Mikhail Kozakov, biography, news, photos. Secret novels of Mikhail Kozakov After the Pokrovsky Gates

In October, actor Mikhail Kozakov would have turned 80 years old. He loved life. In all its manifestations. And, of course, he loved the fairer sex very much, not imagining his existence without a beautiful and bright companion next to him. Who are they, the wives of the great actor?

When the actor realized that he was terminally ill, he came to Israel to visit his fourth wife, Anna Yampolskaya. Photo: family archive.

He married six times. As a rule, his chosen ones are not actresses, they are all of different nationalities and, most often, with exotic names. “I was always looking for such wives so that the theater would not continue at home,” said the actor. “Although Greta, Regina, and Anya had something to do with art.”

Mikhail fell in love with his first wife, Estonian Greta Taar, at school - they studied in the same class. As adults, Greta and Mikhail got married and lived together for ten years. This marriage produced a daughter, Katya (she gave the actor granddaughters Dasha and Polina) and a son, Kirill (who later also became an actor, and also related the Kozakov clan to other film dynasties - having married first Alena Yakovleva, and then Masha Shengelaya).

Kozakov calls his shortest marriage “Georgian” - he lived with the beautiful Medea for only a year. But a girl, Manana, was born. Now the Georgian daughter Kozakova lives in Tbilisi, she is also an actress, her husband, Levan Tsuladze, is a director. Manana gave her father a granddaughter, Tinatin. True, Kozakov himself, in his memoirs “The Actor's Book,” recalled that marriage rather sternly: “... An idiotic marriage to an unfamiliar Georgian woman with an ancient Greek name... There was a wedding in a Tbilisi church, all this hopeless surreal. Was and short life in Moscow in some apartments that I obtained and exchanged. No, you can't call it life. You can’t call it anything at all... When she wheezed, I came to my senses, thank God, I came to my senses! I strangled her, not out of jealousy - out of hatred.”

Most long marriage, however, childless, connects Mikhail Kozakov with Regina (eighteen years of marriage!). Regina loved her husband so much that, according to rumors, she even forgave him for her affair with Anastasia Vertinskaya, which he did not even try to hide. This marriage ended unexpectedly: Regina, a simultaneous interpreter by profession, went to work in America - and at the invitation of Robert De Niro himself. A new promising job drew her in, and she remained in the USA. Three months later, Regina informed Kozakov that she was filing for divorce.

They say that the famous actor took this breakup very hard. He couldn't believe that he had been Abandoned! He was brought out of the deepest depression by a young actress from Chisinau, Anna Yampolskaya, who after the wedding abandoned the theater and devoted herself entirely to her husband and children who were soon born - son Misha and daughter Zoya. Although the age difference between the spouses was twenty-five years, they were considered a very beautiful and harmonious couple. In the theater world, everyone was sure that this would end Michal Mikhalych’s amorous list. After all, they experienced so much together: in the early 90s they emigrated to Israel, then returned, hand in hand they created the theater “Russian Enterprise of Mikhail Kozakov”. Therefore, the news of the divorce sounded like a bolt from the blue to many. Although Kozakov himself later admitted that he and Anna constantly had problems, and people who knew their family were aware of their disagreements.

After the divorce, Anna and her children left for Israel, and Mikhail Kozakov soon... appeared in the world with a new young lady - similar to his previous chosen ones and forty years younger than him. Victoria became the actor’s new wife. “I don’t know how I would live out my life if Vicky weren’t there,” Kozakov admitted to reporters. “Now I’m truly happy!”

True, Victoria was quickly replaced by a sixth wife, a historian from Nizhny Novgorod, Nadezhda Sedova. Kozakov lived with her for four years, but then called her a swindler who was claiming his apartment in Moscow, and got divorced through the court.

...Mikhail Kozakov spent the last months of his life together in Israel - with his fourth wife Anna Yampolskaya and their children. When doctors diagnosed him with lung cancer, it was Anna who placed him in a hospice, where the actor was surrounded with warmth and care. He passed away on April 22, 2011 in the arms of his youngest son, Mikhail Kozakov...

The wonderful actor and director Mikhail Mikhailovich Kozakov was born in Leningrad in October 1934. He was brought up in an intelligent family, where his parents' work was closely connected with literature. Father Mikhail Emmanuilovich Kozakov was a writer. Mom Zoya Aleksandrovna Gatskevich worked as an editor at one of the St. Petersburg publishing houses.

Mikhail Kozakov's ancestors were Jews. In an effort to assimilate, they changed their surname to “Kozakova”. But in Mikhail Mikhailovich’s veins flowed not only Jewish, but also Serbian-Greek blood, inherited from his mother. The families of the future artist were touched Stalin's repressions. Mikhail Kozakov’s mother and grandmother (Odessa resident Zoya Paraskeva-Borisova) were arrested twice. The first time before the war, the second after. Fortunately, both survived.

Years of the Great Patriotic War Mikhail Kozakov spent time away from besieged Leningrad. For 4 years he lived in the Krasnokamsk region, in the village of Chernaya. After the end of the war, Kozakov returned to his hometown and entered the choreographic school.

