On January 25, Vladimir Vysotsky would have turned 85 years old. Today, for most, he is a poet and singer who performed his songs with nerves, as if he felt the pulse and pain of time. Surprisingly, the man who hired Vladimir Semenovich to work at the Taganka Theater is still alive. Fate destined him to close the lid of the coffin of the artist beloved by millions.
“I have something to sing when I appear before the Almighty”: Vladimir Vysotsky was born 85 years ago / Authors: Elizaveta Sovtsova, Anastasia Kupreenko
Nikolai Lukyanovich Dupak is 102 years old. God gave him a long life and a clear memory. No one knows Vysotsky like this anymore.
“Why do we need another alcoholic?..”
Lyubimov categorically did not want to hire Vysotsky. He said: “Why do we need another alcoholic?” Volodya was recommended to me by his classmate Taya Dodina. She asked to give him a chance, saying that he was very talented. “Taya! – I told her. -Where can I take it? We have 50 people on staff, but actually 75.” But she found words that touched me, and I invited Vysotsky to audition. He came and showed Chelkash, who didn’t seem to be very good. Lyubimov says to him dryly: “Thank you.”
Then Vysotsky asked permission to sing. I took the guitar and sang three songs. Lyubimov asked him: “Whose words are these?” Volodya replied that the words were his. On this we parted. I convinced Lyubimov to take him on for three months under an agreement.
If it works out, it’s great; if it doesn’t work out, it’s not fate. Then we worked on “A Hero of Our Time”, staged a play for Lermontov’s anniversary. Vysotsky was given a tiny role as a staff captain. There you had to say one phrase: “Nature is a fool, fate is a turkey, and life is a penny, what a fool you are, brother.”
He did everything simply brilliantly and stayed in the theater. When I suggested Vysotsky to Lyubimov for the role of Hamlet, he lost his temper: “Nikolai Lukyanovich, don’t be ridiculous! Well, which one is Hamlet?!” At this time, the poet Konstantin Simonov happened to be nearby. He listened and said: “I think this is interesting, I would try Vysotsky for this role.” “To hell with you, try it,” Lyubimov waved his hand.
I rehearsed with Vysotsky, Glagolev with Filatov, and Lyubimov with Zolotukhin. When they started watching, it was immediately clear that Volodya had put everyone on their backs. No, Zolotukhin could play, and Filatov could, but Vysotsky hit such a height, such a note that no one can surpass him. That’s how he played this immortal role.
Volodya was reliable and always came to the rescue. And how he helped me as a director with endless construction projects and renovations – one of his concerts opened dozens of doors.
“Why does he get away with everything?!”
The next party congress, our theater welcomes communist delegations from 23 countries. Before the performance, my assistant comes running and says: “Vysotsky can’t stand on his feet.” God! I run to Volodya’s dressing room, and he, as they say, doesn’t give a damn. Like, Nikolai Lukyanovich, forgive me. Like a kid, I gave him a couple of slaps on the head: “Are you crazy?!” The Politburo is in the hall! In response, a moo. I tell him: “You are now going on stage with me, your task is simply to stand for a few minutes with your head bowed. I’ll do the rest. I will say that, unfortunately, the performance cannot take place; the artist Vysotsky has completely lost his voice. Make apologetic gestures, but just don’t fall into the auditorium. And so they did. I told the audience that I had two offers: return the money or show the performance in three days. During this time, the artist Vysotsky promised to return his voice. The audience stood up and deafened us with applause. Not a single one returned the tickets. After that, I put Vysotsky in the car and sent him to the doctors I knew, who pulled him out from the other world more than once. Three days later the hall was full, and Volodya simply performed the performance brilliantly.
Theater artists often had hysterics: why did Vysotsky get away with everything? I heard questions like this all the time. And, to be honest, sometimes I didn’t know what to answer. I remember on tour in Leningrad, when Vysotsky had another binge, the troupe almost unanimously voted for his dismissal. There were replacements, there were very difficult conversations, everything happened.
