Georgy Zhzhenov was convicted for what. Georgy Zhzhenov: why the Soviet actor was in prison

Outstanding Russian and Soviet actor Georgy Zhzhenov lived long life. Not only fame and success fell to his lot, but also serious trials. So, in the era Stalin's repressions he was twice convicted on trumped-up charges.

Circus and cinema

Georgy Stepanovich Zhzhenov was born in March 1915 in Petrograd, in the family of a baker. Despite the fact that the family was poor, the children were drawn to study. Georgy's older brother Boris entered the university in the early 30s, and Georgy himself, after graduating from an eight-year school with a physics and mathematics degree, was admitted to the acrobatic department variety and circus school. Soon, together with one of his fellow students, his namesake, he began performing in the arena of the Leningrad Circus in the acrobatic duet “2-Georges-2”.

It was at the circus that Lenfilm employees saw him. The young man received main role in the film "The Hero's Mistake" (1932). After that, leaving the circus, Zhzhenov entered the Leningrad College of Performing Arts on the course of Sergei Gerasimov. He starred in several films, including the legendary Chapaev.

Walking through torment

In December 1934, Kirov was killed in Leningrad. Boris Zhzhenov, like other Leningrad State University students, was supposed to take part in the funeral procession. But he refused, since he did not have proper shoes to spend several hours in the cold... This was regarded as a hostile attitude towards Soviet power. Soon Boris was expelled from the university. He was later reinstated, but in December 1936 he was again summoned to the NKVD. He never returned from there, receiving seven years for “anti-Soviet activities.”

The Zhzhenov family was evicted from Leningrad. In addition to Georgy, his fellow filmmakers and Gerasimov himself stood up for him.

In the summer of 1938, Zhzhenov, together with a group of film actors, went to film in Komsomolsk-on-Amur. On the train they met an American diplomat who was traveling to Vladivostok as part of a delegation. Of course, fellow travelers were talking to each other. After the trip, the NKVD received a report about “contacts with a foreigner.” This plus the reputation of a relative of the “enemy of the people” was quite enough to accuse Zhzhonov of espionage. When Georgy returned to Leningrad, they came for him.

In the famous Leningrad prison "Crosses" Zhzhenov had to go through all the circles of hell. He was interrogated with passion - tortured, beaten, deprived of sleep... Others could not stand the bullying and confessed to the most absurd things. But the athletic, trained artist flatly refused to admit the charge of espionage. As a result, he was not shot, but given five years in the camps.

This is how Zhzhenov ended up in Kolyma, where he had to endure hunger, cold, exhausting work, and the daily struggle for survival... During the war, almost no food was delivered to the Kolyma camps, and prisoners died in the hundreds.

In 1943, the head of a traveling acting propaganda team, Nikanorov, accidentally recognized a former film actor in a scab-covered goner from a penal camp at the Glukhar mine, and first achieved his transfer to his propaganda team, and then to the Magadan Musical Drama Theater, the troupe of which was almost entirely composed of prisoners.

In 1944, the actor's prison term was coming to an end. However, he was summoned to the camp authorities and asked to sign a resolution for an additional term - another 21 months in the camps.

Second try

In 1945, Zhzhenov was finally released, and thanks to Gerasimov, he found work at the Sverdlovsk film studio, where he starred in the film “Alitet Goes to the Mountains” - about Soviet Chukotka. But in 1949, the actor was arrested again. This time, however, he was sentenced not to the camps, but to exile in Norilsk. There he got a job at the local drama theater named after Mayakovsky, where he played together with Innokenty Smoktunovsky, who went to Siberia to sit out time of troubles- He feared arrest for being captured by the Germans in 1943.

In Norilsk, Zhzhenov tried to start a family with actress Irina Makhaeva. For him, this was already his third marriage - the previous two were interrupted by arrests... Later they had a daughter, Marina.

Only in 1955, having been completely rehabilitated, was the actor able to return to Leningrad. At first he worked in the regional drama theater, but already in 1956 he began acting in Lenfilm. National fame came to him in the late 60s - early 70s after filming the films “Resident Error” and “Fate

resident." The actor was awarded many state awards, and in 2005 the whole country celebrated the 90th birthday of Georgy Zhzhonov - people's artist and a former prisoner.

