Children of Frunzik Mkrtchyan now. The family curse of Frunzik Mkrtchyan. Brief biography of Frunzik Mkrtchan

Soviet and Armenian theater and film actor, theater director. People's Artist of the USSR. Laureate of the USSR State Prize. An infinitely talented, versatile actor. A very simple person. lacking stardom, modest, shy.

He lived 63 years - too short for a great actor. He was a very respected person who was recognized on the streets, they didn’t ask for documents, and they often didn’t even take money in shops and restaurants.

The name Frunzik is not entirely Armenian and certainly not traditional for Armenia. It is not known in whose honor Frunzik received his name - perhaps in honor of Mikhail Frunze. Younger brother Frunzik was named Albert - also clearly not an Armenian name.

Mkrtchyan did not like his name. And his friends knew it.

Once, during a foreign tour, the group of the Yerevan Sundukyan Theater came to Beirut. Representatives of the Armenian diaspora loved Mkrtchyan’s game so much that they began to call Frunzik Mher – “Sunny”, or “Bright”. He really liked this name.

The Mkrtchyan family has no pedigree. Frunzik's parents, then still just children, were found on the road. They became victims of the Turkish massacre, during which about a million Armenians died. The children were selected and placed in Orphanage in Gyumri. This is where they met – Mushegh and Sanam.

In 1924 they became husband and wife. They lived poorly and not very happily.

In 1930, on July 4, their first child was born. For Sanam, little Frunzik was real happiness. She retained her affection for her firstborn throughout her life. The family had four children. As a child, Frunzik was weak and vulnerable.

As a child, he drew well, and his father most of all wanted his eldest son to become an artist.

The city in which Frunzik was born no longer exists. Terrible disaster-earthquake of 1988 - destroyed old neighborhoods and killed thousands of residents of Leninakan.

The area in which the Mkrtchyans lived was considered a gangster area in Leninakan. Poverty reigned all around.

It is not known how he studied at school. IN mature age Mkrtchyan knew very well world literature And classical music.

At the age of ten, Frunzik, who had already visited the local theater several times and was fired up with the idea of ​​becoming an artist, started his own childhood game of “theater.” On the second floor landing, right in front of the apartment door, with the help of Mother Frunzik built a homemade curtain. He placed a row of chairs in front of him and asked his neighbors for them. And the “show” began. The game ended with the arrival of the father.

In the fifth grade, Frunzik tried to join the theater club at the House of Culture of the textile mill. The boy's talent was so obvious that he was immediately hired. An interesting fact is that he was taken into an adult group, where much older guys played, and he was the youngest.

One day his father decided to come to his performance. The performance is over. Frunzik went home, expecting a scandal. But the father was delayed. In the morning, Papa was taciturn. Only with breakfast he muttered: “Well done, he played well...”.

One day in 1945, when Frunzik was 15 years old. Father returned from work angry about something. I asked why my son didn’t draw. Frunzik snapped. The father took out an iron ruler and hit Frunzik on the hands... And a few minutes later there was a knock on the apartment door. Father opened it. People in uniform burst into the apartment.

That evening Mushegh Mkrtchyan was arrested. He, like many times before, carried five meters of calico from the plant. They carried everything out - wrapping calico around their feet instead of footcloths. This calico was collected and then sold in the market. And with this money they bought clothes and food for the children.

Everyone stole. Sometimes we got caught. At his trial, Mushegh was found guilty and sentenced to ten years in the camps. The father of four children was sent to Nizhny Tagil to cut down forest. After ten years, Mushegh returned home with his health destroyed and died immediately.

One can only imagine what it took for Mother Sanam to raise her sons and daughters alone, without a husband. Perhaps it was these difficult times that instilled in Frunzik a disdain for luxury and his own clothes. Frunzik treated luxury items, all trinkets and decorations with contempt.

At the age of 15, while still a schoolboy, Frunzik began to earn a living. And this was not his desire, but a severe necessity.

A friend of his father, a projectionist at the House of Culture of a textile mill, took the boy as his assistant.

He worked as an assistant projectionist for two years - until he graduated high school. And during this time I was able to see many masterpieces of Soviet cinema.

Mkrtchyan graduated from the Yerevan Theater and Art Institute, but at the same time he was a self-taught actor.

Mkrtchyan entered cinema spontaneously, suddenly and as a supreme professional.

