in Ukraine, and Stalin immediately "gave" the fraternal republic the Moscow Art Theater - 2 with the entire troupe. The actors were offered to pack their things and go to Kyiv, and when they refused to leave the capital, the theater was disbanded, recalling in the newspapers that it had once been organized by the "renegade emigrant" Mikhail Chekhov. Actress Serafima Birman, one of the most strict theater teachers, compared Vitsin with Mikhail Chekhov.

Vitsin since 1936 served at the Yermolova Theater and brilliantly played a sexually horny impotent old man in Fletcher's play The Taming of the Tamer. The audience poured into this production, and specifically “on Vitsin”, finding out at the box office whether he was playing, and only then buying tickets. True, they were dissatisfied. One day, an angry general appeared backstage, watching a performance with his 16-year-old daughter, and demanded that the "indecent text" be cut.

Vitsin himself always treated the theater with great reverence. Even after he finally said goodbye to the stage and went to the cinema. There is no such thing as a "film actor", he believed. There is an ACTOR, and he is born on stage, in live communication with the audience.

In his theatrical experience Vitsin found blanks for many film roles. The sexy old man who embarrassed the general's daughter turned into Sir Andrew from Jan Fried's Twelfth Night. The British press, which always jealously follows any adaptations of Shakespeare, caressed this picture, and the role of "the Russian actor Vypin, who accurately grasped the specifics of English humor", although with a mistake in the surname, was mentioned in the BBC program.

They wrote about Vitsin with pleasure theater critics, and no one then could have imagined that an actor with such a brilliant stage career could leave the theater forever for the sake of cinema.

Georgy Vitsin's cinematic career began with an episodic role as a guardsman in the film Ivan the Terrible, and continued with the role of Gogol in Kozintsev's film Belinsky in 1951.

The director's assistant, who came from Lenfilm to Moscow, selected several actors from the mass of the capital's actors at once, among whom were famous actors Vladimir Kenigson, Boris Smirnov and a number of others. However, it was in Vitsin that the assistant saw the features of Gogol's nature.

Vitsin played this role so reliably that a few months after filming this film, he was invited to work in another film, and again for the role of Gogol - in Grigory Alexandrov's film Composer Glinka.

Georgy Vitsin starred in films of various genres, but Georgy Vitsin became widely known for his roles in comedies. The first such role was the charming football player Vasya Vesnushkin in Semyon Timoshenko's film "Reserve Player", filmed in 1954. Vitsin got into this role quite by accident. The picture was shot at Lenfilm, where Vitsin was invited to audition for the role of the Gadfly in the film directed by Alexander Feintsimmer. The tests were unsuccessful, Oleg Strizhenov was approved for the role, and Vitsin was about to return to Moscow, when Semyon Timoshenko's assistant accidentally found him in one of the Lenfilm corridors. This time the test of the young actor was successful, and Vitsin was immediately approved for the role.

True, later the director was very surprised to learn that “ young actor"Not 25 years old, as it seemed to the eye, but almost 37. Vitsin's "ageless phenomenon" deserves a separate discussion. He was under 40 years old when he equally convincingly played a 70-year-old old man in the film "Maxim Perepelitsa" and a 17-year-old hero of Rozov's play "Good Hour!"

Before filming "Reserve Player", Vitsin trained daily at the stadium for a month to be in shape. And at the rehearsal of a boxing match, he seriously attacked Pavel Kadochnikov, who was professionally engaged in boxing. As a result, Vitsin had a crack in the rib, but he did not leave the site, but continued filming, tightening his chest with a towel.

In 1956, with the participation of Vitsin, the film "She Loves You" was filmed. In the film, according to the script, a complex stunt episode on water skiing was supposed. An understudy was supposed to be filmed, but the director decided to shoot Vitsin. Together with the screenwriter, they fabricated a letter from a certain fan: “Dear Comrade Vitsin! You are my ideal, I dream to meet you! Heard you're aquaplaning tomorrow? How brave are you! I will definitely look and after the shooting I will come to you. Believe me, you will not be disappointed. Klava. The quick-witted Vitsin read the letter, agreed to shoot, worked brilliantly for the whole episode, but after shooting he said to the director: “But the name of the girl could be more interesting to come up with.”

The heroes of Vitsin invariably aroused sympathy among the audience in any films in which the actor starred - in detective, historical and lyrical. In the film "The Marriage of Balzaminov", which was planned to be put into production in 1955, the only candidate for the role of the immature Misha Balzaminov was Vitsin, a longtime friend of the director Voinov for joint work in the theater-studio Khmelev. But something did not work out, and the launch of the film was postponed. After 10 years, the director had the opportunity to return to the project, and Voinov offered the main role again to Vitsin. And Georgy Mikhailovich then turned 48 years old. He flatly refused, but Voinov insisted: “It’s 48 according to your passport, but you don’t look 30 either. We’ll remove the makeup for another five years, and then the light, etc., etc.”