Georgy ZHZHENOV

G. Zhzhenov was born on March 22, 1915 in a simple family. As family legend says, one of the artist’s great-grandfathers steamed in a Russian stove (the poor then used stoves instead of bathhouses) and burned himself in it. Hence the surname - Zhzhenov.

Zhzhenov’s parents were from the peasants of the Tver province - at the beginning of the century they moved to St. Petersburg, where the head of the family, Stepan Filippovich, opened his own bakery. There were three children in the family, all boys (George was the youngest). Since both of his brothers were fond of sports, and the eldest, Boris, was even a professional circus performer, Georgy knew where to direct himself from childhood - in 1930 he entered the Leningrad Variety and Circus College. As Zhzhenov himself later admitted, love also played a significant role in his choice. He was then in love with his classmate Lyusya Lycheva, for whose sake he even jumped from the embankment parapet in ice water Neva, and dreamed of appearing to her under the circus dome. And his dream came true.

After graduating from college, the aspiring artist joined a circus troupe, where he practiced tempo ground acrobatics. In 1933, film director Ioganson came to one of these performances and suddenly saw a movie actor in the young acrobat. So Zhzhenov got the role of tractor driver Pashka Vetrov and the silent film “The Hero’s Mistake” (in the same film the debut of another actor who would later become famous, Efim Kopelyan, took place). G. Zhzhenov recalls: “What’s funny is that for the screen test they chose a scene of declaration of love with kisses. I haven't turned seventeen yet; a chaste and shy boy, I was embarrassed and blushed, my hands trembled, my mouse faces twitched. And seven young actresses auditioned for the main female role!”

Thus, our hero made his film debut, and from that moment he began another life - a cinematic one.

Literally for short time Zhzhenov managed to star in several films at once: “A Strict Young Man”, “ Crown Prince Republic", "Golden Lights". Soon he finally asked for a circus and went to study as an actor - he entered the Leningrad Theater School (he immediately entered the 2nd year, which was first taught by A. Zarkhi and I. Kheifits, and then by S. Gerasimov). Pyotr Aleinikov also studied in the same course.

It is worth noting that already in those years Georgy tried his hand at literature - he wrote short stories, essays. S. Gerasimov, having familiarized himself with some of his works, remarked: “You, Zhora, can make a good screenwriter.”

Another “side” hobby of Zhzhenov in those years was football. He played as a right insider in the Leningrad trade union team and, according to experts, played well. And the same Gerasimov put a dilemma before him: “Choose: either football or cinema.” Zhzhenov chose the latter.

After graduating from college in 1935, the actor continued to actively act in films. A. Dovzhenko invites him to play Father Bozhenko’s orderly in the film “Shchors”, and the Vasilyev brothers take on a cameo role in the then famous film Chapaev” (however, during editing, for some reason, all the episodes with the participation of our hero will be cut out). In 1937, S. Gerasimov remembered him and approved him for the role of Komsomol member Mavrin in the film “Komsomolsk”. The picture was released on the screens of the country the following year, but Georgy did not see its premiere - in those days he was already under arrest. What happened?

This statement was quite enough to accuse Boris Zhzhenov of anti-Soviet activities and arrest him. And then it was his turn younger brother- George. Moreover, he was also arrested based on a denunciation. A certain young actor wrote that during the filming of “Komsomolsk” he met the American military attache and, being in the same train compartment with him, sang songs, joked, etc. This was enough to decide Zhzhenov’s fate. True, he was arrested only on the second visit. The security officers came for him on the last day of filming, and the management of the Lenfilm film studio appealed to the NKVD with an urgent request to postpone the arrest for one day in order to complete filming. And such permission was received. The actor successfully filmed the film and was arrested the next day. He and his brother were given Article 58, given 8 years each, and sent to different places: Boris ended up in Norilsk, and Georgy in Magadan. And the Zhzhenov family was evicted from Leningrad.