Frunzik’s talent was so bright that in 1951, the management of the Leninakan Theater, desiring their pupil, sent Mkrtchyan to Yerevan - to the Theater and Art Institute.

In his second year at the institute, Frunzik went to the Yerevan Theater - main theater Armenia. They gave him a screening and immediately hired him.

He graduated from the institute already being a well-known theater actor in the country. Yerevan, which Frunzik visited for the first time in his life, fell in love with him immediately.

He studied at last year Yerevan Theater and Art Institute. 18-year-old brother Albert studied here - in his second year. One day the brothers had an argument. Frunzik decided to act in a movie. The next day, Frunzik went to the film studio. He brought his photograph and introduced himself as an actor at the Sundukyan Theater. He was added to the actor database. And then he forgot about this visit.

And suddenly he was invited to screen test for a role in the new film “Looking for the Addressee.”

In 1956, he again received an invitation and starred in the film “Because of Honor.” In 1959 - “What the River is Rushing About,” and in 1960 - “The Music Team Guys.”

After this film there was a five-year pause, he played only in the theater and refused all invitations.

Frunzik in his youth worried about his appearance, about a big nose. In youth - after all, at this time it is time for self-affirmation and the search for first love. But his sense of humor always saved him.

He drank a lot.

Once, already in the eighties, Frunzik came to New York. He did not know in English. As luck would have it, an audience gathered in the hall who knew neither Armenian nor Russian. An American viewer who came to see the legend of Soviet cinema. Catastrophe. Frunzik instantly found a way out. He came on stage. Bowed. And... he stood silently for five minutes, without saying a word. He simply looked into the audience and “played with his face.” And the audience crawled under their chairs with laughter. Five minutes later, Frunzik bowed again and left the stage. He received a huge ovation. And this concert became legendary.

He was never an angel. He loved to drink, he loved to party with friends. He loved women... And women loved him.

Frunzik was surprisingly unhappy in family life. Married three times - and all unsuccessfully.

His first love was a girl named Juliet. The relationship did not work out - the girl’s parents were against her marriage to an ugly guy, and even a student.

In my second year, I met a girl who had nothing to do with the world of art and had never been to the theater. Very ordinary girl named Knara.

And then there was a modest student wedding - a few weeks after they met.

But then they realized that they were not suitable for each other. In addition to rapid cooling, they also had serious everyday difficulties. They had nowhere and nothing to live on. Their marriage lasted several months.

Soon a stunningly beautiful woman came to Yerevan from Leninakan and asked Frunzik, as a fellow countryman, to help her enter the Sundukyan Theater. Mkrtchyan helped. And... fell in love again.

It was Donara. There was a wedding, noisy, generous. Donara did not leave the theater and continued to play until their first child was born. She played with her husband in “Prisoner of the Caucasus” - the wife of the hero Frunzik, the driver Saakhov “Comrade Dzhabrial”. Then she gave birth to a second child. And after that Donara began to be jealous of her husband. Donara's scandals became crazier day by day. Mkrtchyan turned to psychiatrists for help...

After his role in the film “ Caucasian captive“Frunzik received all-Union fame. The role was not big, but everyone absolutely loved him and couldn’t imagine another artist when it came to the role of a Caucasian.

Mkrtchyan became the funniest Armenian in Soviet cinema.

In 1969, he turned 39. He had never been rich, but during these years he began to earn enough to buy a car (in those years, a Volga was a sign of prosperity) and fully provide for his family.

Mkrtchyan loved the feast. I tried to get delicacies so that guests could enjoy caviar or exotic fruits. He loved the most simple dishes. I usually made myself a small sandwich.

Frunzik treated his popularity with humor and self-irony.

One day Mkrtchyan came up with an idea - to fly to Sochi and have a nice walk there. Taking a friend with him, Frunzik went to the airport. In his pocket there was a stack of banknotes - a thousand rubles. For three days, friends traveled around Sochi. We rested in a hotel and dined in expensive restaurants. Then we returned to Yerevan, again by plane. In Frunzik’s pocket lay the same thousand rubles...

In the film “Mimino”, released on Soviet screens in 1977, Danelia brought together his favorite actors - Vakhtang Kikabidze, Evgeny Leonov and Frunzik Mkrtchyan. As Danelia himself said, they couldn’t decide who to film with. Then Danelia threw a coin. The head lands - they will shoot Leonov. Tails - Mkrtchyan. It came up heads and the director of the film went to Yerevan to negotiate with the theater management to release Frunzik from performances.

