"Don't lie to yourself"
This was several years ago. Mikhail Kozakov returned from Israel, and I, a young journalist, received the task of doing an interview with him. He then lived with his young wife Anna Yampolskaya and two children, Misha and Zoya, in a five-room apartment on Ordynka. Every now and then Mikhail Mikhailovich went to the kitchen - put another cutlet and blue cheese on his plate, poured cognac... And his phrases were sprinkled with juicy obscenities, and Kozakov cursed with some special pleasure and even pleasure, saying that the real intelligentsia always “That’s how I put it.” Seeing my embarrassment, he quoted Pushkin with similar vocabulary and after a pause added:
The first wife of Mikhail Kozakov is Greta Taar
Mikhail first married in 1955 to Estonian Greta Taar, who studied with him at the Leningrad Petrishule school. Greta’s father was a make-up artist at the Mosfilm film studio, and the girl worked there as a costume designer.
Mikhail Kozakov in his youth
Two years after the wedding, the couple had a daughter, Katya, and in 1962, Greta gave her husband a son, the boy was named Kirill. The marriage lasted ten years; Greta could not stand Kozakov’s hobbies with other women.
Mikhail Kozakov with Greta Taar
In his autobiographical book, Mikhail Mikhailovich himself admitted to casual relationships during his first marriage; he had affairs with his secretary, with ballerina Natalya Bessmertnova.
“Well, if Sa-am wrote so!”
Kozakov later told me: “Yes, alcohol is my problem. Vodka has its pros and cons. My mother said: “Misha, drink, as the French say, cheerful wine. And don’t drink sad things.” You performed a successful performance or concert, and you want to prolong the joy. This is normal as long as you don't drink too much to the point of unconsciousness. And if you drink out of grief... That’s where the expression “bitter drunkard” comes from.
Still from the film "Amphibian Man". Leningrad film studio "Lenfilm", 1961. Pedro Zurita - artist Mikhail Kozakov. Balthazar - artist Anatoly Smiranin. Photo: RIA Novosti
Kozakov never drank just to get drunk. Alcohol helped him cope with eternal dissatisfaction with himself and creative conflicts with directors. On tour in Finland, he caused a scene because he disagreed with the way director Efros interpreted Gogol. Another time, he ended up in a psychiatric hospital - the director’s decision for “The Queen of Spades” was not given, which is why Kozakov fell into depression. Depression was his eternal companion. “I can plunge into impenetrable melancholy for several days. I just lie there and stare at the wall. I don’t want to live in such moments. It’s difficult for those people who are nearby and see me in this state. I’m getting out of depression with difficulty, and no one can help me with this,” shared Mikhail Mikhailovich.
“I have one quality for which many people hate me. “I never lie,” Kozakov admitted. — Unlike many people, I don’t play in “shit.” I only play the films I want. Only God knows that I should have staged “The Nameless Star”, “Pokrovsky Gate”, “Faust”, “The Lady’s Visit”... I wrote exclusively the truth in my books, which offended many. I have this principle: if you say “a”, don’t be “b”... Don’t lie to yourself - that’s what my father and mother taught me. My parents gave me the right books, had frank conversations with me about art, about life in the country - to this day I feed on that “magic potion.” I have never chosen the “right” friends either. The standard for me was my father (writer Mikhail Kozakov - Ed.). When the persecution of Zoshchenko began, dad was the only one who did not cross to the other side of the street when meeting the writer. They often sat in our kitchen. I absorbed their conversations. My God, what people I talked to! I envy myself. Akhmatova, Pasternak, Schwartz, Zoshchenko..."
A profession in which you don't have to do anything
Mikhail Kozakov was born in 1934 in Leningrad, his father was a famous writer, his mother worked as an editor for the Leningrad Publishing House magazine for writers.
Since childhood, the child was surrounded by writers and intellectuals; the bohemian public gathered at their home. If any serious issues were discussed, the mother would say in French, “Come on, not in front of the child,” and the boy would be sent away. However, this did not save the family from repression - Misha’s mother and grandmother were arrested twice - in 1937 and 1948. Fortunately, they managed to survive and return home. Since childhood, Mikhail Kozakov loved to read a lot; if he did not understand something, he turned to his father for clarification. And he either helped or recommended returning to this work later. When the war began, Misha was evacuated, and until the victory he lived in a small village in the Perm region.
When the boy returned from evacuation to his native Leningrad, it was time to study for real, because before that he had only the most elementary education. Mikhail entered the choreographic school. But at the same time, he studied averagely, he simply did not consider it necessary for himself to know what he did not like. But he only liked literature; he didn’t even like the Russian language very much, because there he had to learn the rules. His parents tried to instill in him a love of natural sciences and recommended that he choose some “earthly” profession. At one time he wanted to become a surgeon, but was physically unable to be in the morgue. I tried my hand at chemistry and was poisoned by chlorine. Then his parents themselves allowed him to choose his profession. And he chose the stage. The paradox is that he believed that this was a profession in which you did not need to do anything at all.
“Yes, he hit his wife...”