Children's and teenage years He was remembered for the huge amount of literature he read, of which there was a great abundance in the house of his father, a writer, and his mother, an editor. Parents, despite their workload, always found time for “adult” conversations with their son. They discussed the books they had read and argued about art. The only topic they tried to avoid was politics.

Movies

After graduating from school and choreographic school, Mikhail Kozakov went to Moscow and entered the Moscow Art Theater School. A cinematic biography of Mikhail Kozakov started in student years. He starred in the wonderful film “Murder on Dante Street”. Not only Kozakov made his debut here, but also others like him in the future famous actors, like .

The debut in the role of Charles Thibault turned out to be successful for Kozakov. He is willingly invited to new projects. He appears in the films “The Eighteenth Year” and “Difficult Happiness.” But real fame came to the artist later, after the release of the legendary film “Amphibian Man.” The film was released in 1961 and immediately became a hit. Kozakov played the role of the main, but negative hero - Zurita.

Simultaneously with filming in films, the artist works in the theater. Perhaps he is involved here much more than in cinema. Immediately after graduating from theater school, Mikhail Kozakov was accepted into the theater named after. On this stage he played Hamlet - a role that had a huge influence on the choice of role.

3 years after Mayakovka, Mikhail Mikhailovich moved to Sovremennik. Here, starting in 1959, he worked for 15 years. In 1971, Kozakov moved to the Moscow Art Theater, but a year later he changed this stage to the Theater on Malaya Bronnaya.

Mikhail Kozakov and Evgeny Evstigneev in the play "Decembrists"

In the 1970s, the artist returned to the screens. During these years, wonderful films were released, which later entered the golden fund of Russian cinema. “All the King’s Men”, “Straw Hat”, “Hello, I’m your aunt!” the audience watches with great pleasure.

During these same years, Mikhail Kozakov tried his hand as a film director. His film “Night of Errors” was released in 1975. And 3 years later, viewers saw another wonderful film by Kozakov, “Nameless Star.”

It was originally planned that main role will perform in this tape. But it had to be replaced. I played together with him. The tape had big success. But it is not comparable to the one received by Mikhail Kozakov’s painting “Pokrovsky Gate”. This film immediately became a cult film, making its creator truly famous.

After “Pokrovsky Gate”, the director managed to film several more projects that became famous. The tragic farce "A Lady's Visit", the comedy for children "If you believe Lopotukhin", the film adaptation of the work "Masquerade" cemented the name of Mikhail Kozakov in the niche of the most talented Soviet directors. The Lady's Visit was particularly successful.

In 1992, Mikhail Kozakov immigrated to Israel. He tried to continue his creative work, put together a troupe of emigrant actors, but lasted only 4 years. Returning to his homeland in 1996, Mikhail Mikhailovich created and headed the Russian Enterprise of Mikhail Kozakov. In the 2000s, he filmed and acted. During these years, two of his projects were released: the film “The Copper Grandmother” and the mini-series “The Charm of Evil” about the life of Russian emigrants.

Personal life

The artist was married 4 times. He lived in his first marriage with Estonian Greta Taar, which happened immediately after graduating from the Studio School, for 10 years. My wife worked as a costume designer at Mosfilm. In this union, two children were born - who followed in his father’s footsteps and chose the acting profession, and daughter Ekaterina, a philologist. It is noteworthy that the granddaughter of Mikhail Mikhailovich followed in the footsteps of two famous grandfathers, as well as father and mother.

After his divorce from Greta Taar, the artist had an unsuccessful marriage with restoration artist Medea Berelashvili. They lived only 3 years, but separated with huge scandals and mutual accusations. In this marriage, a daughter, Manana Kozakova, was born, who also became an actress. After a painful divorce, Mikhail Kozakov became addicted to alcohol.

His third wife, Regina, managed to bring him out of a state of prolonged depression. They lived together for a wonderful 18 years, but there were no children in this union. According to rumors, Regina turned a blind eye to many things for the sake of peace in the family.

Mikhail Kozakov, his wife Anna Yampolskaya and their children

Rumor has it that she forgave her husband for her affair with Anastasia Vertinskaya, which was heatedly discussed in the acting community. But Regina left her husband and went to work in America. 3 months after her departure, the couple filed for divorce.

Mikhail Kozakov’s personal life began to sparkle with new colors at the age of 55, after he met his fourth wife Anna Yampolskaya, 25 years younger than him. The marriage produced a son, Misha, and a daughter, Zoya. The first child was born when the father was 62 years old.

Death

In 2010, Mikhail Kozakov was diagnosed with lung cancer. Terrible disease was discovered too late. However, the artist agreed to the operation, which was performed in a clinic in Ramat Gan. Mikhail Mikhailovich felt his death was imminent and in advance purchased a final resting place at the Vvedensky cemetery.

Until the last moment, the actor and director stayed on his feet. He managed to star in the films “Zoya”, “” and “Carrot Love”.

