The real life of the Grasshopper from the film “Only Old Men Go to Battle”

Honored Artist of Ukraine (1992) People's Artist of Ukraine (1998) Laureate of the Republican Prize of the Central Committee of the Komsomol of Ukraine named after N. Ostrovsky (1980)

Sergei Ivanov was born on May 22, 1951 in the family of the famous Ukrainian poet Pyotr Ivanov. In his family, “it was the other way around”: women were interested in technical sciences, and men in the humanities. My grandmother devoted her whole life to mathematics, my grandfather was a Slavic philologist and professor, my mother made several notable discoveries in the field of organic chemistry, my father was a famous poet in Ukraine. Each of them dissuaded Sergei: “Go anywhere, but not into my profession!” Therefore, after graduating from school, Sergei entered the Karpenko-Kary Theater Institute. “In 1968, I recruited students into my workshop for the first time,” said director Nikolai Mashchenko. — Among other applicants, Seryozha Ivanov stood out - thin, funny, stooped and a little clumsy. Then he somehow reminded me of young Lenya Bykov... At first glance, Seryozha was invisible, but as soon as he appeared, everyone was happy, and when he smiled, everyone began to smile. He was an amazingly charming man! During the entrance exams, he was asked whether he had read Gonchar’s “Cathedral” (it was customary to scold him then). Serezha said that he had not read the book, but, nevertheless, he had a positive attitude towards Gonchar’s work. The commission did not believe him (how could he not read such a sensational work?!), and many were inclined to not accept him into the institute. However, Sergei’s acting skills and improvisations captivated everyone so much that he ended up enrolling.” Dad found out by chance that his son would become an actor - his housemate, the rector of the Theater Institute, told him when they met: “Your Seryozha has come to us” - and was surprised that his parents did not turn to him asking for help. “Why should I ask for him? He is an independent man!” - the father was surprised in turn. Film directors noticed the talented actor, and during his studies he starred in several films - “The Kotsyubinsky Family”, “Zozulya with a Diploma”, “The Stars Do Not Go Out” and “Random Address”. In 1972, Sergei Ivanov graduated from the institute. And in 1973, director Nikolai Mashchenko invited Ivanov to play the role of Sergei Bruzzhak in the film epic “How the Steel Was Tempered.” Nikolai Mashchenko later said: “I gave Sergei a small role and, naturally, advised him to read the book “How the Steel Was Tempered” and pay special attention to his hero - Sergei Bruzzhak. After some time, Seryozha told me that in the book... there is no such character at all, but there is another Sergei - Tyulenin! He simply mixed up the books, and instead of “How the Steel Was Tempered” he read “The Young Guard”. However, realizing his mistake, Seryozha was not at all embarrassed and said: “It would be better if I really played Tyulenin - this role is much bigger!” But, in fairness, I will say that he was noticeable even in a small episode. After the film was released, critics especially noted his performance: they say, an unknown artist managed to show his skills literally in one frame.”

At the same time, at the same film studio, Leonid Bykov was preparing to shoot the film “Only Old Men Go to Battle.” He wanted to offer one of the main roles - the Grasshopper - to Vladimir Konkin. Mashchenko said that he himself advised Bykov to take a closer look at the young actor Ivanov for selfish reasons. Since Bykov wanted to film Konkin in the role of the Grasshopper, Mashchenko was afraid that Konkin, who had been cast in the role of Pavka Korchagin, would succumb to Bykov’s persuasion and leave the film. Meanwhile, Sergei Ivanov obtained a script from the acting department for a new film about military pilots, read it and chose the role for himself. But he did not dare to approach Bykov himself.