Mikhail Kozakov became popular after his first film. The painting “Murder on Dante Street” brought him deafening popularity: “My face was on all the posters... Thanks to this role, Okhlopkov invited me to the Theater. Mayakovsky to play Hamlet." Half of the women in the USSR were in love with Kozakov at that time, and he himself was jealous of Oleg Dal’s appearance and talent... Kozakov had been a rebel since his youth. After graduating from the Moscow Art Theater School, he refused to serve in this legendary theater - “everything there is covered in dust.” He changed many havens: Sovremennik, Moscow Art Theater, Theater on Malaya Bronnaya, Lenkom... He did not hesitate to leave theaters and women if he disagreed with them on fundamental issues...
Soviet and Russian director, theater and film actor, People's Artist of Russia Mikhail Mikhailovich Kozakov (center) surrounded by his family. His daughter is actress Manana Kozakova (left in the background). 1999 Photo from the collection of Nino Melia. Photo: RIA Novosti
The actor was married for the first time to his former classmate, Estonian costume designer Greta Taar . They lived for 10 years, they had two children - daughter Ekaterina and son Kirill. The next wife was Georgian, artist-restorer Medea Berelashvili. Kozakov characterized this marriage as follows: “An idiotic marriage to an unfamiliar Georgian woman... This one, with an ancient Greek name, managed to bring a lot of evil in one year... But, thank God, I came to my senses and threw her out into the street.” But he always communicated warmly with his daughter Manana. When Mikhail Mikhailovich released Chekhov’s “The Seagull” in Georgian not so long ago in Georgia, Polina Andreevna was played by Manana Kozakova.
The actor’s third marriage was long - with translator Regina. They lived together for almost 18 years. Already married to Anna Yampolskaya , Kozakov invariably spoke well of Reginochka - that’s what he called her all the time. Regina created all the conditions for Mikhail Mikhailovich, tried to save him from alcohol... She even forgave her husband’s passion for Anastasia Vertinskaya - on the set of “The Nameless Star” Kozakov fell in love with the young beautiful actress... Kozakov’s fourth wife was GITIS graduate Anna Yampolskaya. She was 25 years younger than him. We met through friends and fell in love almost immediately. Anna was not only a wife, but also a comrade-in-arms - she became the producer of Mikhail Kozakov’s Russian Enterprise and managed all economic and financial affairs. In 1989, they had a son, Mikhail, and in 1996, a daughter, Zoya. Kozakov named his children in honor of his parents. “I think the wives had a hard time with me. “I’m self-centered,” the actor told me. - I force the woman who is nearby to talk about problems that are not interesting to her at the moment. I can wake you up at night and force you to discuss a poem with me... On the one hand, I’m tolerant, on the other hand, I’m inadequate. Explosions, insults. Have I beaten my wives? Unfortunately yes. Hit him several times. I'm very ashamed of this. Then I feel like such a bastard. I don't want to live. You see... I physically react poorly to screaming. I’m starting to hate the person.”
The last wife of the director and actor was a cultural expert from Nizhny Novgorod, Nadezhda Sedova . She was 27 years old, he was 73. The director, despite the requests of his young wife, refused to marry. Family life ended in a scandalous divorce... In recent years, Kozakov lived in a small one-room apartment, furnished with inexpensive furniture. He left the “Horde” apartment to Misha and Zoya.
On April 22, 2011, Mikhail Kozakov died after a long illness.
“I am an old soldier, and I don’t know the words of love” about the “Pokrovsky Gate”
In 1972, Kozakov went to work at the theater on Malaya Bronnaya. It was at this time that he played his best roles in films such as “Hello, I’m your aunt!”, “Straw Hat”, “All the King’s Men”. His brave Colonel Chesney from "Hello, I'm your aunt!" For many years he became an example of a comedic warrior; quotes from this role became popular among the people. And the very title of the film eventually becomes an idiom meaning someone’s unexpected arrival.
Then Kozakov begins to try himself as a director. In 1975, he staged the television play “Night of Errors,” and three years later he filmed the film “Nameless Star.”
But, of course, his most famous film is “Pokrovsky Gate”. It was this performance that became his debut as a theater director. The play about life in a Moscow communal apartment was performed on the stage of the theater on Malaya Bronnaya for almost ten years before Kozakov decided to make a film based on it.
Soviet censorship was hostile to the idea and did not give permission for the production. The issue was resolved, as it was customary to say in the USSR, “through connections” - the honored and oldest actress of the Land of Soviets, Sofya Pilyavskaya, interceded for the film. As a result, permission was given to film. The film instantly captivated the whole country and was dismantled for quotes. It was he who became the debut of Oleg Menshikov, who introduced the country to such actors as Anatoly Ravikovich, Inna Ulyanova, Elena Koreneva and many others.
Medea Berelashvili
Mikhail Kozakov with his daughter Manana, photo
It was a fleeting episode in Kozakov’s life, permeated with Eastern passion and hopeless problems. Georgian beauty artist Medea Berelashvili moved the heart. The actor got married, as required by customs, and went through the wedding ceremony. A daughter, Manana, was born. But the family’s life turned out to be unsettled. Everything could have ended tragically: the husband, in a fit of hatred, even tried to strangle his beloved, but came to his senses. The marriage, fortunately for both, broke up.
