Vyacheslav Grishechkin does not erase his late wife’s number from his phone

Biography

Vyacheslav Grishechkin has a happy acting biography. He is loved and recognizable, has an extensive gallery of images - from an antiquarian to an opera singer, from a representative of a noble family to an eccentric commander of a military unit. At least 5 times the artist reincarnated as Lavrentiy Beria, who became a symbol of cruelty.

Actor Vyacheslav Grishechkin

Grishechkin does not share the position of some colleagues who categorically refuse to add the role of a villain to their filmography. An actor, Vyacheslav believes, must be higher than the character; one cannot play directly. Therefore, even in Beria he tried to find something positive.

Childhood and youth

Vyacheslav Germanovich Grishechkin was born in Sochi on June 28, 1962. He got the surname from his grandfather, who replaced his father. His mother took little Slava and his younger brother to Moscow to escape from her tyrant husband, who abused alcohol and beat family members. As the actor later said, he is not worried that he did not leave his father’s surname Chinchiriki.

Vyacheslav Grishechkin

Vyacheslav met his father at the age of 18. He married a woman with 2 children and asked his son not to come again, saying that the guy’s presence brought back unpleasant memories. He died 4 years later. The actor was not offended then, and now he does not hold a grudge:

“It was his choice, his life. Parents are not judged because they are not chosen.”

Grishechkin first showed interest in acting at the age of 5, when he began reading poetry at matinees. Later, the young man took part in all school evenings, and was the presenter at summer camp concerts. Little Slava liked to spend his free time listening to Arkady Raikin’s records and by the age of 12 he could boast of reading almost the entire comedian’s repertoire by heart.

Vyacheslav Grishechkin in the program “My Hero”

During his school years, Vyacheslav was very active. Sambo and boxing, fencing and fine arts studio, puppet theater and stage speech - this is not a complete list of young Grishechkin’s hobbies. At the age of 13, an event occurred that determined my main occupation. Having gone to the Palace of Pioneers on the Lenin Hills for an aircraft modeling club, the young man auditioned for the Theater of Young Muscovites, after which he was accepted into Valery Belyakovich’s troupe.

The first work was a role in the production of “The Nightingale”. By that time, Belyakovich had already begun to create his own “Theater in the South-West”, the backbone of which was subsequently formed by the guys from Tyumen Theater.

Vyacheslav Grishechkin in his youth

After graduating from school, Vyacheslav quite easily entered Mikhail Tumanov’s course at GITIS. This happened in 1979, but in 1982 Grishechkin was drafted into the army. He served in the topographic troops near Zvenigorod, from where he was sent as a platoon commander near Ivanovo with the rank of junior sergeant. After the debt to his homeland was repaid, Vyacheslav returned to GITIS and completed his studies with Boris Golubovsky, who headed the course of Mikhail Tumanov after his death. In 1983, Vyacheslav Grishechkin became a certified actor.

“More than one platoon was trained by me!”

– Did you serve in the army yourself?

- Certainly! In 1979 he entered college, and in 1982 he was drafted into the army. At first he served near Zvenigorod at the sergeant training school, and from there with the rank of “junior sergeant” he was sent to the troops in the city of Ivanovo. The service was real, serious, quite difficult. Although now I look at it from the perspective of the past years and think: everything was easy and good! I remember we were cutting down wood for geodetic signs. I was a platoon commander. The tent stood on the edge of the forest. And we were told to find a large birch tree and make a “grandmother” - a block for chopping meat. And it was March - the very beginning of sap flow. We found a huge birch tree, twice its girth, and when it collapsed, birch sap flowed out of it in fountains! They immediately cut out a “bowl” in the stump, and it was filled with clear juice. We drank it in mugs! And our cook cooked millet porridge with birch sap! “Cooking Duel” is taking a break! And now many of the artists who play in the series “Soldiers” did not serve. They don’t even know what a military salute is, what hand to do it with and what to apply it to!.. It’s ridiculous! So I correct them, teach them, tell them how to do it... In this sense, I am an ace, since I am a senior sergeant! More than one platoon was trained by me!