During the filming of the film “Mimino,” something unpleasant happened - Mkrtchyan suddenly started drinking. The real reason Only close friends knew about the breakdowns. At that time, the situation of Mkrtchyan’s wife could not be worse. But Danelia posed the question - either drinking or filming. Mkrtchyan vowed to stop drinking. And indeed he did not drink for some time.

And yet he was a careless and naive person in everyday life. Mimino came to Moscow without documents for filming. He flew home without documents. And when, after the resounding success of the film “Mimino” in 1978, Mkrtchyan became a laureate of the USSR State Prize for the role of Ruben Khachikyan. he came to Moscow again without documents.

He was very naive. For example, I could not understand the principle of operation of the TV. I was sincerely surprised how the image reached Yerevan from Moscow.

Mkrtchyan received his first title of People's Artist of the Armenian SSR in 1971, when the actor turned 41 years old.

In 1975, Frunzik was awarded the State Prize of the Armenian SSR for his participation in the film “Triangle”.

The film “Mimino” brought him the USSR State Prize, awarded in 1978.

Mkrtchyan received the highest title in the profession - People's Artist of the USSR - in 1984.

Frunzik greatly valued his friendship with his senior colleague Azat Sherents, whom he called godfather in your profession.

When Donara was being treated in France, at the same time Frunzik attributed his son Vazgen to mental illness. Vazgen also suffered from schizophrenia. One day, in the hospital corridor, mother and son met. And... they didn’t recognize each other. Frunzik lost himself and began to drink even more.

Mkrtchyan was destroyed not only by a family tragedy. Loneliness destroyed him. But no one, except his brother and his closest friends, saw him sob.

He continued to play leading roles in best performances Academic Theater named after Sundukyan, but increasingly thought about creating his own theater - the Mher Mkrtchyan Theater. This theater named after Mher Mkrtchyan was opened by his brother Albert Mkrtchyan.

The last surge of interest in life and hope for revival was last love. He couldn't pass by beautiful woman. And the daughter of the chairman of the Writers' Union of Armenia, Hrachya Oganesyan, Tamara Oganesyan, was an incredibly beautiful woman.

Frunzik fell in love, came to life, stopped his drinking bouts, and dressed up. He got the wedding. His witness at the wedding was close friend Georgy Ter-Ovanesyan.

Before registering the marriage, Ter-Hovhannisyan asked: “Don’t we go to the registry office too often?” To which Frunzik replied: “Chaplin was married either five or seven times. Why am I worse?

The third marriage turned out to be unhappy for him. The couple moved into a four-room apartment, but did not live there for long. When Tamara realized that she had become the wife of an alcoholic with ruined health, she began to throw terrifying scandals at Frunzik. Mkrtchyan left for France with his sick son. And when he returned (three weeks before his death), he went from the airport to his old one-room apartment. He never saw his wife again.

The most expensive thing in his house was a battery-powered cassette recorder. Frunzik loved classical music and listened to Albinoni. He died to the music of Albinoni...

On December 25, 1993, Frunzik was struck by terrible news - his friend Azat Sherents died. Scherents lived to be 80 years old. Frunzil started drinking, violently, to the point of complete unconsciousness.

Source – book “Informal Biographies” – Nikolai Nadezhdin

Frunzik Mkrtchyan - biography, facts - an infinitely talented Armenian actor updated: January 13, 2018 by: website

The films “Prisoner of the Caucasus” and “Mimino” brought Frunzik Mkrtchyan just crazy love from the audience. In his native Yerevan, he is still considered a national hero; his portraits hang on the streets. During his life, the actor had everything - fame, money, honor. But he was not happy about all this because of the tragedies in his personal life. He would have turned 81 on July 4th.

The tragedies in Mkrtchyan’s personal life began at student age. He fell in love with a girl named Juliet, whose parents were against their marriage. The struggle for my beloved continued for several years and ended in complete failure. Perhaps out of frustration, Frunzik married his classmate Knara, whose marriage lasted only a year. Frunzik met his second wife within the walls of the same theater institute. The beautiful Donara Pilosyan was the star of the course, many people followed her, but when Frunzik decided to marry her, her friends were very surprised.