For the first two years, Zhzhenov felled wood in the taiga plots of the Dukchansky timber industry enterprise (his partner with a two-handed saw was the Soviet intelligence officer Sergei Chaplin). And when the war began, they were transported to the taiga to the gold mines. Chaplin died there. George could have died a thousand times, but fate was merciful to him, each time taking the bony one away from him at the very last moment. For example, in 1943, being sick with scurvy, he walked 10 kilometers through the taiga to get to the “17” mine, where two parcels were waiting for him, which his mother had sent him from outside in 1940. And he arrived. And although all the contents of the parcels had deteriorated over the course of three years, this transition had the most profound effect on the prisoner. beneficial influence. After it, he suddenly realized that he would survive in this hell.

But for his brothers, the fate turned out to be much sadder: in 1943, Boris died in a Vorkuta camp from dystrophy, and the other was shot by the Nazis in Mariupol in front of his mother.

Meanwhile, in 1944, Zhzhenov was lucky again - he was accepted into the troupe of the Magadan Theater. The theater was multi-genre: opera, operetta, drama, variety show, and circus. The troupe consisted of 180 people, 120 of them were prisoners. Many have passed through this theater famous actors and directors: Leonid Varpakhovsky, Yuri Rozenshtraukh, Alexander Demich, Konstantin Nikanorov, Vadim Kozin and others.

It was in this theater that Zhzhenov met his first wife, also an actress from Leningrad named Lida. She was arrested as an “enemy of the people” in 1937, first sentenced to death, but then replaced by ten years in the camps. In 1946, they had a daughter, who was named Alena. At the end of that year they were finally freed and returned to the mainland. For about a year, Zhzhenov worked at the Sverdlovsk film studio - in fact, under public supervision. Then he was kicked out due to lack of registration, and he got a job in the troupe of a small theater in the town of Pavlovo-on-Oka. But life there did not last long. Already in June 1949 (when the second wave of Stalin’s purges began in the country), he was arrested again and thrown into Gorky prison. Six months later, the verdict in absentia of the Special Meeting was announced: link in Krasnoyarsk region. Stage across all Russia to Krasnoyarsk. Another two months in prison. And finally, Norilsk - the Norilsk Polar Drama Theater, where he worked as an exiled actor until his rehabilitation in 1954 (I. Smoktunovsky also played in the same theater at that time).

That year, Zhzhenov finally returned to Leningrad and was accepted into the troupe of the Lensovet Theater. And in 1956 he returned to cinema. Director Mikhail Dobson (they met in a cell of the Leningrad NKVD) began filming the film “Storm” and invited the actor to play one of the roles - soldier Gavrilov.

Regarding Zhzhenov’s personal life, I note that his first wife died in the early 50s. He married again, and in this marriage he had a daughter, Marina. But this marriage did not last long. In 1957, he married again - this time to actress Lydia Malyukova. This marriage brought another child and again a girl - she was named Yulia.

Between 1957 and 1966, Zhzhenov starred in 18 films, but most of them were episodic roles, which few people remember today. Although there were some successes among them. For example, in the films “Silence”, “The Third Rocket” (both 1963) and July Rain (1967). However, the roles played by the actor in two latest films, the viewer never saw it.

“The Third Rocket” was directed by Richard Viktorov - it was the first film adaptation of V. Bykov’s military prose. After seeing this film, Italian director Filippo De Santis said: “It should win all the awards that exist in world cinema.” However, none of this happened. GlavPUR Soviet Army stood in the way of this truthful film, and his boss, General Epishev, said: “If I see an advertisement for this film anywhere, I will order tanks to cordon off the cinema!” So the mass audience never saw the film.

Something similar happened with the film “July Rain”. Director M. Khutsiev says: “A very serious episode was cut out of the film - in fact, the entire role of Georgy Zhzhenov. He played such a half-crazy KGB officer. Uralova’s heroine, when she visited voters, ended up in his apartment. Word for word - and she already found herself, as it were, under interrogation. At the end, he said out of habit: “Give me your pass, I’ll sign” and picked up the phone: “Ivanov, let me in...” We wrote this episode out of mischief, almost certainly knowing that it would not be allowed. And when they filmed it and saw how great Zhzhenov played, we realized that the scene was becoming one of the most important in the film.”

