Mikhail Ivanovich Pugovkin was born in 1923. People's Artist of the RSFSR (1977) , In the cinema since 1941 - "The Artamonov Case".. On the second day of the war, as a seventeen-year-old boy, he "broke through" to the South-Western Front. He fought in reconnaissance near Smolensk, near Vyazma. In the 42nd, he was seriously wounded and was given a commission. He studied at the Moscow Art Theater studio school. He worked at the Northern Fleet Theater (since 1947), the Moscow Theater named after him. Leninsky Komsomol (1950 -1958) and (1962 to 1977-in the Theater-Studio of a film actor. He starred in more than seventy films, among which were movie hits of his time: "Admiral Ushakov", "Kuban Cossacks", "The Case of the Motley Ones", "The New Adventures of Captain Vrungel". In the Russian cinema, he played a record number of roles of military heroes. In eight films, he played the role of a sailor. "Regular" soldier and foreman - in "Fit for non-combat", "They were nineteen", "Bag full of hearts", "First Day of Freedom", "May Stars", "Wedding in Malinovka", "Kutuzov", "Fortress on wheels". In the" Unconquered battalion "- colonel, in "Ordered to take alive "" rose to the rank of general.

Brass trumpets sounded, young gymnasts from the former pioneer camp "Artek" worked out their program without a hack, fun spread all over the Yalta embankment with fireworks and a sea of smiles. Mikhail Ivanovich Pugovkin was the center of everyone's attention. He sat solemnly on a royal throne located in the back of a rolling truck.

It was obvious that the "tsar" liked the festivities and was in a clear mood. When he raised a low hand in response to the cheering citizens, his gold-embroidered brocade robe opened slightly, revealing a green-checkered shirt that tellingly hinted that he was an artist. Forgetting about her age, the actor's wife ran after ZIL: "Misha, Misha, hold on to your mantle!": "Irka, you understand, this is just a symbol!" In front of the throne was a fake movie camera, decommissioned by the Yalta film studio ten years ago.

My camera roll recorded all the turns of the famous actor's head with lightning speed. A torrent of heavy rain brought us under the awning of a small commercial store window in the blink of an eye. A few seconds later, the owner of the restaurant was already inviting him to a small makeshift table, on which there was a monstrous bottle of cognac. Pugovkin spread his hands: "Well, how can you not get drunk in this city!"

- Mikhail Ivanovich, it's been eight years since you left the bustling capital. Why did they change Moscow to Yalta?

"The Western stars live on islands. And I didn't "make it" financially. So we have to settle for the peninsula.

- Does Russia remind you of itself with any pleasant surprises? Well, for example, a little money for your not-so-great pension?

- Russia? Difficult question... Rather, it pretends to help. I left... and forgotten. Although recently a lot of people have started calling from newspapers and television: they ask for an interview, to be filmed... I've lived in Moscow for almost fifty years, so why didn't you contact me?.. And now everyone was interested, because I became "foreign". No sooner had I moved to Yalta than a newspaper announced: "Pugovkin has become an emigrant." What is an expat? I know people who have one apartment in Paris, another in Moscow, and a third in Baku. What an expat I am!

- Nevertheless, last summer we saw that the 70th anniversary of the ageless film festival attracted all Russian TV, half of the guests from the CIS and many powerful sponsors. They say that Pugovkin has already moved from his famous one-room apartment on the embankment to a chic three-room one...

- Against the background of the broadcast three-hour show, the sponsors first engaged in self-promotion, and then, as soon as the "candles went out", they did it. No, they haven't disappeared, they're all sitting still. Only the apartment promised by the government of Ukraine and Toyota disappeared. Mikhalkov's money for the development of my creative center was taxed so much that Nikita had to take it back.

- Which of your old friends from both movies and life do you maintain a close relationship with?

- You know, in the world of art, cinema and theater, the word "friendship" is a very vague concept, because there is often a black envy between creative people. Making friends with artists is very difficult. Today you can be tripped, tomorrow you can get a broken chair. So I always kind of stayed out of it. Not from life, of course, but from an imaginary friendship. Friendship, brother, in my understanding is a very serious thing, very responsible. But I have a lot of sincere, non-envious friends. Probably a hundred and fifty million. These are my dear viewers.

- Do you feel bored?

- A thinking person is never bored. Sometimes I like to talk to myself. It's also nice to talk to a smart person. Yes, and business does not let you get bored.

"What do you do?"

- My wife Irina Konstantinovna, who is also my manager, and I created a small film center-the Mikhail Putovkin Center. We hold creative evenings, show Russian films, including in the club of the only Russian military sanatorium of the Black Sea Fleet in the Crimea "Yalta". The audience loves them very much. By the way, there are very few folk artists in Yalta: Sofia Rotaru is always on the road, Yuri Bogatikov moved to Simferopol. So all the attention is focused on me alone. They invite you to all sorts of celebrations, holidays. I used to talk about movies in the form of jokes, jokes, so that people would laugh enough. I joke less now, and I've probably grown more serious over the years.

I admire Arkady Raikin. In the second half of his life, he went on stage without masks, and how he could make people laugh: he got to the depths of his soul. A great artist!

- When was the last time you were in a movie?

- In 1992, in the film "Gentlemen artists". Then he took three more photos. But in films that I don't even want to talk about. I'm often offered extravagant roles. But it's not mine. I refuse.

A new generation, their own interests... However, two projects of Vsevolod Shilovsky and Alexander Abdulov, proposed during the anniversary evening, interested me.

- Will Pugovkin still show himself as a comedian? After all, the audience is waiting for you...

- The fact is that I am very serious about choosing a role. You can't just hire me: I will definitely read the script of the upcoming film, find out who wrote the music and songs for it.

By the way, I don't consider myself a comedian. I am a sharp-witted artist. What is a comedian? He came on stage and everyone roared with laughter. And an artist like me should earn the audience's laughter. You know the difference, right?

- Mikhail Ivanovich, how did your career as an actor begin?

"I have a regular biography. At the age of seventeen, he joined the Moscow Brake Factory as an electrician. He took an active part in amateur art activities. I will not hide, I dreamed of acting in a movie. I once announced this to my parents. A terrified mother immediately said to me: "Son, you're crazy, where did you see an artist with such a face?" Once a famous film director came to the performance of our team. When he saw me acting, he was immediately interested and asked me directly if I would like to make a movie. Naturally, I agreed and, of course, with tears in my eyes, told about the assessment that my mother gives me. He laughed for a very long time, then looked at me carefully and said the words that I still remember: "Pugovkin, dear, do not worry and tell your mother that she is mistaken. You, my dear fellow, don't have a face for movies, but, I would say, a whole movie booth!" And then, with his light hand, I starred in the movie "The Artamonov Case" as a young merchant Stepasha Barsky.

- What is your attitude to shooting actors in advertising video clips?

- Positive. But if there is no content, an elementary sense of proportion and taste, then this is a gag, not a clip.

- It remains to traditionally ask about the family, about the personal, so to speak...

"My family is big. There are three daughters and three grandchildren in Moscow, and two adopted sons and four granddaughters in Yalta. As you can see, a grandfather must be in good shape and work hard. Such is fate.

- It turns out that the move to Yalta is not accidental?

"So it turns out. A long time ago, a gypsy woman told me that I should be married three times. I didn't believe it, at that time I considered myself a monogamous person. After living with my first wife for twelve years, we separated. I met another woman, fell in love, and lived for thirty-two years. Then she was gone. I met Irina Konstantinovna. We are now husband and wife. Very happy. As the song sings: "And I don't regret it at all."

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