– In the series “Hot Ice” for the first time professional figure skaters appear in dramatic roles. How was it working with them?

- They are just great! The same Yagudin, Kostomarov - they are also actors, of course, but this is a slightly different acting skill, a slightly different fine art. And when they encountered us on the set, so to speak, adult monsters who know, if not everything, then a lot about theater and cinema, they were very reluctant at first. And then nothing - they got into the role, into the character and rocked it so much that Lesha Yagudin is already playing in a dramatic play!

Theater

After graduating from the institute, Grishechkin joined the troupe of his longtime mentor Valery Belyakovich. “Theater in the South-West” became a second home for the actor for a long time. While working here, he first heard comparisons with the great comedian Louis de Funès.

Vyacheslav Grishechkin in the play “Lessons for Daughters”

However, Vyacheslav’s acting palette was not limited exclusively to comic roles. Grishechkin is an excellent character actor, capable of dramatic roles. During his years of service at the “Theater in the South-West”, his works included such performances as “Moliere”, “Romeo and Juliet”, “Marriage”, “The Inspector General”, “The Passion of Moliere”, “The Innkeeper” and many others.

With the beginning of the new millennium, Vyacheslav continued to serve in his native theater. The actor brilliantly played in the classic literary productions “The Lower Depths”, “Three Sisters”, “The Taming of the Shrew”, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and others.

Vyacheslav Grishechkin on stage

Woland played a very noticeable theatrical role in the production of The Master and Margarita. His Woland was original and atypical: Vyacheslav invested in him such traits as sexuality, sophistication, intellectuality and aristocratic boredom.

Without leaving work at the Theater in the South-West, Grishechkin began playing in the Russian Academic Youth Theater. And in 2009 he headed the drama theater in the city of Volzhsky. For the actor himself, this is not just a job, but an opportunity to help a new generation see something other than beer bottles and nightly television programs.

Actor Vyacheslav Grishechkin: My father was a decent bastard

100 roles were played by actor Vyacheslav Grishechkin in films. But if you ask viewers about his most memorable works, they will probably answer: “Lavrentiy Beria.”

It so happened that in the “collection” of roles of Vyacheslav Grishechkin, the role of Lavrenty Beria occupies the most significant place: the actor played this character in four films. Fans of theatrical art will name many of Grishechkin’s roles in which he has appeared on the stage of the Theater in the South-West since its founding. But little is known about the actor’s personal life. We decided to fill this gap.

— Vyacheslav, you haven’t seen any new films lately. What do you do?

— The diplomatic pause between me and the cinema has lasted for more than six months. But this not only does not scare me, but even makes me happy, because there is time for entrepreneurial ventures and pedagogy at Synergy University. I'm not looking for where I can earn an extra penny.

— The Internet is replete with articles that two years have passed since the death of your wife Anna, and you are still in deep depression...

- This is not true, I am in shape and feel good. At first I was depressed, I didn’t drink alcohol for a whole year after Anya’s death, I was afraid of filthy thoughts about suicide. And then, on the contrary, he allowed himself to drink too much, but never went on stage drunk. At some point this became a hindrance for me, and I quit. Now I don’t even understand how I used to enjoy alcohol. Alcohol doesn't help my grief. On the contrary, the more you drink, the more you start to think about it, the more drunken tears and stupid phone calls appear.

— What advice could you give to people experiencing the loss of a loved one?

— Patience and faith, there are no other recipes. And we must live at least for the sake of the memory of a loved one. As long as I live, I will remember Anya, for me she is a saint, she gave all of herself to the theater and people. I don't know a single person who doesn't love her. For all our friends, her death was a tragedy. Marriage was not a burden for me, and now I don’t need anyone. When Anya died, I felt as if my hands had been cut off. At first, I read the Gospel at night, went to church, lit candles to somehow support myself. It became easier...

— You often get the roles of people in uniform. Are you “copying” the characters’ characters from someone else?

— After the series “Soldiers” (a comedy series about the army, aired on the REN-TV channel from 2004 to 2013 - approx. “VM”) they often tell me: “We had exactly the same political officer!” One to one! Such lifelike believability of the character was achieved thanks to the talent of the screenwriters. I started from the text, from the storyline, and created a collective image. The main thing for an actor is to make the image your own, to inhabit it.