This reincarnation was possible because Vitsin treated his health responsibly and reverently. He did not smoke, because at the age of eight he took a puff under the stairs and received an anti-nicotine reflex for life. And did not drink, after once in New Year I decided to drink and realized - if the next morning you want to strangle yourself, it's better not to drink. But most importantly, he did yoga when no one really knew what it was. Vitsin carried out a mandatory cleansing of the body, ate right, developing high resistance to stress, conducted daily workouts and meditations, and strictly on schedule and regardless of the circumstances. Many directors got angry when, after the command "Motor!" Vitsin looked at his watch and politely but firmly stated: “Excuse me, I need to stand on one leg for seven minutes and sit in the lotus position.” Ignoring the heated atmosphere, he stepped aside, worked out his norm and calmly returned to work.

Savely Kramarov recalled how he lived with Vitsin on one of his business trips, and he amazed him with his daily yoga classes. “If I had not practiced yoga, then many of my film roles would not have been so successful,” Georgy Mikhailovich explained. - After all, the process of filming is a very difficult dreary thing. In anticipation of being filmed, you can sit all day, moreover, get so tired that all the humor will fizzle out of you by itself. How then to play? But during the filming, despite the noise, screaming, I often fell asleep for exactly ten to fifteen minutes, thereby giving the body a rest, relaxation.

To such an obsession with healthy way life partners treated differently. Some were indifferent, others were skeptical, and some were rather harsh. For example, Nonna Mordyukova, who, after the episode of the kiss of the merchant's wife Belotelova with Balzaminov, told Vitsin: “Are you a man? Don't drink, don't smoke, don't hit on women. You're dead!"

“With all this, over the long years of working in the cinema, Georgy Mikhailovich masterfully learned to play drunks,” said Vladimir Tsukerman. - However, in real life he never learned to drink. I smoked for the first and last time at the age of seven. Therefore, Vitsin did not like all kinds of acting gatherings, anniversaries and creative meetings in restaurants. “The worst thing that mankind has come up with is a feast,” he said. In the cinematic environment, such a bike even went. One actor says to another: “I was at the presentation yesterday. The table was awesome. Everyone was there, everyone was drinking. Leonov, Papanov, Mironov, Nikulin, Morgunov, Vitsin ... "-" Stop, - interrupted the second, - do not lie. - “Well, everyone was there, and everyone drank. In addition to Vitsin, of course ... ".

In the 10 years that have passed between the idea and the release of Balzaminov's Marriage, a lot has happened in the fate of Vitsin. But main event took place in 1957, when Leonid Gaidai invited him to his first comedy "The Bridegroom from the Other World." The picture did not have much success, especially since the censorship dealt with the "Groom ..." quite abruptly, turning the film into a curvy short film with peripheral distribution. But the next joint work, from the very beginning focused on short films, became a cult and fateful one. In the film "Dog Mongrel and an Unusual Cross", the most famous film trinity of Soviet cinema was born - Coward, Dunce and Experienced.

First, Gaidai read a poetic feuilleton about poachers in Pravda, then he came up with three characters-masks and began to look for actors. Vitsin immediately chose Coward, Coward found Dunce, seeing Yuri Nikulin in the circus. Experienced, in the person of Yevgeny Morgunov, Gaidai was betrothed by the director of Mosfilm, Ivan Pyryev. The fourth hero - Barbosa - was portrayed by the dog Brekh, who spoiled a lot of blood for the artists, stubbornly refusing to fulfill Gaidai's ideas in the frame.

Dog Mongrel was only one of five short stories in the humorous almanac Quite Seriously, on which the Mosfilm studio did not pin much hope. But Gaidai's eccentric short film was a resounding success with the public. The viewer liked everything - tricks, music, frantic rhythm and filigree editing. New heroes instantly became characters folklore, tales and anecdotes. Made after "Moonshiners" aggravated the situation of universal love and popularity. Bags of letters came from all over the country, in which Gaidai, in an ultimatum form, was required to make a new movie about Coward, Dunce and Experienced. Meanwhile, the trio in full force temporarily migrated to Eldar Ryazanov’s film “Give a Book of Complaints”, where she was remembered for a fight in a restaurant and Vitsin’s conceptual phrase: “You need to know the authorities by sight!”

Grigory Kozintsev, who planned to shoot Vitsin in the role of Hamlet, was shocked when he saw the artist in Gaidai's short films. No one could have imagined that a dramatic actor would turn out so brightly comedic.

The phenomenal success of Gaidai's films even influenced the inviolable laws of the Soviet planned economy. The light industry responded to potential demand and quickly launched the production of products with "triple" symbols: T-shirts, masks, toys, calendars. Coward, Dunce and Experienced reincarnated as terrible forest robbers from the cartoon "The Bremen Town Musicians".

The audience perceived them as a single being, and even came up with a name for him - ViNiMor (according to the first letters of the surnames). But what different people made up this trio. A clown from God, a holiday man Yuri Nikulin (for him, Gaidai's films became the beginning of a film career), calm, quiet, contemplatively closed Vitsin - an artist with excellent theatrical training and solid film experience, and noisy, interfering in everything, often cheeky in communication Evgeny Morgunov, who, unfortunately, did not play anything of equal value either before or after the role of Experienced.

While working on "Operation" Y ..." Gaidai planned to complete the adventures of his heroes. The director had a difficult relationship with Morgunov, who was naughty even at Moonshiners, and allowed a lot of things both on film set, as well as outside of it. In his picture "Business People" based on the stories of O. Henry Gaidai, he did not take Experienced, although both Nikulin and Vitsin played excellent roles there. However, a suitable scenario was soon found.

