Anatoly Vasiliev is an actor who is organic and convincing in any role. He is equally good at both the images of refined urban intellectuals and simple village characters, devoid of gloss and bombast. Soviet and Russian audiences are well acquainted with Vasiliev from the films "The Crew", "The Beloved Woman of Mechanic Gavrilov", the TV series "Mikhailo Lomonosov", "Fathers and Sons", "Tatiana's Day" and, of course, "Matchmakers".
Biography: childhood and study
Anatoly Alexandrovich was born back in 1946, or rather, on November 6. The actor's hometown is Nizhny Tagil, located on the slope of the Ural Mountains, not far from the conditional division between Europe and Asia. By Soviet standards, his family was considered influential and wealthy, since his father held a high position in the city leadership. Anatoly Vasiliev's mother did not work, she devoted herself entirely to home and family. However, this did not prevent her from getting involved in music, theater, cinema. And it is quite natural that the son did not stay away from his mother's hobbies.
Nizhny Tagil Vasilievs left when the future actor was nine years old. Moving to Bryansk was necessary for the career of the head of the family. The arrangement at the new location went smoothly. Young Anatoly attended a drama club, loved to play the guitar. He made friends easily, because he was distinguished by an open and sociable disposition. Even then, thoughts about an acting career began to visit him.
However, Vasiliev's father wanted a more mundane profession for his son, so after school he sent him to study at a mechanical engineering college. After suffering for two years, Anatoly Alexandrovich fled to Moscow to enter the Moscow Art Theater School. Mom supported this decision and convinced my father to accept his choice.
Vasiliev entered the course of the famous actor and teacher Vasily Markov. He became a certified actor in 1969.
Creativity: roles in cinema and theater
During his long theatrical career, Anatoly Vasiliev managed to work in three theaters:
- Moscow Academic Theater of Satire (1969-1973);
- Central Academic Theater of the Soviet Army (1973-1995);
- State Academic Theater named after Mossovet (since 1995).
The theater of satire, where he was admitted after graduating from the Moscow Art Theater School, Vasiliev left due to the lack of roles. For four years, he took part in only two productions, playing minor characters. In the theater of the Soviet army, the actor was more in demand. He appeared on its stage in the roles of Boris Godunov (The Death of Ivan the Terrible by A. Tolstoy), Macbeth (Macbeth by Shakespeare), Rogozhin (The Idiot by F. Dostoevsky).
In the theater of the Moscow City Council, the comedic talent of the actor was revealed. He took part in the performances The Comforter of the Widows, The School of Defaulters, Mother Courage and Her Children, Scandal! Scandal? Scandal … "," Krechinsky's Wedding ".
Anatoly Vasiliev made his film debut in 1977. He played the role of Dymov in the film "Steppe", filmed by Sergei Bondarchuk based on the story of the same name by Chekhov. This film was not a big success, but it served as a good start for Vasiliev's career on the big screen. Almost immediately he starred in two more films - "Ivantsov, Petrov, Sidorov" and "Close distance".
Truly popular love was brought to the actor by the role of Valentin Nenarokov in the film "Crew" by Alexander Mitta. In 1980, the Soviet audience was captivated by a drama unfolding on the screen with elements of a disaster film. Anatoly Vasiliev was entrusted with one of the main roles. According to the script, the co-pilot Nenarokov is going through a difficult divorce from his wife and separation from his son, which negatively affects his work. The actor managed to convincingly convey the personal drama of his hero.
The success of "Crew" provided Vasiliev with roles for many years to come. Especially often he was invited to films with a military theme:
- The Scream of the Loon (1979);
- General Shubnikov's Corps (1980);
- "If the enemy does not surrender" (1982);
- "Gateway to Heaven" (1983).
For many years in the cinema, the actor played officials, bosses, doctors, representatives of the law, historical figures. In Sergei Bondarchuk's film Boris Godunov (1986), he played the role of Pyotr Basmanov, the son of Ivan the Terrible's favorite. In the TV series "Mikhailo Lomonosov" (1986) he reincarnated as the father of the famous scientist - Vasily Dorofeevich.
In the crisis 90s, Vasiliev began to appear on the screen a little less often. Since the early 2000s, he has been actively acting in the series:
- "Love.ru" (2001);
- "Balzac's age or all men are cool …" (2004-2007);
- Blind 2 (2005);
- Icon Hunters (2005);
- Tatiana's Day (2007);
- Fathers and Sons (2008);
- "Matchmakers" (2008-2010);
- Bear Corner (2010);
- The Cry of an Owl (2013);
- "The strip of alienation" (2014).
The second wave of popular love was presented to Vasiliev by the role of Yuri Kovalev in the Ukrainian TV series "Matchmakers". The plot of the series is built around the relationship and confrontation between two families, whose children are married to each other. The severity of the situation is added by the fact that the husband's parents are urban intellectuals, and the wife's parents are rustic villagers. The series turned out to be bright, vital, sparkling. Anatoly Vasiliev took part in the filming of four seasons, played the role of the intelligent professor Yuri Kovalev. He left the project due to creative differences with the creators of the series and colleagues. According to the actor, the writers reduced the interesting plot to flat jokes and mockery of one character over another. He could not accept such a vision of his hero. And in the fifth season of "Matchmakers" grandfather Yura, played by Vasiliev, died of a heart attack.
Personal life
The actor met his first wife during his student years. They were fellow students with Tatyana Itsykovich. The young people got married in 1969. The wife took her husband's surname and still bears it, despite the old divorce. Actress Tatyana Vasilyeva is in no way inferior in popularity to her ex-husband. But during her student days, as she confessed, she made a lot of efforts to attract the attention of a charming fellow student.
In his first marriage, Anatoly Vasiliev had a son, Philip (1978), who also became an actor, like his famous parents. In 1983, Tatyana Vasilyeva filed for divorce, falling in love with actor Georgy Martirosyan. For many years she did not allow her son to communicate with his own father. Anatoly Alexandrovich took this situation hard. Anastasia Begunova, Philip's first wife, helped to improve relations. Since then, father and son began to communicate again. Philip gave his parents two grandchildren and a granddaughter.
The second time Anatoly Vasiliev married the journalist Vera in 1991. In 1992, the couple had a daughter, Varvara.
With his first wife and son, Vasiliev played in the play "The Joke" (2009), which gave rise to rumors of reconciliation between them after long years of enmity. However, this project was only a commercial collaboration of two famous actors, and in ordinary life they still do not communicate.
