Biography of Igor Bochkin
Igor Ivanovich Bochkin is a Russian theater and film actor who became famous in the late 80s thanks to his leading role in the social tragicomedy “Regional Emergency.” Since then, he regularly appears on television screens in the image of strong and fearless men, but he considers his life’s work to work in the theater of the Moscow Theater. Pushkin.
In the photo: Igor Ivanovich Bochkin
Lucky case
Igor Bochkin was born on February 17, 1957 in Moscow.
His family had nothing to do with art. Mom worked as an economist and raised her son alone after the death of her husband in 1967. Igor was an ordinary boy, but at the age of 14, something happened to him that millions of Soviet children dreamed of. The director’s assistant turned to him right on the street, asking a sacramental question: “Boy, do you want to act in films?” Igor agreed only because the film studio named after. Gorky was a 15-minute walk from the house. He came and got the first leading role of his life in the film “Sparks” (1972). In the same year he played in the film “Red Sun”. This ended his film career for a long time.
Igor Bochkin as a child (still from the film “Red Sun”)
The history of entering the university was also unusual. Igor did not try to take the country’s theater universities by storm. First he served in the army (returned to civilian life as a sergeant in a tank company), and then applied to the school named after. Shchukin and GITIS. I entered both universities easily, as if without noticing the fierce competition of 200 people per place. He chose GITIS, although he still remembers how Evgenia Simonova encouraged him to become a student at Shchuka.
Biography
Igor Bochkin is a lucky man.
Once, for example, he was late for a train that crashed. And not so long ago, due to the frantic workload, a blood clot broke loose, and the doctors said that it was a miracle that he survived. But for the first time, Igor was very lucky when, while still a schoolboy, after a screening at the exit of the Forum cinema, the assistant director of the film “Ogonyki” came up to him and said the fateful: “Boy, do you want to act in films”? Filming took place on Seliger, in the village. The movie was for children, the company was fun, it was interesting. A role in the film “Red Sun” followed almost immediately. Igor did not attach much importance to this experience at the time, but after the army he remembered it and went to GITIS: “I entered right away, easily passed the competition of 200 people per place. Everyone was nervous, but... I served in a tank company on high alert and returned as a senior sergeant - it was difficult to scare me with anything.” In 1981, Bochkin graduated from the institute (course of K. Mikhailov) and was accepted into the troupe of the theater. N.V. Gogol, where he worked until 1990, after which he moved to the Moscow Drama Theater. A.S. Pushkin.
Carier start
After his graduation performance in 1981, he was approached by Boris Golubovsky, director of the theater. Gogol, and offered a job “from tomorrow.” Igor agreed, because Golubovsky immediately brought him on staff. Not as an extra, but in leading roles. Bochkin played in the best performances that the audience went to see.
Igor Bochkin in his youth
This theater was not popular with the public, like Taganka or Sovremennik, but the productions of The Shore, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and The Decameron invariably sold out. Igor was almost never invited to the cinema. From 1981 to 1988 there were only 5 films in which Vladimir Gostyukhin, Oleg Menshikov, Andrei Myagkov shone. Bochkin played courageous supporting guys until he got the main role in the film “Regional Emergency” (1988).
Movies
A major role, after which Bochkin was noticed, appeared in 1988. The picture “Regional Emergency” had the effect of a bomb exploding. Here the actor had two extremely frank episodes, which at that time were called chernukha. It was after this that 30-year-old Igor Ivanovich Bochkin began to be offered leading roles in films.
Igor Bochkin in his youth (still from the film “Regional Emergency”)
In 1990, the actor played a terrorist in the acclaimed film “The Crazy Bus,” based on real events. Bochkin's hero took schoolchildren prisoner and looked inhumanly cruel and cynical. Real fame came to the artist after the release of the series “Goryachev and Others.” According to Bochkin, it was difficult for him to appear on the street or even on the staircase. Annoying fans attacked everywhere, breaking into hotel rooms and bombarding him with bags of letters.
After this series, Igor was inundated with offers to act in films. These were his stellar years. The films “Report”, “The Personal Life of the Queen”, “The Priest Had a Dog”, “Barkhanov and His Bodyguard” were released on screens. For his work in the latest film, Igor Ivanovich Bochkin was awarded the Kinoshock festival prize.
Scandalous fame
The actor played a Komsomol leader who discredits communist ideals: alcohol, mistresses, orgies in the bathhouse. Two sex scenes shocked the censors. The authorities immediately vetoed the screening of the film, especially since the coming crisis of the Komsomol was already obvious. Igor Bochkin in the film “Regional Emergency” Only one TV channel in Leningrad dared to show the film. This was enough for Bochkin to become famous on a national scale, and scandalously famous, like his other colleagues: Andrei Smirnov, Yuri Kuznetsov, Evelina Bledans. For director Andrei Snezhkin, best known for the TV series “Streets of Broken Lanterns,” the film became his debut full-length feature.
Career in the 90s
The USSR “came apart at the seams”, film production fell into decline. Many actors were left out of work, but not Bochkin. He himself always said that he could not and did not want to do anything other than acting. Igor’s type was suitable for “strong men.” By the way, “Strong Man” is the name of the film in which Igor starred in 1991 with the then rising stars Sergei Selin and Viktor Sukhorukov.
Igor Bochkin in the film "Tough Man"
In the film “The Crazy Bus,” based on real events, Bochkin played the leader of terrorists and bandits. His character is a brutal macho. Naturally, such a hero’s wife must be a beauty. She was played by Anna Samokhina.