When Nikulin read the script for "Prisoner of the Caucasus", he flatly refused to act in "this nonsense." But Gaidai convinced him and the others that the script would be just the main canvas, on which everyone has the right to string as many fictions, tricks and gags as they can invent. And in order to stimulate the imagination of his “co-authors”, the director promised to give the inventor a couple of bottles of champagne for each idea.

According to the oral traditions of filmmakers, Nikulin earned 24 bottles, Morgunov - 18, and Vitsin - 1, because he did not like champagne. In fact, Georgy Mikhailovich was no less prolific than his colleagues. It is to him that we owe the cry “Beware!” Coward flying out of the door, a trick with a cucumber and a slingshot, Varley's handkerchief, which Coward is afraid of, and the famous scene under the motto "Stand to the death!" When the heroes build a living wall in front of a rushing car. In general, tricks were invented so spontaneously that it was then difficult to determine exactly who invented what. For example, Nikulin came up with a huge syringe that remains after an injection in the ass of Experienced, but the fact that the syringe will swing is Vitsin's find.

The actor was hardly persuaded to drink a mug of beer on the set of "Prisoner of the Caucasus". At first, he categorically refused: “I won’t beer, pour rose hips.” One take, a second, a third... I've already drunk five mugs of rosehip infusion, as someone from the film crew remarked: “It won't work! There is no foam! Nikulin suggested putting cotton in a mug, but Vitsin could not stand it: “Yes, the sixth mug will not fit into me. Even with cotton wool, even without!” “As you wish, Georgy Mikhailovich,” the film director Leonid Gaidai intervened. - And you still have to shoot one more take. And with real beer. And the teetotaler Vitsin had to forcefully drain a whole mug.

Pyotr Vail wrote about "ViniMore": "The heroes of the great Gaidai troika wore talking names denoting those qualities without which there is not and cannot be a worthy person. According to the clownish laws of comedy, these were shifting names, which, of course, did not confuse anyone. It is clear that Experienced - Evgeny Morgunov - who always gets into a puddle - is the personification of honest insecurity: the inevitable fate of the individual in society. That Dunce - Yuri Nikulin - the embodiment of common sense. That Coward - Georgy Vitsin - courage and resilience, beyond the control of either society or the state. With these three it was possible to make life clearer and more convincing than with Pavlik Morozov and Pavka Korchagin. Their words and phrases diverged in quanta worldly wisdom no worse than quotes from Ilf and Petrov. If you think about it, the replica: “To live well, but to live well is even better,” has become a key one for the people of a vast country. It was this intelligible philosophy that led the country from a vague slogan to everyday care, brought it out of ideology and into life. All three of them had the same name in common. This name is freedom. They appeared on the screen in the early 60s, when for the first time much of what was then opened wide open a quarter of a century later opened up in the country for the first time. The eccentricity of Gaidai's cinema was reminiscent of the movements of a suddenly freed man who, once in freedom, randomly swings his arms, turns his head, jumps up and down, tries to run away. The reflex freedom of that thaw was imprinted in many ways - youth prose, the Taganka theater, intimate lyrics, and most clearly - in Gaidai's comedies, where the Nikulin-Vitsin-Morgunov trio possessed something that had not been seen before: the plasticity of a free person. Dostoevsky wrote that laughter is the true test of the soul, and it is right that our freedom began with laughter.

"Prisoner of the Caucasus" - a favorite of domestic cinema from 1967 to the present day. In the year of release, the film took 1st place at the box office, gathering 76.5 million viewers at the screens.

Actress Natalya Varley recalled Georgy Vitsin: “I can start to remember, analyze or invent, but I didn’t have the feeling that Georgy Mikhailovich was separate, Yuri Vladimirovich was separate, Evgeny Alexandrovich was separate. For me it was a group of very strong actors, wonderful people. My fear of a debutante, of course, at first did not allow me to navigate even what was happening. I was scared. Scary, joyful, interesting, and then I began to observe, analyze how different tempers why Leonid Iovich connected such dissimilar, it would seem, people and created three masks from them: Coward, Experienced, Dunce. In fact, Yuri Vladimirovich, and Evgeny Alexandrovich, and Georgy Mikhailovich were intelligent, smartest people. Georgy Mikhailovich was a deeply read man, an excellent theater actor. As a theater actor, he is known, of course, less. They mainly know his comedic roles, but I also saw him as an actor at the Yermolova Theater, even before I started acting in The Prisoner of the Caucasus. I studied at the circus school and ran to all the performances of the Yermolovsky Theater, because my classmate's aunt worked there. And I saw Georgy Mikhailovich in his theatrical works. He was from a different generation, with different values and criteria. It seems to me that it would not have occurred to Georgy Mikhailovich Vitsin to bargain over the fee for the role, especially if he liked the role, if he wanted to play this role. And today I understand that this old, intelligent acting school is sorely lacking. When today they say, “how can it be, he died alone, in poverty,” I want to object. First, not alone, he had a beloved wife, a beloved daughter, a beloved dog. Yes, he was an old man, toothless, who already refused to go out with concerts, because he listened to his own health. My heart was shaking, he is still so suspicious. It was quite enough for him to go out in his Coward suit, to say a monologue, which was accepted with a bang. But he lived some kind of his own, quiet, life. I think he lived the way he already wanted - to correspond to his age, not to get younger, not to put in his teeth, because you don’t need to eat meat anymore, you need to eat porridge. Feed cats and dogs. There was also a Smolensk grocery store and they left for stray cats and dogs trimming bones and meat. He walked around the yards and fed them. He just loved animals and was very worried about them. He was a very kind and gentle person. Despite the fact that he loved dirty jokes, I have a feeling of such a tender depth of soul. Here is such a person - with a very tender soul, very vulnerable, never, as it seems to me, never asking for anything for himself, never making any demands on others in relation to himself, he never achieved any material benefits in life. The very memory of Georgy Mikhailovich is very bright. It is sad because he is gone and sad because he cannot now give a lesson in modesty, intelligence, politeness and reverent attitude to the acting profession.

