Veniamin Smekhov is a well-known personality not only in cinema and theater circles, but also as a poet and writer. It is difficult to imagine that he was once excluded from theatrical, considering it completely unfit for acting.
Biography
Veniamin Borisovich Smekhov is a wartime child. He was born on August 10, 1940, so a conscious acquaintance with his father happened after he returned from the front. The boy's parents had nothing to do with creativity: his father, Boris Moiseevich, Doctor of Economics, and his mother, Maria Lvovna, is a general practitioner.
True, there were artists on the father's side - book illustrators. The family lived in Moscow and in the first years of the war, the mother and son left for the Kirov region. They lived in evacuation for 2 years, after which they returned to Moscow, since Maria Lvovna had to continue her studies at the Medical Institute. Venya was in kindergarten 6 days a week.
Later he attended the most ordinary school number 235 in Palchikov Lane. During my school years, my hobby was the drama club at the House of Pioneers in the Dzerzhinsky district of the capital. There were many such circles around the country at that time. It cannot be said that professional actors were trained there. This circle had only one difference from other similar ones - its chief was Rolan Bykov.
After graduating from high school (1957), the young man Benjamin did not have a certain desire, and on the advice of Lev Smekhov (his father's brother), he decided to enter the Shchukin Theater School. I passed the exams successfully and got into the course of Vladimir Etush.
Studentship or execution can not be, pardon
However, just a year later, Benjamin Smekhov was expelled. And the fault is not missing classes, not bad behavior, but, on the contrary, excessive modesty. He himself very eloquently recalls this in his memoirs, how the thunderstorm of the course Etush personally summoned him to himself, shook his hand "with his metal hand" and said that there was a mistake.
The mistake meant that Smekhov had chosen the wrong profession. "In mathematics!" - the head of the course said menacingly. And then Benjamin for the first time in a year of study was able to look Etush in the eyes, albeit pleadingly. In addition, classmates, including the rector's daughter, decided to intercede for student Smekhov. As a result, he was allowed to remain as an auditor and was given a probationary period.
In order not to be expelled, Smekhov had to seriously work on himself. The future actors from "Pike" often got together and organized collective entertainment. However, Venya rarely participated in all this. He never, even in his youth, was a "hero - lover" and did not play such roles. His classmates even thought that he was indifferent to all the girls of the course.
Personal life
However, soon, on one of these student holidays, Laughs brought a student of the Food Institute named Alla. While still students, the young people got married. Family life was a success, the couple lived together for 20 years, they have two wonderful daughters: Elena (1963) and Alla (1968. Since the youngest daughter was also named Alla, the youngest was called "Alika" for distinction.
Now this is the well-known actress and singer Alika Smekhova. The eldest daughter also chose a creative profession - a writer. Despite the fact that the marriage subsequently broke up, Smekhov managed to maintain good relations with the children. As a child, he paid a lot of attention to them. In a cramped apartment where he lived with his wife, two children and his wife's still old aunt, Benjamin constantly organized something with his daughters: they learned, played the piano, rehearsed.
Due to his indecisive nature, the separation from his first wife was long. Laughter seemed to "leave in parts" - recalls the first wife. The inner circle perceived the divorce in different ways, some scolded Benjamin, others provided moral support. Yuri Vizbor - a friend of the actor even allowed the newly-made family to live with him for some time.
The second wife of Veniamin Borisovich Smekhov's name is Galina Aksenova, she is almost 20 years younger than her husband. The marriage was legalized in 1980. There are no joint children in this marriage, but this does not interfere with living in perfect harmony for 38 years. Galina is a film expert, they met at the Taganka Theater when she came to him for an internship.
Actor, director, screenwriter, poet, writer and traveler
Veniamin Smekhov mastered the profession of an actor after receiving a diploma in the periphery. On distribution, he left for Kuibyshev. However, the Kuibyshev theater did not become native to him, and after 1, 5 years the actor returned to the capital. However, in terms of distribution, everything was simple and clear, and here in the capital, which is oversaturated with acting fraternity, it was still necessary to win "a place in the sun."
Immediately it was not possible to find a job, Smekhov even had thoughts of looking for another job. But the young actor was taken by Alexander Konstantinovich Plotnikov, who at that time held the position of chief director at the Moscow Theater of Drama and Comedy (1963). True, soon Plotnikov had to give up his place to Yuri Lyubimov.
Veniamin Smekhov was in demand and, as an actor of the main cast, was involved in almost all productions of the theater. In 1964 the official name of the theater was "on Taganka". Only for 2 years did the actor leave the walls of his native theater in connection with the departure of Lyubimov. Thus, he, Filatov and Shapovalov declared their protest. These two years were given to the stage of "Contemporary".
Since 1987, Yuri Lyubimov returned to the Taganka Theater, and with it the actors who left it. If we add up all the years of work, then for 21 years Smekhov appeared almost daily on the Taganka stage. And yet the name of the actor Veniamin Smekhov is certainly associated with his role in the film "Dartanyan and the Three Musketeers", although film critics point out more than one role of the actor as a success.
Among them is the role of Mustafa in Ali Baba and 40 Thieves, Doctor Stravinsky in The Master and Margarita. "A shop for a single man", "Smoke and baby" are also included in this list. The very first experience in cinema was the role of Baron Krause in "Two Comrades Served".
And yet, Veniamin Smekhov is much more comfortable being off the stage, or rather, embodying his thoughts in scripts and books. I must say that the parents recommended their son to enter the Faculty of Journalism after school. They probably knew his natural inclinations best of all. If in front of the stage he was shy for a long time, then in literary work he was and is "like a fish in water."
Even under Lyubimov, Smekhov began to create his own directorial works: "Frederic Moreau", "Sorochinskaya Fair", "Reluctant Doctor", "Gentlemen from Congress". Since the 90s, the actor has completely immersed himself in directing and writing, thereby fulfilling the dreams of his parents, and maybe his own. In 1998, he left the theater altogether, although the labor force is still there.
He has staged about 15 performances for television, created many audiobooks and performances. To all his activities, Veniamin Smekhov adds the status of a traveler, since a lot today travels around the countries: America, Israel, Italy, Czech Republic, France, Germany. In America in the 90s he lived and worked for several years, taught acting. In others he staged operas and performances.
He is very proud of his last brainchild - a musical and poetic composition based on the works of Mayakovsky "The Spine-Flute". Veniamin Borisovich plays in it himself with two actors of the Taganka Theater: Dmitry Vysotsky and Masha Matveyeva. They staged this performance both abroad and on the stage of their native theater.
In his youth, Smekhov was reproached for vanity, although within reasonable limits this is not a sin. But the facts from his biography tell a different story. Many colleagues wanted to see Veniamin Borisovich as the head of the Taganka Theater, but he refused. For his 70th birthday, he was given the title of People's Artist, which he also refused. It turns out that the actor is completely self-sufficient, saying "I have enough of everything: the audience, and joy, and work."