“We tried to dissuade him from this step for a very long time,” recalls Frunzik’s friend, film director Neress Oganesyan. – Donara was talented actress, but everyone about her was alarmed by her impulsive nature. Either laughter, then tears, or running away somewhere... Apparently, even then the disease began to manifest itself.

At first everything was fine, the young couple had a daughter, Nune. By that time, Frunzik had already starred in the films “Thirty-Three” and “Prisoner of the Caucasus”, the family became wealthy, moved from the province to Yerevan, and bought a car. Donara, in general, also counted on a career as an actress and did not intend to sit at home. Every time her husband auditioned, she insisted that he drag her into the film too. It was thanks to him that she received a cameo role in the film “Prisoner of the Caucasus,” playing Mkrtchyan’s on-screen wife.

“At first, Frunzik thought that his wife was jealous of his success, which, in general, was the case,” recalls Mkrtchyan’s brother Albert. “But then completely inexplicable actions began.” She threw him terrible hysterics right in the theater. Frunzik could not even say hello to another woman - immediately jealousy. At home she broke dishes, started fighting, screamed... Her behavior became inappropriate. Her brother hoped that the birth of her second child would calm her down. But it got even worse...

Donara did not want to take care of her children. When her unhealthy condition was already difficult to ignore, her daughter turned 12 years old, while her son was only two years old. Coming home, Mkrtchyan found the children hungry and dirty, and his wife depressed. His friends advised him to take Donar to the doctor. It turned out that she has schizophrenia. Frunzik spared no expense and sent his wife to a good clinic in France for treatment. True, the actor did not stay alone for long. Realizing that Donara would not recover, he gained the right to marry again and took this chance. On this basis, he had disagreements with his daughter, who thought that it was impossible to marry while her mother was alive. Be that as it may, Nune decided to emigrate and, after getting married, went to Argentina. Frunzik's only joy was his son Vazgen, whose behavior was also alarming. The examination showed that the mother’s mental illness was inherited by the boy. Mkrtchyan wilted greatly from this news. He sent Vazgen to be treated at the same clinic where his wife was. They say that in the hope of enlightenment, the doctors gave them “ confrontation" But mother and son did not recognize each other...

Despite the problems in the family, Mkrtchyan continued to act a lot; the directors knew that he would always bring success to the film. That is why Georgy Danelia took him to the role of Khachikyan’s driver, despite the fact that by that time Frunzik was drinking heavily. Several times, because of his spree, filming was even stopped and the director was, as they say, on the verge. At the end of each shooting day, Mkrtchyan and his many friends found themselves in a restaurant. Somehow, in his hearts, he threw out a phrase about his daughter, saying that she is no longer there. These words were changed, and as a result, the news spread throughout the country: Mkrtchyan’s daughter died! Like, that's why he started drinking. Even Danelia thought so and, feeling sorry for the actor, did not remove him from the role, although he intended to. In fact, Nune, who was involved in a road accident, survived, but many still believe that she died tragically.
After the release of the film “Mimino,” Mkrtchyan’s national fame reached its highest limit. At the airport, he went through passport control without documents; every person he met on the street called him into the house.

“Frunzik was a very enthusiastic person,” recalls the actor’s brother. – For example, he wanted to go to Sochi, he got up and went. I came from there, and all the money was intact. It turned out that he was allowed in everywhere for free - both on the plane and in the restaurant.

At the same time, Mkrtchyan, coming to Armenia, was absolutely accessible and did not boast of his position. And his mother did not hide from other children that she loved Frunzik most of all. Even when he became a grown man, she, out of old habit, washed him in the bath. But she couldn’t influence her son’s addiction to alcohol. Frunzik did not even know that he was in a pre-infarction state. The attack happened in a dream. In December 1993, he went to bed and did not wake up. Brother Mkrtchyan adopted his nephew Vazgen, but he did not survive his father for long. The actor's daughter was diagnosed with a uterine tumor in 1998, and doctors performed a successful operation. But during the recovery period, the patient lost a blood clot and died instantly...

- I am sure that the reason is so early death brother – self-destruction,” says Albert Mkrtchyan. “He deliberately did all this because he was never able to survive the illness of his wife and son.

As for Donara, fate gave her a long life. For more than twenty years she has been kept in the Sevan psychiatric hospital in Armenia. She has no hope of a cure.

