Ivan Lapikov - People's Artist of the USSR of the period of the 50-60s of the XX century, who won the love of the audience for believable images of a Russian person. Known for the films "Eternal Call", "The Return of Budulai", "Quiet Flows the Don", "They Fought for the Motherland".
Ivan Lapikov: biography
The family, in which the future actor was born on July 7, 1922, was a peasant and lived in the Tsaritsinskaya province (today the Volgograd region) in the village of Gorny Balykley. He spent his childhood and youth in the countryside and was familiar with peasant life firsthand.
The Lapikov family in the 20s was considered strong and prosperous, because Ivan Gerasim's father knew how to run the household. In the 1930s it "turned out" that the Lapikovs were subject to dispossession; they imprisoned the younger brother Gerasim and his wife, the same fate threatened him. Rescue from repression was the Lapikovs' move to another village.
Young years…War years…
Ivan Lapikov studied in Stalingrad, in the same city he studied at the factory Palace of Culture: he played the balalaika in an amateur string orchestra and participated in a drama club. In 1939 he became a student at the Kharkov Theater School, but managed to complete only two courses due to the outbreak of World War II. The young man was mobilized into a battalion engaged in the construction of anti-tank barriers near Stalingrad. He was awarded the medal "For the Defense of Stalingrad" for the fact that during the Battle of Stalingrad, when the ground was burning and blazing under his feet, he transported the wounded on a fishing boat to the opposite bank of the Volga (to the rear). More than a hundred saved destinies are on the account of Ivan Gerasimovich, who for the rest of his life remembered a terrible picture - dozens of dying and crippled people.
Ivan Lapikov: personal life
In 1941, Lapikov entered the Stalingrad Drama Theater, to which he devoted more than twenty years of his life. There, in 1947, he met his future wife, Yulia Fridman, who was assigned from the Leningrad Theater Institute. The young man managed to win the heart of his sympathy with incredible charm; he even proposed in an original way: during the rehearsal, he put a wedding ring on Yulia's finger.
The first theatrical roles of Ivan Lapikov were wordless. Experienced actors consoled the young artist that he would really become in demand when he brought 300 trays onto the stage. He silently endured and then stubbornly studied with professional actorssubtleties of theatrical art. On the account of Ivan Lapikov such performances as "Running", "Idiot", "Profitable Place". Moreover, the actor always did the make-up for his characters himself.
To the viewer, Ivan Lapikov, judging by his screen images, seems to be a serious and strict person. In fact, according to the recollections of his daughter Elena, he was very funny. He loved to play in productions of comedy old people (he got the roles of elderly people from the age of 20); to look at his exits, to laugh until you drop, the whole theater came running.
The material side of life for the Lapikov family was rather difficult at first: they spent the night at the theater, and their daughter Lena, born in 1950, was in a suitcase with a torn lid. Later they were given a room in the barracks, and only years later the family moved into a new apartment. Due to the employment of parents, Lenochka was raised by her grandmother. Then a tragedy entered the family: 35-year-old Yulia, who played the main roles on the stage of the theater, abruptly began to lose her hearing. The reason for this was the shell shock received during the enemy bombing. At first, the young woman hid her deafness by trying to read lips. But then the theater still had to leave. Julia, being an impulsive person by nature, in order not to go crazy from a sudden misfortune, decided to leave for Moscow. Ivan Lapikov, whose family had every chance of breaking up, stayed in Stalingrad for another year, and then moved in with his wife.
The beginning of Lapikov's film career
This was the impetus for his acting career. Julia, realizing that she could no longer play on stage, became, in fact, Lapikov's manager;she directed him to theaters and film studios. In 1961, the actor made his debut in the film "Business Trip", and since 1963 he joined the troupe of the Film Actor's Studio Theater.