The death of Mikhail Kozakov put an end to his creative biography April 22, 2011. He died in an Israeli clinic where he had previously been operated on.

Filmography

• 1956 - “Murder on Dante Street”
• 1958 - “Difficult Happiness”
• 1961 - “Amphibian Man”
• 1966 - “Shot”
• 1967 - “A Day of Sun and Rain”
• 1971 - “All the King’s Men”
• 1974 - “Lev Gurych Sinichkin”
• 1974 - “Straw Hat”
• 1975 - “Hello, I’m your aunt!”
• 1982 - “Pokrovsky Gate”
• 1995 - “Giselle Mania”
• 2007 - “Love-Carrot”

Anna Kozakova: “Misha called me and groaned: “I stumbled, I can’t live. I tried to buy a gun, but I'm a coward and I can't leave this life."

Anna Kozakova-Yampolskaya is beautiful, young, successful. He stages plays and musicals in Israel. She has two wonderful children. She and Mikhail Kozakov, who would have turned 80 today. They lived 24 of them together. They loved each other madly, they understood each other like no one else. They feuded to death, got tired, and ran away. But he came to her to die. And she did everything to make this moment come as late as possible. Now she says that she has grown out of it, that she lives by it. And it has always been like this.

“Oh, Comrade Amphibia!”

- Anya, three and a half years have passed since Mikhail Mikhailovich has been gone. You met in '87. Then there were different periods in your relationship, to the point where you were forced to break up. And now, throughout your entire life together with him, how is Kozakov refracted in your perception?

- Today I am the same age as Misha was when we met him. I don’t understand how I decided to do this... And how he decided. Only today am I beginning to understand the scale of this personality, character, some things that you can come to terms with... No, come to terms is a bad word. You can understand and live correctly. I'm surprised we lasted so long together. But I know for sure that I don’t regret a single second that this happened. Even without being able to make, probably, the life of Michal Mikhalych happy.

- Why are you so categorical? Maybe if Kozakov were alive now, then from the height of his years, he would say: “No, it was with Anya that I was happy”?

- Yes, we had happy moments. We started working together. Then I already saw how people communicated with him inaccurately, not fully understanding his dedication, extreme attitude to work, self-immolation. People did not live up to the level of his demands, and I stood next to him, shoulder to shoulder. In general, I came to the defense.

With his wife Anna. Photo: Boris Semenov.

- Yes, eternal doubts in yourself, but also in others. This means that he tormented both himself and those around him in this sense.

- All the time. He never felt recognized. We lived in a country where they gave regalia, titles - people's, not people's... He had none of this. He had only one title - National artist RSFSR, which, in general, is not enough.

“Were these trinkets really important to him?”

- Trinkets were never important, but he understood: here is a way to be noted, noticed. But an artist is a diagnosis, and in this diagnosis one of the manifestations is - well, notice me, look. After all, a person always shows his work to strangers, the kind of work through which he opens his world, exposes himself.

- What is “note”? IN different times- Soviet, perestroika, post-Soviet - tell anyone: Kozakov - and everyone knew about whom we're talking about. Did he want to be carried in their arms?

- No, it’s just what he loved to do most - reading poetry - there was a fairly narrow circle of understanding people here.

- But that's normal. Well, there were once moments in the sixties when poets packed stadiums, but they are long gone. He understood this.

- Yes, there are less than five percent of such people. We came with him somewhere to the airport, to the station, and there was an aunt who, seeing him, shouted: “Oh, comrade Amphibia!”

- Well, and this: “Donna Rosa, I’m an old soldier and I don’t know the words of love” - did you recognize that too?

- But here he is an actor, and there, on the set, it was terribly fun. It was generally such a cheerful get-together, which resulted in a very popular picture, unexpectedly for them.

"Hello I'm your aunt!"

— When Ranevskaya’s children teased her: “Mulya, don’t make me nervous,” she answered them: “Pioneers, go to hell.” Kozakov could not afford this.

- Could not. Like a true aristocrat, he treated people of absolutely any class with great respect. The assemblers and costume designers adored him, and he loved to sit with them after the performance. I even told him: well, stop taking pictures with everyone, that’s enough, we won’t go anywhere like this. And he told me: “Anya, I can’t, I don’t have the right.”

“You deceived me. I married such a quiet angel, and look what you’re doing.”

- In my opinion, it was the malicious Gaft who said: “Misha is so intelligent, he is so afraid of offending someone that if he had an affair with a girl, he always got married.”

- Yes, God took him, otherwise he would have gotten married and got married (laughs). When he came to us in Israel after the breakup, he said: “An, I want to get married to you,” and I told him: “Darling, we are married, according to the Israeli passport, we never got divorced.” As far as I know, he was not a womanizer. The person who was next to him was very important to him, not even his physical advantages. Of course, this person shouldn’t be very nasty, probably, but above all he wanted to communicate. Now I understand that I could appreciate him more, be more sensitive and subtle towards him. When he returned and when was our last year with him... It was a year of amazing discoveries of each other, revelations. He spoke to me so many wonderful words that he had not spoken in all 24 years of our acquaintance. I told him then: “You know, Mish, you’ve been married so many times. You probably shouldn’t have had children.” But he loved them very much. You see, there is so much of it that it crowds out everyone. But then I had my first child. And I'm a Jewish mother, crazy. And that’s it, a piece of our time with Misha has been eaten. That’s where the first problems probably began: what about me, what about me?..

