Vasili Shukshin, one of Russian cinema's notable figures, was born Vasili Makarovich Shukshin into a peasant family on July
25, 1929, in the village of Srostki, Altai province, Siberian Russia.
His father, named Makar Leontievich Shukshin, was a landlord
who refused to join a collective farm and was arrested and executed in
1933. A that time
Shukshin's mother, Maria Sergeevna, was 22, with two children, and she
married another peasant who was soon drafted and was killed in WWII.
Young Vasili Shukshin was raised by a single mother.
After WWII Shukshin studied to become a car mechanic, then served in
the Navy in the Baltic Sea, then worked as a school teacher in Siberia,
then went to study film directing in Moscow. He was accepted by
director Mikhail Romm, who recognized Shukshin's natural talent. From 1954-1960 he
studied acting and directing at Soviet State Institute of
Cinematography (VGIK) in Moscow, and made his big screen debut as cameo
in Der stille Don (1957) by director Sergey Gerasimov. During the 50s and 60s he starred in
several popular films. Shukshin published his first short stories in
1958, during the "Thaw" that was initiated by Nikita Khrushchev. In 1964 he wrote
and directed Von einem, der auszog, die Liebe zu finden (1964) and the film was critically acclaimed at XVI
International Film Festival in Venice (1965). At that time Shukshin
became a well-known party man in Moscow, he was romantically involved
with popular poet Bella Akhmadulina. He later married actress Lidiya Fedoseeva-Shukshina, and the
couple had two daughters.
In 1965 Shukshin started his new project, titled 'Stepan Razin', about
the 17 century Cossac leader who led a major popular uprising against
the Russian Tzar, and was brutally executed at the Red Square in
Moscow. In 1967 the film 'Stepan Razin' was in development and Shukshin
went on location at the Volga river where the historic uprising took
place; but the Soviet authorities crashed the film for political
reasons. Shukshin eventually had serious problems with
alcohol and depression for several years. Only later, after the birth
of his second daughter, he completely abstained from alcohol for the
rest of his life. In 1969 he was designated Honorable Artist of Russia.
In 1971 he was awarded the State Prize of the USSR for his outstanding
acting in the leading role as Chernov in the popular film Am See (1970) by
director Sergey Gerasimov.
In 1973, Vasili Shukshin starred in what became his most popular film,
Kalina Krassnaja (1974), which he also wrote and directed, earning himself awards and fame.
In 1974 Shukshin re-started his film project titled
'Stepan Razin' and also wrote a novel about Stepan Razin titled 'I came
to let you free'. Shukshin was found
dead on October 2, 1974, aboard the "Dunai" cruise-ship on the Volga
river, near Kletskaya in Volgograd province, Russia. He was laid to
rest in the Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow, Russia.
Shukshin's main novel 'I came to let you free' was published
posthumously. His novels and short stories were translated in more than
30 languages and sold over 20 million copies across the world. A
comprehensive artistic biography of Vasili Shukshin was written by
Evgeni Vertlib, and published in New York, in 1990.
