On the eve of the 90th anniversary of Mark Zakharov, the actresses confessed their fears and love

In a year it will be 90 years since the birth of Mark Zakharov. He’s been gone for three years. The upcoming date in Moscow Lenkom, which he led for 46 years, is remembered and prepared for it. On October 27 this year, the theater will celebrate its 95th anniversary. On the eve of the anniversary, the leading actresses of Lenkom shared very personal memories of Mark Zakharov.

– Nobody forgets Mark Anatolyevich in our theater, – says Olesya Zheleznyak. – Whatever I do, I always think about how he would appreciate my work, what he would say. My arrival at Lenkom is associated with incredible pain. I was in my second year when Mark Anatolyevich invited me to take part in the play “The Barbarian and the Heretic.” I came to the theater, saw people from the TV there, all the stars that can only descend from heaven – Armen Dzhigarkhanyan, Oleg Yankovsky, Alexander Abdulov, Leonid Bronevoy, Alexander Zbruev, Inna Churikova, Alexander Lazarev, Alexander Zakharov. It seemed to me that there was nothing more terrible than this theater in the world. Everything was painful.

I came to meet. Mark Anatolyevich ordered to go to his office and learn the song of the mourners. In five minutes I learned it and entered the hall, where all the famous artists were sitting, to the sound of my own steps. There were many. Mark Anatolyevich said: “Show us how you will perform the song.” In ringing silence, with a strong dizziness, I sang it on high notes, which I had never taken before. There was an ominous pause. It was violated by Alexander Gavrilovich Abdulov. He said: “If I was asked to sing like that, I would die.”

To be honest, I was close to fainting. Then the two months of torture began. I came to rehearsals every day and thought that at least something would happen, and they were canceled. Once, the wires at the trolleybuses were iced over, and it was difficult to get there. I thought it would be nice to have something like this going on. I could not relate myself to this theater, I considered myself unworthy of these people. An attempt to enter the theater was unsuccessful. Two months later, I dropped out of it, because I couldn’t cope. In my fourth year, Mark Anatolyevich again invited me to the play “Hoax”, and I realized what wonderful and inspired people work in Lenkom, the theater, to which I am grateful for everything.

Maria Mironova brought her three-year-old son Fyodor to the opening of the exhibition dedicated to the 95th anniversary of Lenkom. He is so touching and fragile. Maria says that now she is not so busy in the theater, she will act in films much more and is raising her son. She is glad that he saw the exhibition. Although it’s hard to say what he could understand at such a young age, he behaved perfectly, despite the crowds, and even posed for the cameras with his mother.

– For me, Mark Anatolyevich was not only a teacher and educator, – says Maria Mironova. – We are all like relatives in the theater. When you are brought up in the same family, you have a common spirit with it. You look people in the eye and you don’t have to explain anything. You are on the same vibration with them. We have a single mentality thanks to Mark Zakharov. I am glad that today my youngest son Fedya came to the theater with me. He no longer found Mark Anatolyevich and will never see him again. But at the level of communication, not necessarily on stage, even at home, he will feel something important, understand some deep things. Since childhood, I have met amazing people, but I can’t put anyone next to Mark Zakharov. I don’t know what other teacher in my life to name such a magnitude. He was gone. After that, my mother left (actress Ekaterina Gradova, whom everyone knows by her role as radio operator Kat in the series “Seventeen Moments of Spring” – S.Kh.). My father left much earlier (actor Andrei Mironov – S.Kh.). Mark Anatolyevich was for me from this category.

Mark Anatolyevich was a very strict person. Part of the team froze when he appeared, began to worry, was afraid of him. But despite this fear, he got deep into the heart, so that he became native. I always felt that way.

– Mark Anatolyevich – an idol, a master, a teacher, a father, – Anna Bolshova recalls. – I have repeatedly heard from colleagues whom I met on the set that they feel the spirit of Zakharov’s artists on the set. I asked the director, with whom we filmed with Tatyana Kravchenko, what this is expressed in. He replied: “You exist in the series, but it seems that you still have a whole life somewhere out there.” Once Alexander Abdulov said: “We are all Zakharov fosterlings and work from the voice.” Each of us has the intonation of Mark Anatolyevich.

He was such a talented, such a handsome man. I think that all our women will agree with me that we were in love with him. When I came to the theater, my heart began to beat like before a meeting with a loved one. “Are you worried?” Colleagues were interested. “No, I’m not at all worried,” I replied. And she looked at her reflection in the mirror, and saw that she was covered with red spots after talking with Mark Anatolyevich.

He showed brilliantly, but said that he was doing it badly, in a placard, and we had to do it with talent. When Mark Anatolyevich took me to the theater and released The Hoax with me, he showed how Naomi Campbell seduces. He stood behind me in a light-colored shirt and jacket and showed me how it happens. I looked at him through the mirror. And then he got embarrassed and left. He is the one and only. His departure from life was natural, but still completely unexpected. It was unbearably painful. His departure brought us closer together.