Frunzik Mkrtchyan: funny and sad person. The ancestral curse of Frunzik Mkrtchyan

People's Artist of the USSR Frunzik Mkrtchyan, whose causes of death are not known to everyone, was a famous Soviet and Armenian actor theater and cinema, theater director.

Frunzik was born in 1930 in Leninakan (now Gyumri) in Armenia. His father was a timekeeper at the factory, and his mother was a dishwasher in the factory canteen. Ros Mkrtchyan together with his brother Albert and two sisters - Ruzanna and Klara.

Even in childhood, Frunzik began to show acting abilities. After leaving school, he got a job at a club at a textile mill, where he was an assistant projectionist. At that time, he had already started playing in a local drama club, and then entered the studio at the Leninakan drama theater... In 1947, Mkrtchyan was enrolled in the theater troupe of this theater.

In 1956, the artist graduated from the Yerevan Theater University and became an actor at the Sandukyan Theater. In the same year he made his film debut. It was a cameo role in the film "The Mystery of Lake Sevan". It is noteworthy that after editing, only Mkrtchyan's leg was left in the picture. But in the theater, things were going much better for him. He became a recognizable actor, many began to go to the theater on Frunzik.

Mkrtchyan had a more significant role in the 1960 film "Boys of the Musical Commands". In it, he played a musician named Arsen. The next 5 years the actor did not act anywhere, but in 1965 he played in the famous comedy Danelia "Thirty-three". However, at first the painting was prohibited by the authorities.

A year later, Mkrtchyan played one of his most famous roles - Dzhabrail's uncle in the comedy “ Caucasian captive"Gaidai. After this role, Frunzik began to be recognized throughout the USSR. In the same year he played big role in the film "Aybolit-66" Bykov.

In the 70s, Frunzik's wife fell ill, he had to give up various roles. But already in the second half of the 70s came the comedy "Mimino", where Mkrtchyan played one of the main roles together with Kikabidze. Many of his phrases became catchphrases and are still quoted, and the picture is repeated on TV channels every year.

Many also remember the role of Mkrtchyan in the drama "The Soldier and the Elephant". For this role he was awarded the first prize for the best acting work at the All-Union Film Festival in Yerevan. Then Frunzik starred in "Vanity of vanities", where he performed the main role... In 1978, the artist was awarded the USSR State Prize, and in 1984 - the title of People's Artist of the USSR.

In the 80s, Mkrtchyan stopped acting. He refused all roles, but sometimes continued to play in the theater. In the 90s, he stopped appearing there. They say that the reason for Mkrtchyan's departure from the theater was the fact that the main director was not him, but another person.

Frunzik was married 3 times. His first wife was his classmate Knara, but he was not married to her for long. For the second time, the artist married Donara Pilosian in the mid-50s. She bore him a daughter, Nune, and then a son, Vazgen. After some time, Donara fell ill with an incurable mental illness, inherited from her. As a result, the woman was hospitalized in a mental hospital in France, where she remained. Frunzik raised two children alone. Later, his son Vazgen was diagnosed with the same disease as his mother. He was admitted to the same hospital as his mother. They say that soon they even stopped recognizing each other.

Mkrtchyan's third wife was Tamara Hovhannisyan, daughter of the chairman of the Writers' Union of Armenia. But the couple quickly divorced due to the fact that Frunzik began to abuse alcohol.

The artist died in December 1993. He died in his Yerevan apartment. The official reason death was called a heart attack. The actor's funeral took place on December 31. They were visited by thousands of people.

Frunze Mushegovich Mkrtchyan (July 4, 1930 - December 29, 1993) - Soviet theater and film actor, Armenian by nationality. For the whole acting career starred in more than 35 feature films, also worked for more than 30 years at the Yerevan Theater named after Sundukyan, and later organized his own theater. In 1978, Frunze Mkrtchyan was awarded the USSR State Prize, the second most important prize Soviet Union, and in 1984 he received the title of People's Artist of the USSR.

To understand the full power of his talent, you need to watch not only his work in cinema, where he mainly played comedic roles, but also in the theater.

Frunze Mkrtchyan was born in 1930 in Armenia in the city of Leninakan (now the city of Gyumri) in the family of ordinary workers of a local textile mill. In the 1930s, it was fashion in the USSR to name children in honor of revolutionary heroes, military commanders and other cult figures. So the boy got a name in honor of the Soviet statesman Mikhail Frunze. Later, having already become a famous actor, he wanted to change his name to Mher, which means “bright, sunny”. According to another version, the audience began to call him Mher, when the Theater. Sundukyan, in which Mkrtchyan played, toured Lebanon. According to Frunzik's brother Albert, the actor had two passports: in one he was “Frunze Mkrtchyan”, in the other - “Mher Mkrtchyan”.

