“Personally, I would not call the war a school. Better to let the person study in other educational institutions. But still, there I learned to appreciate Life - not only my own, but the one with a capital letter. Everything else is not so important anymore …"
HELL. Papanov
Anatoly Papanov was born on October 31, 1922 in Vyazma. His mother, Elena Boleslavovna Roskovskaya, worked as a milliner - a master in the manufacture of women's dresses and hats, and his father, Dmitry Filippovich Papanov, served in the guard of the railway junction. The family had one more child - the youngest daughter Nina. At the end of the twenties of the last century, the Papanovs moved to Moscow, settling on Malye Kochki Street (nowadays - Dovator Street) in a house located next to the bakery. In the capital, Dmitry Filippovich, having become a civilian, worked at a construction site. Elena Boleslavovna also changed her profession, getting a job as a planer at the plant. As for the young Anatoly, he told about himself: “I read little then, I studied poorly … But I loved cinema very much. The nearest "cultural point" was the House of Culture "Kauchuk". That's where I went to watch films, concerts and performances of the local drama collective. " In the eighth grade, Papanov became seriously interested in theater, starting to study in the school drama club. And in 1939, after graduating from school, he got a job as a caster at the second Moscow ball bearing plant.
Dreams of stage activity did not give Anatoly rest, and soon the young man enrolled in the factory theater studio, which, by the way, was directed by the actors of the Theater. Vakhtangov. After working a ten-hour shift, young Papanov ran to lessons in a theater group. In addition to studying in the studio, the young man quite often visited the corridors of Mosfilm. On account of his participation in the crowd in such films as "Lenin in October", "Suvorov", "Stepan Razin", "Minin and Pozharsky." Of course, the dream of a seventeen-year-old guy was to catch the eye of some eminent director and get a small but separate role, albeit a tiny one. Alas, this dream was not destined to come true in those years.
In 1941, an incident happened that almost broke Anatoly Dmitrievich's life. Someone from his team took several parts from the territory of the ball bearing plant. By today's standards, the crime is not the most serious, but in those years, such an offense was punished cruelly. The police, who arrived at the plant after the theft was discovered, arrested the entire brigade, including Papanov. During the interrogation, all workers were sent to Butyrka. Only on the ninth day, the investigators, having made sure that Anatoly Dmitrievich was not involved in the theft, let him go home. And three months later, the war began.
On the very first day - June 22, 1941 - Anatoly Dmitrievich went to the front. He said: “I, like most of my peers, believed in victory, lived by this faith, felt hatred for the enemy. Before me was the example of Pavka Korchagin, Chapaev, the heroes of the several times watched films "The Seven Brave" and "We are from Kronstadt." Anatoly Dmitrievich commanded an anti-aircraft battery and fully studied the difficult soldier's profession. Fighting bravely, Papanov rose to the rank of senior sergeant, and in 1942 ended up on the Southwestern Front. At that time, the Germans launched a powerful counteroffensive in this direction, and Soviet troops retreated to Stalingrad. Throughout his life, Papanov remembered the bitter taste of retreat, the creak of the earth on his teeth and the taste of blood in his mouth. He said: “How can you forget about the two-hour battle that took the lives of twenty-nine people out of forty-two?.. We dreamed, made plans, argued, but most of our comrades died before my eyes … I still clearly see how my friend Alik fell. He wanted to become a cameraman, studied at VGIK, but did not … A new regiment was formed from the survivors - and again in the same places, and again a battle … I saw how people completely changed after the battle. I saw how they turned gray in one night. I used to think it was a literary technique, but it turned out to be a technique of war … They say that a person can get used to everything. I'm not sure about that. I never managed to get used to the daily losses. And time does not soften all this in memory … ".
In one of the battles, a German shell exploded next to Papanov. Fortunately, most of the fragments flew past, and only one hit the foot. The wound turned out to be serious, two fingers were amputated from Anatoly Dmitrievich, and he spent almost six months in a hospital located near Makhachkala. Subsequently, when the actor was asked about the injury he received, Papanov replied: “The explosion, I don’t remember anything further … I woke up only in the hospital. I learned that everyone who was near had died. I was covered with earth, the soldiers who arrived in time dug me up … After being wounded, I could no longer return to the front. They were commissioned cleanly and none of my protests and requests helped …”.
