Nikolay Chindyaykin: biography
Nikolai Dmitrievich Chindyaykin - People's Artist of Russia, theater and film actor, director, acting teacher at RATI. He received all-Russian recognition after working in the TV series “Autumn Detective” and “The Hour of Volkov”.
Actor Nikolai Chindyaykin
The parents of the future actor met when his father was captured by fascists during the Great Patriotic War. During the stay of prisoners of war in Belarus, the Germans drove Soviet soldiers out to work. The local population also worked together with the prisoners. This is how Dmitry met Stefanida from Minsk.
The young people met after the war, when Dmitry Chindyaykin, after a German concentration camp, ended up in a Soviet camp. In 1946, the soldier was transferred to a free settlement. Stefanida arrived there, in the village of Chernoye, Gorky Region. And not alone, but with her little daughter Lenochka, born from prisoner of war Chindyaykin.
9 months after the meeting of Dmitry and Stefanida, on March 8, 1947, a second child was born - son Nikolai, whose childhood, despite the hardships, was happy.
Nikolai Chindyaykin in childhood and youth
Artist Nikolai Chindyaykin received his nickname while still at school. The boy became interested in theater after his family moved to Ukraine, to the city of Alchevsk. After a quiet village life, Nikolai wanted to try everything: the boy became interested in tennis, drew, learned to play the trumpet and accordion, and attended two clubs - photography and radio. He learned German and even began to write poetry. But the desire to go on stage defeated the craving for other hobbies.
In 1964, Chindyaykin entered the Rostov School of Arts. After graduation, he got a job at the Youth Theater in Rostov.
Theater
Nikolai Chindyaykin appeared on the stage of the Rostov theater for 5 years. He made his debut in the production “City at Dawn”. Then there were the performances “Hey, Hello”, “Two Comrades”, “Dog in the Manger” and many others, where the young artist was entrusted with central roles.
Nikolai Chindyaykin in the theater
A representative of the Omsk Drama Theater saw the talented actor and lured Nikolai Chindyaykin from Rostov to the Siberian city. The young artist did not regret it. After all, in this theater Nikolai met his second wife, actress and beauty Tatyana Ozhigova. Together the couple became leading theater artists. The main repertoire was based on them.
On these stages, Nikolai Chindyaykin received his first recognition and perfected his acting skills. The artist also felt an irresistible pull to stage plays himself. His wife insisted that Nikolai Dmitrievich go to the capital to study at GITIS. Chindyaykin entered the Moscow university with ease and chose the directing department. He studied with the famous mentor Anatoly Alexandrovich Vasiliev.
In 1987, Nikolai Chindyaykin received a diploma, but did not return to Omsk. The young man was offered a position as a director, actor and teacher at the Moscow School of Dramatic Art, headed by Anatoly Vasiliev.
Nikolai Chindyaykin in the play “The Master and Margarita”
For a long time, Nikolai Dmitrievich toured abroad with the theater. Chindyaykin participated in the international project “Dostoevsky. "Demons." In Germany, together with Vasiliev, he staged the opera “The Queen of Spades”. And then he interned in Italy, where he studied with the famous Jerzy Grotowski. Chindyaykin turned out to be the only Russian actor who was lucky enough to work with this master.
Stamps are not fun to play with
— You were offered the role of Stalin, but you did not play it. Why?
— The film was called “Chinese Box,” about an assassination attempt on Stalin during the war. This was a fact, but for the cinema they came up with a more fun story. There was no reflection on the role of Stalin as a person; there was no political danger there. And it was interesting for me to play this role. The makeup they did was amazing! Nevertheless, the director, in order to ward off a possible blow, took Gennady Khazanov for this role. Like, what do you want: we have a comedian playing Stalin!
It seems to me that the habit of attributing all lawlessness to Stalin alone has freed too many from admitting their own mistakes and the need for repentance. Changing the personality at the top of this pyramid in those years would have changed little. I believe that it is necessary to condemn all this, but this tendency to push everything onto one figure is terribly harmful to the future.
- But you played another terrible figure, Lavrentiy Beria...
— In “Children of the Arbat.” But I didn’t play, I only indicated his presence in the frame. There, too, the director played it safe. Beria... A lot was cut out, including some of my episodes. Probably Beria seemed too ambiguous to them. I always humanize the film image. But I’m not interested in playing a stamp. And as a result, my interest in Beria faded. But a personality of Shakespearean proportions - both in what he did for the country and in his atrocities.
Movies
The cinematic biography of Nikolai Chindyaykin began quite late, in 1990. Then the artist was already 43 years old. But his film career developed rapidly. In total, Nikolai Dmitrievich’s filmography includes 100 films.
Nikolay Chindyaykin
His debut role was in the adventure drama “The Sea Wolf”. This is a film adaptation of Jack London's work of the same name, directed by Igor Apasyan. Filming took place at the Odessa Film Studio. Chindyaykin, whose height is 172 cm, got the role of cook Mugridge. It is noteworthy that Nikolai Chindyaykin had previously considered himself a theater artist and stubbornly resisted Apasyan’s persuasion. But today Nikolai is eternally grateful to the director for being able to open the world of cinema to the artist.