Igor Bochkin and Anna Samokhina in the film “The Crazy Bus”
In 1992, Igor received the main role in the TV series “Goryachev and Others.” He worked on the project for two years, the episodes were released once a week on Mondays, and between them he received bags of letters from viewers. Bochkin and his partner Alexey Guskov became television stars.
Since then, the “serial era” began in Bochkin’s life. Almost all well-known projects could not have happened without his participation. “Moscow Saga” 2004 brought together a wonderful team: Inna Churikova, Yuri Solomin, Olga Budina, Alexander Baluev. “The Enchanted Site” generally shone with big names: Vladimir Menshov, Leonid Yarmolnik, Nina Ruslanova, Pavel Derevianko.
Igor Bochkin. My hero
Theater works
Despite the crazy workload in cinema, Bochkin always considered theater the main business of his life. Since 1990, he has been playing on the stage of the Moscow Theater. Pushkin. Dmitry Astrakhan speaks of Igor as a driven and talented actor.
Anna Legchilova and Igor Bochkin in the play “Travelers in the Night”
The play “Travelers in the Night” with the participation of Bochkin, staged by Astrakhan at the Theater. Pushkin, was a huge success in the early 2000s. The public was “hanging from the chandeliers,” because it was impossible to get tickets.
Igor Bochkin continues to serve in the theater. Pushkin
Bochkin now continues to serve in the theater. Pushkin and participates in enterprise performances. In 2005, he received the title of People's Artist, and on his 60th birthday he accepted the medal “For Services to the Fatherland” from President Vladimir Putin.
Theater experience
On the theatrical stage, the hero did not have to prove his talent - he was immediately offered many leading roles in performances. By this time he was already an established artist. In the play One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Bochkin presented the leader to the audience. In the play “Landing Area Unknown” he was Nikolai, and in “The Shore” he was Prince. So 7 years passed.
Bochkin in the play “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”
Then the actor went to the famous Pushkin Drama Theater. In this theater he also received mainly leading roles. In the play “Oedipus the King” he played Oedipus himself, in “Travelers in the Night” he became Sergei Kupriyanov, and for “Warsaw Melody” he played Leonid Zorin. After these works, no one doubted his outstanding talent. Each of his roles was lively and thoughtful.
At his new place of work, Bochkin tried his hand as a director. For the first time he became a director in the play “Last Summer in Chulimsk” based on a work written by A. Vampilov.
The hero's talent is in demand in other Moscow theaters. No wonder Igor Bochkin, his personal life, wife, children and photos began to be often found on the pages of Internet resources.
Among Igor Ivanovich’s works in theaters it is worth highlighting:
- “Halibut Day” at the Theater Agency “Art-Partner XXI”;
- “Fool, this is love!” at "La' Theater";
- “Hostages of Love” in “RussArt”.
Among the latest performances staged by Igor Bochkin himself are “The Most” and “Not Like Everyone else.” Here the hero appeared both as an actor and as a director. Both productions were very successful.
Personal life of Igor Bochkin
According to the actor, he considers the most important condition for a strong marriage to be understanding: “spouses must speak the same language.” While still at GITIS, Bochkin married fellow student and granddaughter of the general Alisa Zvenyagina, but the marriage broke up after his studies. The reason was Alice’s professional envy of her husband’s success.
Igor Bochkin found happiness in family life only in his fourth marriage
The second wife, Svetlana, was a costume designer and worked for fashion designer Vyacheslav Zaitsev. She could not stand Igor’s explosive temperament, his noisy lifestyle and tendency to cheat, and six months after the birth of her daughter Alexandra, she left for permanent residence in Spain.
Rare photo of Igor Ivanovich with his daughter Alexandra
The actor tied the knot with his third wife, Svetlana Zubkova, in 1988. The couple lived together for 14 years and separated for the same reason: the actor’s constant flirting with young actresses, infidelity, and rowdy behavior.
Igor Bochkin and Anna Legchilova
Anna Legchilova has been Bochkin’s wife since 2002. Their stormy relationship on stage in the play “Travelers in the Night” was transformed into a real marriage. Anna recalls with a smile that she was fascinated by the charm of Igor, who enthusiastically read poetry to her and sang obscene ditties. Igor Bochkin in the program “The Fate of a Man with Boris Korchevnikov” In 2004, the actor experienced clinical death due to a detached blood clot. This was preceded by a heart attack. Poor health forced Bochkin to start monitoring his health and adhere to a proper diet, and give up alcohol.
Personal life
Igor Bochkin got married for the first time while still a student. His wife was the general's daughter Alisa Zavenyagina. This student marriage was very fleeting. Soon after graduation they broke up.
His second marriage brought him a daughter, Alexandra. Igor Bochkin’s wife Svetlana (the daughter of a high-ranking official from the Central Committee) went abroad soon after giving birth. Daughter Alexandra stayed to live with her mother. Now she is already 32 years old. And she never communicated with her father.
Each new marriage in Igor Bochkin’s personal life is longer than the previous one. They lived with their third wife, Svetlana Zubkova, for 14 years. The marriage broke up partly due to Bochkin’s “hurricane” character. He stated this in one of his interviews. He, like his father, loved guests and company, and at one point his wife got tired of it all.
In 2002, Igor Bochkin tied the knot for the fourth time. This time his chosen one was the beautiful actress and director Anna Legchilova.
