Birth and family
Misha was born in the city of Stalinsk (now called Novokuznetsk) in the Kemerovo region on December 6, 1957.
His father, Sergei Vasilyevich Evdokimov, born in 1916, had a rural origin. He was born in the Smolensk region in the village of Solonovka, where his father (Mikhail’s grandfather) Vasily Evdokimov settled back in 1870. Sergei Vasilyevich's ancestors were Cossacks, and he himself went through the Finnish and Great Patriotic Wars. In peacetime, he worked at Siberian factories; he had the opportunity to work in many cities of the Kemerovo region - from Anzhero-Sudzhensk to Nizhny Tagil. He was a miner and welder and valued strength most of all in people. No matter what factory or mine Mikhail Evdokimov’s father came to work at, soon his portrait hung on the company’s honor board.
Mother, Evdokimova Anna Petrovna, born in 1924, came from a noble family, worked in a mine. After an industrial accident, when my mother could not hold the trolley and her legs were crushed, she received disability, no longer worked, and was busy with housekeeping and raising children. And seven of them were born in the Evdokimov family, Misha turned out to be average, he had three sisters and three brothers.
Childhood and youth
When Misha was one year old, the family moved to the Smolensk region of the Altai Territory and settled in the village of Verkh-Obskoye. It was this small corner of the earth that the artist called his homeland, here he spent his childhood, here he came every year, already being a famous artist. The house was divided into two halves, with another family living in the second. The Evdokimovs had three rooms for nine people; they lived in cramped conditions, but no offense. The garden saved us from hunger; we ate sweets only on holidays.
Mikhail began to grow up early, helped his parents with agricultural work and raising their younger children, and at the age of ten he worked part-time at a construction site. He also organized concerts for public works, since he showed his creative abilities already from the fifth grade. Misha was great at copying famous people - Roman Kartsev, Viktor Ilchenko, Arkady Raikin. In the summer, when the village people were grazing cattle, Mikhail and his friends organized performances for them.
After graduating from a rural high school, Misha went to Barnaul, where he continued his studies at a cultural and educational school. I studied to become a balalaika player, although not for long, only six months. He organized a musical group with the boys, which performed at dances and in restaurants, for which they were expelled from the educational institution. I had to go to work and learn new professions - a grinder at a motor plant and a canteen administrator.
In 1975, Mikhail was drafted into the army, and for two years he served in Nizhny Tagil in a construction unit. Having been demobilized in 1978, Evdokimov returned to his homeland and got a job at a club in the neighboring village of Ust-Katun.
"Do not worry!"
— Mikhail Evdokimov offered you to become his first deputy?
- No. And I also did not receive the proposal to “create a government under Chertov.” These are just unsubstantiated rumors.
When the formation of Evdokimov’s team began and it became clear who, where and for what purpose came to Altai, what groups were forming around the new governor, I realized that there was no place for me in the administration.
I came to this decision a week and a half after the second round of elections. Although many municipal heads tried to convince me that I needed to stay in the administration, otherwise the region would collapse. But I understood that my candidacy would only interfere with those who had come running to Evdokimov’s team from all over the country.
Nikolai Chertov
Publishing house "Altapress". Dmitry Kudryavtsev
I did not remain in the new administration due to my moral, ethical, business and professional qualities. I could not take responsibility for the conquering team.
— Did you really not meet with Mikhail Sergeevich after the elections?
“We had one meeting when the issue of my departure was being decided. At the same time, the governor, like a real artist, acted out that he was very worried and extremely regretful about my dismissal.
But then I told him: “Misha, don’t worry! I made a decision for myself a long time ago. I won’t work on your team.” Therefore, my departure took place as if with the mutual consent of both parties.
Although subsequently, over the course of a year, I received several offers from Evdokimov, through his representatives, to return to the administration. For me this is absolutely unacceptable today.
Nikolai Chertov
Publishing house "Altapress". Dmitry Kudryavtsev
Creative path
In 1979 he began his studies at the Novosibirsk Institute of Trade. However, his studies interested him much less than amateur performances. Already from his first year, he led the institute KVN team. This is where the talent of the Altai nugget manifested itself in full force - he wrote satirical stories and organized creative evenings. In order to somehow brighten up the dull everyday life of his boring studies as a sales worker, Mikhail tried to get a job at the city philharmonic, but he was not accepted there without the proper education.
Mikhail with his student friends (in the center)
In 1981, he decided to quit his studies and went to Moscow with ten rubles in his pocket. Subsequently, when Evdokimov took up administrative and political activities, he nevertheless graduated from the institute in Novosibirsk, which by that time had already been renamed the Siberian University of Consumer Cooperation. Received a specialist diploma in economics and enterprise management.