The apotheosis of the troika was its end. Gaidai came to the conclusion that it was no longer possible to exploit these types without self-repetitions. In addition, on the set of "The Captive" he had major scandal with Morgunov. Evgeny Alexandrovich appeared on the site surrounded by fans and began to make comments to the director, causing an enthusiastic reaction from the environment. Gaidai sharply ordered the director to remove all outsiders from the site, Morgunov was offended, Gaidai too, and in front of the actor tore out all the remaining episodes from the director's script.

Vitsin, Nikulin and Morgunov met only once on the screen, but not with Gaidai, but in Karelov's film Seven Old Men and One Girl.

In 1980, director Yuri Kushnerev tried to revive the legendary trio in the film "The Comedy of Bygone Days", combining it with the equally famous Gaidai deuce - Archil Gomiashvili and Sergey Filippov. Despite the fact that the authors of “Operation Y”, “Prisoner of the Caucasus” and “Diamond Arm” Yakov Kostyukovsky and Maurice Slobodsky took up the script, the result was not very good. Nikulin immediately abandoned the project, and the remaining four strained with all their might, but could not make “at least something out of nothing”.

In our country, the popularity of a film actor is often determined by the number of "catch phrases" he sent from the screen to the people. "Money in the morning - chairs in the evening!" (“12 chairs”), “There is no romanticism, there is no one to drink with” (“It can’t be”), “Well, quickly everyone in the caves!” ("Sannikov Land"), "Yes, yes ... OBKhSS!" (“Gentlemen of Fortune”) is all Vitsin. And as the apogee of popularity - an invitation to become a guest of the TV pub "13 chairs" by the poet Odysseus Tsypa.

Vitsin, along with other popular artists, often toured the country with the Comrade KINO programs and combined concerts. At one of these concerts, leaving the stage, he ran into a young singer standing backstage: “And I’m watching you, Georgy Mikhailovich, I’m learning from a professional to feel the stage and the audience,” Alla Pugacheva told the artist. In 1990, they were again side by side - in the "last list" for the title of People's Artist of the USSR, which Gorbachev managed to sign in front of Belovezhskaya Pushcha.

Georgy Vitsin said about himself: “I am generally very flexible, patient and non-aggressive. I will always turn the other cheek and will not fight... Just because it is a wise Christian rule. My dogs sometimes bite me, but I forgive them - after all, they are all so unfortunate, curs ... I'm not explosive. Nerves can pass, but I still try not to let it happen. My temperature is not such that passions play. Yes, I am afraid of them ... ".

Ivan Dykhovichny wrote about Vitsin: “There are people who live a very long time and when they pass away - no one remembers them anymore, such a terrible moment happens, but here the story is amazing, because fortunately, fortunately for us - viewers and people who knew him, Vitsin lived for many years, but most importantly, he managed to leave an image so beloved by people from and to a variety of tastes, which is also unique.

It is hard to imagine, but in life Georgy Mikhailovich possessed a truly magical charm, literally bewitching women. Moreover, the actor had this gift from his youth.

Georgy Mikhailovich was not a written handsome man, however, he had no shortage of admirers. Ladies wrote letters that they wanted to give birth to a child from him, confessed their love. Many actresses also tried to seduce a popular colleague. But Vitsin was never a supporter of fleeting connections. Nevertheless, in his personal biography there is a fact that is not typical for Georgy Mikhailovich. In his youth, Vitsin had an affair with actress Dina Topoleva, whom he took not from anyone, but from his teacher, People's Artist of the USSR Nikolai Khmelev. Khmelev's studio was later transformed into the Yermolova Theatre. And, strangely, the relationship between Khmelev and Vitsin did not change at all after that. Khmelev forgave his lawful wife for treason, and the actor treated his teacher and director with respect all his life. Topoleva was much older than Georgy Mikhailovich.

Vitsin and Topoleva lived in a civil marriage for almost 20 years. And then 38-year-old George met Tamara, the niece of the famous scientist Michurin. But even when Vitsin was married to Tamara, and Topoleva was left alone and very ill, Vitsin looked after her. He brought groceries and bought medicines. And Tamara Fedorovna supported her husband in this.