The first fame of the actor Zhzhenov, when the viewer truly noticed and remembered him, came in 1966 - with the role of a traffic police inspector in the film “Beware of the Car!” Although there was an episode here, the actor played it brilliantly.

Then there were roles in the films: “Now Judge ...” (1967), “The Path to Saturn”, “The End of Saturn”, “Spring on the Oder”, “Doctor Vera” (all - 1968).

In 1968, Zhzhenov left the Lensovet Theater due to a conflict with the main director I. Vladimirov. This conflict especially worsened after the actor was elected chairman of the local committee of the theater. In the end, Zhzhenov was faced with a choice: either lose the respect of his theater comrades, or take the side of the administration. And he submitted his resignation. And here’s what’s surprising: after that, in his native Leningrad, only one theater offered him work - comedy, and in Moscow - seven. Faced with such a choice, Zhzhenov began to think painfully: where to go? And it is unknown whose offer he would have accepted then, if not for chance. The chief director of the Mossovet Theater, Yuri Zavadsky, called him and offered him the role that the artist had dreamed of all his life - Leo Tolstoy in the play based on S. Ermolinsky's play "Flight into Life". That's what decided future fate our hero. He moved to Moscow and lived only in this role. However, the play never saw the light of day. Minister of Culture E. Furtseva, having attended his rehearsal, stated that she would not allow the dirty laundry of the great Russian genius to be exposed to public display. And she didn’t allow it.

In 1969, Veniamin Dorman’s film “Resident’s Mistake” was released on the country’s screens, in which Zhzhenov played the main role - a foreign intelligence officer of Russian origin, Tulyev. This picture brought him all-Union fame. It took 9th place at the box office, attracting 35.4 million viewers.

G. Zhzhenov recalls: “Several episodes of the film were filmed in the famous “Matrosskaya Tishina.” This was the most painful filming for me - I remembered the past. I cannot convey that painful feeling to film set, waiting for when the shift will finally end..."

In 1970, the sequel to “The Resident’s Mistake”, the film “The Fate of the Resident,” was released on the country’s screens. This time the film took 13th place at the box office, attracting 28.7 million viewers.

In 1969, Zhzhenov had an excellent opportunity for the first time to his creative biography to play a hardened criminal: director Anatoly Bobrovsky offered him the role of the Count in the film “The Return of St. Luke.” However, Mosfilm director N. Sizov opposed this choice, explaining his decision simply: “If Zhzhenov plays this role, then all the sympathies of the audience will be on his side. It’s better to play a policeman, but not a bandit.” But the actor flatly refused to play another character and, as a result, the film was released without him. The role of the Count was played by Vladislav Dvorzhetsky.

Meanwhile, having lost this role, Zhzhenov received another one a year later, which would become one of the best in his career. It's about about the role of Willie Stark in the TV movie "All the King's Men."

Initially, the wonderful actor Pavel Luspekayev was approved for this role. However, at the very beginning of filming (in April 1970), he died. And the role was given to Zhzhenov. He later admits: “My favorite role is Willie Stark.”

But another role - General Bessonov - in the film “Hot Snow” (1972) the artist for a long time rejected. He was then very busy in the theater, filming other films, so he didn’t want to act in it. But the same director of Mosfilm, N. Sizov, literally begged him to agree to filming. As it turned out, not in vain. This role also became one of the best in the actor’s career. It was for this that in 1975 he was awarded the State Prize of the RSFSR and the Silver Medal named after A. Dovzhenko.

A new wave of audience love for Zhzhenov came in 1980, when Alexander Mitta’s film “Crew” was released on the country’s screens. In it he played one of the main roles - the commander of the liner Timchenko. The film took 3rd place at the box office, attracting 71.1 million viewers.

In 1980, G. Zhzhenov was awarded the title of People's Artist of the USSR.

