Vasily Shukshin

Vasily Makarovich Shukshin (Russian: Василий Макарович Шукшин; 25 July 1929 – 2 October 1974) was a Soviet Russian writer,[1] actor, screenwriter and film director from the Altay region who specialized in rural themes.[2][3]

Vasily Shukshin
Born(1929-07-25)25 July 1929
Srostki, Biysky District, Altai Krai, RSFSR, USSR
Died2 October 1974(1974-10-02) (aged 45)
On board the ship Dunai, on the Volga river near Kletskaya, Volgograd Oblast, RSFSR, USSR
Notable work
The Red Snowball Tree (1974)

Biography

Vasiliy Makarovich Shukshin was born on 25 July 1929 to a peasant family in the village of Srostki in Altai Krai, USSR, now Altai Krai, Russia. In 1933, his father, Makar Leont'evich Shukshin, was arrested and executed during Soviet collectivization.[4] 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 worked as a metal craftsman at several enterprises in the trust Soyuzprommekhanizatsiya: at the turbine plant in Kaluga,[5] 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, and graduated in 1960. While studying at VGIK in 1958, Shukshin had his first leading role in Marlen Khutsiyev's film Two Fedors and appeared in the graduation film by Andrei Tarkovsky.[5] 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 This 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 with the Order of the Red Banner of Labour (1967), and was designated Distinguished Artist of the RSFSR (1969).[5]

Shukshin main interest lay in the situation of ordinary, simple people in the present-day Soviet Union. He laced his films both with humor and with a melancholy tone.

Since 1964, he was married to actress Lidiya Fedoseyeva, who also appeared in several of his films. They have a daughter, Mariya (b. 1967), who is a TV presenter.

Shukshin died suddenly on 2 October 1974, on the motor ship Dunai, on the Volga river, while filming They Fought for Their Country. He is buried in Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow.

English translations
  • I Want to Live, Progress Publishers, 1978.
  • Snowball Berry Red and Other Stories, Ardis Publishers, 1979.
  • Short Stories, Raduga Publishers, 1990.
  • Roubles in Words, Kopeks in Figures, Marion Boyars, 1994.
  • Stories from a Siberian Village, Northern Illinois University Press, 1996.

Filmography
  • 1956: The Killers (Russian: Убийцы) (Short) - Ole Andreson
  • 1957: And Quiet Flows the Don (Russian: Тихий Дон) - Minor Role (uncredited)
  • 1958: Two Fedors (Russian: Два Фёдора) - Great Fyodor
  • 1959: The Golden Eshelon (Russian: Золотой эшелон) - Andrey Nizovtsev
  • 1960: A Simple Story (Russian: Простая история) - Ivan Lykov
  • 1960: Iz Lebyazhego soobshchayut - Ivlev
  • 1961: Mission (Russian: Командировка)
  • 1962: Alyonka (Russian: Алёнка) - Stepan Revan
  • 1962: When the Trees Were Tall (Russian: Когда деревья были большими) - Chairman of the Kolkhoz
  • 1962: Mishka, Seryoga, And Me (Russian: Мишка, Серега и я)
  • 1963: We, Two Of Men (Russian: Мы, двое мужчин) - Mikhail Gorlov
  • 1964: There Is Such a Lad (Russian: Живет такой парень) (director, screenwriter)
  • 1965: What Is The Sea? (Russian: Какое оно, море?)
  • 1965: Your Son and Brother (Russian: Ваш сын и брат) (director, screenwriter)
  • 1967: The Journalist (Russian: Журналист)
  • 1967: The Commissar (Russian: Комиссар) - The Commandant
  • 1968: Three Days Of Victor Chernyshov (Russian: Три дня Виктора Чернышева) - Kravchenko
  • 1968: Men's Talk (Russian: Мужской разговор)
  • 1969: Strange People (Russian: Странные люди) (director, screenwriter) - Nikolay Nikolayevich Larionov
  • 1969: Echoes Of Far Snows (Russian: Эхо далеких снегов)
  • 1970: By the Lake (Russian: У озера) - Vasiliy Chernykh
  • 1970: Liberation I: The Fire Bulge (Russian: Освобождение) - Gen. Konev
  • 1970: Liberation II: Breakthrough (Russian: Освобождение) - Gen. Konev
  • 1970: Lyubov Yarovaya (Russian: Любовь Яровая) - Roman Koshkin
  • 1971: Dauria (Russian: Даурия) - Légügyi parancsnok
  • 1971: Liberation III: Direction of the Main Blow (Russian: Освобождение) - Gen. Konev
  • 1971: Liberation IV: The Battle of Berlin (Russian: Освобождение) - Marshall Ivan Stepanovitch Konev
  • 1971: Liberation V: The Last Assault (Russian: Освобождение) - Marshall Ivan Stepanovitch Konev
  • 1971: Soldier Came From The Front (Russian: Пришел солдат с фронта) (screenwriter)
  • 1971: Hold On To The Clouds (Russian: Держись за облака)
  • 1972: Happy Go Lucky (Russian: Печки-лавочки) (director, screenwriter) - Ivan Rastorguyev
  • 1972: Dauriya - Vasili Ulybin
  • 1974: The Red Snowball Tree (Russian: Калина красная) (director, screenwriter) - Yegor Prokudin
  • 1974: If You Want To Be Happy (Russian: Если хочешь быть счастливым) - Vladimir Fedotov
  • 1974: Fellows (Russian: Земляки) (screenwriter)
  • 1975: They Fought for Their Country (Russian: Они сражались за Родину) - Piotr Lopakhin
  • 1976: I Wish to Speak (Russian: Прошу слова) - Feda, dramaturg (final film role)
  • 1977: Call Me To The Light Far (Russian: Позови меня в даль светлую) (screenwriter)
  • 1988: Yolki-palki (Russian: Ёлки-палки) (writer)
  • 2004: High Boots (Russian: Ботушки) (writer)

References
  1. Э. Кузьмина. Прочная основа // «Новый мир», 1964, № 4, с.244-246.
  2. Neil Cornwell, Reference Guide to Russian Literature Routledge, 2013, ISBN 9781134260706, 734 p.
  3. Mauricio Borrero, Russia: A Reference Guide from the Renaissance to the Present Infobase Publishing, 2009, ISBN 9780816074754, 318 p.
  4. Prominent Russians: Vasily Shukshin
  5. биография на rusactors.ru
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