The twenty-one-year-old boy came out of the hospital with the third group of disability. He was discharged from the army, and in the fall of 1942 Papanov returned to Moscow. Without thinking twice, he submitted documents to GITIS, the artistic director, which at that time was a wonderful artist Mikhail Tarkhanov. By the way, the exams for the acting department of the institute had already ended by that time, however, due to the war, there was a strong shortage of male students. When, leaning on a stick, Anatoly Dmitrievich came to GITIS, Mikhail Mikhailovich, looking skeptically at the young entrant, asked: “What are we going to do with your leg? Can you walk on your own? " Papanov answered confidently: "I can." Tarkhanov had no doubts about the honesty of the answer, and the young man was admitted to the acting department, led by the Moscow Art Theater artists Vasily and Maria Orlov. From the very first day of classes, in addition to common disciplines for all disciplines, Anatoly Dmitrievich, overcoming pain, was engaged in dancing and gymnastics to exhaustion. Improvement did not come immediately, and only at the end of the fourth year the young man finally threw away the cane that had become hateful to him. By the way, the novice artist had another problem - pronunciation. The teacher of speech technique repeatedly told him “Papanov, when will you get rid of this terrible hissing ?!”. However, the young man had a malocclusion, and four years of training could not correct his reprimand.
During his studies at the acting department, Papanov met with his future wife, Nadezhda Karataeva. She herself said: “We are both Muscovites, we lived nearby, even studied at the same school for some time … In 1941 I entered the acting department, but the war broke out and my studies were suspended. The teachers were evacuated, and I decided to go to the front. After graduating from nursing courses, I got a job on an ambulance train. I worked there for two years. In 1943 the train was disbanded, and I returned to GITIS. Here I saw Anatoly for the first time. I remember the stripes of wounds, a faded tunic, a stick. At first we had just friendly relations - we lived nearby and went home together on the tram. Our romance began when, during our student holidays, we went from the district committee of the Komsomol to serve military units in Kuibyshev. After returning to Moscow, I told my mother: “I’ll probably get married” … After I introduced him to my mother, she said: “A good guy, just not very handsome.” I replied: "But he is so interesting, so talented!" And mom: "Everything, everything, I do not mind." Anatoly and Nadezhda got married immediately after the Victory on May 20, 1945. It is curious that during the wedding, the lights in the house suddenly went out, and the end of the celebration took place by candlelight. Some guests saw this as an unkind sign, but life showed an erroneous omen - the couple lived together for nearly 43 years. Subsequently, Papanov often repeated: "I am a monogamous woman - one woman and one theater."
At the state examination in November 1946, Anatoly Dmitrievich played the young Konstantin in "Children of Vanyushin" by Naydenov and a deep elder in the comedy "Don Gil" by Tirso de Molina. The hall was attended by many spectators, in the first row were members of the state commission, recognized masters of the Soviet theater. Papanov passed his final exam with excellent marks, and immediately after that he was invited to three famous metropolitan theaters - the Moscow Art Theater, the Theater. Vakhtangov and Small. However, the young actor was forced to refuse offers. The point was that his wife received a distribution to the Lithuanian city of Klaipeda, and he decided to go with her. Upon arrival at the site, they were allocated an old destroyed mansion, which Papanov had to restore on his own.
In early October 1947, the Russian Drama Theater in Klaipeda opened its doors to the audience. On November 7, the premiere of "Young Guard" took place on his stage, in which Anatoly Dmitrievich played the role of Tyulenin. A couple of days later, the newspaper Sovetskaya Klaipeda published the first review of Papanov's performance in his life: “The role of Sergei Tyulenin played by the young actor Anatoly Papanov is especially successful. He is distinguished by initiative and inexhaustible energy, impetuosity and passion, spontaneity in the expression of feelings. From the very first minutes, the viewer ardently sympathizes with the actor. " In addition to this performance in the Klaipeda drama theater, Papanov appeared in the performances "Mashenka", "Dog in the Manger" and "For Those Who Are at Sea".