In 1952, Mkrtchyan entered the Yerevan Theater Institute, and being in his second year, he began to play at the Theater. Sundukyan. In 1955, the actor made his film debut in cameo in the painting "In Search of the Addressee". Subsequently, a comedic role was entrenched for Mkrtchyan, and he successfully played in such famous paintings, like "Thirty Three" (1965), "Prisoner of the Caucasus, or Shurik's New Adventures" (1966), "Do not Cry!" (1969), “Mimino” (1977), “Lonely hostels” (1983).

Frunzik Mkrtchyan's popularity grew with each film in which he starred. However, the actor's personal life was not going so smoothly. The first time he got married very young and divorced pretty quickly. Mkrtchyan met his second wife, Danara, in the mid-50s, when she came to Leninakan to enter the theater institute. Frunzik and Danara got married and began to work together in the Yerevan theater named after. Sundukyan. Later they had a daughter, Nune, and then a son, Vazgen. It seemed that Mkrtchyan's personal life improved, but suddenly Danara became seriously ill. She had a severe hereditary mental illness which practically did not respond to treatment. Frunzik showed his wife to many specialists, but they just shrugged. Because of her illness, Danara was constantly jealous of her husband, claiming that in every corner of the country where he went on tour, his mistresses were waiting for him. The actor's home life has become a real hell.

Due to problems in the family, Mkrtchyan had to give up many roles in films. They gradually began to forget about him. Fame returned to the actor in the late 1970s, when he starred in his triumphant role in the film "Mimino", for which he received the USSR State Prize. But Danara's condition worsened, and Mkrtchyan had to hospitalize her in a psychiatric hospital in France without the right to leave there. Frunzik was left alone with two children. After a while, his daughter Nune married a student from Argentina and went to his homeland. Shortly thereafter, Vazgen was diagnosed with the same disease as Danara. Mkrtchyan did not lose hope of curing his son, but all his efforts were in vain. Vazgen was admitted to the same clinic as his mother. They said that, meeting in the hospital corridor, they never recognized each other. Mkrtchyan tried to re-establish family life and married Tamara Hovhannisyan, the daughter of the chairman of the Writers' Union of Armenia. But after a few years, the couple broke up.

Due to the disorder in his personal life, Mkrtchyan began to abuse alcohol. He almost did not act in films, left the theater. Once Frunzik was hospitalized in the hospital, where he had clinical death, and the doctors literally pulled the actor out of the afterlife. On December 29, 1993, Mkrtchyan drank a lot again. His brother Albert, who had been caring for him all this time, became worried when the next morning Frunzik did not answer his phone calls. Going to his apartment, Albert found that his brother had died. The death of Frunzik Mkrtchyan was a huge tragedy for the Armenian people, because the beloved actor was only 63 years old. Farewell to him took place on December 31, 1993. Thousands of people followed Mkrtchyan's coffin, seeing him off on his last journey.

After the death of Frunzik, his mentally ill son was adopted by his brother Albert. Vazgen Mkrtchyan died in 2004 from cirrhosis of the liver at the age of 33. Nune Mkrtchyan died after a serious operation in 1998, having outlived her father by only 5 years.

As a child, Frunzik was helpless, everyone laughed at him, he was thin, with a big nose, but it turned out that God gave him a huge acting talent. He lived like this all his life - he was a funny and sad person at the same time. And the USSR adored its talent.
- Albert Mkrtchyan

Frunzik wanted death, he was eager for her, he dreamed of her, brutally extinguishing his vital instincts. It was not time that ruined him, and not an addiction to wine and tobacco ... No, he deliberately went to his own destruction, not having the strength to survive the illness of his son and wife - a huge family grief.
... Actor from start to finish. We, colleagues, stood behind the scenes, watched and waited for what he would do new in the role today. We knew that he would definitely improvise, and it was a brilliant improvisation. It's amazing what resourcefulness he had. He could make the whole audience laugh. I remember his performances, which began with Homeric laughter in auditorium and this laughter continued throughout the performance. In general, Frunzik was amazing person- the day started with a song and was happy. On the other hand, he always had a feeling of some kind of tragedy ...
... A person comes into this world with an armful of brushwood and his task is to burn it to the end so that it does not turn into decay. Unfortunately, Frunzik could not burn it all, and there was a lot of fire. We have lost a lot of Frunzik's warmth.
- Khoren Abrahamyan

I understood why mediocrity rules the world. They do not drink and begin to pursue their careers in the morning.