- That is, with all the intelligence and sensitivity it was big child, and in some ways an egoist?

- Of course, selfish. This is a prerequisite for talent. There will be no result otherwise. It requires such concentration, such an attitude towards oneself... And I began to get tired of it emotionally. The performance ended, after which I spent another two or three hours spinning, I’m a producer. I come home to my ears, and he says: “Watch the program, they brought a recording. Sit down." I was simply horrified: how can you do this to me, I want to sleep, my eyes are now sticking together... And that’s where all these problems began. First I sat, then fell asleep. And he said to me: “Are you not interested?!” “I’m thirsty,” I say. "It's not possible now. It’s going to end...” And then the second child appeared, can you imagine? There were a lot of emotions, a lot of mistakes, and they destroyed the marriage. I dare to think that he loved me very much. We were a special couple, and this does not prejudice any of his other relationships with women, absolutely. But our period of life was very bright. For both. We've been through a lot. I think he has never experienced this with anyone: these emigrations, our returns, this theater of ours, which I built for him anyway. But then industrial disputes began, and he told me: “You deceived me. I married such a quiet angel, and look what you’re doing!”

— So, after all, why did you leave in ’92? Kozakov said then that there was nothing, not even baby food, and for the sake of the children...

- No, that's not the main thing. His phone stopped ringing and just went silent. That is, one might say, it has disappeared" baby food“For Misha - spiritual nutrition, oxygen. And if we talk about products... There were always some people who opened warehouses for him, which he was terribly ashamed of. But he finished the film based on Schwartz, and they told him: “That was the last picture.” Soviet Union" The theaters were empty, the artists fainted from hunger. And then one day he saw the play “The Dresser” with Gerdt and Yakut, and came backstage to express his gratitude. And director Zhenya Arie immediately asked: “Misha, how are you?” But Misha never answered such a question: “Thank you, okay.” Then Zhenya offered him a job in Israel, and Kozakov simply perked up. I came home and exclaimed: “Anya, get ready, we’re leaving.” Then, I remember, Posner said in some program: “Well, Kozakov went for a long dollar.” That’s how I imagined this long, long dollar. And we were sitting, watching TV, and Misha exhaled: “Well, he gives!”

- But he was never satisfied with himself and could not escape from himself - it doesn’t matter whether it was Israel, Russia... And that means, again, everything fell on you.

“Now I would treat this differently - like a doctor.” But then... Of course, he lost his temper, he didn’t know how to do anything like that, just a little bit. If he drank, then he drank, and then hold on. Then he apologized, he didn’t know what to do about it. All his fears and phobias came out with this a terrible beast monstrous growth. There were people who loved him so much, they forgave him everything, they understood that this was not about him. That something is crawling out of him, coming out, and he needs to squeeze it out of himself, like bad blood. I fought against these things, demanded a stop, and today I understand that this was also wrong. Because it was the only way for him to relieve stress and collect himself. He did not sleep, he had dreams that tormented him. He worked in his sleep. I told him: well, drink two glasses like a person. And he said to me: “It’s so uninteresting, I’d rather not drink at all.” And here he sits, looking at us: “What are you talking about, you’ve had the bottle for an hour already, how strange you are.” And in the morning I woke up like new, fresh, with good mood. I always thought: what an organism!

"Straw Hat"

“We had to run away so as not to kill each other”

— You broke up in 2003, after returning to Moscow again?

- Yes, but our connection never stopped. Don't think that I'm arrogant, that I want to say that I main wife. I am not the main wife, I have a place in his life, he has a place in mine, nothing more. Then we had to scatter, we had to stop this marriage, so as not to kill each other, not to injure the children. Our marriage is tired, exhausted, it happens. We just started poisoning each other. And we decided to leave. I bought him a small apartment in Moscow, where he went. We agreed that we would tell the children that dad has a studio and he works there. Then they started writing such nasty things about us... And the children were already going to school, and they started showing this. Then, despite my successful business in Russia, I realized that I need to change my life. We arrived in Israel in December 2003 for the Christmas holidays with my parents with one bag - and suddenly I realized that I was staying here. He then shouted: “How could you, you stole the children!” But then he started coming to us, and another relationship began. No, we also quarreled, but for a different reason. So he reads the book and starts telling me, and I tell him: well, don’t, don’t say anything.

- Yes, high relations, as the heroes of Mikhail Mikhalych’s film would say...

- Yes, tall. He called when he was alone. I already knew that he was in a relationship with another woman, but, oddly enough, I had no jealousy or anything. It was just our world that no one could destroy.

- It seems to me that this new girl was completely different, spiritually alien to him.