—Have you served in the army yourself?

— I went through the army as it should. By the way, we served in the same unit with fashion designer Valentin Yudashkin. Valya was a “grandfather”, and I was a young fighter in the troops of topography and geodesy. They are called white glove troops, but this is not true. I had to pick up a pickaxe, dig geodetic marks with a shovel, wander through swamps, and live in a tent in winter. I know everything about statutory and non-statutory relations.

— Did you communicate with your famous colleague after the army?

- No. Once I came to him with Stas Sadalsky backstage and said: “Val, do you recognize me? You and I served in Zvenigorod! We were still reading a newspaper on the bench where they wrote about you as a young makeup artist.” He replied that he didn’t remember, I turned around and left.

— In one interview you said that your father was a tyrant at home. Is this the reason you bear your mother's last name?

“My father was a decent bastard.” He beat my pregnant mother and wanted to throw me out of the cradle and into the apple orchard. All his Georgian relatives were in shock. They said: “We didn’t have anything like that in our family, he’s some kind of degenerate, renegade.” And when I arrived in Sochi and met with him, he told me: “Don’t come to me anymore, you worry my soul, I’m starting to remember how well Yulia and I lived.” As for the surname... I was nine years old when, under my mother’s dictation, I wrote a statement asking to change my surname. It was her wish, and I understand her feelings well. Just as I understand the feelings of my first wife, who decided to change our three-year-old daughter’s last name when I left the family.

— You once said that you have no real friends. How did this happen?

“The word “friend” means a lot to me. I haven’t met that person whom I would accept completely. The problem is myself. I don’t see the beam in my own eye, but I always see the speck in someone else’s eye. I'm a vicious boy indeed. On the other hand, he is conscientious. I have a brother, he is a technician, works in aviation. We communicate little with him, we are very different. But if one of us has a problem, we are always there. But this is not friendship, these are blood ties.

- Doesn’t this make you sad?

- I'm used to it. I live in an apartment with a dog, I adopted him from a shelter. Once I dreamed about him, I woke up, got up and went to the kitchen. I lit a cigarette and overnight I wrote the story “I Saw Him,” where we communicate with the dog, talking in his dog language. I described how I found him, how I dreamed of him, how I thought for a week whether to take a dog or not, how he said goodbye to all the shelter dogs. It is impossible to read this without tears.

DOSSIER

Vyacheslav Grishechkin was born in 1962 in Sochi. In 1983 he graduated from GITIS and came to work at the Moscow Theater in the South-West. Among his theatrical works are roles in the plays “Molière”, “Romeo and Juliet”, “Marriage”, “The Inspector General”, “The Passion of Molière”, “The Innkeeper” and many others. The actor became famous thanks to his participation in the humorous television program “Oba-na”. The actor’s filmography includes more than 100 roles; the most successful among viewers was his role in the television series “Soldiers.”

Movies

Vyacheslav Grishechkin made his debut on television in 1989 in the unnoticeable role of the film “The Bandit and the King.” Then he did not act very actively, remaining a performer of episodic roles. His most notable film works of that period are the series “The Countess de Monsoreau” and the film “Death Directory”.

Maria Aronova, Igor Ugolnikov and Vyacheslav Grishechkin in the show “Oba-na”

The television show “Oba-na” brought much greater popularity in those years, in which the actor participated together with comedians Nonna Grishaeva, Maria Aronova and Igor Ugolnikov. For the artists, “Oba-na” became a kind of startup for subsequent comedy work.

But in the early 2000s, Vyacheslav began to actively develop as a film actor. Grishechkin is involved in the film adaptation of Friedrich Neznansky’s novels “Turkish March”, in Elena Tsyplakova’s multi-part project “Family Secrets”, in the cult action film “Brigade”.

Vyacheslav Grishechkin starred in an episode of the TV series “Brigade”

In the series “Secrets of Palace Coups,” the actor starred in the role of an associate of Peter I, Prosecutor General Pavel Yaguzhinsky. It was his on-screen daughter Anastasia, played by Tatyana Lyutaeva, who became the heroine of Svetlana Druzhinina’s films about midshipmen.