Frunze (Frunzik, Mher) Mushegovich Mkrtchyan (July 4, 1930, Leninakan (now Gyumri) - December 29, 1993, Yerevan) - Armenian, Soviet theater and film actor, theater director. People's Artist of the USSR (1984). Laureate of the USSR State Prize (1978).

Was born in large family refugees from the Armenian Genocide. Frunzik's parents were 5 years old when they ended up in an orphanage. They grew up there together, got married in 1924, and when one of the largest textile mills in the Soviet Union opened in Armenia, they got a job there together. Father - Mushegh Mkrtchyan (1910-1961), timekeeper, mother - Sanam Mkrtchyan (1911-1970), dishwasher in the factory canteen. His real name is Mher (from Armenian - sunny), although according to his passport he wrote it as Frunze Mkrtchyan. His father greatly respected the commander Mikhail Frunze. So he named his son after him. Brother - Albert (born 1937), director, screenwriter. Sisters - Ruzanna (b. 1943), Clara (1934-2003). To feed big family, the father once stole a small piece of fabric from a factory and was sentenced to ten years, after which the family began to starve, since Sanam received only 30 rubles for her work.

As a child, Frunzik was helpless, everyone laughed at him, he was thin, with a big nose. The boy drew beautifully, but did not think about any other profession other than acting. The Mkrtchyans' apartment was on the second floor. On the staircase, ten-year-old Frunzik hung a curtain and staged one-man performances in front of the children sitting on the stairs. When, after one of the performances, he went out to bow, he was surprised to notice that the audience had become larger - little spectators were sitting on the laps of their parents, who selflessly applauded the young genius. Frunzik never worried about his appearance. Moreover, he himself did not see anything unusual in her. And he even made up jokes about his nose, which was outstanding in all respects.

Since 1945, he worked as an assistant projectionist at the Leninakan textile mill club, and in his free time he played in an amateur drama club there. In 1945-1946 he studied at the studio of the Leninakan Theater. A. Mravyan (now the Gyumri Drama Theater named after Vardan Ajemyan). Since 1947 - an actor in this theater. Even then no one doubted that the boy was extremely gifted.

In 1951-1956 he studied at the Yerevan Theater and Art Institute (course of V. B. Vagharshyan). In Yerevan they still tell with admiration how 17-year-old Mkrtchyan played the role of an 80-year-old man and no one could recognize the hunched old man as a guy from the working outskirts. In parallel with his studies, Mkrtchyan acted in films for the first time - he played in a short episode in Alexander Rowe’s film “The Secret of Lake Sevan”. The first film with his participation (“In Search of the Addressee”) was released in 1955. And his full-fledged debut on the silver screen took place in 1960 in the film by G. Malyan and G. Markaryan “The Music Team Guys,” in which he played a musician named Arsen.

Since 1956 - actor of the Armenian Theater. G. M. Sundukyan in Yerevan. “Frunzik’s theatrical triumph began with his very first roles,” says Albert Mkrtchyan. “As a second-year student at the theater institute, he received an invitation to the Theater. Sandukyan for the role of Aesop, which he was supposed to play together with his teacher. After the first performance, the teacher approached Frunzik, kissed him and gave up the role. Whom he later played in the theater, from Tsar Guidon to Cyrano de Bergerac.

But Mkrtchyan had to wait five years for his next film work, and in 1965 it became the role of Professor Berg in the comedy “Thirty-three” directed by Georgy Danelia. However, the film was very quickly withdrawn from distribution for ideological reasons. Mkrtchyan’s next film work was a role in Rolan Bykov’s film “Aibolit-66”. Mkrtchyan got into this picture thanks to the patronage of actor and director Frunze Dovlatyan, who suggested that Bykov try Mkrtchyan for the role of one of the robbers. The actor was approved, and soon Mkrtchyan, in the role of Barmaley, found himself in a bright and eccentric trinity of robbers, which immediately won the sympathy of the audience after its release in 1966.