In the next decade, the actor acted less actively than in the previous two decades, preferring to devote more time to the theater. On the stage of the Mossovet Theater he played about the performances: “The Trial of the Judges”, “Uncle Vanya”, “The Kingdom of the Earth”, etc.

In 1981, he accepted V. Dorman’s offer to star in the third film about the resident, “Return of the Resident.” However, this picture turned out to be much weaker than the previous two. The film took 15th place at the box office, attracting 23.9 million viewers.

In the early 90s, a new play appeared at the Mossovet Theater - “On the Golden Lake” based on the play by E. Thompson. At one time it was staged on Broadway, then a film appeared, in which the main roles were played by Henry and Jane Fonda (father and daughter). In the Moscow production, these roles were also played by father and daughter, only the Zhzhenovs - Georgy and Yulia. As Georgy Zhzhenov admitted after the premiere: “For me, this is not just another role, acting work to my liking: this is a civic act, a socially significant action. In our time, when there is so much mutual malice and all sorts of lawlessness around, to contrast this with a soul shining with purity; not the pessimism to which a person comes at the end of his life, but the continuation of faith and life! The role in this play quenched my longing for the unplayed.”

Nowadays, Zhzhenov’s life consists of theater and home. One of his houses is two hundred meters from the apartment youngest daughter Yuli, he built another one near Moscow, on Iksha. There he spends his weekends alone or with his wife Lydia Petrovna.

G. Zhzhenov says: “In general, I like women who are soft, weak, and tender. And my wife does not have an easy-going character. That's why we fight often. We have more quarrels than peace in the family. I’m mentally stronger, or something, but Lydia Petrovna is hysterical, like most women, her nerves are frayed, like any actress with a not very happy fate. After all, Lydia Petrovna - wonderful actress was a huge success in St. Petersburg... But it’s too late for me to rock the boat...

Modern politicians disgust me. When on the TV screen the fathers of the nation talk about their incomes, when I see the three-story stone mansions of the generals, I read and hear that workers are going on hunger strikes because they are not paid wages, then I understand that I live in a sick state. Even in his native theater I, a Russian actor, play more and more foreigners. I never panicked and never blasphemed my own fate; I was always offended by the “power.” You have played more than 100 roles in the theater, more than 80 in films, so what is there to regret? I don’t have time to sit on the shore with a fishing rod, because I’m sitting here writing stories based on my memories, and I still have a lot to do. (G. Zhzhenov has already published a collection of memoirs “Omchag Valley” and a book “From Capercaillie to the Firebird.” - F.R.). I read the scripts that they send me, trying to find an interesting, deep role for myself, but there is nothing yet, and I feel sorry for this lost time...

Most of my friends are not actors. You can have friendly relations, but real friends can be anywhere you want, but not in the acting environment. I don’t know if this is good or bad, but in my life this is so...”

In the spring of 1997, during the solemn ceremony of presenting the highest cinematic award of Russia “Nika”, G. Zhzhenov became the owner of an honorary prize for honor and dignity.

P.S. Eldest daughter G. Zhzhenova - Alena - lives in Riga, works as an artist-designer and heads one of the private companies. Her daughter Dasha is already 17 years old.

The middle daughter, Marina, lives in St. Petersburg and runs an etiquette school. She has a son Peter.

The youngest daughter, Yulia, works with her father in the same theater and lives next to her parents. Her daughter Polina is 6 years old.

This text is an introductory fragment.

December 8 – Georgy ZHZHENOV This man suffered inhuman trials. His film career began with the famous film “Chapaev”. And although the role was episodic, it opened up excellent prospects for the 19-year-old actor. But then they were not destined

One Hundred Circles of Hell Georgy Zhzhenov Georgy Zhzhenov’s film career began quite early: he was 18 years old when in 1933 he starred in the film “The Hero’s Mistake.” Then there were several more films, the most famous of which was “Komsomolsk” (1937) by Sergei Gerasimov. However, the premieres