A real comedian, somewhere in the background is tragic. Such were Yevgeny Leonov, Andrei Mironov, Yuri Nikulin, and of course, Frunzik Mkrtchyan ... The Armenians have a phrase: "I will take your pain." This is the highest manifestation of humanity. In me, in many respects, this remained from Frunzik.
- Alla Surikova

The actor who brought the smile off the screen had little to do in his personal life.

In the film "Don't Cry!" the hero of Frunzik Mkrtchyan, sitting in a hole in debt, suddenly turns to his comrade in misfortune: "Do you want some candy? .. But no!" His own fate also played with the “sad funny Armenian”. On July 4, he would have turned 88 years old ...

Difficult childhood

Frunze Mkrtchyan was born on July 4, 1930 in Leninakan (Gyumri) into a family of Armenian refugees who escaped from the Turkish massacre. He was given life by the workers of a textile mill: at the factory that had just been built by that time, Mushegh Mkrtchyan's father was a timekeeper, and Sanam's mother was a dishwasher in the factory canteen. The Armenian Genocide took away all those close to Frunzik's parents. Both parents were raised in an orphanage, and both were picked up just on the road at the age of five. Having created their own family, Mushegh and Sanam gave birth to four children (equally brothers and sisters), whom the father of the family tried to feed in every way. Having received a sentence for stealing several meters of fabric, he felled a forest in Nizhny Tagil for ten years, and all the care of the children fell on the mother and eldest son of Frunzik. The father of the future people's favorite will live only 50 years, and his mother will not be at 59 ...

Ugly favorite

The mother did not hide from the children that she loved Frunzik more than others, and with motherly care she bathed him in the bathroom, even when he grew up. There was simply no one else to feel sorry for her ugly son. Relatives and neighbors recalled that from childhood everyone laughed at the touchingly helpless Frunzik - and not only during the home performances that he gave in communal apartment... He had two names: the official Frunze (in honor of the hero civil war Mikhail Frunze) and Mher (this was the name of the son in the family), but those around him called out to the colorful boy only by his nickname - Nose.

Only over time, the owner of a “proud profile” learned to treat the recognizable flaw in his own appearance philosophically: instead of a passport, he showed his long hooked nose with a hump to border guards at airports and made fun of himself in jokes. When on stage he is entrusted with the main role in Cyrano de Bergerac, the artist will joke that the theater decided to save money on the make-up artist. At the premiere, Frunzik, by the way, greatly reduced the main monologue of his hero, explaining this to his friend Vakhtang Kikabidze in his usual manner: “Bubadzhan, when you talk about your nose for a long time, it is unpleasant for Armenians”.

Comedian without a smile

But the biggest nose will not hide the sad eyes and broken eyebrows of the artist, whom his colleagues described as "a comedian without a smile."

For the expressive face of the assistant projectionist in the factory club, they first took him to an amateur drama club at a textile combine, then to the studio and troupe of the Leninakan Theater, to the Yerevan Theater and Art Institute and the Armenian Theater in Yerevan. And Mkrtchyan was invited to act in films during his studies - the first picture with his participation was released in 1955 ("In Search of the Addressee"). During his not long life by Caucasian standards (63 years), the artist played in 56 films, creating the beloved characters in “Don't Cry” and “Mimino”, “Prisoner of the Caucasus” and “Vanity of Vanities”. In his creative arsenal - the First Prize for the best actor's work in the film "The Soldier and the Elephant" at the All-Union Film Festival in Yerevan and the USSR State Prize for his work in "Mimino".

The People's Artist of the USSR was truly loved by the people: everyone he met called Mkrtchyan into his house, they let him everywhere without tickets and money, and at the performances they applauded for the fact that he just went on stage. The New York Times, for example, had an article entitled “Five Minutes of Mher Mkrtchyan's Silence”. In the United States, the artist went out to the audience, which did not understand either Armenian or Russian, and just silently looked into the hall, filled with laughter. Frunzik stood calmly in front of the audience, giving vent to their feelings, and then bowed and left.