Real television fame came to the actor in 2005, when the 3rd season of the popular TV series “Soldiers” was released.

Vyacheslav Grishechkin in the series “Soldiers”

Here Grishechkin played the role of a political officer named Starokon, whose remarks immediately became quotes. In the process of working on the image, the actor, and the entire film crew, benefited from his army experience.

The “Soldiers” project was not a one-day job for Vyacheslav and took up a sufficient amount of time, while he also managed to act in other films. Among them are the children's fantasy film “Aziris Nuna”, the TV series “Hot Ice” and “Margosha”.

Vyacheslav Grishechkin and Maria Berseneva in the TV series “Margosha”

Vyacheslav’s main cinematic dream was to embody the image of Beria. The actor “fell ill” with this idea after watching the banned film “Repentance” directed by Tengiz Abuladze.

Grishechkin first had the chance to make his dream come true in 2004, when he auditioned for the role of a politician in the TV series “Moscow Saga”. But then he was surpassed by actor Irakli Macharashvili. This circumstance only awakened the artist’s interest in sports.

Vyacheslav Grishechkin as Lavrenty Beria

Already in 2007, Grishechkin met with director Alexei Pimanov, who had just begun work on the television film “The Hunt for Beria.” After passing a series of tests and gaining 10 kg for a portrait resemblance to the dictator, Vyacheslav Grishechkin was approved for the role. The dream came true, but fate repeatedly gave the artist the chance to play Beria in the series “Furtseva” and the films “Comrade Stalin” and “Countergame”.

Having played the role of a tough businesswoman in the comedy series “Upside Down,” Vyacheslav joined the ranks of male actors who looked organically and not without a bit of satire in a female role. The secretary of the “owner” of the company was played by Yulia Rutberg.

Vyacheslav Grishechkin in the film “Three Queens”

The melodrama “The Passing Nature” is a movie about how movies are made, about the relationships between actors, directors, their families, former and current. Grishechkin played the director of a film crew in which small comedies and tragedies are played out every day.

Creativity[ | ]

Theater roles[ | ]

Theater in the South-West[ | ]

“Competition” A. Galina - Tetsudzin Aoki-san
"Players" - Krugel
"Fools" - Doctor Zubritsky
"Molière" - Bouton
,
Louis XIV
(introduction, 1990)
"Romeo and Juliet" by W. Shakespeare - Mercutio
“Dragon” by E. Schwartz - Burgomaster
“The Master and Margarita” by M. Bulgakov - Koroviev
,
Rimsky
;
Woland
“Marriage” by N. Gogol - Zhevakin
“The Death of Tarelkin” by A. Sukhovo-Kobylin - Tarelkin
"Mandrake" - Timoteo
“The Inspector General” by N. Gogol - Khlestakov
"The Moliere Passion" - Harpagon
“Lessons for daughters” - nanny Vasilisa
,
Zolotnikov
"Lark" - Karl
“The Innkeeper” by C. Goldoni - Count Albafiorita
"Agent 00" - Madame
"Russian People" - Rosenberg
“Happy Birthday Wanda June!” — Shuttle
“Vladimir III degree” by N. Gogol - Misha
,
Butler
“Suicide” by N. Erdman - Podsekalnikov
“Three Sisters” by A. P. Chekhov - Andrey Prozorov
“At the Bottom” by M. Gorky - Baron
"The Taming of the Shrew" by Shakespeare - Grumio
Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream - Francis Dudka, aka Director
“Walpurgis Night” - “Rear Admiral” Mikhalych
"The Servant of Two Masters" - Brighella
"Old Sins" - Landowner
,
Diplomat
"The Too Married Taxi Driver" - Stanley Poney
"Death" by Woody Allen - Kleinman
“The American Ideal” by E. Albee - Granny
Shakespeare's Hamlet - First Actor
,
Grave Digger
"Señor Juan's Last Woman" - Miho
“Ptidepe” by V. Havel - Balazs
“School of Love” - Ferdinand