BURKOV Georgy BURKOV Georgy (theater and film actor: “Zosya” (1967; Semenov), “Zigzag of Fortune” (1969; photographer Petya), “Old Robbers” (1971; prosecutor’s office investigator Fedor Fedorovich Fedyaev), “Stoves and Benches” (1973; thief on the train Viktor Alexandrovich), “Kalina Krasnaya” (1974; thief Guboshlep),

ZHZHENOV Georgy ZHZHENOV Georgy (theater and film actor: “The Hero’s Mistake” (1932; main role - tractor driver Pashka Vetrov), “Chapaev” (1934; Teresha), “Alien Relatives” (1956; guest at the wedding), “Storm” ( 1957; Gavrila), “Night Guest” (1959; main role – artist Sergei Petrovich), “Baltic Sky”

Georgy Rublev In Selvinsky's seminar, the yellow-faced, black-haired, old-looking, tall, stocky, sickly Zhora Rublev occasionally appeared. He was four to five years older than me, but it seemed twenty. Having met us, Rublev invited us to visit, and in his house on

Father George For me to be born on March 30, 1904, it was naturally necessary for my mother to meet my father. This in itself is a major event. historical significance did not have, but it so happened that this couple was married by Father Georgy Gapon, an acquaintance of his father - a person

Chapter 24. Unburnt Zhzhenov Georgy Zhzhenov was born on March 22, 1915 in Petrograd. His parents are from peasants in the Tver province. At the beginning of the century, they moved to the Northern capital, where the head of the family, Stepan Filippovich, opened his own bakery. In 1930, G. Zhzhenov entered, by the way,

GEORGE GARANYAN...Nothing foreshadowed trouble: he flew to Krasnodar to participate with the city Big Band in a joint performance with Michel Legrand. The night before he felt ill. He was hospitalized in the city emergency hospital medical care with suspicion

GEORGE Engulfed in a hot and bright fire Will I forget about the past, about the dark, about the old? About the ringing silver rings chain mail, About the prince, about the brave one, I’ll forget, friends! I am always in proud and tender delight your name I repeat - George! Against the backdrop of the Russian red glow - My brave

The outstanding Soviet actor Georgy Zhzhenov lived a long life. Not only fame and success fell to his lot, but also serious trials. Thus, during the era of Stalinist repressions, he was twice convicted on trumped-up charges. Circus and cinema Georgy Stepanovich Zhzhenov was born in March 1915 in Petrograd, into the family of a baker. Despite the fact that the family was poor, the children were drawn to study. Georgy's older brother Boris entered the university in the early 30s, and Georgy himself, after graduating from an eight-year school with a physics and mathematics degree, was admitted to the acrobatic department of the circus school. Soon, together with one of his fellow students, his namesake, he began performing in the arena of the Leningrad Circus in the acrobatic duet “2-Georges-2”. It was at the circus that Lenfilm employees saw him. The young man received the main role in the film “The Hero's Mistake” (1932). After that, leaving the circus, Zhzhenov entered the Leningrad College of Performing Arts on the course of Sergei Gerasimov. He starred in several films, including the legendary “Chapaev”. Walking through torment In December 1934, Kirov was killed in Leningrad. Boris Zhzhenov, like other Leningrad State University students, was supposed to take part in the funeral procession. But he refused, since he did not have proper shoes to spend several hours in the cold... This was regarded as a hostile attitude towards Soviet power. Soon Boris was expelled from the university. He was later reinstated, but in December 1936 he was again summoned to the NKVD. He never returned from there, receiving seven years for “anti-Soviet activities.” The Zhzhenov family was evicted from Leningrad. In addition to Georgy, his filmmaking friends and Gerasimov himself stood up for him. In the summer of 1938, Zhzhenov, together with a group of film actors, went to film in Komsomolsk-on-Amur. On the train they met an American diplomat who was traveling to Vladivostok as part of a delegation. Of course, fellow travelers were talking to each other. After the trip, the NKVD received a report about “contacts with a foreigner.” This plus the reputation of a relative of the “enemy of the people” was quite enough to accuse Zhzhonov of espionage. When Georgy returned to Leningrad, they came for him. In the famous Leningrad prison “Kresty” Zhzhonov had to go through all the circles of hell. He was interrogated with passion - tortured, beaten, deprived of sleep... Others could not stand the bullying and confessed to the most absurd things. But the athletic, trained artist flatly refused to admit the charge of espionage. As a result, he was not shot, but given five years in the camps. So Zhzhenov ended up in Kolyma, where he had to endure hunger, cold, exhausting work, and a daily struggle for survival... During the war, almost no food was delivered to the Kolyma camps, and prisoners died in the hundreds. In 1943, the head of a traveling acting propaganda team, Nikanorov, accidentally recognized a former film actor in a scab-covered goner from a penal camp at the Glukhar mine, and first achieved his transfer to his propaganda team, and then to the Magadan Musical Drama Theater, the troupe of which was almost entirely composed of prisoners. In 1944, the actor’s prison term was coming to an end. However, he was summoned to the camp authorities and asked to sign a resolution for an additional term - another 21 months in the camps. Second attempt In 1945, Zhzhenov was finally released, and thanks to Gerasimov, he found work at the Sverdlovsk film studio, where he starred in the film “Alitet Goes to the Mountains” - about Soviet Chukotka. But in 1949, the actor was arrested again. This time, however, he was sentenced not to the camps, but to exile in Norilsk. There he got a job at the local drama theater named after Mayakovsky, where he played together with Innokenty Smoktunovsky, who had gone to Siberia to sit out the troubled times - he feared arrest for being captured by the Germans in 1943. In Norilsk, Zhzhenov tried to start a family with actress Irina Makhaeva. For him this was already the third - the two previous ones were interrupted by arrests... Later they had a daughter, Marina. Only in 1955, being completely rehabilitated, was the actor able to return to Leningrad. At first he worked in the regional drama theater, but already in 1956 he began acting in Lenfilm. He gained national fame in the late 60s and early 70s after starring in the films “The Resident’s Mistake” and “The Resident’s Fate.” The actor was awarded many state awards, and in 2005 the whole country celebrated the 90th birthday of Georgy Zhzhonov, a people's artist and former prisoner.

