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Vasily Shukshin
Born	(1929-07-25)25 July 1929 Srostki, Biysky District, Altai Krai, RSFSR, USSR
Died	2 October 1974(1974-10-02) (aged 45) On board the ship Dunai, on the Volga river near Kletskaya, Volgograd Oblast, RSFSR, USSR
Notable work	The Red Snowball Tree (1974)

Vasily Makarovich Shukshin (Russian: Васи́лий Мака́рович Шукши́н; 25 July 1929 – 2 October 1974) was a Soviet/Russian actor, writer,^[1] screenwriter and movie director from the Altay region who specialized in rural themes.^[2][3]

Biography

Vasiliy Makarovich Shukshin was born on 25 July 1929 to a peasant family in the village of Srostki in Altai Krai, USSR, now Altai Krai, Russia. In 1933, his father, Makar Leont'evich Shukshin, was arrested and shot during repressions associated with mandated collectivization.^[4] His mother, Maria Sergeyevna (née Popov), had to look after the survival of the entire family. By 1943 Shukshin had finished 7 years of village school and entered an automobile technical school in Biysk. In 1945, after two and a half years at the school, but before finishing, he quit to work in a kolkhoz.

In 1946 Shukshin left his native village and worked as a metal craftsman at several enterprises in the trust Soyuzprommekhanizatsiya: at the turbine plant in Kaluga,^[5] at the tractor plant in Vladimir, etc. In 1949, Shukshin was drafted into the Navy. He first served as a sailor in the Baltic Fleet, then a radio operator on the Black Sea. In 1953 he was demobilized due to a stomach ulcer and returned to his native village. Having passed an external exam for high school graduation, he became a teacher of Russian, and later a school principal in Srostki.

In 1954 Shukshin entered the directors department of the VGIK, studied under Mikhail Romm and Sergei Gerasimov, and graduated in 1960. While studying at VGIK in 1958, Shukshin had his first leading role in Marlen Khutsiyev's film Two Fedors and appeared in the graduation film by Andrei Tarkovsky.^[5] In 1958 Shukhin published his first short story "Two on the cart" in the magazine Smena. His first collection of stories Сельские жители (Village Dwellers) was published in 1963. That same year, he became staff director at the Gorky Film Studio in Moscow. He wrote and directed Живёт такой парень (There Is This Lad). The film premiered in 1965, winning top honours at the All-Union Film Festival in Leningrad and the Golden Lion at the XVI International Film Festival in Venice. Shukshin was decorated with the Order of the Red Banner of Labour (1967), and was designated Distinguished Artist of the RSFSR (1969).^[5]

Shukshin main interest lay in the situation of ordinary, simple people in the present-day Soviet Union. He laced his films both with humor and with a melancholy tone.

Since 1964, he was married to actress Lidiya Fedoseyeva, who also appeared in several of his films. They have a daughter, Mariya (b. 1967), who is a TV presenter.

Shukshin died suddenly on 2 October 1974, on the motor ship Dunai, on the Volga river, while filming They Fought for Their Country. He is buried in Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow.

English translations

• 
  I Want to Live, Progress Publishers, 1978.


• 
  Snowball Berry Red and Other Stories, Ardis Publishers, 1979.


• 
  Short Stories, Raduga Publishers, 1990.


• 
  Roubles in Words, Kopeks in Figures, Marion Boyars, 1994.


• 
  Stories from a Siberian Village, Northern Illinois University Press, 1996.

Filmography

• 1957: And Quiet Flows the Don (Russian: Тихий Дон), actor


• 1958 The Killers (Russian: Убийцы), actor


• 1958: Two Fedors (Russian: Два Фёдора), actor


• 1959: The Golden Train (Russian: Золотой эшелон), actor


• 1960: A Simple Story (Russian: Простая история), actor


• 1961: Alyonka (Russian: Алёнка), actor


• 1961 When the Trees Were Tall (Russian: Когда деревья были большими), actor


• 1961: Mission (Russian: Командировка), actor


• 1961: Mishka, Seryoga, And Me (Russian: Мишка, Серега и я), actor


• 1962: We, Two Of Men (Russian: Мы, двое мужчин), actor


• 1964: There Is Such a Lad (Russian: Живет такой парень), director, screenwriter


• 1964: What Is The Sea? (Russian: Какое оно, море?), actor


• 1965: Your Son and Brother (Russian: Ваш сын и брат), director, screenwriter


• 1967: The Journalist (Russian: Журналист), actor


• 1967: The Commissar (Russian: Комиссар), actor


• 1967: Three Days Of Victor Chernyshov (Russian: Три дня Виктора Чернышева), actor


• 1968: Men's Talk (Russian: Мужской разговор), actor


• 1968: Liberation (Russian: Освобождение), actor


• 1969: Strange People (Russian: Странные люди), director, screenwriter


• 1969 By the Lake, (Russian: У озера), actor


• 1969: Echoes Of Far Snows (Russian: Эхо далеких снегов), actor


• 1970: Lyubov Yarovaya (Russian: Любовь Яровая), actor


• 1971 Dauria (Russian: Даурия), actor


• 1971: Soldier Came From The Front (Russian: Пришел солдат с фронта), screenwriter


• 1971 Hold On To The Clouds (Russian: Держись за облака), actor


• 1972: Happy Go Lucky (Russian: Печки-лавочки), actor, director, screenwriter


• 1974: The Red Snowball Tree (Russian: Калина красная), actor, director, screenwriter


• 1974: If You Want To Be Happy (Russian: Если хочешь быть счастливым), actor


• 1974: Fellows (Russian: Земляки), screenwriter


• 1975 They Fought for Their Country (Russian: Они сражались за Родину), actor


• 1975: I Wish to Speak (Russian: Прошу слова), actor


• 1977: Call Me To The Light Far (Russian: Позови меня в даль светлую), screenwriter


• 1988: Yolki-palki (Russian: Ёлки-палки), writer


• 2004: High Boots (Russian: Ботушки), writer

References

External links

• 
  Vasili Shukshin on IMDb


• Vasily Shukshin: Personality and Legend