- And such an age difference - almost fifty years. He called me then and said that he had been deceived. “I made the worst mistake of my life, and I’m paying for it,” he said. It was not about money, but about humiliation. The result is stress and... illness. A man came from some other life and began to cut with a saber, regardless of anything. After all, all the women he had before were still from his midst (in total, Kozakov officially had five wives. - Auth.).

- How long did your last life with Kozakov last - the very last?

- Year. He arrived on May 11 and passed away on April 22. And a year before his arrival, he called me and said: “Anya, I feel so bad, I’m in a neurological clinic. I understand that you can gloat, but they don’t beat someone who is lying down, and I’m lying on the floor right now. hospital bed literally. I stumbled, I can't live. I tried to buy a gun, but I'm a coward, I can't take my life. But I can’t live like this either. I'm so tired. Please, can I come to your place? I have nowhere else to go, I have no one else.” And I couldn’t say “no” to him, because otherwise he would have died. Somewhere inside me I knew this would happen, and so I was ready. Unconsciously. Because this person is part of my life. It's me. And I am him, we just grew into each other. The talk that I stole my husband is all a fairy tale.

“I understand that it’s difficult for you, but please remember, this is the last year.”

“When he arrived, he looked like an old man, he could barely walk. Gradually he felt better. We sat with him on the balcony overlooking the sea and talked for hours... And we were just happy... And then we made a diagnosis. At first they thought it was pneumonia. Then we found out that in fact... Our now adult son Misha took such good care of him, brushed his teeth. And this is Misha, so disgusting...

The yellow press flocked in, they needed a photograph of the dying Kozakov. I said: this will never happen. "Will not be? - they answered. “Well, well, we’ll see.” Chemotherapy began in December, and in April Misha passed away.

Then the absurdity began. Like in A Visit from the Old Lady, the play he directed. When the coffin was being transported on the train. Here the coffin was carried on an airplane. And it seemed to me that this was not happening to me at all. And Zoya, daughter... She drew his portrait from a photograph, one of latest photos before the verdict. This is such power, such an outburst of emotions... She grabbed everything there. And this picture is now always with us.

Continuation

After his divorce from Greta, Mikhail Kozakov was on tour in Tbilisi,

At a friends house I met the artist Medea. They got married and had a daughter, Manana.

. Manana Kozakova, actress of the Tbilisi Theater. Marjanishvili.

Our conversation in April 2012

“My parents separated when I was not even two years old.

My first meeting with my dad, which I remember, was in the very house where he and my mother once met. At my mother's aunt, with whom my father was simply friends. And I remember that my mother prepared me very much for this meeting; she herself sewed an unusually beautiful dress for me (at the time it seemed to me that it was very elegant). But I definitely remember - blue with daisies. I was 5 years old. For some reason I was nervous. And I remember that day very well.

It is important that I remember this as some kind of footage.

Dad seemed very interesting person- I’ve never seen anyone like him, and he immediately felt like family, although he didn’t do anything special. I just read Pushkin’s poems to me. Both then and later he always read poetry and talked about art. In general, everyone who knew dad closely claims that the main thing for him was art, his work. Such a relationship, he rarely communicated in any other way. Even on the beach, and we vacationed together for two years in a row, when he staged The Seagull in our theater, in 2007. He and I swam far out to sea, and he enthusiastically told me something. And it has always been around art. He was not interested in any everyday issues.

And in childhood I had a stepfather and a sister, Nino. Stepfather - very good man. But I can’t say that he replaced my father, no, no one can replace my father. And I, of course, never called him dad. Yes, I usually called my dad by his name - Misha. He was sometimes offended, but then he laughed. My stepfather raised me, and my daughter Tinatin calls him grandfather.

When she was 4 years old, I began to tell her that sometimes people get married not once, but twice, and even more. Then it was my father’s 65th birthday, and we came to Moscow. I began to introduce her to all my relatives: here is your Aunt Katya, here is your Aunt Zoya (and Zoya was then the same age as Tinatin). In general, she could hardly understand our complex family ties, but there were a lot of relatives at once. She was confused about where her aunt was and where her sister was. And when we returned to Tbilisi, she asked my mother: do you have so many children? And then she went up to my stepfather and asked him: Is Misha your brother? Then, realizing that people get married several times, I asked another grandmother-mother my husband Levan: “Have you only been married once? Yes? Oh, poor thing! How unlucky are you"

She is now 17 years old and finishing school. She dances in the Ramishvili-Sukhishvili ensemble. She is interested in modernity.

She communicates with Zoya on the Internet. Just like our mothers once did, we try to make our children friends. After all, Katya and Kirill and I have corresponded and met since childhood. Our parents really wanted us not to lose each other.

When did you realize that you would become an actress?

It would be surprising if things would have happened differently with such parents. Dynasty! Well, of course, such children are often told that they must follow in the footsteps of their parents. Although I resisted, and even entered the journalism department. But somehow it occurred to me that I didn’t want to protest against my real desires. And I realized that I would regret it all my life if I didn’t make the right decision. And one night everything turned upside down and was decided. Now I am very glad that I became an actress.

