Stanislav Rostotsky is a talented Soviet actor, director and teacher. Winner of the title of People's Artist of the USSR, Lenin Prize Laureate. A person who has made a great contribution to the development of cinema both in his country and abroad.
Biography
Stanislav Rostotsky was born in 1922 in the small town of Rybinsk, Yaroslavl Region, into a simple family. Father - Joseph Boleslavovich - was a doctor, and mother - Lydia Karlovna - was a housewife. The boy spent his childhood in the village, he saw the hard everyday life of rural workers every day and he himself performed various peasant work. In addition to the usual fun of the village children, Stanislav was fond of reading and was very fond of visiting the local cinema, as a child he planned to connect his life with cinema.
As a teenager, Rostotsky made his way to screen tests for director Sergei Eisenstein, his idol, and was able to get approval for a role in a small episode of the film "Bezhin Meadow". Stanislav asked to become a student of the master, but Eisenstein, referring to the unpreparedness of the young man and advising him to study, refused.
In 1940 Rostotsky entered the Institute of Philosophy and Literature. He hoped to later become a student at the Institute of Cinematography, but soon the war broke out and the young man was drafted into the army. At the front, the young man experienced all the horrors of the war, faced death. This experience did not pass without a trace - while filming his films in the future, he repeatedly returned to difficult military topics.
In the winter of 1944, Stanislav Rostotsky was seriously wounded in battle and was operated on several times. Despite all the efforts of the doctors, he had to amputate his leg. In the spring, having received a disability, the man returned to Moscow and, not paying attention to the hardships and hardships, took up the realization of his dream. Stanislav Iosifovich enters the Institute of Cinematography for the course of Grigory Kozintsev and goes headlong into his studies.
Personal life
As a student at VGIK, Rostotsky meets his future wife Nina Menshikova, who studied there, but was several years younger than him.
The girl immediately drew attention to the attractive young man, but did not count on a serious relationship, because he was always surrounded by numerous fans. The chance decided the fate of young people - a creative trip to which Stanislav and a friend were sent. Nina took the initiative and went with two unknown men as a cook. The common life brought the guy and the girl closer together, after a while the young people fell in love and got married. In marriage, they had a son, Andrei, who later became a famous actor.
Nina Menshikova has a lot of films on her account. Among the most famous films:
- "Girls",
- "Miraculous"
- "The Ballad of a Soldier".
She participated in the filming of only one film directed by her husband. It was the role of Svetlana Mikhailovna, a teacher of Russian language and literature, in the cult "Let's Live Until Monday"
Stanislav Rostotsky and Nina Menshikova have been happily married for 45 years.
Director's career
In 1952 Rostotsky received a diploma from VGIK. By that time, he was already an accomplished director. He is sent for an internship at the film studio. Gorky, where he will work for the rest of his life. The production "Land and People", which was released in 1956, is Rostotsky's independent debut.
Then was filmed "It Was in Penkovo" (1957), one of the most famous Soviet films, with the participation of Vyacheslav Tikhonov and Svetlana Druzhinina, dedicated to a village theme so close to Rostotsky. The next dramas are "May Stars" (1959) and "On the Seven Winds" (1962), which are distinguished by lyricism and penetration, which allows the viewer to feel the "quiet" heroism and drama of people during the war.
But the transferred to the screen Lermontov's short stories "Bela", "Maksim Maksimych" and "Taman" in the movie "A Hero of Our Time", which was released in 1967, critics do not consider as successful for Rostotsky, despite the fact that, on the whole, the work turned out to be lyrical, passionate and literary and historically realistic.
Since 1968, the director, one after another, has been releasing pictures that have a resounding success and later become cult:
- "We'll Live Until Monday" (1968), a film that is Rostotsky's calling card, which tells the story of a school drama;
- "The Dawns Here Are Quiet" (1972) based on the story by Boris Vasiliev. Rostotsky dedicated this picture to nurse Anna Chegunova, who saved him during the war, carrying him out of the battlefield with a serious wound. The film was nominated for an Oscar by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts, like the next one on the list.
- White Bim Black Ear (1976), a film that won the Lenin Prize and won the Grand Prix of the Karlovy Vary Festival, became one of the best films for teenagers and children.
- "From the Life of Fyodor Kuzkin" (1989), one of Rostotsky's last works, based on the story "Alive" by Boris Mozhaev. In it, he seems to be returning to the beginning of his creative biography and again talks about people working on the ground, now with even greater openness and harshness.
Stanislav Iosifovich is the author of a large number of articles in various magazines about cinema - "Art of Cinema", "Soviet Screen" and others. He was the chairman of the jury of five Moscow international film festivals. He is a member of the Union of Cinematographers of the USSR and the RSFSR. He taught at VGIK.
In the early 90s, the director stopped filming. Rostotsky and Menshikova lead a quiet, unhurried life and enjoy it on the savings and pension of a disabled war veteran.
In 1998 Rostotsky, long gone from the screens, appeared in the role of General Sintyanin in the TV serial "At the Knives" directed by AS Orlov (based on the novel by NS Leskov).
Death
In August 2001, Stanislav Rostotsky died of a heart attack while driving his car on his way to Vyborg for the Window to Europe Film Festival. According to the medical report, death occurred instantly from a massive heart attack.
A year after the death of his father, Rostotsky's son, Andrei, died. The tragedy happened on the set of a film in Krasnaya Polyana, a man fell off a mountain. Nina Menshikova lived for another five years and also left this world. This amazing, loving family left abruptly and very unexpectedly. All of them are buried in Moscow at the Vagankovskoye cemetery.