Meanwhile, fate wanted Anatoly Dmitrievich to return to the capital of Russia. In the summer of 1948, he and his wife came to Moscow to visit their parents. One evening, walking along Tverskoy Boulevard, the actor met a young director Andrei Goncharov, whom he had known well since his studies at GITIS. Now Andrei Alexandrovich worked at the Theater of Satire. They talked for over an hour, after which Goncharov made an unexpected proposal: "Come with my wife to me." And the Papanovs agreed. The first years of work at the Moscow Theater of Satire, the couple lived in a hostel, where they were given a room of nine square meters. By the way, their neighbors were the famous Soviet actors Vera and Vladimir Ushakov, as well as Tatyana Peltzer with her father.
Anatoly Dmitrievich was admitted to the theater, but no one was in a hurry to give him the main roles. The former front-line soldier did not like to grumble about fate, and he endured his obscurity rather stoically. Several years passed in this way. Nadezhda Karataeva became the leading actress of the theater, and Papanov continued to appear on the stage in episodic roles, otherwise known as "Served to Eat." The lack of demand led to despair, disbelief in himself and melancholy, the actor began to abuse alcohol, quarrels began with his wife. The turning point in the fate of Anatoly Dmitrievich came in the mid-fifties. At this time (1954) his daughter Lena was born, and during these days the actor got his first real job - a role in the production of Fairy Kiss. Nadezhda Yurievna recalled: “Before the birth of my daughter, my husband played very little, mostly small roles. And it was when I was in the hospital that Anatoly was lucky. It all happened by accident - one of our actors fell ill, and Papanov was urgently introduced to the performance. And then they believed in him. I well remember how my husband often repeated: "Helen brought me this happiness." Feeling the changes in his life, Anatoly Dmitrievich immediately gave up alcohol. Nadezhda Karataeva said: “Her husband hid tremendous willpower behind his outward softness. Once he told me: "That's it, I don't drink anymore." And how he cut it off. Buffets, banquets - he set himself only Borjomi. " It is worth saying that Anatoly Dmitrievich quit smoking in a similar way.
In cinema, Papanov's acting fate was no less difficult than in the theater. He played his first tiny role as adjutant in 1951 in Aleksandrov's film The Composer Glinka. After that, Anatoly Dmitrievich was not in demand for four years, until in 1955 young Eldar Ryazanov invited him to audition for the role of director Ogurtsov in the film Carnival Night. But Papanov never got the chance to play in this film - the tests were unsuccessful, and Igor Ilyinsky played the role of Ogurtsov. Ryazanov recalled: “At that moment I didn’t like Anatoly Dmitrievich - he played too“theatrically”, in a manner appropriate in a brightly grotesque performance, but contrary to the very nature of cinema, where a barely visible movement of an eyebrow is already an expressive mise-en-scène … Our first meeting took place for me without a trace, but for Papanov it turned into a new mental trauma”.
Having suffered a failure on the cinematic front, Anatoly Dmitrievich learned the joy of success on the stage. In the late fifties, Hikmet's "Sword of Damocles" appeared in the repertoire of the Theater of Satire, in which Papanov got the main role of the Boxer. When the theater actors learned about this appointment, many were surprised. It seemed to them that Papanov could not cope with the role. After a series of high-profile speeches, Anatoly Dmitrievich himself began to doubt his abilities. However, the director was adamant and the performance with Papanov's participation nevertheless took place. At the time of working on the role, the actor took lessons from the famous boxer Yuri Yegorov. He said: “I trained on the paw and with a punching bag, practiced punches and jumped with a rope, did general training. We also had training fights”. The production was a huge success, and the same Ryazanov in 1960 again invited Papanov to star in the film "Man from Nowhere". By the way, this time the director had to make a lot of efforts in order to convince the actor to return to the cinema. Papanov, fully convinced by that time that he was not "cinematic", flatly refused to act. Another wonderful Soviet actor, Yuri Yakovlev, became Anatoly Dmitrievich's partner in the film. He talked about filming: “On audition, I saw a man who was afraid, shy, worried about his ability to master the most difficult acting transformation in cinema. I involuntarily thought how hard it would be for me - partnership for me is the basis of my creative life on the set. However, after the third test, it seemed to me that an alliance with Papanov could well take place. Tolya relaxed, became cheerful, joked a lot, juicy. I was glad that all my fears were left behind. Our partnership later grew into mutual comradely sympathies … ".