When I was 16 years old, I was on the set of Masquerade, my father filmed me in an episode. That's when I saw Misha work for the first time. Before that, only his films. And here is the process itself. How talentedly he built it all. It was as if he had occupied some niche that I had not yet dared to enter. In which everything was fabulously magical and talented. He kind of shared this with me. And I saw him completely differently, I began to be proud of my father. It was then that this desire to join arose.

And then he shared with us when he came to stage The Seagull in our theater. I was very nervous because when close people work together, everything is tense. My husband is a director, and I knew perfectly well what it was.

At first I behaved very tensely with Misha and tried to be such a diligent actress that I would not deserve criticism. But soon all our actors and I, along with them, felt that it was very easy to work with him if you devoted yourself to it with all the passion and desire. And to this day all the actors remember these rehearsal days, this is just one month during which he staged The Seagull with us. It's always interesting when different cultures match, different mentalities merge into an excellent result.

M. Kozakov about the production of “The Seagull” in Tbilisi.(from an interview in 2007)

The idea came a year ago, when I came to visit Manana and her husband Levan Tsuladze, who had recently become the chief director of the famous theater. I spent a whole year thinking about the play and staged it in just 40 days - in July and the first ten days of August. On Georgian language and with a young troupe.

I thought: if the Georgians are installing in Moscow, why can’t the Russians install in Tbilisi? By the way, I already had a similar experience with “Chaika” in Israel. In the early 90s, I played Trigorin at the Tel Aviv Chamber Theater and staged the same play with my students in Hebrew.

Why “Chaika”? More than a century has passed since the play was written, but it is still modern. In it, everyone talks about the theater: two writers, two actresses - these are people professionally close to me. We are often talking, paradoxically, about the meaning of creativity in the context of one family and one company. And, of course, these are “pounds of love.”

The performance is staged with modern elements. The action is moved to the present day. Chekhov's text has undergone minor adjustments. So, instead of horses, the heroes are just waiting for “transport”, Sorin is not 60, but 70 years old, Trigorin mentions Nabokov and Bulgakov instead of Turgenev and Zola, and they calm one of the heroes not with valerian drops, but with a stronger one - phenazepam.

Nina Zarechnaya's theater is presented plastically, and Treplev accompanies on the saxophone.

Manana brilliantly plays Polina Andreevna, showing herself to be an outstanding character actress. Well, I noticed this since Masquerade.

I worked, of course, with a translator, and my son-in-law Levan helped translate the text intonationally.

Manana.- Before working at the Marjanishvili Theater, Levan created a small theater in the 90s. Basement. He literally built it with his own hands, having mastered all construction professions. This was in those years when Tbilisi was cold, hungry and scary. We didn't even have electricity. What Levan did was true heroism.

And to be honest, I didn’t particularly believe in the future. It seemed to me that this was quixotic. No one needed the theater at all then. I couldn’t imagine that something could come of our catacomb theater, without any sponsors or patrons. But we began to play every day and our theater became popular and beloved in Tbilisi.

How did dad feel about this?

He saw our performances and fell in love with Levan. I think for the same attitude towards what I love, towards the theatre. They were like-minded people. Levan in the same way does not like to rest, but only to do theater and think about new projects. They talked all night long about their plans, about what else could be offered to the viewer. How interesting this is, how timely.

Ever since childhood, haven’t you wanted your dad to warm you up, caress you and talk about something simple and ordinary?

No. I was so used to such circumstances that it seemed to me that this was the only possible way communication. In poetry.

What gifts did dad give?

Books. Always books. I won’t lie and tell you that Misha gave me some nice trinkets. No. And from childhood I treated this with understanding. The main thing is that he exists, that we communicate as much as possible. I never demanded anything from him. In general, I’m used to demanding little - that’s my character. Gives - thank you!

There are few photographs of my father left as a keepsake. Some poems, notes. Now I often read his books and listen to his recordings.

I love his films. There are a lot of coincidences here. His first film was Nameless Star and graduate work my husband also had “Nameless Star”. There were also coincidences. When we had a story with our basement, dad told me that everything happened very similar in the young Contemporary. We had a lot of biographical coincidences and for me it was very important.

In general, I loved Misha in character roles, perhaps because she herself is a character actress. And this will seem strange to many - he seems to be such an educated, such a highly intelligent person, but in the roles of funny and absurd eccentrics he was inimitable. But they were played so subtly by him.

He also really loved his film “A Lady’s Visit.” And in our last meetings, he talked a lot about how he suffered with this film, how difficult it was for him to work with the insanely talented Ekaterina Vasilyeva and Valentin Gaft. How I worried that they then valued these roles little.

The Georgian audience loved him very much as an excellent reader.

I am grateful to God that it so happened that in last years We communicated with him so closely and for a long time.

Mikhail Mikhailovich married five times. He did not know how and did not want to live alone; he experienced forced loneliness painfully, almost painfully.