Moreover, Dina remained a member of his family until her death. Remembers A.Voinov, daughter close friend Vitsin directed by Konstantin Voinov: “He built an absolutely amazing system of relationships. He wanted a child, there (in the family with Dina) there was no child. Aunt Tamara's baby was born. The child is adored, he simply idolized his daughter Natasha. But he managed to arrange so that Natasha was admitted to Aunt Dinin's house. He brought her there because he kind of had two families. Because he supported Aunt Dina all his life. Both her and her sister, with housekeepers, with a dacha for the summer ... Vitsin could not leave Dina, she was older and needed guardianship.

Vitsin met his new wife at the Yermolova Theater. She worked there as a clerk. According to the stories of Tamara Fedorovna herself, their acquaintance took place on Easter. She came to the props room, where people brought Easter cakes and Easter. Vitsin entered with a painted egg in his hand. “Girls, I came to say goodbye,” he said. They kissed three times, looked into each other's eyes, and have since started dating. A few years later, the couple had a daughter, Natasha.

Vitsin did not need fame. He ran from her. He hid from the annoying public in his apartment or retired in nature with an easel. When the Museum of the Three Actors was opening, Yuri Nikulin called for Georgy Vitsin to take him to the presentation. And found a colleague lying on the couch. “Gosh, get up, let's go, your own museum is opening,” said Yuri Vladimirovich. “So it’s necessary to put on pants,” Vitsin replied. “What, you go without pants at all?” - "So it is necessary to put on other pants." And turned over to the other side. But then he still packed up and came.

Vitsin said about himself: “I have always tried not to draw the attention of others to myself. What is an eyesore to the people? He put on a gray cloak, pulled a cap over his eyes and tried to blend in with the crowd. There is a story that once they recognized him in the queue, they began to give way. “I am not George Vitsin, I am his brother,” the actor began to deceive people. “Man, you have such a great brother that you also have full right enjoy his fame. Come forward!"

The last time Georgy Mikhailovich starred in 1994 in the film by Andrei Benkendorf "Several love stories"and one of the first domestic" horror films "Haggi-Tragger". Sometimes he performed at the national "humor" in the former Theater film actor - he joked that he was earning food for homeless dogs. He was unmercenary in the truest sense of the word. Few people knew that Vitsin studied the works of Ovid, Horace, Plato and Petrarch, was fond of astronomy.

Vitsin was very fond of animals. The family had two parrots and a dog. One bird screamed all the time: “Why are you running around? Go to sleep!”, and about the dog, Vitsin, in all seriousness, reported that she knew how to say “mother”.

At the end of his life, poor health constantly reminded Vitsin of himself. He was often sick. There was dissatisfaction with what was happening in the country in the 1990s. The actor categorically did not like this time. He could not and did not want to adapt to him. He was rescued by the duty that he placed on himself: "I must go feed the pigeons." Every day he got out of bed, took sacks of millet and went outside to feed the birds. The surrounding stray cats and dogs got pieces of food - Georgy Mikhailovich could not pass by their troubles calmly. And so it turned out that by the time Vitsin left the house, all his pets were gathering near the entrance.

Georgy Vitsin worked a lot on dubbing cartoons. He approached his puppet and drawn characters according to the Stanislavsky system, considering this part of his work no less responsible and serious. His voice is spoken by the brownie Kuzya, the hare (“The Bag of Apples”), Giuseppe (“The Adventures of Pinocchio”), the musician beetle (“Thumbelina”) and many other animated characters.

Vitsin basically did not go to polyclinics. “And then they will find something, so you will start thinking about your sores.” He looked at all the costs of age with his characteristic humor: “Why put prostheses? If it's time to burn your bridges, don't change them for plastic ones."

Despite the fact that Georgy Vitsin was constantly ill, he periodically participated in national concerts, since his meager pension was clearly not enough for a full life. Vitsin lived with his wife, who did not work due to illness, and his daughter, an artist, whose salary was also small.

On September 6, 2001, Vitsin agreed to participate in a concert that took place in the capital's Film Actor Theater. The organizers called Vitsin two hours before the start and asked him to replace the sick artist. Vitsin, who himself did not feel well that day, agreed, setting the only condition - to speak first. But it didn't help. Immediately after the performance, he became ill with his heart. An ambulance was immediately called, which took Vitsin to the 19th city hospital. He was placed in the intensive care unit. The next day, the artist felt better, and he was transferred to a double ward of the cardiology department. There, his daughter Natasha looked after him.

O. Alekseeva wrote in the newspaper “Life”: “Georgy Mikhailovich categorically forbade his wife to leave his beloved dog Boy unattended. And Tamara Fedorovna does not dare to ask someone she knows to sit with the dog. He does not want them to see the conditions in which the people's artist of Russia lives, who has played more than a hundred roles in films. The picture is indeed depressing. In the tiny hallway are books and a bowl of food for the Boy. In the room - an old black-and-white TV and again a lot of books. The shower has not been working for six months, there is no cold water in the kitchen. “It's not that it's unfair, it's inhuman,” says Tamara Fedorovna. - A great actor, a people's favorite, but he lives in such devastation. But Georgy Mikhailovich bravely endures everything, does not turn to anyone for help. And he scolds me if I start talking about it. I sometimes think, maybe - write a letter to the government, to the Union of Cinematographers? But Georgy Mikhailovich forbids, says: it’s very hard for everyone now, and he has no right to demand special attention to himself ... "

Doctors of the 19th hospital relieved Vitsin of an acute attack of angina pectoris and treated his heart. Then the daughter took the artist home. But a couple of days later he became ill again due to an attack of angina pectoris. On October 10, Vitsin was placed in a more comfortable clinical hospital No. 2 at the Ministry of Health of Russia. When Vitsin entered the 2nd hospital, the doctors had no illusions - the actor had no chance. And he himself understood this very well. On Thursday, October 18, Vitsin got worse. He stopped eating on his own, could not sit up in bed, and spoke with difficulty. On Friday, the actor lost consciousness. Over the weekend, he woke up for a few minutes, but then fell back into oblivion.