Unfortunately, the film "Man from Nowhere" never appeared on the wide screen - its premiere took place only twenty-eight years later, when Anatoly Dmitrievich was no longer alive. Meanwhile, this film was not the last in the joint work of Papanov and Ryazanov. In 1961, the ten-minute short film How Robinson Was Created, in which the actor played the Editor, was released. At the same time, Papanov starred in the tape of Mitta and Saltykov "Beat the Drum" and in the film Lukashevich "The Knight's Move". In 1962, three directors already drew attention to him - Tashkov from the Odessa Film Studio, Mikhail Ershov and Vladimir Vengerov from Lenfilm. The actor agreed to all three, and in 1963-1964 three films with his participation were released ("Empty Flight", "Come Tomorrow" and "Native Blood"), which had varying success among viewers. Despite the fact that critics noted Papanov's excellent play, he could not get into the first cohort of Soviet movie stars at that time.
Real success awaited Papanov in 1964. In the early sixties, Konstantin Simonov saw Anatoly Dmitrievich in the play "The Sword of Damocles". Papanov's performance shocked him so much that the famous writer convinced the film director Stolper, who in 1963 decided to film the book "The Living and the Dead", to take the actor for the role of General Serpilin. At first, Alexander Borisovich hesitated, since Papanov was known as a performer of negative and comedic roles. Anatoly Dmitrievich himself doubted his ability to play the role of a positive, heroic hero for a long time, despite the fact that the topic of war, as a front-line soldier, was very close to him. Nadezhda Karataeva said: “They called him several times a day, tried to convince him, and we all stood in the hostel and listened to him open up to play Serpilin:“Which general am I? What are you, I can not … ". When the tape came out on a wide screen, Anatoly Dmitrievich gained all-Union glory. At the box office in 1964 "The Living and the Dead" took first place, it was viewed by more than forty million people. In the same year, the film received prizes at festivals in Acapulco and Karlovy Vary, and in 1966 was awarded the State Prize of the RSFSR.
After such a success, the demand for the actor has grown incredibly. In particular, in 1964 alone, ten films were put into production at Lenfilm, and at eight they invited Papanov. By the way, he accepted all the proposals and, after passing the tests, was approved for all eight films, which is a rather rare case in Soviet cinema. True, later he politely refused everyone - he was too busy in the theater. However, Anatoly Dmitrievich did not refuse offers from Mosfilm that were received at the same time. Filming of the films "Our Home" and "Children of Don Quixote" took place in Moscow, and Papanov was completely satisfied with it. Both films, in which he played the main roles, were released in 1965 and had a successful distribution fate.
Meanwhile, in the same year, Eldar Ryazanov once again remembered about Papanov, offering him a role in the film "Beware of the car!" When the shooting of the film began, many participants in the filming process suddenly opposed Anatoly Dmitrievich. About the reason for this, Eldar Alexandrovich himself said: “In the tape, actors with a slightly different nature of humor than Papanov's - Smoktunovsky, Mironov, Evstigneev, Efremov, got together. Anatoly Dmitrievich played his hero in a grotesque style close to him and, as it were, quite appropriate. However, at some stage of the work, many started talking that the actor was falling out of the general ensemble, destroying the style and integrity of the picture. A meeting was held on this topic. Fortunately, Papanov himself did not suspect our evil intentions. Even I wavered for a moment, but restrained me from hasty decisions. I still praise myself for this, as it soon became clear that Anatoly Dmitrievich created one of his best roles in the film, and his infectious phrase "Freedom to Yuri Detochkin," having taken on a generalized meaning, left the screen and went to the streets."
