Vasily Shukshin

Vasily Makarovich Shukshin (Russian: Васи́лий Мака́рович Шукши́н; 25 July 1929 – 2 October 1974) was a notable Soviet/Russian actor, writer, screenwriter and movie director from the Altay region who specialized in rural themes. Upon his death, Shukshin was interred at Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow.

Biography

Vasiliy Makarovich Shukshin was born on 25 July 1929 in a peasant family in the village of Srostki in Altay krai. His father, Makar Leont'evich Shukshin was arrested and shot in 1933, during repressions associated with collectivization and his mother, Maria Sergeyevna (née Popov) had to look after the survival of the entire family. By 1943 Shukshin had finished 7 years of village school and entered an automobile technical school in Biysk. In 1945, after two and a half years at the school, but before finishing, he quit to work in a kolkhoz.

In 1946 Shukshin left his native village and until 1949, worked as a metal craftsman at several enterprises in the trust Soyuzprommekhanizatsiya: at the turbine plant in Kaluga, at the tractor plant in Vladimir, etc. In 1949, Shukshin was drafted into the Navy. He first served as a sailor in the Baltic Fleet, then a radio operator on the Black Sea. In 1953 he was demobilized due to a stomach ulcer and returned to his native village. Having passed an external exam for high school graduation, he became a teacher of Russian, and later a school principal in Srostki.

In 1954 Shukshin entered the directors department of the VGIK, studied under Mikhail Romm and Sergei Gerasimov, graduating in 1960. While studying at VGIK in 1958, Shukshin had his first leading role in Marlen Khutsiyev's film "Two Fedors" and appeared in graduation film by Andrei Tarkovsky. In 1958 Shukhin published his first short story "Two on the cart" in the magazine Smena. His first collection of stories Сельские жители ("Village Dwellers") was published in 1963. That same year, he became staff director at the Gorky Film Studio in Moscow. He wrote and directed Живёт такой парень ("There Is Such a Lad"). The film premiered in 1965, winning top honours at the All-Union Film Festival in Leningrad and the Golden Lion at the XVI International Film Festival in Venice. Shukshin was decorated the Order of the Red Banner of Labour (1967), and was designated Distinguished Artist of RSFSR (1969).

Shukshin suddenly died on 1974-10-02, on the motor ship "Dunai", on Volga river, while filming "They fought for their motherland". He is buried in Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow.

Filmography

• 1957: Тихий Дон, actor (cameo)
• 1958: Убийцы (short), actor
• 1958: Два Фёдора, actor
• 1959: Золотой эшелон, actor
• 1960: Простая история, actor
• 1961: Аленка, actor
• 1961: Когда деревья были большими, actor
• 1961: Командировка, actor
• 1961: Мишка, Серега и я, actor
• 1962: Мы, двое мужчин, actor
• 1964: Живет такой парень, director, screenwriter
• 1964: Какое оно, море?, actor
• 1965: Ваш сын и брат, director, screenwriter
• 1967: Журналист, actor
• 1967: Комиссар, actor
• 1967: Три дня Виктора Чернышева, actor
• 1968: Мужской разговор, actor
• 1968: Освобождение, actor
• 1969: к/а «Странные люди», director, screenwriter
• 1969: У озера, actor
• 1969: Эхо далеких снегов, actor
• 1970: Любовь яровая, actor
• 1971 "Dauria" (Даурия), actor
• 1971: Пришел солдат с фронта, screenwriter
• 1972: Печки-лавочки, actor, director, screenwriter
• 1973: Калина красная, actor, director, screenwriter
• 1974: Если хочешь быть счастливым, actor
• 1974: Земляки, screenwriter
• 1975: Они сражались за Родину, actor
• 1975: Прошу слова, actor
• 1977: Позови меня в даль светлую, screenwriter
• 1988: Yolki-palki, writer
• 2004: High Boots (Ботушки), writer

External links

• Vasili Shukshin at IMDb
• Museum of Vasilii Shukshin in Biysk. Biography, some Shukshin's novels translated to english
• Vasily Shukshin: Personality and Legend
• Village Srostki - birthplace of Shukshin