According to Sergei Podgorny, the actor who played Smuglyanka in “Old Men,” Bykov found him and Sergei Ivanov at the theater institute: “I remember my first acquaintance with the Dovzhenko film studio: the month of May, the trees are blooming, a thin girl Zhenya Simonova is standing on the porch - the embodiment of purity and naivety . The atmosphere on the set was amazing, and all thanks to Bykov. We, the “yellow mouths,” then immediately decided that this fairy tale was a real movie! But the magical world of kindness created by the director turned out, alas, to be the exception rather than the rule. If Leonid Bykov were alive today, our destinies would have turned out differently - both mine and Grasshopper's. He wouldn't have died, that's for sure! When an actor is not in demand, he quietly and imperceptibly smolders.” From Ivanov’s book of memoirs about Leonid Bykov “We ​​will live!”: “I saw the script “Only “old men” go into battle” in the acting department. I read it in one sitting. I was thinking about how to approach Bykov and say that... And suddenly I ran into him at the entrance: “Seryozha, read the script of my...” - “Already!” - "So how is it?" - "I will play!" - "Whom?" - “Grasshopper!!!” And only later, on the set, Leonid Fedorovich told me: “80 percent of your approval for this role was because of your impudence when you said that you would play the Grasshopper. Do you remember?" This was in the memorable 1973... And in 1979 I suddenly thought: what would have happened if not me, but another actor played the Grasshopper? And not me, but he would live in my native second squadron? And not me, but his beloved commander scolded him for his action, or maybe for premature courage? And not at me, but at him, the director’s intelligent eyes were constantly fixed, from which I read what to do in the frame? No, it just couldn't happen, it couldn't happen. I know that the Grasshopper is me, I am no one else. This is my finding myself in this role. Sudden, unexpected. I didn’t believe in the transmigration of souls until I read the script “Only “Old Men” Go to Battle.” After all, it is me, and only me, as I am now and as I feel myself - that yellow-throat from 1942... And it is me, and not anyone else, who drinks my first “legal hundred grams” in my life, surrounded by friends in arms. And it’s me, and not anyone else, who is dying in battle, having not yet seen enough of the sky... Now do you believe that it was not arrogance, but the inevitability of my meeting with myself in your film, Maestro?!” Later, Leonid Bykov admitted that a film about the sky and pilots was his childhood dream. And the pilot nicknamed “Grasshopper” is himself in his youth. Ivanov brilliantly played the role entrusted to him. This film made the young actor famous throughout the country. Having become an actor at the film studio named after Alexander Dovzhenko in 1972, Sergei Ivanov acted a lot in films: in the musical comedy “Ar-hi-me-dy!”, the television series “Born of the Revolution”, the comedy “The Country Trip of Sergeant Tsybuli”, the drama “Aty- baht, the soldiers were coming..." and many other films.

His characters often appeared on screen as charming people with superficial seriousness, but still remaining children. One of the actor’s best works was the role of Lariosik in Vladimir Basov’s drama “Days of the Turbins,” based on the works of Mikhail Bulgakov.

The 1990s were not very successful for Sergei Ivanov. With the collapse of the USSR, republican film studios collapsed. Almost no films were shot in Kyiv. The Dovzhenko Film Studio was falling apart before our eyes, the equipment stood idle, the pavilions were rented out. Ivanov tried to work on television. He prepared a series of television programs “Small Talk” and “Defectors”. In America, he found Olga Mateshko, who played the role of the U-2 crew commander, pilot Zoya, in the film “Only Old Men Go to Battle.” The program evoked a lively response from viewers. However, production of the program was stopped due to financial difficulties. Sergei’s personal life did not work out - he broke up with his wife. Soon the actor lost his older friends - Leonid Bykov and Alexei Smirnov.

Olga Mateshko recalled: “I saw bruises on his body more than once, but he explained their appearance in monosyllables: “He separated the fighters, so he got his.” True, he somehow hinted at a family drama, but I didn’t attach any importance to it. Later it turned out that when he came home drunk after filming, Natasha... beat him. He called it “small ba” (Natalya is a ballerina, hence the terminology). My husband and I, of course, tried our best to console Seryozha, endlessly advised something, but deep down we understood: he was unhappy. And they tried to surround us with even more attention and warmth. But when they heard “I’m knocked out. All. I can’t do it anymore,” they didn’t try to persuade him to make peace and forgive. Seryozha wanted a child, Natasha didn’t: ballet, career. And Sergei was such a family man! He constantly thanked us for being able to come to our house at any time of the day and in any condition. We loved him as our eldest son. Nothing about him irritated us. He remained a child, was invariably happy with what he had, and never cheated. Sharing our joys, he nursed our little Sashulya with such touching care that it was impossible to look at it without tears. And I became a nanny for Seryozha himself.” One day, Sergei accidentally met a girl named Larisa in the accounting department of the pedagogical institute. The actor himself later said that it was love at first sight. Larisa reciprocated, they got married, and soon their daughter Masha was born. In 1991, Sergei Ivanov made his debut as a director and producer, he directed the film “Honeymoon,” organized and headed the “Panorama” studio, and participated in the organization of the “Molodist” film festival.

