We remember Vasily Lanovoy

January 28 is the day when the Vakhtangovites, together with all admirers of the talent of Vasily Semenovich Lanovoy, will remember this wonderful actor, People’s Artist of the USSR, a great citizen of the Fatherland.

Vasily Semenovich left two years ago, but still remains for us the personification of honor, nobility, dignity.

He was devoted to his beloved Vakhtangov Theater for six decades. He presented the audience with fifty magnificent works, including the vivid and memorable roles of Fabiano in Mary Stuart, Caesar in Antony and Cleopatra, Mayakovsky in Cavalry, Protasov in Children of the Sun, Victor in Irkutsk History, Marquis Padetrois in “Cinderella”, Don Juan in “Little Tragedies”, Trotsky in “Brest Peace”, Bernard Shaw in “The Pretty Liar”, Henry II in “The Lion in Winter”, the Poet in “The Pier”.

Vasily Semenovich often told the audience at various meetings about his childhood, and the time he spent near Odessa during the Great Patriotic War. Because the memory of the terrible war was sacred to him, and he did everything so that its lessons were not forgotten.

“I lived as a child for three and a half years in the occupation, and there were simply no stronger memories in my life,” Vasily Lanovoy told our observer in an interview. “We, the children, went that summer to our grandparents, and when we got off the train, we saw enemy planes flying overhead to bomb Odessa. Since then, I have not seen my mother and father, I did not know if they were alive. Can you imagine my condition? The condition of a child who finds himself in the occupation, away from his parents, from whom there is no news for more than three years, in whose heart there is constant fear? The war entered my blood, soaked me through, there was, and there is nothing stronger than the memory of it in me. How much did I change my mind then! I was afraid of death, but no less afraid of not finding my parents alive …

Throughout his life, Vasily Lanovoy was a participant in concerts, going to hot spots – Gudermes, Grozny, South Tskhinvali, Donbass … Being a worthy envoy of Russian culture, he visited many countries with concerts, he was known and expected all over the world.

On January 28, the students of the First Moscow Cadet Corps will lay flowers at the monument to Vasily Semenovich – to the sculptural composition of the three luminaries of the Vakhtangov Theater Lanovoy, Etush and Yakovlev.

And this is no coincidence: Vasily Semyonovich was friends with the guys from the First Moscow Cadet Corps for years. The boys and their teachers highly appreciated the attention that Vasily Semyonovich paid to them, and in general paid to the education of young people. By the way, it was under the influence of the image of Ivan Barabbas created by Lanov from the film “Officers” that many generations of officers chose the honorary profession of defending their homeland.

Irina Kupchenko, the widow of Vasily Lanovoy, director of the Vakhtangov Theater Kirill Krok, and many Vakhtangovites, colleagues and students of Vasily Semenovich Lanovoy, will take part in the solemn ceremony, which will take place at 10 Kaloshiny Lane, near the building of the Simonovskaya Stage. The ceremony will begin at 13:00 on January 28.

Elena Bulova.

Author’s photo