Ivan Lapikov, whose filmography includes more than a dozen roles, became popular after the release of Alexei S altykov's film "Chairman" with Ulyanov and Mordyukova, which thundered throughout the country. The role of Semyon, the brother of the protagonist Yegor Trubnikov (Mikhail Ulyanov), was played by Ivan Lapikov, whose biography is similar to the life and life of any ordinary person. The film was truly truthful, showing the feat of the Soviet people during the period of restoration of agriculture destroyed by the war. This is a film epic about the tragedy of the Russian people, for whom the war ended not in 1945, but much later. The disabled chairman and the widows who lost their husbands in the war - these are the people who personify the true possibilities and spirit of our people, in conditions of horrendous poverty, tried to return the crippled life to normal.
Not at all like the actor you're used to…
In 1966, the film "Andrei Rublev" by film director Andrei Tarkovsky was released. In this film, Lapikov got one of the key roles - the monk Cyril.
The operator who shot this film sometimes complained that it was not easy with Ivan Lapikov. The actor got used to the role so much and was imbued with it that he violated the rules of shooting, often went beyond the frame - all this for the sake of a truthful and reliable transmission of the material being filmed. Indeed, Ivan Lapikov, a biography whose family has always interested the viewer, is a person whom the viewer begins to believe from the first minute. Outwardly, a solid village man, removed from the cinema world and focused on something of his own, intimate, the actor did not at all look like an artist in the usual sense. The roles played by him are ordinary people, peasants and workers, it was not difficult for Ivan Lapikov, a man from the earth, from the roots, in whom the whole Russian essence was felt, to embody succinctly and accurately on the screen.
After Eternal Call and Andrei Rublev, Ivan Gerasimovich was already a recognized master. Over 40 years of work, Ivan Lapikov has more than 70 paintings to his credit. Among the works most familiar to the viewer:
- the role of Boris Krayushkin in "A Minute of Silence" - a patriotic-heroic drama by Igor Shatrov,
- Uncle Kolya in the film "Our House",
- in the movie novel "Eternal Call" - Pankrat Nazarov,
- Chekist in the adventure film "About Friends-Comrades",
- blacksmith Zhemova in "Youth of Peter",
- foremen Poprishchenko in "They fought for the Motherland",
- a blind old man in the historical drama "Boris Godunov",
- grandfather Vasily in "The Return of Budulay",
- General Ermakov in the television series "My Destiny".
What was the actor like in life?
In everyday life, Lapikov was quite unpretentious: an avid fisherman, he spent all his free time on the river bank with a fishing rod. After the release of "They Fought for the Motherland", all the actors were called to the "office", where theyoffered material goods. Someone asked for a summer residence, a car, an apartment; Lapikov's desire was fishing in forbidden places.
He was very sympathetic to others, knew how to tell a joke, joke funny, adored gypsy songs. During work, he closed himself in, did not discuss anything with anyone.
Along with material values, Ivan Gerasimovich had little interest in his own he alth. He could endure pain to the last without telling anyone about it. So he suffered a stroke, later a heart attack, he was paralyzed half of his body. Lapikov flatly refused to go to the hospital, his wife left him in less than a year.
He fought for the Motherland
A weak heart failed Ivan Lapikov in 1993. The actor was very worried about the collapse of the Soviet Union. Invited by Sergei Bondarchuk to the event, Ivan was going to speak to the soldiers of the military unit and say some important words to them. But apparently he didn't. At the time of his speech, Ivan Lapikov died. He was buried in Moscow at the Vagankovsky cemetery. In the homeland of the actor in 2002, in the village of Gorny Balakley, a museum named after him was opened.
Ivan Lapikov did not play fate, it was in himself: beaten by the enemy, the tragic fate of a simple Russian peasant of his country. Perhaps that is why his work in the "Eternal Call" is breathtaking. This is an artist, but not one who professionally knows how to pretend and pretend in the world of theater and cinema. His voice, figure, eyes always harmonized with what he wanted to say. Ivan, what were you thinking? He experienced everything very deeply and played ordinary people. Those who plow, sow, fight, die fighting for their Motherland.