Lived a long life. Not only fame and success fell to his lot, but also serious trials. Thus, during the era of Stalinist repressions, he was twice convicted on trumped-up charges.

Circus and cinema

Georgy Stepanovich Zhzhenov was born in March 1915 in Petrograd, in the family of a baker. Despite the fact that the family was poor, the children were drawn to study. Georgy's older brother Boris entered the university in the early 30s, and Georgy himself, after graduating from an eight-year school with a physics and mathematics degree, was admitted to the acrobatic department of the circus school. Soon, together with one of his fellow students, his namesake, he began performing in the arena of the Leningrad Circus in the acrobatic duet “2-Georges-2”.

It was at the circus that Lenfilm employees saw him. The young man received the main role in the film “The Hero's Mistake” (1932). After that, leaving the circus, Zhzhenov entered the Leningrad College of Performing Arts on the course of Sergei Gerasimov. He starred in several films, including the legendary Chapaev.

Walking through torment

In December 1934, Kirov was killed in Leningrad. Boris Zhzhenov, like other Leningrad State University students, was supposed to take part in the funeral procession. But he refused, since he did not have proper shoes to spend several hours in the cold... This was regarded as a hostile attitude towards Soviet power. Soon Boris was expelled from the university. He was later reinstated, but in December 1936 he was again summoned to the NKVD. He never returned from there, receiving seven years for “anti-Soviet activities.”

The Zhzhenov family was evicted from Leningrad. In addition to Georgy, his fellow filmmakers and Gerasimov himself stood up for him.

In the summer of 1938, Zhzhenov, together with a group of film actors, went to film in Komsomolsk-on-Amur. On the train they met an American diplomat who was traveling to Vladivostok as part of a delegation. Of course, fellow travelers were talking to each other. After the trip, the NKVD received a report about “contacts with a foreigner.” This plus the reputation of a relative of the “enemy of the people” was quite enough to accuse Zhzhonov of espionage. When Georgy returned to Leningrad, they came for him.