At the end of the 1990s, Ivanov began a new project on television - a series of programs about the history of Ukraine “The Beginning of the Beginnings of Ukraine.” The programs were supposed to tell about the history of Western, Central and Eastern Ukraine. Sergei Ivanov became interested in the new project and was able to find money for its implementation. He managed to make his first film about the castles of Western Ukraine. The sponsors really liked the film and decided to increase the project's budget. After receiving the good news, Sergei planned to celebrate the significant event with an old friend at home. And suddenly Sergei Ivanov’s heart stopped. Sergei Ivanov died on January 15, 2000 in Kyiv. His funeral service took more than five hours, and from the number of people gathered at the Cinema House it was obvious: there were no indifferent people to the Grasshopper. Sergei Ivanov was buried at the Baikovo cemetery in Kyiv. His grave is located not far from the grave of Leonid Bykov.

During your lifetime, when asked: “Which of your roles do you love most?”
- the actor answered: “I haven’t played this role yet.” Text prepared by Andrey Goncharov
Materials used: Text of the article “Why did the heart of the Grasshopper, Sergei Ivanov, fail so early?”, author Y. Moskalenko Text of the article “I am not a Grasshopper, I am different,” author E. Kosnichuk Text of the article “ Happy Grasshopper”, author L. Ilyina Text of the article “The Grasshopper never became an old man”, author N. Michkovskaya Text of the interview with Larisa Ivanova “The first days without him were hell”, author L. Zhuravleva
MEMORIES OF FRIENDS ABOUT SERGEY IVANOV.

Taras RYLSKY, editor of the Inter TV channel: - Taras, at the studio they said that your friendship with Seryozha grew on the foundation of the fame of famous grandfathers: yours is the poet-academician Maxim Rylsky, and his grandfather is the author of the Ukrainian language textbook, beloved by students.
“It would be more accurate to say that she grew up on the foundation of love for her grandfathers.”
We often told each other about them, I even became friends with Seryozha’s grandfather, and he brought his friends to my grandfather’s museum. In addition, our dacha is located next to the museum, and we often went out for barbecues, and then walked through the Goloseevsky forest. We were on good terms with Sergei for a long time - until we drank poop together. One day I met him in the corridor of the studio (I was working there as an editor at the time) with such a face - well, not at all like the Grasshopper! There is universal sadness in the eyes. "What time is it now?" - he asked. “Lunch,” I answered. “Shouldn’t we mark it with “poop”? I didn’t know then that Seryozha called coffee with cognac that way. Let's go to the Cinema House. We sat down at a table in a cafe. Ivanov told me that he had separated from his wife and was in terrible depression. Grasshopper and depression - are they really compatible? I don’t remember what I told him, but his mood changed and we became closer. Since then, we often went to “poop”, which Seryozha snacked on with lemons. And he gnawed them like apples - without sugar, with the peel. It made an “indelible” impression on other people. Therefore, if someone unwanted sat down at the table, Seryozha began to devour a lemon demonstratively - the person’s cheekbones cramped, and he quickly left our company. It was a kind of director's technique. It must be said that Sergei became a director in any company: he came up with quizzes, competitions, competitions. But as soon as someone called him Grasshopper, Seryozha changed before his eyes: he became sad, stopped joking, and stopped being entertaining. - And you asked why?
“He explained it this way: they said, they put a label on me, but I’m not a Grasshopper - I’m different.
Sergei felt that his acting potential exceeded what he embodied in the famous images of the Grasshopper and Lariosik. He was very worried that he was not trusted with more serious roles. I dreamed of playing in Dostoevsky’s “The Gambler,” “The Idiot.” I wanted to talk to director Roman Balayan, but I couldn’t make up my mind. Roman Gurgenovich was his idol. After Leonid Bykov, of course. — How did Sergei feel about his popularity?
“It was impossible to walk along Khreshchatyk with him calmly: people stopped him and asked him to sign even Snickers.”
He always smiled, but at the same time such fatigue was sometimes visible in his eyes... Although, I will not hide, Seryozha’s popularity warmed him: he liked that the traffic cops saluted him and did not fine him, even if he broke the rules. -Have you ever envied him?
- Only that he knew how to live freely, easily and, knowing that everything was forgiven to him, he did not limit himself to trifles.
It seemed as if the bird of happiness was giving him its feathers. Seryozha, for example, told how he met his second wife Larisa. One day I ran into the building of the pedagogical institute on Pirogov Street, opened the doors to the accounting department (he doesn’t remember why) and saw there “the girl of my dreams.” Fell in love at first sight and... got married. In short, he came, he saw, he conquered. And so it is in almost everything. — Has this happy marriage somehow changed your relationship with Seryozha?
“He literally immersed himself in the family. And when Masha was born, he ran around the studio like crazy and asked everyone: “Can you imagine that I’m a dad?!” Happiness overwhelmed him so much that our “hussarism”—frequent barbecues, holiday trips to the Carpathians, gatherings with “poop”—decided to live long. The last time we saw each other was in 1986. I then went to work in the Chernobyl zone. We sat in the House of Cinema, drinking our traditional “poop”. And for some reason I suddenly told him: “But you won’t come to me.” Sergei choked: “What are you doing? To your best friend of all times and peoples?..” I never saw him alive again. On the night of January 15, 2000, I received a call: I was informed that Seryozha had passed away... Standing at the coffin, I whispered to him: “You are my best friend of all times.”

