Translated material
A simpleton with a wiseguy's weapon
Mikhail Ulyanov died
Mikhail Ulyanov was seriously ill for a long time, his death was not unexpected. What was unexpected was that everyone suddenly felt: there won’t be such actors anymore. To say that an entire era passed away with him is, of course, pathetic nonsense, but one cannot help but say: with the death of the artist Ulyanov, another piece of living historical memory was forever separated from us. Bright, quite large.Even now, even in the genre of obituary, it is impossible to call Mikhail Ulyanov a “great theater artist.” A great theater worker, of course. The uniqueness of his fate lies precisely in the fact that he managed to become an amazing master without being a genius at all (he was suspicious of “genius”: in most cases it seemed to him a special kind of pretentiousness); he managed to treat his natural artistry as a special, secondary quality: for him there were always more important things. For example, a sense of duty.
A sense of responsibility for the people among whom he was once born in the Siberian city of Tara; for those among whom he lives in Moscow; for those who will then live anywhere, even on Alpha Centauri. A sense of responsibility overwhelmed him.
In Ulyanov's roles and in his very fate there is surprisingly much that is predictable and clear ahead of time. Getting acquainted with his autobiography “Working as an Actor”, you quickly get used to nodding at every turn. All the words about “a special type of person - a Siberian worker, who knows his business, knows how to work, who hates every backbone and charlatan” are recognizable.” About honest, simple parents, about how Ulyanov “is missing the most dear spectator in the auditorium, the most necessary and the closest” - and so on all his life: in almost every role and on every page of memories.
Nevertheless, anyone who suspects a cheap cliche here - the forced penetration of officialdom - will be stupid and dishonest. You need to understand: what makes actor Mikhail Ulyanov so amazing is that his personal, unconditional truth was able to completely coincide with the general truth. Even a notorious flatterer would not dare to call Ulyanov a genius; Even the most envious person will not reproach him for the excessive correctness of his biography - for the instinct of leadership, for orthodoxy, for delegation and parliamentary membership, for titles and awards, for the merging of his acting personality and public office.
On stage and on screen in the 60s, 70s, and 80s, Mikhail Ulyanov was the embodiment of masculinity - not so much bright as weighty and solid. A simpleton, if you like, but a simpleton with excellent command of words and the weapons of wise men; with a gift for rhetorical persuasiveness, honest and fierce. An exemplary leader, but at the same time a most reliable partner: organically incapable of letting down, being capricious, or disrupting the planned course of the game. How wonderfully he knew how to listen to his interlocutor - slowly weighing every word, trying it on to some of his own, primordial truth, to solid common sense. It’s damn hard to convince such a person of anything, but if he already believes in something, he won’t give up even under torture.
Many remember that rehearsing with him was painful, but playing was good and comfortable. And the chairman of the Union of Theater Workers, he was as he should be: smart, strong-willed, decent. Of course, he could have flared up in vain, but at the same time he remembered that his main task was to prevent collapse. And thanks to him, the union did not fall apart.
However, the acting truth of Mikhail Ulyanov does not come down to grounded, peasant-like, dignified “anti-romantic” heroics. He knew how to play and understand her better than anyone - on a par with Shukshin, whom he passionately loved, but with the difference that Ulyanov for himself always preferred the image of a peasant boss: businesslike, not tragic. So he played Georgy Zhukov, Yegor Trubnikov in “The Chairman”, the nasal Druyanov in “Den-Densky”, and, indeed, Gorky’s Bulychov. Great historical subjects - the fate of Anthony, Caesar, Richard, Napoleon - Ulyanov decided on the same stout “anti-romanticism”, but here it already becomes obvious: the sound of the leitmotif is determined by overtones.
Mikhail Ulyanov - with all his sibling organicity - was an exemplary actor of the Vakhtangov school. That is, he is a virtuoso in eccentricity, in playful artistry, and even (which is not the thing for a good, cool guy) in irony, calling the whole world into question. Therefore, having played Lenin in “The Man with a Gun,” he also managed to play the ridiculous Stalin in “Lessons of the Master.” Therefore, among the Ulyanovsk roles that triumphantly enter the history of acting art, there are Bulgakov’s general Charnota, the actor Shmaga from “Guilty Without Guilt,” and, of course, the magnificent Tartaglia in “Princess Turandot.” It would be interesting to understand how the mischief and grace of Ulyanov the comedian smuggled into the roles of Ulyanov the hero, how his under-demanded acting qualities helped and hindered his life. But this is not the topic of an article, but of a book that will be written by someone.
Mikhail Ulyanov is a great Soviet actor. Eternal memory to him. Funeral tomorrow at Novodevichy Cemetery. Civil funeral service at the Theater. Vakhtangov, which he directed.