The first guy in the village and his only love.
Nikolai Rybnikov was born on December 13, 1930, in Borisoglebsk, Voronezh Region. Father with the outbreak of war went to the front, a mother with two children moved to her sister in Stalingrad, apparently, at that time it seemed safer there. Mother soon died, father died at the front. And Kolya Rybnikov himself only miraculously managed to survive during the terrible battle, having evacuated beyond the Volga.
After the fighting, Nikolai returns to the city, where he ends school. He enters a medical institute. But he was constantly attracted by the theater, he was even listed in the supporting staff of the Stalingrad Drama Theater. And in the end, the craving for art won: the failed doctor leaves for the capital, where he immediately enters VGIK. At the end of the institute in 1953, he joined the troupe of the Theater Studio of the film actor.
Star roles of Nikolai Rybnikov
He began acting in VGIK. But the student was not entrusted with a big role. The debut is a small episode in the film of his college teachers “Country Doctor” in 1951 (the director of the film was Sergey Gerasimov, and the main role was Tamara Makarova, Rybnikov’s teachers at VGIK). Vladimir Gulyaev will make his debut here, with whom fate will more than once reduce Rybnikov in some paintings. Also, then for the first time, another student of Gerasimov-Makarova Klara Rumyanova appeared on the screen. But for some reason, she didn’t have an acting film career, but she found herself in the voice acting of the animation.
Further, Nikolai had a small role in the film of the Kiev film studio “The Team from Our Street” in 1953. This picture is noteworthy because here he first appeared in the same film with his future wife Alla Larionova.
But he really got the starring role only in 1955 in the drama “Alien Relatives”, beloved by the audience, where Nonna Mordyukova became his partner. After Rybnikov’s success in this film, suggestions from the directors for the main roles showered on that. I must say, the actor was somewhat lucky. The soviet cinema was undergoing a change: to replace the poster heroes of Stalinist cinema, living, lyrical heroes were required. Here, the image of Rybnikov just corresponded to “his boyfriend”, an advanced worker, of whom he will replay a lot over the next years.
So, already next year he will star in the role of Sasha Savchenko, a steelmaker in “Spring on the Zarechnaya Street”. He amazingly conveyed the love of his hero for the teacher Tatyana Levchenko performed by unprofessional actress Nina Ivanova.
In 1957, Rybnikov starred in “The Height” of Alexander Zarha in the already familiar role of the foreman of installers. His partner was the star of the “Young Guard” Inna Makarova. And almost immediately, the main role in another cult film was “The Girl Without an Address”. Here, the main character was successfully assisted by Yuri Belov, whose, unfortunately, then acting career did not work out. But Rybnikov was looking for almost the entire picture of Katya Ivanova, performed again by an unprofessional actress Svetlana Karpinskaya. The director of the tape, Eldar Ryazanov, was then at the beginning of his career and was looking for his own style. Having already become a recognized master of cinema, the director spoke very self-critically about “Girl without an address”, recognizing her creative failure in it. Well, the great master has the right to say so, although the audience will never agree with him on this.
In the late 50s and early 60s, the actor has several more notable roles in the films “Kochubey”, “Milky Way” (where he and his wife Alla Larionova are in the lead roles), “Normandy-Neman”, “Two Lives” .
“Girls” where the movie was shot
In 1961, director Yuri Chulyukin prepared for the filming of “Girls”. Thanks to previous brilliant work, the main role - logger Ilya Kovrigin, goes to Nikolai Rybnikov, although for this the actor had to lose 20 kg. The director’s wife, Natalya Kustinskaya, claimed the main female role, but he showed the principle, believing that the image of the beautiful blonde, who was Kustinskaya, would not fit well with the cook in the remote taiga.
Later films by Nikolai Rybnikov
In the tape “Hockey” he portrayed a negative character - a career coach. By the way, on the set of this film there was an affair of Vyacheslav Shalevich and Elsa Lezhdey. In “War and Peace” Sergei Bondarchuk Rybnikov gets a small role of Vasily Davydov. In the melodrama of 1971, “The Seventh Sky”, the already starry duet of Rybnikov-Larionov will play the main role.
In 1975, the Ivanov Family was released. This picture is notable for the fact that after 20 years Rybnikov again, as in “Alien Relatives,” plays a duet with Nonna Mordyukova. Alla Larionova was also not forgotten, having played a small episode. And Nikolai Eremenko Jr., departing from his image of a handsome heartthrob, will depict a certain long-haired informal.
I also want to note the films “Marry the Captain” in 1985, where Rybnikov masterfully portrayed a grouchy neighbor.
Somehow, after the bath, he returned home, drank a glass of vodka and went to bed. And no longer woke up. It happened on October 22, 1990. The great actor was only 59 years old.