At the end of May 1974, an expedition from Mosfilm studio left for Volgograd region to shoot They Fought for Their Country. The film’s script was based on the eponymous Sholokhov’s novel. Part of the film crew, including Vasily Shukshin, met with Mikhail Sholokhov in the village of Vyoshenskaya. He received guests in his home at 94 Podtyolkova Street.
The following people are depicted in this photo by an unknown author (left to right): Vladimir Dostal, Georgy Burkov, Sergei Bondarchuk, Maria Sholokhova, Mikhail Sholokhov, Vasily Shukshin, Yuri Nikulin, Mikhail Teslya, Vadim Yusov, and the writer’s son Mikhail Mikhailovich Sholokhov.
This was the only meeting between Sholokhov and Shukshin. According to the memoirs, the director was looking forward to this meeting, prepared for the conversation long in advance and was worried. The writer took Shukshin seriously as well: he listened attentively at the table and constantly looked into his face. Based on the results of this meeting, Sholokhov concluded: “… I liked Shukshin very much. He takes Lopákhin seriously. In my opinion, he fits the character …”.
During the Great Patriotic War, Sholokhov worked at the fronts as a special correspondent for the newspapers Pravda and Krasnaya Zvezda, and the Soviet Information Bureau. The experience of working on newspaper articles became the starting point for the idea of a war novel, since some essays were later included in its chapters. After the war, he continued refining the text. Bondarchuk, who directed the film, said: “We have been thinking about the adaptation of Sholokhov”s novel They Fought for Their Country for a long time, even as we shot The Fate of a Man. I spoke with Mikhail Alexandrovich on the subject more than once and was met with full understanding and passionate support”.
Bondarchuk recalled the following about the meeting, “After the conversation in Vyoshenskaya Mikhail Aleksandrovich came out onto the porch to see us off and said his farewell: “Just don”t die, we still have a lot of work to do together””.
Shukshin participated in the filming process of They Fought for Their Country until the autumn of 1974. In this same year, on the night of October the 2nd, he died of acute heart failure. He was buried at Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow. Filming continued without him. The role of Pyotr Lopákhin was further played by the actor Yuri Solovyov and voiced by Igor Efímov.
The following people are depicted in this photo by an unknown author (left to right): Vladimir Dostal, Georgy Burkov, Sergei Bondarchuk, Maria Sholokhova, Mikhail Sholokhov, Vasily Shukshin, Yuri Nikulin, Mikhail Teslya, Vadim Yusov, and the writer’s son Mikhail Mikhailovich Sholokhov.
This was the only meeting between Sholokhov and Shukshin. According to the memoirs, the director was looking forward to this meeting, prepared for the conversation long in advance and was worried. The writer took Shukshin seriously as well: he listened attentively at the table and constantly looked into his face. Based on the results of this meeting, Sholokhov concluded: “… I liked Shukshin very much. He takes Lopákhin seriously. In my opinion, he fits the character …”.
During the Great Patriotic War, Sholokhov worked at the fronts as a special correspondent for the newspapers Pravda and Krasnaya Zvezda, and the Soviet Information Bureau. The experience of working on newspaper articles became the starting point for the idea of a war novel, since some essays were later included in its chapters. After the war, he continued refining the text. Bondarchuk, who directed the film, said: “We have been thinking about the adaptation of Sholokhov”s novel They Fought for Their Country for a long time, even as we shot The Fate of a Man. I spoke with Mikhail Alexandrovich on the subject more than once and was met with full understanding and passionate support”.
Bondarchuk recalled the following about the meeting, “After the conversation in Vyoshenskaya Mikhail Aleksandrovich came out onto the porch to see us off and said his farewell: “Just don”t die, we still have a lot of work to do together””.
Shukshin participated in the filming process of They Fought for Their Country until the autumn of 1974. In this same year, on the night of October the 2nd, he died of acute heart failure. He was buried at Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow. Filming continued without him. The role of Pyotr Lopákhin was further played by the actor Yuri Solovyov and voiced by Igor Efímov.