• And I am sure that the main passion in my life is craft. It is for his sake, serving this love, that I decide whether to drink or not drink, lose weight or grow a beard, and much more. If I loved women as much as I love art, there would be no problems with women. But I want the woman to dissolve in me every second. He married more than once because he longed for a home. I’m trying to understand and accept a woman’s position, but I want to be understood too. Either you don’t have to marry a person like me, or accept me entirely. I probably don’t have the right to talk out loud about this topic. This is a conversation with yourself for the secret diary.

• The ending follows

On the eve of Easter in Israel, at the 77th year of his life, actor Mikhail Kozakov, a legendary man who contained everything - a love of cinema, music, poetry, women, life, died... Mikhail Mikhailovich was an unusual and very gifted person. All his life he was looking for something - he changed wives, occupations, countries. Having woken up famous after the film “Amphibian Man,” he rushed into directing. Having shot the magnificent film “Pokrovsky Gate”, I wanted to read poetry and toured cities and villages. At the same time, he earned crumbs. I huddled in a small one-room apartment, about which I joked: they say, I have more and more wives, but the apartment is getting smaller. He went to work in Israel, where he headed his own theater, and upon returning to his homeland, he staged private performances. He became interested in literature, writing several autobiographical books. He loved music and came up with one-man performances - reading Brodsky's poems accompanied by a saxophone. He liked to experiment. At the same time, he was always self-critical. He said to himself: “Am I a brilliant actor? No, I good actor. Am I the best director? No, he's a good director. I am also a reader and writer. But the main thing is everything together.” All his life he was restless, restless, and energetic. And therefore it seemed that Kozakov, like perpetual motion machine, will live a hundred years. Everyone knew he had cancer. But Mikhail Mikhailovich had so much energy, an irrepressible passion for life, that he so wanted to believe that he could overcome a fatal illness.

Kozakov's last years were overshadowed by scandals with his wives and difficulties with money. He was a ladies' favorite, but at the end of his life no one needed him. It was difficult to part with his fifth wife.

He went to Israel for treatment with his fourth wife, Anna Yampolskaya, and last days I suffered terribly and suffered. His son had to collect money for his funeral; litigation is coming around the Moscow apartment that Kozakov left to his daughter Zoya. A sad outcome of a bright and creative life. And we remember him young, irresistible and... forever in love. Tatyana Kvasha: “They envied me, they thought Kozakov was my boyfriend” In the book of memoirs, Kozakov writes about his parents’ house, which was visited by Ranevskaya, Akhmatova, Pasternak, Okudzhava, Zoshchenko... From childhood he was surrounded by a brilliant society and beautiful girls. One of his girlfriends was Tatyana Putievskaya-Stein. Mikhail tried to court Tanya, but she simply offered him friendship, subsequently marrying Kozakov’s friend, actor Igor Kvasha. “I perceived Misha only as a friend,” Tatyana Kvasha admitted to KP. - We were little when our families lived in Bolotov. We grew up in a special circle that included writers, artists, and performers. Misha was known as a bully. But he grew out of it very much handsome guy, the girls looked at him. And since in my youth Misha and I often went for walks, some thought that he was my boyfriend and were jealous... I remember how at my house we were waiting together for a call from Mosfilm - whether they would approve him for the film “Murder on Dante Street”. And when he found out that they had approved, he grabbed me by the head and almost tore my ears out of joy! Misha was at our wedding with Igor. And I walked at his wedding with his first wife Greta Taar. Interesting girl, Leningrad, Estonian. They studied together at school. She came to Moscow for him.

They say he had an affair with his classmate, actress Sofia Zaikova? - He was amorous... But, in my opinion, Sonya was just his friend. Greta and I have always had a good relationship. And I no longer knew all his other wives. In my opinion, he was not very happy with them. Greta Taar is a charming woman, such a northern, Estonian type. Her father was a famous make-up artist at Mosfilm. She worked as a costume designer at Mosfilm and on television... It was a pity that they broke up. We reached Kozakov’s first wife, Greta Taar. But she refused to say anything about ex-husband, noticing nevertheless that she did not hold any grudge against him... In his autobiographical book, Kozakov wrote about her not in the best possible way: “It so happened that my first wife was my first woman. Gaps had to be filled. Replenished. Random connections... The marriage was not joyful, and the relationships were also joyless. “I live like everyone else,” I reassured myself. - Love? Business is the most important thing in life.” I didn’t even think about leaving. Besides - children. And I was staggering. Ten years later I reached the position of one secretary. And then I found out what and how much! Passion. Sinful. Frantic. Our mating lasted a year. The split is disastrous for me. And I broke up. With my wife. It seems even... she went to the man with whom she had an affair... The secretary and I lived under the same roof for exactly ten days. She and I had nothing to talk about even during our farewell conversation. I crawled with my two suitcases onto my mother’s cot.” Worried about my brother's suicide“Mikhail and I met on a course at the Moscow Art Theater School,” Viktor Sergachev told KP. - We did a graduation performance together. Although we were friends, he was from a different environment. And they lived better than us children ordinary people. We called them “cooperatives” because we all lived in communal apartments, and they lived in apartments. From the course he did not allow anyone close to him. I took root in his house more likely because I reminded his mother, Zoya Alexandrovna, of her eldest son, brother Misha, who committed suicide at the age of 14. It was a great tragedy in their family. Nobody knew about this; they thought that Misha was alone in the family. But now, perhaps, this can be said...

