Igor Shulzhenko is a Soviet teenage actor who became famous for films such as "Dagger" and "Bronze Bird". This film role became the only one in his life.
Early biography
Igor Shulzhenko was born in 1958 into a simple Belarusian family. Parents, who have worked all their lives at the Minsk Foundry, gave the boy a good upbringing. Igor was also distinguished by an inquiring mind, thanks to which he was able to enter one of the best Minsk schools and was a solid "good student". When Shulzhenko was 15 years old, preparations began in the republic for filming films based on the popular children's books of the writer Anatoly Rybakov, and the first in the trilogy was "Dagger".
Representatives of "Mosfilm" first of all visited the Minsk school, where Igor studied, looking for boys suitable for the role of the main characters. Shulzhenko was lucky: his good looks and good manners made him the best candidate for playing the role of the quiet intellectual Slavka Eldarov. The other two roles of Misha Polyakov and Genka Petrov went to their peers Sergei Shevkunenko and Volodya Dichkovsky.
Actor career
The young actors got along well with each other and plunged into the filming process with interest. Finally, in 1973, the film "Kortik" was released and immediately became a cult for Soviet citizens, both young and already quite mature. The detective and adventure stories of Anatoly Rybakov have been enthusiastically read by more than one generation, and the modern color film adaptation has become a long-awaited event. Igor Shulzhenko, Sergey Shevkunenko and Volodya Dichkovsky perfectly fit into their roles and became popular idols.
A year later, the second part of the adventures of adolescents who lived in the post-revolutionary period and unraveling fascinating secrets, called "The Bronze Bird", was released. The film was in no way inferior to its predecessor, and in many ways even surpassed it. Later the film studio "Belarusfilm" shot the final film from this series, called "The Last Summer of Childhood", but the main roles were played by completely different actors.
Future life
After a brilliant appearance in two cult films, young actors were predicted to have a great future in cinema, but this was not destined to happen. The guys' paths diverged a lot. Sergei Shevkunenko tried to continue acting in films, but quickly lost interest in this hobby. He was distinguished by a difficult disposition, often got into fights and once received a criminal record. As a result, the young man stepped onto the criminal path. In 1995, he died during one of the criminal showdowns.
Vladimir Dichkovsky chose a simple working profession as a driver. Today he leads a quiet and inconspicuous life.
As for Igor Shulzhenko, he was very upset by the gradual decline in his own popularity. Over time, he decided on a profession and unlearned to become a tiler. Soon the once famous actor got married, and his son Eugene was born. But gradually the man's personal life went downhill: he began to abuse alcohol, and his wife left him. In 2009, Igor Shulzhenko died, having undermined his health with addictions, and was buried in the Northern cemetery in Minsk.
