92-year-old actor Ivan Krasko: “The fleet physically made me a man”

On dangerous days, when there was still a high chance of catching covid, the festival management decided not to invite the oldest filmmakers. For their salvation. They simply were not sent tickets, but the veterans came anyway and continued to communicate with the audience, as naughty children hid from the organizers. Among them then was Ivan Krasko. This time, Ivan Ivanovich effectively appeared in a vest – this is already a tradition, in a leather jacket and hat, dark sunglasses. He walked along the path of the stars. They welcomed him royally. There are always a host of fans around him, but the actor is always under the reliable protection of his director, who looks after him. Ivan Ivanovich was looked after by a dear young lady, whom he affectionately calls Dashenka. “Don’t want to sit down? she asked with concern. – I see that you are tired. It’s time for us to leave.”

In a vest, he appears not by chance. Ivan Krasko entered the theater institute as an adult, having behind him the Baltic Higher Naval School and, as he himself says, the experience of commanding a ship of the Danube Flotilla. And although from childhood he was drawn to acting, perhaps he would have devoted his life to the fleet if Georgy Zhukov had not ordered a mass reduction. I had to start a new life.

Ivan Krasko has been on stage for over 60 years. After graduating from LGITMiK, he worked for Georgy Tovstonogov at the Bolshoi Theater in the early 1960s, then at the Leningrad Drama and Comedy Theater until he entered the Theater. Komissarzhevskaya, where he served for more than 55 years. Having a peasant origin, and he was born in the village of Vartemyaki, Leningrad Region, Krasko played royalty more than once, which he himself is still surprised at. He played Socrates, Giordano Bruno, General Ivolgin in Dostoevsky’s The Idiot, Vasily Shuisky in Alexei Tolstoy’s trilogy, Serpilin in General Serpilin by Konstantin Simonov, Alexei Turbin in Mikhail Bulgakov’s Turbin Days. He is a true Lenfilm member and has starred a lot at Lenfilm. Of the historical characters, Krasko played Grigory Rasputin in The Beautiful Stranger by the Polish classic Jerzy Hoffman and Leo Tolstoy in Vitaly Melnikov’s Admirer. Twice he played journalists: in the still black-and-white “Accident” by Naum Birman and Alexander Abramov in 1965 – the editor of the regional newspaper (it was Ivan Krasko’s film debut) and “Salt of the Earth” by Iskander Khamraev – the editor of the newspaper.

We talked with Ivan Ivanovich in the noisy lobby a few minutes before the opening of the Vivat Cinema of Russia! festival. Someone was constantly approaching us, so we had to be distracted. Krasko is a very sincere and open person. He is ready to pay attention to everyone.

— What are you doing, Ivan Ivanovich? What interesting offers do you receive?

– Offers? Yes, I am a suggestion. I say this jokingly. Some kind of author’s search is constantly underway. I would like to play Voltaire, this freethinker who seems to be always laughing. In his fate there is a connection with Russia and Catherine the Great. I would like the artistic director of the Komissarzhevka, Viktor Abramovich Novikov, to pay attention to this. “Oh, Victor-r-r! Abrams-s-s-h!” – so I sometimes turn to him. He is not offended. Everyone is having fun. Everyone laughs. Now you understand in what way you can make a play about Voltaire?

– So for this you need a special dramaturgy.

– Exactly. One version of the play had already been proposed, but I said to the author: “What are you doing, young man? You understand, you are too responsible and seriously approached the matter. And it has to be comedy. There is a Voltaire chair as an artistic component. It stands with its back to the audience, and suddenly I turn around to the viewer …

Yes, you’ve already thought of everything. And with which director would you like to make Voltaire?

– I have a director in mind. I also have a director in the cinema – my friend and favorite master Sergei Olegovich Snezhkin. I filmed with him many times.

How many performances per month do you play?

– Yes one. Only. Here on May 27, on the Day of our city, I will play in the play “I returned to my city …” at the Theater. Komissarzhevskaya. It will be Pushkin. The performance has been a great success for many, many years.

– You have a special relationship with Pushkin. You read it very well and even received the Tsarskoye Selo Prize for it.

Pushkin and my profession are saving me. At the Tsarskoye Selo festival I read Pushkin’s The Prophet. Svetlana Kryuchkova then shouted to me from the audience: “Vanya, bravo!” What could be higher than such an assessment? After all, Svetlana herself reads Pushkin very well, loves him no less than I do. Alexander Nikolaevich Sokurov then kissed my hand. It even became awkward. And this is higher than any titles and awards.

– Do you act in films?

– Something coming soon. The working title of the film is “Submariners”.

The Navy won’t let you go. And you are dressed in a vest, in Balabanov’s way. Although, rather, it was Alexei Balabanov who dressed like you. Now vests are in fashion.

– I’m dressed in Odessa. Like a sailor I dress like this on purpose and I came to the festival in a vest, because I am very grateful to the fleet. He made me physically human. When I entered the preparatory department at the Nakhimov School, then still in Leningrad, I was about a meter and a half tall. And I weighed 48 kg. But when a year later, on my first vacation, I came to my native Vartemyaki, they didn’t recognize me there. So I stretched out, became like a man. Before that, he was a slut. We still meet every year at the monument to the “Guardian” on the former Kirovsky Prospekt, now Kamennoostrovsky. We have traditional course meetings, there is an organizing committee.

– The main thing is to have someone to meet.

– Yes. This is the main thing. Many are no more. When tragic events occur, as happened with the Kursk submarine, we are very worried. For example, I had an internship in 1950 on the battleship Novorossiysk, which was blown up in the Sevastopol Bay in 1955. It is not clear what happened then. So many people died. It must have been a sabotage. It was said that a German mine from the war times exploded. What mine?! I can not believe it. They blew it up and everything.

– Recently, you have been seriously ill, in January you suffered a stroke, but you do not lose your good spirits. What force is holding you?

— My profession gives strength and my children. I was alone when I felt something like a short circuit in the skull. His eyes darkened. I fell awkwardly. The thought flashed through my head that it was a stroke. So then it turned out. I was in different hospitals. I was sent to a special care facility for veterans. The medical equipment is also good. I would like to thank all the doctors for their attentive attitude and care. Doctors do not advise me to go on stage, because it requires a lot of energy. Everything is individual and depends on the nervous organization. Of course, I listen to the recommendations of doctors, but I do not always act as they advise. I was offered surgery, but I refused. I’d rather take pills. Age, of course, affects, but in my heart I remain the same boy that I once was. I have two sons – Ivan and Fedor. They appeared when I was at a respectable age. They are very young. I watch with interest how they grow and develop. They have their own independent life, and I’m curious how it develops. I do not like everything in their behavior and activities, but I never command, we always talk calmly. Sometimes I start to say that if this continues, all these “chase shooters”, constant sitting in front of a computer on the Internet, then you will not be accepted into the institute. So I say: “What are you, a guy? Life should be taken more seriously, not just to have fun. But it seems to them that all this study is useless. Each of us has responsibilities, a duty to loved ones, but I do not allow myself any command notes. We resolve all issues through parliamentary means.