Cinema also immediately fell in love with him. In the same 1966, the sparkling comedy by Leonid Gaidai “Prisoner of the Caucasus” was released on the screens of the USSR, in which Mkrtchyan got the role of uncle main character Dzhabraila. Frunzik truly became a superstar after his role as driver Khachikyan in Danelia’s film “Mimino.” Although, if you believe the director of the film, Georgy Nikolaevich Danelia, Frunzik Mkrtchyan, or rather, the driver Rubik, might not have existed at all. According to the script, the main character had to be accommodated in a Moscow hotel. The rooms in those days were double. Valiko’s neighbor could be an endocrinologist from the Urals or a driver from Armenia played by Frunzik Mkrtchyan. They tossed a coin. It came up heads - Khachikyan.

By the way, Frunzik himself came up with a lot of funny remarks that have become truly popular. The scene of the interrogation of witness Khachikyan in court is an absolute improvisation of the actor. At Mkrtchyan’s suggestion, the director filmed an episode in which the characters Frunzik and Kikabidze found themselves in the same elevator along with two Chinese. And one Chinese said to another: “How similar these Russians are to each other.” At the request of the censors, the episode had to be cut from the film. The filming of “Mimino” was also memorable for its unpleasant moments - Mkrtchyan began to drink heavily. Filming had to be canceled several times. In the end, Danelia set a strict condition for Frunzik - either alcohol or cinema. Mkrtchyan did not touch alcohol for several days. And then he came to the director and said sadly: “I understand why the world is ruled by mediocrity. They don’t drink and start working on their careers from the very morning.”

“Did Frunzik consider himself realized? Of course not. Only a fool would think that way. The father did not live to see his son's glory. But mom made it. She loved Frunzik very much. We - me and our two sisters - even took offense at her. But my mother said that we were already fighting, but Frunzik was helpless. When my brother was already very popular, he would come home, get into the shower and call his mother. She came and washed him. There was such music between mother and son,” recalled Albert Mushegovich. “He treated fame calmly and never suffered star fever. But people reacted violently to the “living” Frunzik, which was tantamount to an invasion of personal territory. Every passerby in Yerevan considered him a family member. Once we went down to the Moscow metro and were able to go only one stop - with applause.”

Frunzik Mkrtchyan in the film “Thirty Three”, 1965

Despite universal adoration, Frunzik was unhappy in his personal life. Mkrtchyan’s tragedies began when he was a student. He fell in love with a girl named Juliet, whose parents were against their marriage. The struggle for my beloved continued for several years and ended in complete failure. Perhaps out of frustration, Frunzik married the girl Knara, she had nothing to do with art, the marriage lasted only a year. Frunzik met his second wife within the walls of the theater institute. The beautiful Donara Pilosyan was the star of the course, many people followed her, but when Frunzik decided to marry her, her friends were very surprised.

The couple had two children - son Vazgen and daughter Nune. The actor adored them and brought a ton of toys from every trip. But more often than not, he immediately took them away from the children and began to play himself. “Everything was interesting to him,” says Albert. “How, for example, toy pigeons work, which fly into the sky and then return to your hands. Frunzik took them apart, trying to understand the mechanism. And, of course, then I couldn’t put it back together. Until the end of his life he was surprised by something. For example, I couldn’t understand how the TV worked. How does this film from America reach Yerevan? I disassembled the receiver, untwisted everything, and then even the master couldn’t fix anything.”

Donara accompanied her husband everywhere. In “Prisoner of the Caucasus” she played the wife of Comrade Saakhov’s driver, who sadly tells Yuri Nikulin’s hero about local customs - bride kidnapping. Every day Donara's behavior became more and more strange. She arranged terrible scenes of jealousy for her husband. Finally, Frunzik could not stand it and, on the advice of friends, turned to doctors. The doctors' verdict turned out to be terrible - schizophrenia. When the efforts of local specialists were powerless, Donara was sent to psychiatric clinic in France.

Frunzik’s personal life seemed to improve over time. He met a charming woman. Tamara was the daughter of the chairman of the Writers' Union of Armenia, Hrachya Hovhannisyan. They say that when the actor once again went to the registry office, one of his friends scolded him, asking if he frequented this institution. To which Frunzik replied with his characteristic humor: “Chaplin actually married eight times. Am I worse? Alas, this marriage did not bring happiness to Mkrtchyan either.

Frunzik and Tamara.

“Was he a reserved person? - says Albert Mushegovich. - No, he lived among people. And at the same time he lived alone. Once he was asked why he walked the streets at night alone, Frunzik was surprised: “Why alone? Cats are walking, dogs are walking. So I'm not alone." He was amazingly thin and kind person. Even too kind. Everyone had complaints against him, but he had none against anyone. Frunzik was a real people's deputy, unofficial, of course. Helped thousands of people. Nobody could refuse him..."