On October 22, Vitsin's condition became extremely serious, and the doctors called his daughter Natasha. She immediately arrived, and for several hours was inseparably with her father. But he never regained consciousness. At 16.30 Georgy Vitsin died.

“He did not need time,” said Leonid Kuravlev. - He himself rejected it, rejected it. Vitsin did not need such a time with his philosophy, with his modesty, with his ability to idolize the very foundations of human morality and soul, according to which one must live on, and they are framed by the ten commandments of Christ. Here he lived according to the laws of Jesus Christ.

Georgy Vitsin ended one of his last interviews like this: “Don't fuss, people. Life takes an awful lot of time!”

Throughout his life, Vitsin portrayed a cowardly squishy man, which in real life he was not at all.

A documentary film "The Hermit" was filmed about George Vitsin.

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Text prepared by Andrey Goncharov

Used materials:

Site materials www.biografii.ru
Site materials www.kino-teatr.ru
Site materials www.mad-love.ru
Site materials www.tvkultura.ru
Site materials www.art.thelib.ru
Site materials www.rusactors.ru
The text of the book by F. Razzakov "Dossier on the stars"
Text of the article "The brave coward Georgy Vitsin", author T. Boglanova
Text of the article “Georgy Vitsin lived under fake documents?”, Author O. Kalnina

Acted in films:

1945 Ivan the Terrible
1951 Belinsky
1952 Composer Glinka
1954 Substitute
1955 Twelfth Night
1955 Maxim Perepelitsa
1955 Mexican
1956 She loves you
1956 Murder on Rue Dante
1957 Wrestler and Clown
1957 Don Quixote
1957 New attraction
1958 Girl with a guitar
1958 Bridegroom from the Other World
1959 Vasily Surikov
1960 End of old Berezovka
1960 Revenge
1961 Artist from Kokhanovka
1961 Dog Mongrel and unusual cross
1961 Moonshiners
1962 Business people
1962 Way to the pier
1963 Cain XVIII ("Two Friends")
1963 Short stories
1963 First trolleybus
1963 Blind bird
1964 Spring chores
1964 Give a complaint book
1964 Balzaminov's marriage
1964 Bunny
1964 Tale of Lost Time
1965 Road to the sea
1965 Operation "Y" and Shurik's other adventures
1966 Prisoner of the Caucasus, or Shurik's New Adventures
1966 Who Invented the Wheel?
1966 Amazing story, like a fairy tale
1966 Rainbow Formula
1967 Save a drowning man
1968 Seven old men and one girl
1968 Old, old fairy tale
1969 At the thirteenth hour of the night
1970 How we were looking for Tishka
1970 Guardian
1970 Step from the roof
1971 12 chairs
1971 Spring Tale
1971 Gentlemen of Fortune
1971 Mortal Enemy
1971 Shadow
1972 Tobacco Captain
1973 ... Have you ever loved?
1973 Sannikov Land
1973 Incorrigible Liar
1973 Cipollino / Cipollino
1974 Car, violin and dog Klyaksa
1974 Big attraction
1974 Dear Boy
1974 My destiny
1974 Northern Rhapsody
1974 Tsarevich Prosha
1975 It can't be!
1975 Finist - Clear Falcon
1975 Step forward
1976 Cheerful dream, or Laughter and tears
1976 While the clock is striking
1976 Blue bird
1976 Sun, sun again
1977 12 chairs
1977 Marinka, Janka and the secrets of the royal castle
1980 For matches
1980 Comedy of bygone days
1981 Hands up!
1985 Dangerous for life!
1985 Rivals
1986 Pan Klyaksa's Journey
1991 The story of the meter page
1992 Shot in the coffin
1993 Brave Guys
1994 Gentlemen Artists
1994 Several Love Stories
1994 Hugy Tragger

Voiced cartoons:

