George Vitsin

Georgy Viktorovich Vitsin (5 [18] April 1917, Terioki - October 22, 2001, Moscow) - Soviet and Russian theater and film actor. People's Artist of the USSR (1990). Born on April 5 (18), 1917 in Terioki (now Zelenogorsk as part of St. Petersburg). This is evidenced by an entry in the church book of the Holy Cross Church on Bolshaya Posadskaya Street, where George was baptized. However, in later official documents, the date of birth became April 23, 1918, and Petrograd was the birthplace. This was due to the fact that Vitsin's mother in the 1920s, taking her son to a health forest school, made him “younger” and corrected her birth year for 1918. April 23 (May 6) was the day of his birthday. The original name of the future actor also looked different - “Vitsyn”, but later, due to an error in the passport, the letter “s” changed to “i”. Parents were from the Russian regions: mother Maria Matveyevna - from Penza, father Mikhail Egorovich - from the village of Nebyloe, Vladimir edges; Both were in no way connected with art [3]. When George was eight months old, the family moved to Moscow. The mother settled herself in the Column Hall of the House of Unions and often took her son with her. From the age of twelve, Vitsin began performing on the school scene, usually in the role of negative characters. In 1926–1933 he studied at the Moscow seven-year school number 26, in 1933–1934 - at the Theater School at the Maly Theater (now the Higher Theater School named after MS Schepkin), from where he was dismissed with the wording “for a frivolous attitude to the educational process ". In 1934 he entered the Theater School at the E. Vakhtangov Theater (now the Boris Shchukin Theater Institute). On October 1, 1934, he was enrolled in the theatrical studio of the Moscow Art Theater of the 2nd, where he studied with S. G. Birman, A. I. Blagonravova, V. N. Tatarinova (all in Moscow). Since 1936 - actor theater studio under the guidance of N. P. Khmelev, in 1937-1969 - Moscow Drama Theater. MN Yermolova, which included a studio theater, in 1969–2001 - a theater actor studio (all in Moscow). The actor was widely known to the actor as the Coward, embodied in the comedies of L. I. Gaidai (“Dog Barbos and Unusual Cross”, “Bootleggers”, “Operation Y” and Other Adventures of Shurik ”and“ Prisoner of the Caucasus, or New Adventures of Shurik ”) . In general, Mr. Vitsinu often had to play drunk characters, and in these roles he was very persuasive, as he had a specific voice and appearance. In real life, the actor did not drink or smoke, led a healthy lifestyle, was fond of breathing exercises of yogis. But in the “Caucasian Captive” the actor nevertheless had to drink real beer, since the hips, which G. Vitsin demanded, looked unconvincing in the frame. Vitsin was an artist - he painted caricatures of actors, tried himself in sculpture, drawing, painting. Georgy Vitsin died on October 22, 2001 (according to other sources - October 23) in a Moscow hospital. The cause of death of the actor was chronic liver and heart disease. He was buried in Moscow, at the Vagankovo ​​cemetery.