In the summer of 2017, People's Artist, screenwriter and director Viktor Merezhko celebrated his 80th birthday. He still leads a healthy lifestyle and continues to work.
Childhood
On July 28, 1937, the future star of Russian cinema, Viktor Ivanovich Merezhko, was born in the family of the director of a dairy plant and a laboratory assistant. The place of his birth is Rostov region, Aleksandrovsky district, Olgenfeld farm.
A family with four children safely survived the war and famine and, on the advice of a relative, moved to Ukraine in the village of Russkaya Polyana near the city of Cherkassy in 1952. I had to learn the Ukrainian language and rebuild my life.
After graduating from school, the children dispersed throughout the country. Victor, who has been in love with cinema since childhood, decided to enter the profession of a film engineer at the Kiev Polytechnic Institute. But, having failed all the exams, he returned to his family and began to work as a lumberjack, in addition, he began to leave to work in Arkhangelsk.
On the way to the heights
In 1956, the future filmmaker moved to Lviv to live with his uncle and entered the specialty of an engineer-technologist at the Ukrainian Polygraphic Institute. Ivan Fedorov. After graduation, he travels to Rostov, where he meets members of an amateur film studio and begins to try himself in what he loves - writing scripts and making films.
The thought of immersion in the profession did not leave him - and a decision was made. In 1963, he sent his works to a competition in Moscow, and a year later he was enrolled in VGIK. Aleksey Speshnev and Ilya Vaysfeld become its masters, and already in the second year, according to Viktor's script, they shoot the first short film - "Zarechenskie Grooms".
After graduation, Viktor Merezhko is not taken with open arms to work in the cinema. During this time, according to his scripts, only three short works were shot, except for the debut - "Who will die today", "Blind rain" and "Tigers" on ice ".
But when, in 1972, the Soviet Union sees the film "Hello and Goodbye" on the screens, then the starting point in the life of Viktor Merezhko on the path to fame will come. In the film, according to his script, such famous actors as Mikhail Kononov, Oleg Efremov, Natalya Gundareva, etc. were shot. The film was considered scandalous (and from this it became popular), because at that time it was not said from Soviet screens that a husband could safely quit wife and children and go to the city to look for "the meaning of life."
Family and cinema
During his work in cinema, Viktor Merezhko acted in different guises - he was an actor, screenwriter for films and cartoons and, of course, a director.
The pictures, shot according to his script, constitute the golden fund of Soviet and Russian cinema. Among them, it is worth noting the tape "Tryn-grass" in 1976, "Relatives" in 1981, the script for which was written specially for Nonna Mordyukova.
In addition, this list should include - "A Lonely Woman Wants to Meet", filmed in 1986, the TV series "Mole" in 2001, as well as the picture "Sonya the Golden Handle" in 2007, where Viktor Merezhko also acted as an actor.
Not many people know - but Viktor Merezhko also wrote scripts for cartoons. The most striking and, so far, the last work was the three parts of the cartoon "The Adventures of Lolo the Penguin", filmed in 1986 and 1987 in collaboration with Japanese animation companies.
The personal life of a screenwriter is practically a model. With his first and only wife, Tamara Zakharova, the film director lived for almost thirty years. During this time, two children appeared in their family - Maria and Ivan. Maria starred in several television series, but now she has completely gone into work on an Internet project. Ivan also tried to become an actor, but found himself as a decorator.
In the nineties, misfortune came to Victor's family - his wife fell ill with cancer. It was not possible to save her husband, and in 1997 she passed away. After her death, Viktor Merezhko never married again, and did not bring anyone to his house, as he had promised his children.
However, as journalists reported, in the mid-2000s, the filmmaker began to be noticed with the young Olga Makarova, a model of one of the capital's agencies. But this romance did not last more than three years.
Real life
Viktor Merezhko, although he underwent treatment in the hospital, where he came with a suspected stroke, now continues to lead a healthy life. He refused breakfast on the advice of Grigory Chukhrai and instead drinks a glass of water with honey every morning. In addition, the filmmaker always visits beauty salons and tries to look his best, which he undoubtedly succeeds in.
In 2014, Viktor Merezhko began work on a painting with the tentative title "They Didn't Expect". Work on the cinema sites in St. Petersburg continues to this day due to various reasons that hinder the process. The film features such actors as Oleg Basilashvili, Ivan Kolesnikov, Olga Khokhlova, etc. The premiere of the story about the poor musician is scheduled for 2019.
Interesting facts from life
1. In 1987, Viktor Merezhko won his first award - the USSR State Prize for the script for the film "Flights in Dreams and in Reality"
2. In 1988 he received the title of Honored Worker of Cinematography of the RSFSR
3. In 2012, the filmmaker became an honorary citizen of the resort city of Anapa.
4. In 2014 he received the People's Artist of the Russian Federation award.
5. In addition to screenplays, Viktor Merezhko writes plays, of which there are already sixteen pieces.