Interview with the actor's widow Larisa Sergei
Ivanov's widow Larisa is far from the cinema environment; even during her husband's lifetime, she was burdened by the costs of his popularity.
Even before Sergei’s death, she avoided the attention of journalists, and without him she didn’t see the point at all. The first interviews with her appeared in the press only on the anniversary. Five years passed, and her wedding ring was in the same place... - You, Larisa, never decided to take off the ring?
- For what?
We're not divorced. True, now some other, calmer feeling has come, as if Seryozha had not left forever, but had simply gone on a business trip and was about to return. At first, my daughter and I avoided discussing our feelings. Masha was twelve at the time, but she behaved surprisingly delicately and reservedly. Sometimes I was cooking in the kitchen, the TV was on, I wasn’t watching, but I recognized Serezha’s voice and, unable to hold back my tears, I turned it off. And then there was a synchronized click from the Machine Room. Now I look at him on the screen with light sadness and pay attention to his hands - extremely beautiful masculine palms with long, even fingers. Masha, she got older, also took a closer look and happily supported me. Now we can watch a film together with his participation, discuss the program, remember something pleasant and smile at each other. - Do you still dream about him?
— The first forty days were hell.
I didn’t just dream about him, but spoke to me in a very real way, advising me on how to dispose of his favorite things. It was as if he didn't want to leave home. I was afraid and ashamed of this double life, my dreams looked very natural. He will come, lie on his side on the sofa, hug me and chat with me carefree. And I drive him away in horror, saying, Seryozha, you’re dead, what am I going to tell people in the morning, go away. After forty days it became easier. But sometimes he still comes. The last time, with obvious resentment, I tried to find out where I had put his slippers. A year later, I gave away most of the things or they were torn to pieces by our poodle Motya. — Probably, the slippers were not the main relic of your life together?
- Of course not.
Masha keeps her father's things dear to her in her room. On her desk is a photograph of her father being hugged by two little bear cubs. Next to him is his favorite cologne, Fahrenheit. When my daughter was younger, I sometimes caught a familiar smell coming from her. On the closet in her room is a whole museum of toys given by her father. From his last trip to Australia, Seryozha brought a whole trunk of soft animals: from a bear the size of his palm to a kangaroo half the size of Masha. And he gave them all to her at once. He didn’t know how to hide gifts at all; he didn’t have enough self-control. There was so much delight in the house! And this was twenty days before he left... He spoiled his daughter, and she took advantage of it. I always tagged along with him to the store. These sweet tooths invariably frightened the saleswomen by buying eight chocolates with the words: “Well, we’ll have enough for tonight.” When Masha was born, Seryozha bought a large bottle of Armenian cognac and said that we would all drink it together when we came of age. (Larissa showed an impressive size gift bottle with a handle like a jug.) This year Masha turns eighteen. And Seryozha and I would have a round anniversary - twenty years. For his forty-sixth birthday, I gave Sergei a ring with three cats. I specially ordered it from a jeweler, since all three of us were born in the year of the Cat. He didn’t take it off, he proudly showed it: “My cats are always with me.” Now it lies with other relics: a pin in the shape of a movie camera made by the same jeweler, a lighter and an ashtray that Sergei brought from Hollywood. And it’s only his glasses that I sometimes wear, although the diopters don’t really suit me. — In all interviews, when asked what kind of wife he had, Sergei answered evasively...
— When I tried to find out something from him about his previous wives, he answered with the question: “Why do you need this?”
And I realized that he did not have a normal family life in his previous marriages. He got married for the first time at the age of nineteen. This marriage lasted three months. Seryozha's second wife was a ballerina. He wanted a child, and she was afraid of ruining her figure and career. Out of seven years together, they spent no more than three together - either she was on tour, or he was filming. Everyone lived their own lives. When we got married, I was embarrassed to travel with him on public transport. They recognize him and immediately begin to examine his companion. So I stepped aside. We lived poorly then. But artists still dressed better than engineers, since they had access to service in warehouses. One day he came home happy with a bunch of imported things. I remember how I was simply stunned by a dress with ruffles. In recent years, he spoiled me, carried home armfuls of meter-long roses and gave me expensive, exquisite cosmetics and perfume. — Sergei didn’t travel by metro very often; he had a Zhiguli car in his youth.
Weren't cars his passion? - This is true. As soon as he got a car, he didn’t walk two meters. My mother was very indignant when Seryozha once drove by car to a dairy kitchen located a few minutes walk from us. He generally had the manners of a racer: he loved to accelerate, accelerate the car from the start, and generally drove quickly, not noticing how he was losing his mufflers. But he rarely crashed cars; it happened to me twice and once before we met. I saw the car in a photograph after the first accident. After the second one (it was a red Volkswagen, which he affectionately called “laptem”), the entire body had to be changed. Well, we changed it and decided to go to the sea with friends. Probably, we should have run it in first, but we went straight away. From the overload, the body settled almost on the wheels. I got scared and asked Seryozha to do something. He stopped in a field, took a chisel and a hammer and beat off the fender liners... By the way, all the guards in Kyiv knew Ivanov. They will throw away the baton, see the license plate or Seryozha himself and wave a cheerful hand: go, they say, you can. We were driving this very Volkswagen from the cemetery on the ninth day after Sergei’s death. In Pechersk, a guard stopped us: “How did you end up driving this car? “he asked sternly and added: “I know whose car it is.” Having heard that Ivanov had died, he did not want to believe it. He looked into the car and, seeing me in black, recoiled in horror...