In the sixties, Papanov's cinematic career was filled with roles of a very different plan. Here are just a few famous films: "Give me a book of complaints," "Adjutant of His Excellency," "Two Comrades Served," "Retribution." In 1968, Gaidai's film The Diamond Arm was released, which was a resounding success and was scattered into quotations. In this film, Anatoly Dmitrievich again played with his theater colleague Andrei Mironov. By the way, Andrei Alexandrovich treated Papanov with great respect and addressed him exclusively by his first name and patronymic. Nevertheless, these great actors did not become close friends - Papanov's closed nature affected.
Another facet of Anatoly Dmitrievich's talent was the scoring of multilms, it is enough to recall only the water one in the "Flying Ship". However, the legendary "Well, wait a minute!" Kotenochkin. Having voiced the Wolf in 1967, Papanov became the idol of millions and millions of children around the world. In the race for survival, the audience's sympathy was entirely on the side of the gray bully, who was constantly tormented by the correct Bunny. Anatoly Dmitrievich even managed to conquer the strict bosses - the Wolf in the cartoon was forgiven by everything: fights, cigarettes, even "abnormal" growling. It is curious that after years this fame became so enormous that it began to lead to negative consequences. Nadezhda Yurievna recalled: “Tolya was a little offended when he was recognized only as the performer of the Wolf. He said to me: "As if apart from" Well, wait! ", I did nothing else." And once I had such a case - we were walking down the street, and one woman, seeing him, said to her child: "Look, look, the Wolf is coming." This, of course, he really didn’t like.”
Quite actively in the sixties, Anatoly Dmitrievich worked in the Theater of Satire. He played in performances: "Twelve Chairs", "Apple of Discord", "Intervention", "Profitable Place", "The Last Parade". In 1966, Papanov played the main role in the production of Terkin in the Next World, but the play in the theater's repertoire lasted only a couple of weeks, and then was filmed for censorship reasons. For the actors, and for Anatoly Dmitrievich in particular, this was a strong blow. Meanwhile, in the seventies, his acting fame reached its peak. Throughout the territory of our great country, there was no person who did not know Papanov. His appearance in any episode was equal to the whole role, and with one close-up the brilliant actor managed to play the entire biography of the hero. Anatoly Dmitrievich himself remained an unusually modest and unassuming person in everyday life, which was repeatedly noted by many directors who worked with him. Papanov's wife recalled: “He came from a simple family, had an average education and was generally a sort of a yard hooligan. And when it dawned on him how important knowledge was, the war began, and Anatoly went to the front. Therefore, as soon as the opportunity arose, he took up self-education - he read a lot, did not find it shameful to watch his colleagues play behind the scenes … Anatoly did not know how to lie and, being a believer, tried to live according to Christ's commandments. He did not have star fever either. It happened that we went somewhere with the theater. Everyone always tried to sit on the bus in the first seats, where there was less shaking. He, so as not to bother anyone, sat in the back. They said to him: "Anatoly Dmitrievich, go ahead." And he: “It's okay, I feel good here too … What he could not stand was arrogance and familiarity. Many actors after performances on tour tried to drag him to a restaurant. Papanov gently but steadfastly refused, retiring in a room with a boiler and a book, or secretly leaving for the people, in search of his future heroes. " The famous artist Anatoly Guzenko said: “We were on tour in Tbilisi. The beginning of October, the sun is shining brightly. Warmth, khachapuri, wine, kebabs … Somehow I am walking along the avenue among beautifully dressed people, and suddenly … a spy comes towards me. Cloak-Bologna, beret pulled down to the very forehead, dark glasses. When the spy approached, I recognized him as Papanov."
By the way, Anatoly Dmitrievich paid little attention to his outfits all his life. A well-known story is how one day, while in Germany, he arrived at a reception to the Soviet ambassador in a windbreaker and jeans. Together with him was Vladimir Andreev - artistic director of the theater. Ermolova, dressed in a black suit and a dazzling shirt. Later he admitted that the sight of Papanov frightened him. But the ambassador smiled at Anatoly Dmitrievich as if he were a loved one: "Well, finally, at least one person is normally dressed!"