1946 Peacock's Tail (animated)
1951 High slide (animated, Chick)
1953 Magic Shop (animated, shop assistant)
1954 Orange Neck (animation)
1955 "Arrow" flies into a fairy tale (animated)
1955 The Enchanted Boy (animated, Rosenbaum)
1955 Lourja Magdana (grandfather Gigo / role A. Omiadze /)
1955 Nut twig (animation)
1955 Postal Snowman (animated)
1955 Brave Bunny(animated)
1956 Boat (animation)
1956 Jackal and camel (animation)
1957 In a certain kingdom (animation)
1957 Wonder Woman (animated)
1958 Cat's House (animation, Goat)
1958 Beloved Beauty (animation, Trash)
1958 The Boy from Naples (animation)
1958 Tale of Malchish-Kibalchish (animation)
1958 Sportlandia (animation)
1959 The Adventures of Pinocchio (animated, Giuseppe)
1959 Three Woodcutters (animated)
1959 Mr. Pitkin Behind Enemy Lines (UK)
1960 Non-Drinking Sparrow (animated, Sparrow)
1960 Different wheels (animation)
1960 I drew a little man (animation)
1961 Dear penny (animated, Pyatak)
1961 Dragon (animated)
1961 Key (animation, father)
1961 Ant-braggart (animated)
1961 Beggar's Tale
1962 Two Tales (animation)
1964 If you want - believe it, if you want - no ... (lecturer)
1966 How to Steal a Million (USA)
1966 An amazing story, like a fairy tale (reads the text)
1967 Engine from Romashkov (animation)
1968 Diamond Hand (drunkard in the alley, sings "Song of the Bears")
1969 Puss in Boots (Japan, animation)
1970 Beavers follow the trail (animated)
1977 Stepmother Samanishvili (priest Michael)
1978 Santa Claus and the Gray Wolf (animated)
1978 D'Artagnan and the Three Musketeers (judge, role of Vladimir Dolinsky)
1980 Taming of the Shrew (Italy)
1982 In love with own will(unlucky boyfriend-artist, the role of Ivan Ufimtsev)
1982 Intercession Gate (Savelyich)
1982 Wizards (1982) scientist cat
1984 House for Kuzka
1984 Adventures of a brownie
1984-1987 Brownie Kuzya (animation, brownie Kuzya)
1986 Tale for Natasha
1986 I am an outpost leader (father of Kolya Gudkov, role of Alexei Kozhevnikov)
1987 Return of the brownie

Moscow. Arbat. In the entrance of one of the residential buildings - pandemonium, journalists with cameras and cameras are storming an inconspicuous apartment. A peeled door, behind which, in response to persistent calls, there is silence. A well-dressed man pushes through the crowd of people with an envelope in his hands. He came here to present a telegram of congratulations from President Yeltsin to Georgy Vitsin.

The actor has an anniversary of 80 years (although Vitsin was actually born not in 1918, but in 1917, so on April 23, 1998 he was already 81 years old). As a result, the impregnable door will still open slightly. Through the gap, Vitsin's wife will stretch out her hand for a moment, take the telegram and hide again in the apartment ... The artist will never go to the press. And this will only fuel interest in his seclusion. Long years the famous comedian carefully concealed his life from prying eyes.

In our film, the viewer will see exclusive footage of "home" filming, where Vitsin and his relatives are the same as they were in their life, closed from prying eyes. Vitsin's daughter, when they went on shooting expeditions together, always took an amateur movie camera with an eight-millimeter film with her. We will show unique drawings of the actor himself, as well as tell the story of how Georgy Vitsin was supposed to sing in the film "Gentlemen of Fortune". The song had already been recorded by the artist, but the artistic director of the film, Georgy Danelia, considered that the thief could not sing, and removed “The Song of the Elephant” performed by Vitsinsky Khmyr from the film. This recording has been preserved, and for the first time, viewers of Channel One will not only be able to hear this failed hit, but also find out where in the picture it was supposed to sound.

At 44, Vitsin woke up not just famous - wildly popular! Yes, he was already seen by the audience in the films “Reserve Player” and “She Loves You!”, But the real glory covered Vitsin exactly at 44. Spectators went to the Yermolova Theater in droves. Everyone wanted to see with their own eyes the legendary Coward from "Operation Y" and "Prisoner of the Caucasus". But the resounding success of Gaidai's films played a cruel joke on the actor. His fame annoyed many. Colleagues said: “Gosh, you are a disgrace to the theater, your jokes discredit the names of our teachers!”. Management wasn't happy either. The comedian skipped rehearsals, preferring them to filming. Reprimand followed reprimand. As a result, the directorate delivered an ultimatum: "Either you are present at all rehearsals, or you leave the troupe." And Georgy Mikhailovich left the theater, which became his family. Although for all these years not a single performance under Vitsin has been staged here - despite his enormous popularity and amazing acting range.

For millions of viewers, Vitsin remained a Coward, Vesnushkin, Balzaminov ... A simpleton, a joker, a drunkard, a virtuoso joker. His roles diverged into quotes. Georgy Mikhailovich played in more than a hundred films. It seemed to many viewers that behind the lightness of the film images created by the actor, there is a real Vitsin - a carefree and sweetest person! But ... in reality, Vitsin's whole life was contrastingly different from the screen one.

Georgy Vitsin was born in Terioki - now it is the city of Zelenogorsk near St. Petersburg on the Gulf of Finland. The parents of the future actor had nothing to do with art. Mom came from Penza, and my father came from near Vladimir. When George was eight months old, the parents took the boy with them to Moscow. Mom got a job as a usher in the Column Hall of the House of the Unions, and Vitsin's childhood passed behind the scenes. By the way, my mother made Vitsin a year younger by correcting the year of birth from 1917 to 1918 in the documents - this was necessary in order for her son to be taken to a health forest school. Then Vitsin studied at the 26th Moscow seven-year school, where he did an excellent job in the drama circle. After leaving school, Georgy Mikhailovich entered the Theater School. Shchepkin, but in the second year he was expelled from there with the wording "for a frivolous attitude to the educational process."

