A native of Baku and a native of a family far from the world of culture and art (his father is an NKVD worker, and his mother is the daughter of a repressed "kulak"), Vladimir Valentinovich Menshov was awarded the title of People's Artist of the RSFSR. Behind his shoulders today there are several dozen films and directorial projects. He is better known to a wide audience as a production director for his films "Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears" (1981 - "Oscar" in the "Best Foreign Film" nomination) and "Love and Doves" (1985 - "Golden Boat" award at the film festival comedies in Spain).
Vladimir Menshov achieved the greatest success in domestic cinema, after all, more as a director. The master himself believes that the acting profession is a hobby for him, while directing projects have become the goal of his creative career for him.
Biography and career of Vladimir Valentinovich Menshov
On September 17, 1939, the future famous artist was born in sunny Baku. The post-war years passed with Vladimir in Arkhangelsk, where his father was transferred on duty, and in 1950 the Menshov family ended up in Astrakhan, the homeland of his parents. During his school years, the young man was very fond of reading literature. He was especially interested in everything related to cinema.
In 1957, Menshov Jr. made his first attempt to enter VGIK. Unfortunately, the exams were failed. Four years of training followed, when he managed to work as a turner, an auxiliary actor of the Astrakhan drama theater, a sailor and even a miner. And in 1961, Vladimir easily entered the Moscow Art Theater School-Studio at the acting department.
In 1970, the beginning actor made his cinematic debut with the film of fellow student Vladimir Pavlovsky's "Happy Kukushkin". And then his filmography began to be regularly replenished with successful film works in projects: "Salty Dog", "Ar-khi-me-dy!", "The Last Meeting", "The Tale of How Tsar Peter the Arap Married", "Prank", " Where is the nofelet located? "," Courier "," Magistral "," Brezhnev "," Night Watch ".
In 1967, Vladimir Menshov entered the directing department of VGIK, and since 1970 for six years has been working at Mosfilm, Lenfilm, and Odessa Film Studio. He made his directorial debut in 1976 with the feature film "The Joke". For this painting Menshov was awarded the State Prize of the RSFSR the following year. And Vladimir Valentinovich received real recognition from the cinematic community after the release of the film "Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears" (1979). The result was overwhelming - ninety million viewers in the first year of release, over a hundred countries bought the rights to show the Oscar in 1981.
It should be noted that Menshov's directorial projects “blew up” the domestic film market every time. Thus, his films "Love and Doves", "Shirley-Myrli", "Envy of the Gods" and "Big Waltz", together with the above, truly adorn the Golden Fund of Soviet and Russian cinema.
Personal life of the artist
Actress Vera Alentova became the muse and wife of Vladimir Menshov for life. In this strong and happy union, a daughter, Julia (born in 1969), was born, who today is a popular TV presenter who deservedly glorifies her surname.
This famous married couple can truly be considered exemplary in their field of activity.