Russian Academic Youth Theater[ | ]

“The Cherry Orchard” - Boris Borisovich Simeonov-Pishchik
"Lorenzaccio" - Bindo Altoviti

Theater agency "Art-Partner XXI"[ | ]

“Trouble in the Dovecote” - Georges

Filmography[ | ]

1989 - The Binder and the King - a young man
1992 - Joy in Moscow (Joy à Moscou)
1992 - Both-on! - presenter; actor (Dr. Kirill Anatolyevich Hore; nanny; conductor; hooligan; visitor from Leningrad; presenter of morning exercises; member of the trio “Bachelor Party” and other roles)
1993 - Russian Ragtime - waiter
1993 - Charity ball - acquaintance at the hotel
1993 - Vitka Shushera and the car - physical education teacher
1996 - Career of Arturo Ui. New version - "Trust" businessman
1996 - Old songs about the main thing (TV movie) - Fitter in the club
1997 - Countess de Monsoreau - Nicolas David
1999 - White Dance - Maxim
1999 - Trapped Judge
1999 - D.D.D. Detective Dubrovsky's dossier - host of the look-alike competition
2000 - Turkish March (first season) - Isaac Semenovich Lekarsky, lawyer
2000 - New Year in November
2000 - Secrets of palace coups. Film 1. The Emperor's Testament - Pavel Yaguzhinsky
2000 - Game of elimination - Orgievich
2001 - Turetsky March (second season) - Isaac Semenovich Lekarsky, lawyer
2001 - Family secrets
2001 - Suspicion - Gennady Pavlovich, doctor
2002 - Next (Series) - Jew, pizzeria owner
2002 - Brigade - a man at the Riga market
2002 - Theatrical novel - Makar Rvatsky
2002 - Thief 2. Happiness for rent - Oscar
2002 - Shield of Minerva - literary agent Mark
2002 - 2005 - Friendly family - School director
2002 - Men’s work 2 - “Kunitsyn”
2003 - Evlampia Romanova. The investigation is being conducted by an amateur - Lev Valerianovich
2003 - Bayazet - treasurer
2003 - Instructor - Sharko
2003 - Adventures of a Magician (TV series) - Couturier
2003 - Moscow. Central District (TV series) (Case No. 2 “My Sorrow is Light”) - Producer
2003 - Kamenskaya - 3: “Stylist” - Cherkasov, homosexual
2003 - Secrets of palace coups. Film 5. The Emperor's Second Bride - Pavel Yaguzhinsky
2003 - Secrets of palace coups. Film 6. Death of the Young Emperor - Pavel Yaguzhinsky
2003 - Three against all - 2 - lawyer Korolkov
2003 - Secret sign - 2. Return of the owner - Mayor Karpin
2004 - Wealth - Greek, merchant of the 1st guild Papa Papadaki
2004 - Fighter - lawyer
2004 - Red Square - German Karakoz, head of the Investigation Department of the USSR Prosecutor General's Office
2004 - Lost the sun - Yampolsky
2004 - On a bend - Shukaev
2004 — Yeralash (issue No. 178, episode “Cool Battle”)
2005 - Narrow Bridge
2005 - 2013 - Soldiers 2-17 - major/lieutenant colonel/colonel Alexander Stepanovich Starokon
2005 - Bachelor party, or big sex in a small town - Producer
2005 - My Love - Nikolai Doronin, Vadim’s boss
2005 - Children of Vanyukhin - buyer of antiques
2005 - To you, who did not know me
2005 - You are my happiness - Leonid Sobinov
2006 - Aziris Nuna - Kubatai
2006 - Varenka - Mikhail
2006 - Virtual novel
2006 - Rails of Happiness - jeweler
2006 - Commercial break - Director of commercials
2006 - Petya the Magnificent - Voronov
2006 - Challenge 2 - Dotsenko
2006 - 2008 - Happy together - Petrovich
2007 - Sveta from the Other World (Ukraine) - Misha
2007 - Night Sisters - Doctor
2007 - Moon - Odessa (Ukraine) - Arkady
2007 - Personal life of Dr. Selivanova - Boris Grinberg, lawyer
2008 - The Adventures of Alyonushka and Yerema - Stargazer Farid (voice)
2008 - Hunting for Beria - Lavrentiy Beria
2008 - Hot Ice - Boris Smylkin, director of the ice palace
2008 - The Smile of God or a purely Odessa story - KGB officer
2008 - My husband is a genius
2009 - Clairvoyant - Kolebanov, police major
2009 - Margosha - Konstantin Petrovich Lazarev
2009 - What should the heart do - Vitaly Alexandrovich, doctor
2010 - A hedgehog emerged from the fog - director of the company where Elena worked
2010 - “Alibi” for two (film 6th “Picture”) - Mikhail Arkadyevich Tsuprikov, criminal businessman
2010 - Yegorushka - Kravchuk, mayor
2011 - Counterplay - Lavrentiy Beria
2011 - Furtseva - Lavrentiy Beria
2011 - Comrade Stalin - Lavrentiy Beria
2011 - Varenka. Both in sorrow and in joy - Mikhail
2011 - SMERSH: A Legend for a Traitor - Colonel Kukonkin
2013 - Red Mountains - Lavrentiy Beria
2014 - All the treasures of the world - Ilya Grantsev, journalist
2014 - Outgoing nature - Vyacheslav Kamensky, director of the film crew
2015 — Leopards
2015 - I’ll get married urgently - editor-in-chief of the magazine
2016 - Provocateur - corrupt mayor
2016 - Everything is - oligarch, Masha’s father
2016 - Three Queens - Ilya Petrovich Ageev, vice-mayor