Personal grief

He was everywhere "his", never boasted of fame and did not talk in an interview about personal tragedies, which began as a student, when the parents of their beloved Juliet refused the young man in the hand of their beautiful daughter. Out of frustration, Mkrtchyan married a classmate, but the marriage with Knara broke up a year later. Within the walls of the theater institute, Frunzik met his second wife, the star of the course Donara Pilosyan. Friends dissuaded him from marrying a talented but impulsive actress with unpredictable behavior and frequent mood swings that alarmed everyone. Later, Frunzik's wife will have a severe hereditary mental illness that would ruin the life of her unhappy spouse.

Whenever Mkrtchyan was approved for the role, Donara insisted on filming together. Only thanks to her husband, she starred in an episode in "Prisoner of the Caucasus", where she played the wife of Dzhabrail - the hero of Mkrtchyan. Women's jealousy was mixed with creative jealousy, and the spouse, who did not know how to control herself, was hysterical and fought not only at home, but also in public: she made scandals in the theater when her husband simply greeted the actresses.

Having given birth to her second child, Donara stopped taking care of children altogether, the care of which fell on Frunzik Mkrtchyan. The son was only 2 years old and the daughter 12 when their mother became depressed. The artist had to be torn between work and home, because there was no one to feed and wash the children.

When his wife was diagnosed with schizophrenia, Frunzik collected all the money and sent Donara to France for treatment. After the foreign doctors, their Armenian colleagues tried to treat her, but no one could give any hope of recovery. Until the end of her days, the woman remained under the supervision of doctors in psychiatric hospitals: first in Yerevan, and for the last 25 years of her life - in Sevan.

The truth is in wine

In his third marriage, Frunzik married Tamara, the daughter of the chairman of the Writers' Union of Armenia Hrachya Hovhannisyan. When one of his friends jokingly asked if he was a frequent visitor to the registry office, Frunzik humorously replied: “Chaplin got married eight times. And how am I worse? "

But this step of the father was not approved by his daughter Nune, who emigrated after marriage to Argentina. Unfortunately, the family did not work out, and Frunzik had only one joy left - his son Vazgen. Alas, his behavior soon began to give cause for concern. The examination confirmed that the boy had the same disease as his mother.

Drooping Mkrtchyan sent his son to the very clinic where his wife was treated. When the doctors showed Vazgen to Donara, mother and son did not recognize each other ...

Frunzik forgot his misfortunes in work and glass. He drank as much as he filmed. Each shooting day ended for the artist in a restaurant. During the work on the painting "Mimino" because of Mkrtchyan's binges, shooting was even canceled several times. Georgy Danelia offered his favorite actor a choice: a role or alcohol. After holding out without alcohol for several days, sad Frunzik shared his sad thoughts with the director: “I understood why mediocrity rules the world: they don't drink and that's it. free time spend on a career. "

"I'm not alone"

Once Frunzik was asked why he alone wanders the city at night. The artist was surprised: “Why am I alone? Dogs walk, cats - I'm not alone ... ".
When the Soviet cinema collapsed, Mkrtchyan began to create his own theater in Yerevan and as theater director staged performances in Armenia and abroad. But his life was already running out.
Frunzik did not attach importance to the fact that he was in a pre-infarction state. A heart attack struck him on December 29, 1993. God gives such death good people: the actor stopped breathing in his sleep.

“Frunzik self-destructed due to the fact that life was not a joy for him,” said the artist's brother and head of his theater, Albert Mkrtchyan. "He did not spare himself deliberately, because he suffered from the illness of his son and wife."
The brother adopted Vazgen's nephew, but at the age of 33, Mkrtchyan's son died of cirrhosis of the liver. Father and daughter survived for a short time: Nune did not become operated on for a tumor after five years - during the recovery period, a clotting clot occurred (the artist's 34-year-old granddaughter Gayane Terteryan remained to live in Buenos Aires). Frunzik's brother, screenwriter and director Albert Mkrtchyan, also died this year.

What remains is the Yerevan Artistic Theater, created by the actor, which bears the name of Frunze Mkrtchyan, and his works are in film and stone: monuments to his heroes stand in Moscow, Tbilisi, Yerevan and Dilijan.
In Armenia Frunzik Mkrtchyan - national hero... A museum named after him was opened in his homeland in Gyumri, and a monument to a talented fellow countryman was erected in front of the building of the local drama theater. His portraits hang in Armenian homes and offices, and on the artist's grave in the pantheon of the park named after Komitas in Yerevan all year round- Natural flowers…

Centre" - " Frunzik Mkrtchyan. The tragedy of a funny man"(13.30), and" Russia K "- films" Men"(15.20) and" Sad story the last clown. Frunze Mkrtchyan" (16.30).