Frunzik Mkrtchyan in the film “The Soldier and the Elephant”.

Nune's daughter had gotten married by this time and left with her husband for Argentina. The meaning of Frunzik’s life was his son Vazgen. However, the young man’s behavior also began to alarm his father. Vazgen was shown to the best psychiatrists, who, alas, could not do anything. The boy inherited his mother's mental illness. They say that when Vazgen was placed for some time in the same French clinic where Donara was, they did not even recognize each other.

Frunzik Mkrtchyan in the film “The Adventures of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves.”

As theater director Mkrtchyan staged plays in Armenia and abroad. IN last years During his life, Frunzik abandoned cinema, concentrating all his efforts on creating his own theater (now the Yerevan Artistic Theater named after Frunze Mkrtchyan). “On December 28, 1993, I spent the whole day at his house,” says Albert Mkrtchyan. “We sat and talked about art. Frunzik was only interested in this. I remember he once again put on a cassette of Albioni’s Adagio, which he was going to use in his next performance. Then I put him to bed and went home for a few hours.

It was five in the evening. When I got home, I immediately started calling Frunzika - I had some kind of bad feeling. Although he understood that this was impossible - Frunzik’s phone was faulty, and it was only possible to make calls from it, and not receive calls. And at seven in the evening they called me and said that Frunzik was no longer there. He became ill, and the ambulance could no longer do anything. Heart attack. He was 63 years old...

At first, the government wanted to postpone the funeral to January 2. But I didn't agree. Armenia said goodbye to its brother on December 31, thousands of people followed the coffin. He was buried in the Pantheon of Geniuses of the Armenian Spirit in Yerevan, Armenia.

Frunzik Mkrtchyan's grave in the Pantheon. After 17 years, the monument was replaced.

Now they are starting to make a legend out of my brother, telling things that did not happen. They say his health was undermined by the death of his daughter in a car accident. In fact, Nune died five years after Frunzik passed away. She had a uterine tumor and had a successful operation. Nune was sitting in her room with her husband, and a blood clot broke loose. After the death of my brother, I adopted Vazgen. But he was gone too. Cirrhosis of the liver. He was 33 years old.

Did Frunzik have a tragic life? Which one great artist Isn't life tragic? This is probably payment for the talent with which the Lord awarded them. Frunzik, of course, understood what kind of actor he was. But he never showed it. Because he was a Man with a capital M, as Gorky, whom he adored, wrote. Who was left after him? The people who adore him. I stayed, our younger sister, our grandchildren. So the Mkrtchyan family continues. One of them will definitely be as talented as Frunzik.”

Monument. Frunzik Mkrtchyan in Gyumri, Theater Square.

Journalist Joseph Verdiyan wrote after the death of Frunzik Mkrtchyan: “A couple of weeks after Frunzik’s funeral, I invited his brother, the famous film director Albert Mkrtchyan, to my place, and we talked for several hours in the kitchen about his great brother. I remember: “Frunz wanted death, he was eager for it, he dreamed about it, cruelly extinguishing his life instincts. It was not time that destroyed him, nor his addiction to wine and tobacco... No, he deliberately walked towards his death, not having the strength to survive the illness of his son and wife - a huge family grief.”

Monument to Frunzik Mkrtchyan in Yerevan, Opera Garden.

Many phrases voiced by the actor have become catchphrases, among them:

“Why don’t you eat kefir? What, don’t you like it?”

“I feel such personal hostility towards the victim that I can’t eat.”

Monument to the heroes of the film “Men” by sculptor David Minasyan in the Saryanovsky kindergarten. Yerevan.

“Valiko-jan, I’ll tell you one smart thing, but don’t be offended!”

“What these Zhiguli are thinking, I don’t know. They are spinning, spinning, spinning under their feet...”

Monument to the heroes of the film "Mimino" in Moscow.

“If you refuse, they will kill you.”

“You did not justify the high trust placed in you”

“Don’t confuse your personal hair with the state one.”

Monument to Frunzik Mkrtchyan in Yerevan.