In the capital in 1981, Mikhail attempted to become a student at the circus school, but it was unsuccessful. In 1983, he was hired as a spoken word artist at the Moscow Philharmonic.
Evdokimov first appeared on television on Women’s Day on March 8 in 1984 in the festive “Ogonyok”. After a successful debut performance, he began to be invited to many popular programs, including “Around Laughter.” By parodying famous artists and reading his monologues, the artist quickly gained popularity. The audience especially liked his monologue “After the Bath”; he even got quotes.
Real fame came to Evdokimov in 1989, when he became a regular participant in the humorous television program “Full House.” The people fell in love with the image he created of a simple village peasant “with his soul wide open.”
In 1992, he organized the Evdokimov Theater LLC, and headed it for twelve years. Mikhail showed himself not only in the conversational genre, he played in comedy films:
- "Old Nags";
- “About businessman Thomas”;
- “Should we send a messenger?”;
- “I don’t want to get married!”;
- "Don't be a fool."
His original programs were shown on television:
- on the TVC channel “We must live”;
- on “Russia” “Don’t get bored” and “Mikhail Evdokimov among friends”;
- on ORT “Enjoy your bath!”
CDs with Evdokimov's songs were also released:
- “Get off, bad life”;
- "Need to live";
- "Countrymen".
Three mistakes of Surikov
- But Surikov still had a huge chance of winning. Even the president on TV assured him of his support.
- Surikov had a 100% chance. But, in my opinion, Alexander Alexandrovich made three mistakes that were unusual for him as a fairly balanced politician.
Alexander Surikov.
Oleg Bogdanov.
The first was that during that period he turned away from the leftist movement (NPSR), which twice led him to victory in elections - in 1996 and 2000. And the left movement is not only the Communist Party or the Agrarian Party. These are primarily veterans, of whom there are almost 650 thousand in the region. And they, in my opinion, did not forgive Surikov for this. And the young guys from United Russia hugged Alexander Alexandrovich so tightly that they strangled him in their embrace.
The second mistake is that he behaved completely incorrectly towards the leader of the farmers, Alexander Grigorievich Nazarchuk. It was clear to everyone who followed the elections then that Nazarchuk was conducting his complex election campaign for the regional council on his own, without the support of the governor. Moreover, it was extremely clear that when Surikov was elected, the regional council would be headed by Leonid Khvoinsky. You know very well what came of it.
And the third mistake is that Vladimir Sergeevich Germanenko should not have been appointed head of the election headquarters. I headed practically two such headquarters of Surikov, in 1996 and 2000. I won’t say that I am a high-class specialist in election technologies, but I still have more experience than Vladimir Sergeevich, and my character is completely different.
Vladimir Germanenko.
Dmitry Kudryavtsev.
- But how could Surikov appoint you as his chief of staff if there was talk that you were helping Evdokimov?
— There was gossip about “help” that was started by those who benefited from moving me away from Surikov. It worked for Evdokimov. Because many thought this way: if Chertov did not stay on the farm during the elections instead of the governor, if he did not head Surikov’s headquarters, then Chertov is not with Surikov, but with Evdokimov. Therefore, according to the most conservative estimates, without doing anything and absolutely not wanting it, I added 10-15% of the votes to Evdokimov in the elections.
— Did you maintain neutrality during the election race?
“I just decided for myself that I would not run as a candidate for the post of head of administration. And he told Surikov about this in advance, because he believed that he needed to act decently and like a man.
But, apparently, Alexander Alexandrovich considered that he so confidently held in his hands all the threads of power in the region that he no longer needed his former assistants. Therefore, he did not include me in the headquarters, he chose new allies and executors.
Alexander Surikov: “Understanding is beginning to emerge.”
Oleg Bogdanov
The main factor that played against Surikov in the elections was time. Even in the most prosperous countries, a person is supposed to be in power for no more than two consecutive terms. And if he stays in power longer, then his figure begins to cause rejection among the electorate. And not because it is bad, but because people want an update.
Alexander Alexandrovich headed the legislative body of the region for more than five years, then for another eight years he was the head of the executive branch. We must admit that this period in the history of the region was very difficult. We fell too deeply in all economic indicators after 1991, and it was extremely difficult to restore the regional economy.
To be objective, in the last years of the previous administration the region stabilized the situation and began to move forward. But our rates of economic development, which were higher than the Russian average, meant little to the ordinary citizen. For example, a salary increase of 10-15% for a person below the poverty line was practically unnoticeable.
Who won the gubernatorial elections? Governor of the Altai Territory Evdokimov and Chairman of the Regional Council Nazarchuk.