Frunzik Mkrtchyan was born in Armenia, in the city of Leninakan (now called Gyumri). His parents - father Mushegh and mother Sanam - worked in a textile factory. Frunzik drew excellently since childhood. His father wanted him to become an artist, but the boy suddenly fell ill with the theater. He hung a blanket on staircase(the apartment was on the second floor) and staged performances, which were attended by both children and adult neighbors.

Parents named him Frunzik, - recalled younger brother actor Albert Mkrtchyan, - in honor of the Soviet military leader Mikhail Frunze. In the 30s, Armenians were accused of nationalism, so they began to give to children strange names... And when many years later the Sundukyan Theater, where his brother worked, toured Lebanon, the local Armenians named him Mher. This biblical name, which in translation means "Sun", really liked the brother.

sunny Boy

Frunzik was actually light, sunny child- gentle, trusting and very kind. He loved to joke and be mischievous. True, already in childhood he amazed everyone with his sad eyes. It seemed that even then he knew his whole life in advance - difficult, tragic. Who knows, if he had not tied himself to the acting profession, maybe everything would have turned out differently?

As a child, Frunzik was helpless, everyone laughed at him, he was thin, with a big nose. And suddenly it turned out that God gave him a huge acting talent, - said Albert Mkrtchyan.

Little Frunzik loved Charlie Chaplin and often compared himself to him.

Chaplin for me is like Bach in music - the teacher of humanity, - said the actor. - Just as life is teeming with surprises, so Chaplin never ceased to amaze me. Once a Moscow television filmed about me documentary... It began with shots where little boy watches a film with Chaplin in the cinema and is eager to play a movie. It was pure truth... I became a comedian because I dreamed about it since childhood.

When the war began, Frunzik's father went to the front, his mother worked as a dishwasher, and Frunzik spent whole days in the projectionist's booth in the factory House of Culture. Prior to that, leaving school at thirteen years old, he was a shoemaker's apprentice, a puppet master, and even a clothes cutter. The projectionist took the boy to theater studio, they took him. And soon he entered the stage of an amateur theater. In his first performance, Frunzik had to say: "You have a letter from the prince!" But as soon as he appeared on stage, the audience began to laugh. Frunzik looked into the hall and said: "You know, hand over this letter to the prince yourself - I have no time, I have things to do." He said - and ran backstage, where there was also deafening laughter. Frunzik was upset, but after years he realized that laughter in the audience is a sign of a good game. And then, leaving the House of Culture, he realized something else for himself, that he could no longer live without the theater.

"I was laughing so hard here!"

In 1956, Mkrtchyan graduated from the Yerevan Theater and Art Institute and was immediately admitted to Academic theater named after Sundukyan in Yerevan. At the same time, he played his first role in the film " Looking for the addressee».

Theatrical triumph began with Frunzik from the very first roles, - said Albert Mkrtchyan. - As a second-year student at the theater institute, he received an invitation to the Theater. Sundukyan for the role of Aesop, which he was supposed to play in tandem with his teacher. After the first performance, the teacher approached Frunzik, kissed him and gave up the role.

Then there were films: “ 33 » George Danelia,

« Aibolit-66» Rollana Bykova,

« Prisoner of the Caucasus, or Shurik's New Adventures» Leonid Gaidai.

But the real popularity of Mkrtchyan was brought by the role of the driver Khachikyan in the film Danelia “ Mimino».

The phrases of the hero Mkrtchyan from “Mimino” became popular: “Why don't you eat kefir? What, don't you like it? "," Thank you, I'll stand on foot! " ? "... All of them were invented by the actor himself.

Danelia gave him the opportunity for complete improvisation. So, for example, Frunzik persuaded the director to shoot an episode in which his Khachikyan and the hero Kikabidze ride in an elevator together with two completely identical Japanese. In the frame, one Japanese man said to another: "How are these Russians alike!" But, unfortunately, for censorship reasons, this scene was not included in the film.

By the way, for this role the only actor from the film group "Mimino" received the State Prize of the USSR.

While working on this tape, the actor began to drink, break down due to problems in the family. Danelia endured for a long time, and then put an ultimatum - you will drink, I will not shoot! For about a week, Frunzik came to the set sober. And somehow he approached Danelia and said with sadness: “I understood why mediocrity rules the world. They don’t drink and start to pursue their careers from the very morning ”.
A few days after that, one of the Mimino scenes was filmed in the restaurant of the Rossiya Hotel. Heroes Kikabidze and Mkrtchyan are trying to dance each other. Frunzik came to this shooting a little drunk, but, despite this, he danced beautifully. However, he could not manage to sit on the twine and pick up the handkerchief that was lying on the floor. One take, the second, the fifth ... Everyone was already tired of laughter, and the red from Mkrtchyan's tension was a pity. Then Danelia called Kikabidze and asked him to grab a handkerchief from under Mkrtchyan's feet. Vakhtang Konstantinovich brilliantly coped with the task, and Mkrtchyan, guessing that he had been outwitted, raised his head and looked at everyone with such an offended look that laughter burst out again on the set.