In the seventies, fifteen more films with Papanov's participation were released: "Incognito from St. Petersburg", "Belorussky Station", "Fear of Heights", "Twelve Chairs" and others. And in 1973 he was awarded the title of People's Artist of the USSR. It is curious that, despite all the awards received, the actor had one very significant gap in the questionnaire for those years - Papanov was not a member of the party, which his superiors repeatedly drew attention to. However, the artist invariably shied away from joining the CPSU, even knowing that this was letting down his wife, who was a member of the theater's party bureau. Nadezhda Yurievna recalled: “My husband was not a party member, and I have been a party member since 1952. The district committee told me that if I persuade Anatoly to join the party, then they will give me the title of Honored Artist. But Tolya did not agree. He was always very principled, even received awards only for creative merits. And the title was awarded to me after many years."
The actor was a wonderful family man. According to his wife, for all forty-three years of marriage, he never gave her a reason to doubt marital fidelity. When in the mid-seventies his only daughter Lena, who studied at the theater institute in those years, married a classmate, Anatoly Dmitrievich bought them a one-room apartment. In 1979, the young had their first child, a girl Masha, and Papanov's second granddaughter, named after her grandmother Nadia, was born six years later.
Konstantin Simonov died at the end of August 1979. At the funeral Anatoly Dmitrievich said: “He was my destiny. He told Stolper: “This actor Serpilin! And only he! . And my whole planet spun in a different way … And now a piece of life is cut off … a giant piece … After such a loss, I feel that I will become different. I don’t know how yet, but I’ll change a lot …”.
At the end of 1982, when Papanov was sixty years old, he bought a Volga car. It is interesting that Anatoly Dmitrievich used the car only on trips to the country. The actor went to the theater on foot, explaining that he needed time to tune in to the performance: “In general, it’s nice to go outside, meet good people, think, dream”. However, there was another reason why Papanov did not come to work by car. He said: "It is inconvenient to drive around in a car when young artists are walking in darned tights."
In the eighties, in addition to working in cinema and theater, Anatoly Dmitrievich was actively involved in social activities. He was a member of the Society for the Protection of Nature, together with the writer Vladimir Soloukhin stood at the head of the All-Union Society for Baths. The work of this organization was to monitor the maintenance of the necessary order in the baths and improve the service of visitors. During the period from 1980 to 1987, Papanov starred in three films: "The Time of Desires", "Fathers and Grandfathers", "Cold Summer of the Fifty-third". During the same time in the Theater of Satire, he received four new roles, but, in his own words, he did not experience satisfaction from these works. Comrades persistently suggested that he move to another theater, but Papanov, shrugging his shoulders sadly, told them: “They gave me a title here, they gave me orders here. What a bastard I would be if I quit the theater”. Director Vladimir Andreev recalled: “I knew that Anatoly Dmitrievich was not satisfied with something at the Satire Theater. I worked in Maly, and decided to talk with him about the possibility of transition. He asked bluntly: “Isn't it time for such a master to appear on the oldest Russian stage? Here are both "The Inspector General" and "Woe from Wit" - your entire repertoire … ". He quietly and seriously replied: "Volodya, it's too late for me." I told him: “It's never too late! Go with the whole family: with Nadia and Lena. " He did not go, he could not betray his theater. Happened him and scolded, and offended. But I could not betray”.
In 1983, Anatoly Dmitrievich decided to try himself in the teaching field - at GITIS he was entrusted with the leadership of the Mongolian studio. Nadezhda Yurievna dissuaded him from work, but Papanov, as always, did it his own way. According to the same Andreev: “Anatoly could only swear at an equal, and he was even ashamed to conduct disciplinary conversations with students. The Mongols, meanwhile, allowed themselves to misbehave and even fight in the hostel. The dean asked the actor to use the power of the artistic director of the course, but Papanov answered embarrassedly: "I somehow don't know how …". He influenced his students by some other means, without "sticking".
