The name of the People's Artist of the Ukrainian SSR Borislav Nikolaevich Brondukov is well known to the Russian audience. He was remembered and loved for such works in films as "Citizen Nikanorova", "Afonya", "Sportloto-82", "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes", "The Man from the Boulevard des Capuchins", "Garage" and many others. During his creative career in cinema, Brondukov starred in more than 150 films. These were mostly supporting roles and episodes in which the appearance of this wonderful character actor was invariably remembered.
Becoming
He was born in the small village of Dubovaya in Polissya near Kiev. Date of birth - March 1, 1938. Like many children born in early spring, the boy was weak and thin. A child who caught whooping cough in early childhood could not survive at all. A herbal medicine woman came out of the baby, she managed to put the boy on his feet, contrary to the forecasts of the official medicine that had refused him.
Borislav was brought up in a mixed Russian-Polish family, and throughout his life he retained a noticeable accent, a "talk" that often annoyed directors. In many films, Brondukov's characters were re-voiced to remove this "defect", and they speak from the screen with the voices of other actors.
In a religious family of the Roman Catholic faith, he was baptized (in the baptism of Boleslav), received an upbringing that was not typical for the Soviet era, and attended a parish school at his primary school age. Then he studied in the senior classes of a comprehensive school. For secondary technical education I chose the Kiev Construction College. He worked in his specialty, reaching the level of a foreman in the brigade. Everything was changed by entering a job at the Kiev plant "Arsenal". It was here, in the factory's amateur drama theater, that a sharp turn in the fate of Brondukov took place. He makes a firm decision to enter the theater institute.
From construction to cinematography
It is impossible to pass over in silence the well-known anecdote about the case in the selection committee of the Institute of Theater Arts. I. K. Karpenko-Kary. They did not want to accept documents from Brondukov, arguing that with his appearance one should work as a foreman at a construction site. However, the all-powerful Fortune promptly intervened in the person of the rector of the institute, Nikolai Zadneprovsky.
It turned out that he saw Brondukov on the amateur stage and was convinced of his extraordinary talent. From his direct instructions, the fate of the applicant, student, and then the actor Brondukov begins.
Upon graduation, the actor becomes a full-time employee of the Kiev Film Studio. A. Dovzhenko. During the decade, in 1965-1975, fluent in the Ukrainian language, he has appeared in many films of the film studio, created in Russian and Ukrainian languages. His debut work was the film "Flower on a Stone" about miner's everyday life.
During this period, the most successful project for the actor was the role in the film "The Stone Cross", which brought victory in the nomination "Best Male Role" at the All-Union Festival (Leningrad). But soon the film was "put on the shelf", largely through the fault of Brondukov himself. His overly truthful confession during the presentation of the award about the desire to embody on the screen the image of the leader of the proletariat V. I. Lenin in a comedic perspective almost crossed out the entire creative career of the actor and became the reason for proceedings in the KGB.
Genius of the second plan
The image of a "little man", funny, awkward, touching in its sincerity, becomes a godsend for Brondukov. Rather, not heroes, but characters in which he is always recognizable and more and more loved by the viewer, appear more and more often on the screen. Brondukov also played several main roles, among which the most notable work was in the melodrama "Citizen Nikanorova awaits you."
And yet his main success comes from supporting roles and episodes. Yielding central roles to partners in the project, enhancing their sound, Brondukov knew how to make his characters surprisingly natural, charming and memorable. Policeman Grishchenko, distributing moonshine to relatives "for temporary use," an alcoholic to whom "Afonya rupee owes", an unlucky groom who did not have a wedding night because of a garage cooperative meeting - the appearance of Brondukov in the film ensured that the role would be remembered and the text would be disassembled to the catchphrases that have lived among the people for decades.
He knew how to make a memorable and small role without a special text. It was enough to endow your hero with a comic touch, engraved in memory - such is, for example, the silly limping drunk in the film "We are from jazz". Such images are brilliantly successful for Brondukov, having earned him the epithet of Ukrainian Chaplin from film critics.
The title of People's Actor receives in 1988, 4 years after the first stroke.
In 1994, the Oleksandr Dovzhenko Prize was established in Ukraine, timed to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the birth of the most outstanding director in Ukrainian history. And next year Borislav Nikolaevich becomes its first laureate.
On the other side of the screen
Brondukov's first marriage was tragically unsuccessful. His chosen one suffered from a mental disorder, which became known after the wedding. The marriage broke up, leaving Brondukov a "legacy" of a prolonged depression.
The second marriage in 1968 was the result of a genuine and deep feeling. Brondukov was already over thirty, his passion for Catherine was 18. A year of persistent courtship convinced her of the seriousness of her intentions, and she accepted the offer to become the actor's wife, which she never regretted. All the romanticism and hidden lyricism of your soul during the long forced parting, care in everyday life and tender attention during a joint stay. Brondukov generously gave to his beloved, and she answered him faithfully in return. In this marriage, the couple raised two sons, Konstantin and Bogdan.
Long farewell
The second stroke overtook the actor in the early 90s, after which the actor could not finally return to the profession, only occasionally appearing on the screen. The wife devoted herself entirely to caring for him, but the financial situation of the family was simply dire. The third stroke in 1998 completely deprived him of the ability to move and talk.
Only by 2004 did the Screen Actors Guild of Ukraine take steps to support the family. The plot, created at the Kharkiv television studio and shown in the programs of Ukrainian and Russian television, attracted attention and assistance from private individuals. But already on March 10 of the same year, suffering, which lasted for a long ten years, led to the death of the actor. Buried Brondukov at the Baikovo cemetery of the capital of Ukraine.