And that’s why people voted not so much against Surikov, but for any changes. Moreover, the promoted figure of a well-known artist appeared on the political horizon.
Personal life
In the artist’s life there were three beloved women. He met his first and only official wife, Galina, while serving in the army. The Gali family lived next to the military unit, and their balcony looked directly onto the parade ground. Evdokimov immediately drew attention to a pretty girl who often sat on the balcony and read a book. But Galya had seen enough of her girlfriends’ fleeting romances with military men, and did not want such a fate for herself. However, Misha turned out to be a persistent gentleman and melted the girl’s heart.
The lovers got married, and their daughter Anna was born in this marriage in May 1982. She received her education at the Moscow Humanitarian University with a degree in international tourism. In 2008, Anya gave birth to a son, he was named Mikhail in honor of his grandfather.
All the years of marriage, Galina was Evdokimov’s reliable support. She went with him to the unknown capital, where at first they had to sleep in the studio of a familiar painter behind a screen. She waited for him at home from a long tour, and then supported him in the pre-election political race. She was next to her husband at the time of the tragic death, only Galya, having received severe injuries, managed to fight for life and get out. Now she is vice-president of the Evdokimov Interregional Fund. Every year a festival in his memory is held in my husband’s homeland.
Mikhail with his wife Galina and daughter Anna
The artist also had a touring wife, Nadezhda Zharkova. They met as children, when Nadya came to the village of Verkh-Obskoye on vacation to visit her grandmother. Then their life paths diverged. We met already when we were both with families and children. But the feelings that flared up could not be overcome. Nadya divorced her husband, and Mikhail said that he would never leave his family. He moved Nadezhda to the capital and hired her as a costume designer in his team. On all trips she was next to Misha, becoming his real touring wife. In August 1995, in this relationship, Evdokimov’s second daughter, Anastasia, was born.
Mikhail’s third beloved woman is a young dark-skinned model Inna Belova. A year before Evdokimov’s death, she gave birth to his long-awaited son, Daniel. Inna is the only one who did not claim any inheritance after the death of her beloved man. Daniil’s mother’s last name is Belov, but the boy knows that his dad was the “President of Altai.”
Policy
Mikhail decided to get involved in political activities back in 1995, but his attempt to run for the State Duma from Barnaul was unsuccessful. He abandoned this idea for almost ten years and returned to it in early 2004, when he announced his desire to participate in the elections and lead the Altai Territory. In the spring of 2004, he beat his opponent Alexander Surikov and won. His election program was held under the slogan “Jokes aside,” and Evdokimov used everyone’s favorite image - an honest and simple man.
Unfortunately, the political side of life brought nothing but troubles to Mikhail, and possibly caused his tragic death. Evdokimov did not find mutual understanding with many deputies of the region; they twice expressed no confidence in him.
Conversations with Evdokimov
— Nevertheless, you and Mikhail Evdokimov had fairly friendly relations. When did you first learn that he decided to compete with Surikov in the elections?
“Evdokimov mentioned this jokingly several times, but no one took his words seriously. He first talked to me about this topic on December 17, 2003.
Why did I remember this date? Because that day I defended my doctoral dissertation in Moscow. And Evdokimov was then in the hospital of the Ministry of Railways. And I decided to visit him in the evening.
I drove to the hospital and entered the ward. We talked a little about little things, and then he suddenly asked: “I want to seriously consult with you. How do you think if I go to the elections for the governor of the region?
I honestly told him: “If you want to get a serious answer from a friend, then don’t be offended. Misha, why do you need this? Today you are a popularly loved artist. You have a respected profession and a money genre. You are a successful actor, the likes of which are few and far between these days. Even if a miracle happens and you win, you will simply be disqualified as an artist. Because neither by law nor by conscience you will be able to do this anymore. But the most important thing is that you will never become a governor and manager, because you have never been in an economic, managerial, teaching or scientific job. You have no idea what it means to be a governor and what a huge responsibility it is. In general, you will only embarrass yourself and gain nothing.”
Governor Evdokimov: banquet after the inauguration.
Evdokimov was silent for a while and said to me: “Well, why are you so completely harsh!”
He seemed offended by me, but said he would think about it.
And our second conversation on this topic took place a few days before the deadline for registration of candidates for governor of the region. Then I got a little sick and was at home.
I received a call from Evdokimov, who was driving from Novosibirsk to Verkh-Obskoye. He asked: “With what score do you think I will lose to Surikov?” And I was not aware that he was almost ready to submit documents, and I asked jokingly: “Are you going to play football?”
He replied that no, he was seriously planning to go against the governor. And I repeated to Evdokimov about the same thing as before.
