A native of Baku and a native of a family far from the world of culture and art (his father is an employee of the NKVD, and his mother is the daughter of a repressed "fist"), Vladimir Valentinovich Menshov was awarded the title of People's Artist of the RSFSR. Behind his shoulders today there are several dozen film works and directorial projects. He is better known to a wide audience as a director for his films Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears (1981 - Oscar in the nomination Best Foreign Film) and Love and Pigeons (1985 - Golden Rook Award at the Film Festival comedies in Spain).
Vladimir Menshov has achieved the greatest success in domestic cinema, nevertheless more as a director. The master himself believes that acting is a hobby for him, while directorial projects became the goal of his creative career for him.
Biography and career of Vladimir Valentinovich Menshov
On September 17, 1939, the future famous artist was born in sunny Baku. The post-war years passed with Vladimir in Arkhangelsk, where his father was transferred on duty, and in 1950 the Menshov family went to Astrakhan, the motherland of their parents. In school, the young man was very interested in reading literature. He was especially interested in everything related to cinema.
In 1957, Menshov Jr. made his first attempt to enter the VGIK. Unfortunately, the exams were failed. Four years of preparation followed, when he managed to work as a turner, an auxiliary actor in the Astrakhan Drama Theater, a sailor and even a miner. And in 1961, Vladimir easily entered the Moscow Art Theater School-Studio at the acting department.
In 1970, the cinematic debut of the aspiring actor with the film of classmate Vladimir Pavlovsky "Happy Kukushkin" took place. And then his filmography began to regularly replenish with successful film works in the projects: "Salty Dog", "Ar-hi-me-dy!", "Last meeting", "The Tale of how Tsar Peter Arapa married", "Draw", " Where is Nofelet? ", " Courier ", " Highway ", " Brezhnev ", " Night Watch ".
In 1967, Vladimir Menshov entered the directing department of VGIK, and since 1970 he has been working at Mosfilm, Lenfilm, and Odessa Film Studio for six years. His directorial debut took place in 1976 with the feature film "Raffle." Menshov was awarded the State Prize of the RSFSR for the following year. And Vladimir Valentinovich received real recognition from the cinema community after the movie “Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears” (1979). The result was overwhelming - ninety million viewers in the first year of hire, more than a hundred countries bought the rights to the show, an Oscar in 1981.
It should be noted that the directorial projects of Menshov each time "blew up" the domestic film market. So, his films Love and Doves, Shirley-Myrli, Envy of the Gods and The Big Waltz together with the above really adorn the Golden Fund of Soviet and Russian cinema.
