Vitaly Wolf: biography, creativity and personal life

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:45

The name of Vitaly Wulff is associated with the Russian TV viewer with the My Silver Ball program, which has existed since 1994. The presenter interestingly and fascinatingly presented information about the fate of famous people from television screens, while his personal life was outside the zone of the audience. His manner of telling the story was unique: leisurely, exciting, with some special charm. Critic, actor, theater critic and art critic all rolled into one, he easily held the attention of a multi-million audience.

Young years

Vitaly Vulf was born on May 23, 1930 in the city of Baku in the family of the famous lawyer Yakov Sergeevich. Mother - Elena Lvovna was a teacher of the Russian language. The atmosphere of love and mutual understanding reigned in the family, and the house was always happy with the many friends that the parents had. After graduating from high school, a young man who dreamed of GITIS,At the insistence of his parents, he entered Moscow State University. Lomonosov, Faculty of Law. Due to Jewish origin, the young man could not find a job in his speci alty after graduating from the university. Passing the exams with "excellent", Vitaly entered graduate school four times, but for the above reason he was not accepted. Wulf did become a graduate student in 1957 and began working in the legal profession, and 4 years later he defended his dissertation for the degree of candidate of legal sciences.

All life is theater

The life path of Vitaly Wulff was determined by his natural love for the theater, which he met at the age of 7. Almost every day he attended performances of the theater. Mayakovsky, im. Vakhtangov, Moscow Art Theater, Maly Theatre. This was helped by his aunt, who secretly sent money from her parents during her student days to attend theater productions. Vitaly Yakovlevich was on friendly terms with many theatrical figures, wrote a large number of articles and books about them and about the theater itself. Also, this talented person, in collaboration with Alexander Chebotarev, was engaged in the translation of plays, of which about 40 pieces came out from under his pen. Many works in his translation are staged on the stages of famous metropolitan theaters.

Researcher with 30 years of experience

The years 1967-1997 were marked by the work of Vitaly Vulf as a researcher at the Institute of the International Labor Movement of the USSR Academy of Sciences, where he became professionally engaged in American theater and successfully defended a dissertation on this topic, achievingdoctorate in history. For a long period he also headed a group for the study of youth consciousness in Western countries. In 1967, his scientific and journalistic work dedicated to the hippie movement was published. In the 70s he was actively published in the press, in the 80s the readership saw his books Idols, Stars, People, Stars of a Difficult Destiny, A Little Away from Broadway, Theater Rain.

In 1992, Vitaly Wolf, whose biography is closely connected with art, left for two years in the United States, where he taught theater arts within the walls of New York University. Having the opportunity to stay in America, Wulff returned to Moscow, because he could not imagine life without Moscow theaters and beloved friends.

Vitaly Wulf: personal life

The public, watching the Silver Ball with pleasure, was worried not only about the fate of its heroes. Curiosity aroused directly Vitaly Wolf, personal life, wife, children. Were they? And who went hand in hand with this talented theater-goer all these years? In the life of Vitaly Wulf, there was only one official marriage, committed in his youth and did not last long. He had no children.

Silver Ball by Vitaly Wolf

Closed to the public, Vitaly Wolf was close friends with Oleg Efremov, Svetlana Nemolyaeva, Alexander Lazarev, Nikolai Tsiskaridze, Alexander Chebotar, Vlad Listyev and his wife Albina. It was Vlad Listyev who invitedVitaly Vulf in 1994 to the TV company "VID" as the host of the TV show "Silver Ball" and its author in combination. Over the years of its existence, the program has changed its place of release (it migrated from Channel One to the Rossiya TV channel), and the name has also changed, which in the new edition sounded like “My Silver Ball”. In total, Wulf made more than 200 programs, the heroes of which were film and theater actors, famous writers and prominent political figures, including Valentina Serova, Angelina Stepanova, Marina Ladynina, Tatyana Doronina, Oleg Efremov, Alexander Fadeev, Marina Tsvetaeva, Alla Tarasova. Wulff was familiar with many of the heroes of his programs, was friends and valued this very much. In 2007, Vulf Vitaly Yakovlevich headed the Kultura radio channel at the All-Russian State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company.

He carried his cross with dignity…

In everyday life, Wolf, who had impeccable taste and wore beautiful elegant clothes, was a completely impractical person, never chased after money, had a two-room apartment in Moscow and an inexpensive Opel. The main we alth for him were manuscripts, rare documents, books and paintings. This encyclopedically educated man always knew how to look good, had the courage to live, keep his back and not whine, never complained and carried his cross with dignity and humility. Vitaly Wolf valued the same qualities in people. He did not have a wife, and two women helped run the household: one cleaned, the second cooked meals for him.

In 2002, Vitaly Vulf found out about his illness: prostate cancer. He suffered 15operations, steadfastly endured unbearable pain, spent the last year of his life almost entirely in the hospital, leaving the ward only in rare moments of recording a television program. Vitaly Wulff passed away on March 13, 2011. The ashes of the deceased were buried at the Troekurovsky cemetery.

Must keep working…

His work was appreciated during his lifetime: Vitaly Yakovlevich was a laureate of various competitions, he has many awards, including the Order of Merit for the Fatherland. When Wulf was asked what he does in difficult moments of his life, Vitaly Yakovlevich answered: “I work. You just have to keep doing something.” His amazing capacity for work was not only a character trait of this strong-willed person, but also part of his soul.