Thanks to cinema, the artist gained popularity. After The Sea Wolf, directors lined up with proposals. The directors already knew that this thoughtful and experienced theater actor would play even a cameo role in such a way that it would set the tone for the entire film.
Nikolai Chindyaykin in the film “Mom, Don’t Cry!”
In the mid-90s, noticing the first signs of baldness, the actor shaved his head and acquired the famous bald spot. As Nikolai Dmitrievich later said with a laugh, the bald head became the artist’s nurse. Since then, many specific proposals have been received. Chindyaykin played crime bosses, bandits, police generals and officials. Just those characters that were in demand in the dashing 90s. There are several photos of the young artist with hair on his head that are freely available on the Internet.
In 1998, the comedy “Mom, Don’t Cry!” was released, in which Nikolai Chindyaykin played a police major. Film critic Artem Troitsky called this film the best comedy of the late 20th century. Chindyaykin worked in the top-rated TV series “A Man’s Work”, “Antikiller”, “Gangster Petersburg”, “Volkov’s Hour” and “Platinum”.
Nikolai Chindyaykin in the series “Boys of Steel”
Nikolai Dmitrievich is an actor who has a wide palette of images. In 2004, Chindyaykin starred in the TV series “Boys of Steel” as a coach nicknamed Rog. In the same year, he tried on the vestments of a priest in the detective story “Icon Hunters.”
In 2007, the artist starred in the biographical series “Savva Morozov”, where he played an equally colorful character – philanthropist and industrialist Savva Mamontov. In the same year, he played the role of the owner of an inn in the television film about the times of Peter the Great, “The Servant of the Sovereigns.” In the crime detective "Alexandrovsky Garden" the actor again transforms into a priest. But most often Chindyaykin takes on the roles of government officials, detectives, military men, and crime bosses.
In 2008, Nikolai Dmitrievich played the main role in the film “Autumn Detective”. Chindyaykin’s hero, retired justice adviser Kabakov, will have to investigate a complicated case - the murder of a fellow prosecutor who fell from the window of a government agency.
Nikolai Chindyaykin in the film “The Servant of the Sovereign”
The best projects, according to viewers, were the films “Under the Polar Star”, “Talisman of Love”, “Children of the Arbat”. In 2013, the actor received the main role of General Bondarev in the series about a detective nicknamed the Sniffer (Kirill Kyaro), who is endowed with a special gift - a hypersensitive sense of smell. The partner of the private detective, head of the special department Lebedev, was played by Russian actor Ivan Oganesyan.
Witness to history
Photo stihi.ru
N. Chindyaykin first appeared in films at the age of 43 in 1990. Before that there was only a theater. He became a recognizable film actor after 50, when Russian film production gradually came to its senses in the 2000s. The history of the actor’s family is no less interesting than his work and path to fame.
Nikolai's mother was born near Brest in the early 1920s. She did not see the times when Brest-Litovsk was part of the Russian Empire. And for the first 18 years of her life, she considered herself Polish, because she lived in a Polish city, which it had been since 1919.
Stefa - that was her name - made money by looking after children in wealthy families. On September 2, 1939, the Brest Fortress was bombed: German planes dropped 10 bombs. From September 14, shots and the roar of guns were heard from the fortress. And on September 17 everything calmed down. Five days later, Stefa stood in the central square of the city and observed, as it turned out much later, a historical event - a Wehrmacht parade in front of units of the Red Army in Brest. The action ended with the ceremonial lowering of the German flag and the raising of the Soviet one. This was the transfer of the city as part of the annexation of Western Belarus to the BSSR.
Soon Stepha was given documents according to which she became Belarusian. There are no families left in the city who can pay for the care of their children. The girl went to work at the post office. Two years later, the war began. Actually, everything was repeated: in Brest - the Wehrmacht, Guderian’s tanks, and from the direction of the fortress shots and the roar of guns were heard. Only the defense lasted much longer than in 1939. Ultimately the citadel fell. It was necessary to survive in an occupied city. Stefa continued to serve at the post office. And in the occupied territories, people did not stop using this communication service.
Personal life
There were three marriages in the life of Nikolai Chindyaykin. The first wife was classmate Natalya, who gave birth to her husband’s daughter Nastya. But after 5 years this marriage cracked. Natalya and her daughter remained in Rostov, and Nikolai Dmitrievich went to Omsk. There the artist met his second love, which ended tragically. The second wife, Tatyana Ozhigova, died of cancer. Nikolai Chindyaykin could not recover from this blow of fate for a long time.
Nikolai Chindyaykin with his wife
Fortunately, Nikolai was soon able to fall in love again. Chindyaikin met a young talented artist from Vilnius, Rasa von Tornau. At first, the artists communicated amicably for a long time, but after 2 years they realized that they were vital to each other.
So Nikolai Chindyaykin’s personal life improved again. The actor admitted that meeting Rasa was a miracle, because meeting a loved one, a soul mate, is happiness that happens extremely rarely.