Donarin the prisoner

Legend has it that Mkrtchyan had two passports: one in the name of "Frunzik Mkrtchyan", and the second - "Mher Mkrtchyan". True, according to rumors, he managed to lose them and lived well without documents. After all, the actor had phenomenal popularity, he was loved in every corner of the Soviet Union.

However, despite universal adoration, Mkrtchyan's personal life did not work out. His first marriage was very short-lived. Then he met beautiful girl by the name Donara, fell in love. When they met, he was over thirty, she was eighteen. He was famous actor, she is a student theater school... Soon Donara became his wife, and she was destined to play fateful role in the life of Mkrtchyan.

Everything went well at first. Donara played with her husband in " Caucasian captive". (In the picture, she played the role of the wife of the driver comrade Saakhov, who bitterly tells the hero Yuri Nikulin about local customs - bride kidnapping.)

And then the couple had a son, Vazgen, and a daughter, Nune. Frunzik idolized children, loaded up with toys, which, by the way, he also loved.
- He was interested in everything, - Albert Mkrtchyan said, - how, for example, toy pigeons are arranged, which fly into the sky and then return to your hands. Frunzik disassembled them, trying to understand the structure of the mechanism. And, of course, then I could not put it back together.

Over the years, oddities began to appear in the behavior of Mkrtchyan's wife. Donara tried not to let her husband go a step. She became pathologically jealous, arranged terrible scenes of jealousy for her husband. Friends advised Frunzik to show her to a psychiatrist, who made a disappointing diagnosis - schizophrenia. After treatment in Armenia, he moved his wife to one of the French psychiatric clinics... But all efforts were in vain, Donara died. Frunzik started drinking.

When he was 54, he remarried. His chosen one was the daughter of the chairman of the Writers' Union of Armenia Tamara Hovhannisyan- a prominent girl, 25 years younger than Mkrtchyan.

According to the recollections of friends, when someone asked him what kind of marriage you have, the actor jokingly replied: “Chaplin got married eight times. Am I worse? "
Unfortunately, this marriage did not make Mkrtchyan's life happier (Tamara resembled her former spouse in character and temperament), and he soon broke up.
Frunzik, who was always among people, now fell in love with loneliness.

Once he was asked why he walks alone on the night streets, Frunzik was surprised: “Why alone? Cats walk, dogs. So I'm not alone, ”his younger brother recalled. - He was surprisingly thin and kind person... Even too kind. Everyone had complaints against him, but he did not have them against anyone. Frunzik was a real people's deputy, unofficial, of course. Helped thousands of people. Nobody could refuse him ...

Children, too, did not become a joy for Frunzik. After marriage, the actor's daughter Nune moved to Argentina. And the son of Vazgen, too, like his mother, began to have strange things. Frunzik showed him to the best psychiatrists, but they all gave his son the same diagnosis as his wife. Alas, schizophrenia is inherited - it is impossible to get rid of it.

Death wish

V last years Frunzik refused movie roles. “At my age, they no longer play,” he remarked bitterly. He dreamed of his own theater and spent all his energy on its creation. However, he did not have time to fully enjoy his brainchild ...

We sat and talked about art. Then I put him to bed and drove home for a few hours. It was five in the evening. When I got home, I immediately began to call Frunzik - I had some kind of bad feeling. Frunzik's phone was faulty. And at seven in the evening they called me and said that he was no longer there. He felt bad, and the ambulance was unable to do anything. Heart attack ...

Frunzik Mkrtchyan was 63 years old ...

He wanted death, he was eager for her, he dreamed of her, brutally extinguishing life instincts in himself, - said his younger brother. “It was not time that ruined him, and not an addiction to wine and tobacco ... No, he deliberately went to his own death, not having the strength to survive the illness of his son and wife - a huge family grief.

He was buried under New Year, December 31, at the Pantheon of Heroes of the Armenian Spirit in Yerevan.
Why did the genius actor have so many trials and troubles? What is it - rock, hanging over his fate, or payment for an incredible talent?