In his last interview the actor admitted: "I was always like nervous and clamped, so I went into acting to get a little away from the life that is pressing me." Here are just many facts from Vitsin's biography that characterize him as by no means a notorious person. Director Vladimir Andreev recalls how, having come to the Yermolova Theater, he witnessed the stormy romance of Georgy Mikhailovich. The artist actively looked after the young props master Tamara, his future wife. Vitsin loved puffy women and often joked that appetizing forms attracted him much more than skinny ones resembling pencils. Gosha and Tom signed just four months after they met. It was the first and only official marriage of the actor. But in his life there was another woman whom he completely supported almost until her death.

This novel could cost Vitsin his career. The fact that the aspiring actor took his wife away from the People's Artist of the USSR Nikolai Khmelev was gossiped by all theatrical Moscow. The scandal was incredible! Beauty Dina Topoleva was 35, George - 19, and she reciprocated. There was another piquant detail in this vaudeville: Khmelev is the artistic director of the theater, where Vitsin got a job just now. But the master forgave the unfaithful wife and his student. Georgy Mikhailovich still received roles.

Dina and Gosha lived together for more than 15 years without signing. Dina got old, and Vitsin wanted children. Did not work out. But even parting will not put an end to their story. Even marrying another, part with ex-lover the actor couldn't. His daughter was friends with Dina, and his wife came to terms with this strange situation over the years. Topoleva was very sick. Georgy Mikhailovich fully supported her: he paid for the housekeeper, medicines, rented a dacha for the summer.

By the way, the Vitsin couple did not have not only a country house, but also a separate living space. For many years the family lived in a communal apartment. The actor got his own housing only at the age of 50. The famous trinity - Vitsin, Morgunov and Nikulin - the doors to any offices were opened, but the modest comedian did not want to use his fame. He liked to repeat that he was ashamed to fuss.

When Vitsin had the opportunity to buy his own car, he publicly joked: "The worst thing that mankind has come up with is a car." Everything would be fine, only this phrase was uttered immediately after the war, during a concert at the Stalin plant. For such jokes, you could get a term. The actor was lucky - he was not taken seriously. Although the actor was extremely honest. Until old age, he will faithfully ride public transport.

“Live unnoticed” - this was the life credo of the famous comedian. And it's not a joke. When the actor was recognized on the street, he answered: I am not Vitsin, I am his brother. Colleagues Georgy Mikhailovich also did not favor. In between filming, he slept alone behind the scenery, regardless of the time of day.

But the complaisant and accommodating actor once staged a real strike. During the filming of "Prisoner of the Caucasus" he flatly refused to drink beer in the frame. I don't drink - and I won't! The props broke their heads. In the course went a decoction of wild rose. But no matter how much it was poured, there was no foam. Cotton wool over the liquid did not solve the problem. And Vitsin gave up - he took a sip of the "potion", with difficulty restraining his disgust.

In the history of cinema, there was probably no actor who played the same number of drunkards as he did. But Georgy Mikhailovich not only did not drink alcohol at all, but also did not eat meat, never drank medicines and fanatically practiced yoga - right on the set! True, the “yogi comedian” honestly admitted that his goal was to strengthen the vessels of the brain in the hope of avoiding a stroke. By the way, for a long time there was a legend among the acting brethren that Vitsin unraveled the secret of eternal youth. Otherwise, how did he manage to play the 18-year-old athlete Vesnushkin at 38, and the young blockhead Balzaminov at 48?!

At the end of his life, Vitsin will spend his performance fees and presidential pension on food for pigeons and stray dogs. He bought himself cheap noodles, and the yard pack - expensive sausage. "The more I know people, the more I love dogs" ... This famous phrase Vitsin in the last years of his life recalled especially often. Why did mere mortals annoy Georgy Mikhailovich so much? Apparently, he was annoyed by the persistent attention to his person from journalists. After all, what the press did not write in the 90s: the actor is sick, in poverty, collects bottles, his home is in a terrible state. Newspapers opened charitable accounts to help the “unfortunate actor”, and his family only remained silent in response. Only those closest to him knew that Georgy Mikhailovich finally lives as he wants.

It is symbolic, but at the end of his life the famous comedian earned money by reading the stories of Mikhail Zoshchenko from the stage, with practically no teeth. Vitsin often repeated: “We come here without teeth, and we must leave without teeth. Everything is natural." The aged artist stopped fighting with time. He did not take medication and every day he felt worse. At the same time, Vitsin assured that he was absolutely happy: he was finally left alone.

Today, many years after the filming of the films that made Vitsin the idol of millions, new generations of viewers are happy to review these tapes and admire the amazing actor, so unlike today's fashionable artists.

The film features:

Vladimir Andreev - actor, director;

Oleg Anofriev - actor;

Tatyana Konyukhova - actress;

Larisa Luzhina - actress;

Natalya Selezneva - actress;

Zoya Zelinskaya - actress;

Vladimir Tsukerman - creator of the Museum of the Three Actors, biographer of the Gaidai Trinity;

Inna Kostyukovskaya - daughter of playwright Yakov Kostyukovsky;

Yakov Kostyukovsky - playwright, screenwriter of Gaidai's films (shooting in 2009);

Natalya Drozhzhina - actress;

Alexander Oleshko - TV presenter;