They said about Kozakov that he was a Don Juan. - He was more likely not a Don Juan, but a lover of this business... But he was not successful on our course. Tanya Doronina was considered the most beautiful. But Kozakov was not her type. And Misha’s girlfriend was not from our course - the granddaughter of the writer Anastasia Zueva. But their relationship was short-lived. Misha got married early. He was always attracted by exclusivity. That wife is Estonian with unusual name. The second is the Georgian Medea, an artist-restorer who turned out to be a princess from a noble family! They met on tour in Tbilisi, her clan did not accept Kozakov, there was a terrible scandal. Misha took Medea to Moscow. They merried. We gave birth to a daughter. And they quickly divorced. Medea took her daughter to Tbilisi... He had a wonderful wife, Regina, a translator and writer. They lived with her for 18 years, and under her influence he began to write. They didn't have children. But in recent years, Regina has accumulated fatigue. And then Robert De Niro, with whom the actor was friends, invited the family for a return visit. Both spouses in those years (late 80s) would not have been released from the country, and Kozakov decided: let Regina go to America. She left and... didn't return. Three months later she filed for divorce. - And he didn’t say why he leaves the children so easily? - He joked that women give birth just by looking at him... I don’t think he wanted to be a family man. This would restrict his freedom. But it has changed a lot over the past 10 years. I began to treat people more attentively and warmly. He had no permanent friends on whom he could rely. And it seemed to me that this had been weighing on him in recent years... About secret love Few people know that in the 60s Kozakov was in love with another Georgian woman - Victoria Lazic, an actress and playwright. She organized creative evenings at the House of Architects. And she invited Kozakov. Over the phone, Kozakov asked her: “How do I recognize you?” “Guess what - I’ll be the one beautiful girl evening,” Victoria answered boldly. Kozakov guessed right and approached Lazich - a bright, spectacular brunette with a magnificent bust... They said that he had lost his head over the sultry beauty. We called her. “Yes, Kozakov courted me,” Victoria admitted to KP. - He visited my house on the Patriarch’s. He read me poems and gave me flowers. I came with my friend, the poet Arseny Tarkovsky. He was handsome, erudite, aristocratic. It was very interesting to be with him. But I rejected him. He was then married to Medea. Yes, and I knew that he was a fool...

About novels One of Kozakov’s brightest romances happened with the beautiful Anastasia Vertinskaya on the set of the film “Nameless Star.” At first, Kozakov offered the role to Marina Neelova, but she refused. And Vertinskaya agreed. “I was very pleased with her work and even fell in love, but what happened then - we won’t talk about that,” Kozakov once admitted. They tried to hide their feelings - Kozakov was married. But they were unsuccessful at this. The director of The Musketeers, Yungvald-Khilkevich, recalls that Anastasia voiced Constance, and Kozakov voiced the cardinal. “They looked at each other with such loving eyes that everyone present froze. Vertinskaya's voice rang with love, it was clear that she was overwhelmed with feelings! They were then experiencing the very peak of the romance...” They say they parted hard - Kozakov embarked on a new romantic adventure. Maybe that’s why when we called Vertinskaya today, she answered calmly: “I won’t talk about Kozakov. Don't want". ...When Mikhail Kozakov’s daughter was born in Israel, he wanted to name her Anya, but in a dream he saw his late mother, she was a little girl, he recognized her, but for some reason he asked: “Who are you?” “I am your daughter Zoya.” And before this, the fortuneteller prophesied to the actor’s wife that she would have a daughter and that her grandmother’s soul would inhabit her. And Kozakov named his daughter Zoya. WIVES, CHILDREN, GRANDCHILDREN 1st wife (1955 - 1965): Greta Thaar, classmate, costume designer. Children: Ekaterina Kozakova (born 1956), philologist, and Kirill Kozakov (born 1962), film actor (married for the third marriage to the daughter of the poet Yuri Ryashentsev). Granddaughters from Catherine: Daria (born 1979) and Polina. Grandchildren from Kirill's different wives: Anton (lives in New Jersey) and Masha. 2nd wife (1968 - 1971): Medea Berelashvili, restoration artist. Daughter: Manana Kozakova (born 1969), actress of the Tbilisi Theater named after Kote Marjanishvili. Granddaughter: Tinatin Tsuladze (born 1995). 3rd wife (1971 - 1988): Regina Kozakova (born 1940), translator, writer, has lived in New York since 1988. 4th wife (1988 - 2003): Anna Isaevna Yampolskaya (born 1959, Chisinau), GITIS graduate, actress and theater producer. Children: Mikhail (born 1989), Zoya (born 1995), live in Israel. 5th wife (2006 - 2010): Nadezhda Sedova (born 1979, Nizhny Novgorod), historian.

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This is how we will remember Mikhail Kozakov.