In the famous Leningrad prison "Crosses" Zhzhenov had to go through all the circles of hell. He was interrogated with passion - tortured, beaten, deprived of sleep... Others could not stand the bullying and confessed to the most absurd things. But the athletic, trained artist flatly refused to admit the charge of espionage. As a result, he was not shot, but given five years in the camps.

This is how Zhzhenov ended up in Kolyma, where he had to endure hunger, cold, exhausting work, and the daily struggle for survival... During the war, almost no food was delivered to the Kolyma camps, and prisoners died in the hundreds.

In 1943, the head of a traveling acting propaganda team, Nikanorov, accidentally recognized a former film actor in a scab-covered goner from a penal camp at the Glukhar mine, and first achieved his transfer to his propaganda team, and then to the Magadan Musical Drama Theater, the troupe of which was almost entirely made up of prisoners.

In 1944, the actor's prison term was coming to an end. However, he was summoned to the camp authorities and asked to sign a resolution for an additional period - another 21 months in the camps.

Second try

In 1945, Zhzhenov was finally released, and thanks to Gerasimov, he found work at the Sverdlovsk film studio, where he starred in the film “Alitet Goes to the Mountains” - about Soviet Chukotka. But in 1949, the actor was arrested again. This time, however, he was sentenced not to the camps, but to exile in Norilsk. There he got a job at the local Mayakovsky Drama Theater, where he played with Innokenty Smoktunovsky, who had gone to Siberia to sit out the troubled times - he feared arrest for being captured by the Germans in 1943.

In Norilsk, Zhzhenov tried to start a family with actress Irina Makhaeva. For him, this was already his third marriage - the previous two were interrupted by arrests... Later they had a daughter, Marina.

Only in 1955, having been completely rehabilitated, was the actor able to return to Leningrad. At first he worked in the regional drama theater, but already in 1956 he began acting in Lenfilm. National fame came to him in the late 60s - early 70s after filming the films “Resident Error” and “Fate

resident." The actor was awarded many state awards, and in 2005 the whole country celebrated the 90th birthday of Georgy Zhzhonov, a people's artist and former prisoner.

In December 1934, Kirov was killed in Leningrad. Boris Zhzhenov, like other Leningrad State University students, was supposed to take part in the funeral procession. But he refused, since he did not have proper shoes to spend several hours in the cold... This was regarded as a hostile attitude towards Soviet power. Soon Boris was expelled from the university. He was later reinstated, but in December 1936 he was again summoned to the NKVD. He never returned from there, receiving seven years for “anti-Soviet activities.”

The Zhzhenov family was evicted from Leningrad. In addition to Georgy, his fellow filmmakers and Gerasimov himself stood up for him.

In the summer of 1938, Zhzhenov, together with a group of film actors, went to film in Komsomolsk-on-Amur. On the train they met an American diplomat who was traveling to Vladivostok as part of a delegation. Of course, fellow travelers were talking to each other. After the trip, the NKVD received a report about “contacts with a foreigner.” This plus the reputation of a relative of the “enemy of the people” was quite enough to accuse Zhzhonov of espionage. When Georgy returned to Leningrad, they came for him.

In the famous Leningrad prison "Crosses" Zhzhenov had to go through all the circles of hell. He was interrogated with passion - tortured, beaten, deprived of sleep... Others could not stand the bullying and confessed to the most absurd things. But the athletic, trained artist flatly refused to admit the charge of espionage. As a result, he was not shot, but given five years in the camps.

This is how Zhzhenov ended up in Kolyma, where he had to endure hunger, cold, exhausting work, and the daily struggle for survival... During the war, almost no food was delivered to the Kolyma camps, and prisoners died in the hundreds.

In 1943, the head of a traveling acting propaganda team, Nikanorov, accidentally recognized a former film actor in a scab-covered goner from a penal camp at the Glukhar mine, and first achieved his transfer to his propaganda team, and then to the Magadan Musical Drama Theater, the troupe of which was almost entirely made up of prisoners.

In 1944, the actor's prison term was coming to an end. However, he was summoned to the camp authorities and asked to sign a resolution for an additional term - another 21 months in the camps.