In 1984, the film “Fathers and Grandfathers” directed by Yegorov was sent to the Italian Film Festival. Left for the town of Avellino and Anatoly Dmitrievich, who received the prize for the best male role there. The award was called "Golden Plateau" and a very interesting story is connected with it. When the artist returned to his homeland, the Literaturnaya Gazeta, popular in those years, spoke about this award in a joking style. In particular, it was reported that during the inspection of luggage at Sheremetyevo, a passenger of the Rome-Moscow flight, the famous artist Papanov, was detained. In the cache of his suitcase between the boiler and T-shirts, a piece of precious metal was found. The contraband was confiscated, and the artist himself is under investigation. After the issue of the issue, a hail of calls, telegrams and letters fell upon the editorial office of the newspaper. Thousands of people reported: “Anatoly Dmitrievich is not to blame! He is our favorite artist and an honest man! Don't put Papanov in prison! " After a series of calls from alarmed fans of the artist in the KGB and even in the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, "Litgazeta" was forced to publish a refutation. In the article "On Sense of Humor and Customs," the newspaper's editors stated that "they were sure that over the years they had brought up a certain sense of humor in their readers, but the history that took place discredited this confidence." However, it was not at all a lack of a sense of humor, but in the huge, boundless love of Russian people for an amazing person and great artist - Anatoly Papanov.
In the last year of his life, Anatoly Dmitrievich was unusually active. He finally convinced the chief director to give him a chance to stage the play himself. As material for the work, Papanov chose Gorky's play "The Last". Nadezhda Karataeva said: “The actors who worked with him said - we didn’t know such a director yet, he treated us like a father… The performance according to the script ended with the death of one of the heroes. Tolya, who decided that at this tragic moment, a church chant should sound, was very worried that the performance would be banned. However, the censorship missed the scene."
In 1986-1987, Papanov accepted an offer from director Alexander Proshkin to star in the film "Cold Summer of the Fifty-third" in the role of Kopalych. Friends dissuaded the actor from filming, believing that he was already too busy in GITIS and in the theater, but Anatoly Dmitrievich replied: "This topic worries me - I can tell a lot about it." Filming began in Karelia, in a remote village. Alexander Proshkin said: “We worked normally for a week, and the residents helped us as much as they could. No surprises were foreseen, since the village was isolated from three sides by water. And now - Papanov's first day of shooting. We start filming, and … I don’t understand anything - there are outside boats all over the place. There are many boats, and everyone is heading towards us. They swim up, dock, and I see - in each boat there is a grandfather or a grandmother and two or three children, in their hands a notebook or a book. It turns out that everyone came to meet with "Grandpa Wolf". I gave up and stopped filming. The cinema administration, in its usual harsh manner, tried to apply “pressure”, but Anatoly Dmitrievich intervened in the matter: “What are you doing! Let's get everyone together. " The children were seated, and Papanov wrote to everyone and said something to everyone. I watched this scene, forgetting about the cost of a disrupted shooting day. It was evident from the faces of the children that they will remember this meeting for the rest of their lives …”.
The film "Cold Summer of 53" was the last in the life of the great actor. At the end of filming in early August 1987, he arrived in Moscow. Nadezhda Karataeva recalled: “I was on tour with the theater in Riga … Going home, Anatoly decided to take a shower, but there was no hot water in the house. Then he, tired and hot, crawled under the cold stream … When Anatoly did not come to Riga on the appointed day, I got worried and called my daughter. The son-in-law got into our apartment through the neighbor's loggia and found him in the bathroom … The doctors' diagnosis was acute heart failure."
Thousands of people attended the funeral of the remarkable actor. Valery Zolotukhin said: “I, hurrying to the last meeting with Papanov, took a taxi from the Belorussky railway station. When the driver heard where I was going, he opened the doors and informed his colleagues about the death of Anatoly Dmitrievich. They immediately rushed to the flower market, bought a carnation, handed me: "Bow to him and from us …"
A few days later, another outstanding Soviet actor, Andrei Mironov, passed away on the Riga stage.