He could come up to me and say: “Nikolai Lukyanovich, let me go for three days. We need to fly to Magadan, gold miners pay 10 thousand for a concert.” How could I not let him go? “Volga” then cost less than he was paid for one performance. No one has ever offered me that kind of money in my life. He returned, went to the second-hand store, bought Marina Vladi a pendant for 6 thousand and was absolutely happy. I, too, was happy from the realization that I had something to do with his peasant and human joy.
One Vysotsky concert opened all doors
Many were angry that he allowed himself certain things. The theater is on tour in Poland, Vysotsky does not come, he says that he cannot. The actors find out that these days he is in France, he and Marina are at the Cannes Film Festival. A riot immediately breaks out in the troupe: Hamlet is announced, but there is no one to play it. Tickets are handed out, scandal.
What to do? We are introducing Valery Zolotukhin to the role of Hamlet; he played one performance simply brilliantly. And for the next performance Vysotsky appeared on stage. This worked very well for him.
Volodya understood perfectly well that he was sick, but there are absolutely devilish things that sit so deeply and firmly in a person that no medicine, no efforts can pull them out. He cried. He wanted to get rid of all this, but the devil did not let him go.
Fight at a funeral
I learned about Vysotsky’s death from David Borovsky, he called me. I was involved in organizing the funeral as the theater director. It was possible to agree on a burial place at both the Vagankovskoye cemetery and the Novodevichy cemetery. Simultaneously. But Marina Vladi and Volodya’s mother, Nina Maksimovna, objected to Novodevichy. Back then, this cemetery was like a department of the CPSU Central Committee: entry was only with passports and passes. Volodya was loved by the people, but who would let the people come to him at Novodevichye? That’s why we settled on Vagankovsky. Although now there is a story that Kobzon came to Vagankovskoye, threw several thousand to the director of the cemetery, and he gave the place. Well what can I say – super! He may have given it later, but only after we had decided everything. Think for yourself, we came to Vagankovskoye with the first secretary of the district party committee, the district committee to which the cemetery then belonged. The director of Vagankovsky was jumping on his hind legs in front of the secretary. It couldn’t have been any other way then. Therefore, which Kobzon and which thousands?
At the funeral, the authorities were terribly afraid of a riot. On the day of farewell, Grishin, the first secretary of the Moscow City Party Committee, invited me to his place at eight in the morning. He expressed his condolences and asked: “How are you going to organize the funeral?” I said that there would be a funeral service in the theater within a few hours. “Keep in mind one thing: you need to bury before sunset. Because there is such a sign…” Grishin said with emphasis. During the farewell, a fight broke out in my office; Yuri Petrovich Lyubimov and Glinsky, an employee of Grishin’s office, fought all the time: “Finish it, finish it!” The line to the coffin stretched from the Kremlin itself, Lyubimov said that we would say goodbye to the last person in this line. Glinsky was in a hurry, Lyubimov could not stand it… And away we go! They grabbed each other by the chest and started fighting. I could barely separate it.
I also remember that the KGB officers were in darkness in the theater that day. One warned me in a stern whisper not to make any speeches in the cemetery. I found this to be insensitive. I think: Mykola, you are a front-line soldier, why should you be afraid of these idiots? It would be a sin if we bury Volodya without telling him the last word. In short, I made up my mind and expressed everything that was in my heart at the grave. I remember my last words: “The kingdom of heaven and earth to you!” After these words, we closed the lid of the coffin and lowered it into the ground. I told you, everything is as it was. Why lie to me, I’ll go to God soon…
Reference
Nikolai Dupak was born in 1921, Honored Artist of the RSFSR, Honored Artist of Ukraine. He began acting in films with Alexander Dovzhenko, in the film “Taras Bulba” he played Andrey. Front-line soldier, commander of a cavalry squadron, wounded three times and seriously shell-shocked. Participant in the Battle of Stalingrad. For a quarter of a century he was the director of the Taganka Theater, the most visited theater in Moscow. He starred in more than 80 films.
Vysotsky dedicated song lines to Dupak: “To be or not to be?” – We didn’t mess it up in vain. Of course – to be, but only on the alert. Do you remember the structures fell? But everyone is alive, thanks to Dupak…” He wrote these lines after an incident at one of the rehearsals, when the artists miraculously remained alive after metal decorations fell.
Author: Alexander Yaroshenko, Rossiyskaya Gazeta