Personal life

Vyacheslav is married twice. He maintained friendly relations with his first wife Maria. This marriage produced a daughter, Olga, who graduated from the Faculty of Linguistics of the Pedagogical University.

The first wife and daughter of Vyacheslav Grishechkin

The actor met his second wife in 1993. Anna Grishechkina is a hydrogeologist by training, a graduate of Moscow State University, worked at the Theater in the South-West as an assistant director, costume designer and head of the troupe, and appeared on stage a couple of times as an actress. In his youth, Vyacheslav treated artistic director Valery Belyakovich as a second father. He advised Grishechkin to pay attention to Maria, and his friend Oleg to pay attention to Anya. The couple's wedding took place in the same restaurant and on the same day. And after 5 years, Anna went to Vyacheslav. There were no common children in the new marriage.

Vyacheslav Grishechkin

Grishechkin's wives were friends. Moreover, Vyacheslav managed not to quarrel with Oleg. They celebrated their birthdays in the same company. The actor rarely spoke about the details of his personal life, but every time he surprised journalists with the atmosphere in the family.

Anna died of cancer in 2020. Vyacheslav learned about his wife’s illness late: his wife did not talk about her health condition and did not want to burden anyone, but Grishechkin considers himself guilty for not keeping track.

Vyacheslav Grishechkin in the program “The Fate of Man”

On the social networks Facebook and Instagram, several pages are maintained on behalf of Vyacheslav Grishechkin, but there is no verification confirming that the account belongs to the actor. However, new photos are published there periodically.

Vyacheslav Grishechkin now

In 2020, Vyacheslav starred in the sequel to the comedy “Between Us Girls” about three women of the same family trying to arrange their destiny. In the second season of the series, released in February 2019, the conflict between generations continues, but despite this, the heroines of Yulia Menshova, Natalya Skomorokhova and Galina Petrova are happy.

Vyacheslav Grishechkin with his daughter

In the melodrama “Planting Season,” Grishechkin’s hero finds himself drawn into a detective showdown, which is arranged by his neighbor in the country. This role was played by the young actress Ekaterina Fedulova. While filming, the girl fell unsuccessfully and tore ligaments in her arm. We had to take a break, Katya continued working in a special bandage, and then the fall was played out in the plot.

Vyacheslav Grishechkin in the play “Too Married Taxi Driver” in 2020

In addition to acting in films, Vyacheslav teaches acting to students at Synergy University, plays in the play “Too Married Taxi Driver” at the Theater in the South-West, and in “The Cherry Orchard” at RAMT.