Filmography:
1970 The Kotsyubinsky Family 1971 The Stars Never Go Out 1972 Random Address 1973 Only “Old Men” Go to Battle 1973 Thought about Kovpak (film 1, “Alarm”) 1973 The Romashkin Effect 1974 Marina 1974-77 Born of a Revolution 1975 Ar-hi-me -yes! 1975 Thought about Kovpak (film 2, “Buran”) 1975 How the steel was hardened 1975 A story about a simple thing 1975 Anxious month of spring 1976 72 degrees below zero 1976 Aty-Bati, the soldiers were coming... 1976 Days of the Turbins 1976 Thought about Kovpak (film 3 th, “Carpathians, Carpathians...”) 1977 Before the exam 1978 Diamond Trail 1978 Special Forces Detachment 1979 Married for the first time 1979 Sergeant Tsybuli’s dacha trip 1979 Wife left 1979 Pani Maria 1979 Hussar’s matchmaking 1979 Family circle 1979 Vanity of vanities 1980 Deputy hour 1980 Special important task 1981 We'll wait, come back... 1981 Where will he go! 1981 Lost among the living 1982 If the enemy does not surrender... 1982 Tenderness for the roaring beast 1982 Donkey skin 1982 Flights in dreams and in reality 1982 Secrets of St. George 1982 Shurochka 1983 Bouquet of violets 1983 A case for real men 1983 Under the laws of war 1984 Accusation 1985 Jump ca 1985 Dream in hand, or suitcase 1986 Captain of the Pilgrim 1986 Descended from Heaven 1988 Lady with a Parrot 1989 Cargo “300” 1989 Bright Personality 1989 Cup of Patience 1990 Our Man in San Remo 1991 Honeymoon - actor, director 1991 Defector 1992 Waltz of the Golden Calves 1993 Tuteishia (“Local”) 1996 Ermak 1998 Two Julia

May 22, 1951 – January 15, 2000
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