Frunzik's daughter Nune died five years after the death of her father, then his son Vazgen died. And two years ago, his younger brother Albert died, too. last day was artistic director Theater Mher (Frunzik) Mkrtchyan ...

Dmitry Sergeev

The audience's favorite Frunzik Mkrtchyan is an outstanding Soviet actor who played in films that were later named Soviet classics, People's Artist of the USSR and laureate of the USSR State Prize. The actor played many characters, whose words quickly became aphorisms and firmly entered the speech of viewers.

Mkrtchyan Frunzik Mushegovich was born in Armenia, in the city of Gyumri (then Leninakan), in 1930. Full name artist - Frunze (Mher) Mushegovich Mkrtchyan: Mkrtchyan had two names. At home he was called Mher (translated from Armenian "light"), and officially - Frunze.

The artist's father Mushegh Mkrtchyan worked as a timekeeper at the factory, his mother Sanam Mkrtchyan worked as a dishwasher in the factory canteen. In addition to his brother Albert (now he works as the artistic director of the Yerevan Mkrtchyan Theater), Frunze had sisters Ruzanna and Klara.

Frunzik Mkrtchyan with young years showed acting talents. After graduating from school in 1945, Frunze immediately went to work. At first he worked in a club at a textile mill, acting as an assistant projectionist. During this period, he enjoyed playing in a local drama circle. Then, for a year, Mkrtchyan studied at the studio at the Leninakan Drama Theater. In 1947, the aspiring artist was enrolled in the theater troupe.

Films

In 1956, after graduating from the Yerevan Theater University, Mkrtchyan became an actor in the troupe of the Sandukyan Theater. The same year was the year of the debut of the aspiring actor in the cinema. He starred in a tiny role in the film "The Mystery of Lake Sevan". As a result of editing, only Frunzik's leg appeared in the frame. But if Mkrtchyan's film career was just beginning, then in the theater his affairs were going brilliantly. At that time, the audience went to the performances “on Mkrtchyan”.

Young Frunzik Mkrtchyan in the film "Guys of the Music Team"

The full-fledged debut of the artist in the cinema happened in 1960 in the film "Guys of the Musical Team", in which Frunzik played Arsen, a cheerful musician. Then a five-year break followed, when the artist did not act at all. In 1965, Frunze starred in the comedy "Thirty Three". With the role of Mkrtchyan coped well, but "above" the picture was banned as ideologically harmful.

But fame was already on the threshold of the artist. A year later, the legendary comedy "Prisoner of the Caucasus" appeared on the big screens of the country. Viewers remember Frunze well as his uncle the main character- Dzhabraila. It is interesting that the role of Dzhabrail's wife was then played by the artist's second wife, Donara.

Frunzik Mkrtchyan in the film "Lonely Hostels Are Provided"

The same 1966 gave Mkrtchyan another wonderful role, which brought the actor additional fame. Frunze played one of the three handsome bandits in the film "Aibolit-66". Now Frunze Mkrtchyan was famous throughout the country and was considered the best comedy artist in the country.

The first half of the 70s was not the best in the artist's career. Due to the illness of his wife, Frunze abandoned many good roles. But the second half of the 70s delighted the admirers of Frunzik's talent. Came out on screens new comedy Danelia "Mimino". Wonderful, bright and light picture, where Mkrtchyan played in a duet. Many phrases from the film become winged, and the picture itself collects huge queues at the cinemas. The romantic artist with a comedic talent and sad eyes was loved by everyone, without exception. He was adored and colleagues in the shop.

Also, the actor's biography was replenished with the shrill and largely metaphorical film "The Soldier and the Elephant". The plot of the picture is based on real events and tells how Soviet soldiers during the battles already on German territory they found an elephant stolen to Germany. It was decided to return the animal to the Yerevan Zoo, so the soldier, who was ordered to deliver the animal, and the elephant set off on a long journey through the cities and villages destroyed by the war. An uncomplicated road story became a way to show a lot: the horrors of war, the humane side of soldiers, the heroism of Soviet soldiers, mercy to people and animals. The film took part in the All-Union Film Festival in Yerevan, Frunzik Mkrtchyan received the first prize for the best actor's work.

Frunzik Mkrtchyan in the movie "The Soldier and the Elephant"

In the late 70s, another iconic film by the actor was released. Mkrtchyan starred in Alla Surikova's drama “Vanity of Vanities”. Like many films of the period, Vanity of Vanities featured ordinary family faced with everyday problems that gradually ousted love from marriage. The main character, the role of which was played by Frunzik Mkrtchyan, left his wife, whom he played, but the seemingly uncomplicated adventures that began after that convinced him that he was losing too much by leaving the family.

In 1978, Frunze Mkrtchyan received the USSR State Prize, and in 1984 he became People's Artist THE USSR.

Frunzik Mkrtchyan in recent years

In the mid-80s, Frunze Mkrtchyan was no longer removed. He is offered good roles, but he invariably refuses, jokingly arguing that at his age they no longer play in films.

And in the early 90s, Frunzik Mkrtchyan left his beloved theater. He was offended by the decision of the collective, which chose not him as the main director, who gave this theater 35 years of his life, but Khoren Abrahamyan. The artist set about creating his own theater, but fate did not give him so many years until the last act.

Personal life

Frunzik Mkrtchyan's personal life was tragic. All three marriages ended sadly. The first wife of the actor was his classmate Knara, but the marriage broke up almost immediately.

Mkrtchyan met his second wife Donara Pilosyan in the mid-50s. The girl came to enter the Leninakan theater university. The young artists got married and started working together. First they had a daughter, Nune, and soon a son, Vazgen, was born. And when it seemed that everything was working out for the young family and it was possible to live and work happily, Donara fell ill. Doctors discovered that she had an incurable mental illness that was inherited.

Frunze showed his wife to eminent specialists, but they could not help. The wife began to be terribly jealous of Mkrtchyan, she dreamed that he had mistresses everywhere, and he was leaving not on tour, but from the family. The actor's personal life turned into hell. These problems at some point were reflected in the actor's career - he had a major break in significant roles and major projects.

Donara's condition gradually worsened. Mkrtchyan had to agree to hospitalization of his wife in a psychiatric hospital in France without the right to leave. Mkrtchyan was left alone with two children. Soon, the daughter left for Argentina, and the doctors discovered the same disease in the son as in the mother. All Mkrtchyan's efforts to cure Vazgen were in vain. The son was admitted to the same clinic as his mother. They said that when they met in the corridor, they never recognized each other.

The personal life of Frunzik Mkrtchyan briefly played light colors when he married for the third time. His wife was Tamara Hovhannisyan, the daughter of the chairman of the Writers' Union of Armenia, but this marriage soon fell apart. It was during this period that the artist, according to the press, began to abuse alcohol. He left first from the cinema, and then from the theater.

Death

The diseases of the closest people and major problems at work knocked down the artist. Alcohol, to which, according to rumors, the actor turned for consolation, most likely, became the cause of the death of Frunzik Mkrtchyan. Due to alcohol, the actor has already had one clinical death, but the doctors managed to get him out of the afterlife. But the members of Mkrtchyan's family do not confirm the version of the press about the actor's alcohol dependence, although they mention his addiction to "wine and tobacco."

Subsequently, his brother Albert began to look after the actor, who became worried when he learned that he did not get in touch. Later, Albert recalled that Frunzik's phone was broken, you can only make calls from him, but not receive calls, but some bad feeling did not allow his brother to calm down. When Albert came to check on his brother, he found him dead.

Frunzik Mkrtchyan passed away on December 29, 1993, when he turned 63. The official cause of death was a heart attack. It was a real tragedy, many believed that the actor could play many more star roles... Despite the holiday, the whole of Yerevan gathered for the funeral of the beloved artist on December 31, thousands of people followed the artist's coffin to the grave in the Pantheon of the geniuses of the Armenian spirit in Yerevan. We grieved about our favorite artist not only in Armenia, but in everything the former Soviet Union... He really was loved by the people.

Frunzik's daughter Nune Mkrtchyan died of cancer in 1998, having survived her father for only a few years. Gayane's granddaughter (Irene) lives in Argentina. The son of Vazgen Mkrtchyan, who brought so many sorrowful experiences to his father, died at the age of 33 from cirrhosis.

Frunzik Mkrtchyan with his daughter Nunk and granddaughter Irene

Now a total of five monuments are dedicated to the actor - four of them are included in compositions based on cult films with the participation of Frunzik Mkrtchyan, and one personal. In Gyumri, on small homeland Mkrtchyan, a museum named after him was opened. In 2006, a postage stamp dedicated to the actor was issued in Armenia.

Filmography

• Prisoner of the Caucasus, or Shurik's New Adventures
• Aibolit-66
• Adam and Heva
• Triangle
• Yesterday, today and always
• Mimino
• Vanity
• In front of a closed door
• Song of the days gone by
• Lonely hostel is provided
• Soldier and elephant