People's Artist of the Armenian SSR, People's Artist of the USSR Frunze (Mher) Mushegovich Mkrtchyan (1930-1993) was not just a people's favorite. He became a real symbol of Armenia. In the offices of local leaders, along with portraits of party and state leaders, there was also a portrait of the actor Mkrtchyan. Frunze, or as he was also called Frunzik, dreamed of tragic roles, but he got comedic ones (“Prisoner of the Caucasus, or the New Adventures of Shurik” (1966), “Mimino” (1977), “Vanity of Vanities” (1978), “The Lonely Are Given hostel "(1984). Maybe that's why his characters always turned out to be so sad. The actor starred in three dozen films, mostly in episodic roles. However, many phrases uttered by his characters became catchphrases and were repeated throughout the country.

Living legend

He would have turned 87 on July 4th. In Armenia, Mkrtchyan is a real national hero. On one of the central avenues of Yerevan there is a huge portrait from which this most famous and adored Armenian looks at passers-by with a sad smile. By the way, the Armenians themselves call their pet differently - Mher.

“Actually, the parents named their first-born Frunzik,” says the actor’s brother Albert Mkrtchyan. - Probably in honor of the Soviet military leader Mikhail Frunze. In the thirties, Armenians were accused of nationalism, so they began to give their children strange names.

Roberts, Alberts, Frunziks appeared. And when many years later the Theater named after. Sandukyan, where his brother worked, toured Lebanon, local Armenians called him Mher. This biblical name, which in translation means the Sun.”

Today Frunzik’s brother Albert Mushegovich - artistic director Yerevan Theater named after. Mher Mkrtchyan. On the theater building there is a memorial plaque with a bas-relief in the form of the actor’s famous profile. Frunzik never worried about his appearance.

Moreover, he himself did not see anything unusual in her. And he even made up jokes about his nose, which was outstanding in all respects. When Mkrtchyan was invited to perform for money at various parties, he categorically refused, laughing, in his own words, right in the nose of the inviter.

“No, my brother was never shy about his appearance,” Albert laughs. - And looking at those whom nature did not endow with the same nose as his, I was always surprised. And then, all Armenians have such noses. Isn’t that what I have?”

Mkrtchyan Jr., although not like two peas in a pod, is very similar to Frunzik. Albert Mushegovich is a film director by profession, graduated from VGIK. By the way, in his diploma work Albert removed his brother.

“The film was called Photograph and it was only 15 minutes long,” he says. “I gave him the role of a father whose son died in the war. Frunzik managed to make the audience die of laughter for the first 10 minutes, and cry for the last five.”

Frunzik Mkrtchyan became a legend during his lifetime. They say that the actor even had two passports - one official, and the other a gift from friends, in which it was written - “Mher Mkrtchyan”. Although the national idol did not need a passport.

When, together with Vakhtang Kikabidze and Georgy Danelia Frunzik, he went to the Kremlin to receive the State Prize for the film “Mimino,” the guards demanded that they show their documents. To which Mkrtchyan replied with a reproachful smile: “Do foreign spies go to the Kremlin without documents?” Of course, the laureates were allowed in without inspection.

And one day, together with his friends, Mkrtchyan went to visit an arrested comrade. Leaving his friends in the restaurant, Frunzik went away for a few minutes and appeared already... in the company of the arrested man and the head of the pre-trial detention center.

Mkrtchyan didn’t need money either. “I was recently told this story,” continues Albert Mkrtchyan. - Somehow Frunzik suddenly came up with the idea of ​​flying to Sochi. He was generally a spontaneous person - he could sit and sit, and then pick up and go to the other end Soviet Union.

So that time, taking a friend with him, Frunzik was in Sochi within a few hours. He had 1000 rubles in his pocket. After relaxing at the resort and hanging out in restaurants, the friends returned to Yerevan. Frunzik still had a thousand rubles in his pocket.”

Mkrtchyan’s popularity was fantastic. Once, after the release of Georgy Danelia’s film “Mimino,” Frunzik flew to Moscow for several days. Together with his brother, they hurried to important meeting, and Frunzik suggested getting there by metro.

“We barely squeezed into the carriage,” recalls Albert. - There’s no crowding of people: some are reading, some are dozing. However, within thirty seconds, after Frunzik found himself in the carriage, everyone began to applaud. My brother felt awkward, and we got off at the next station.

He was loved not only in Moscow and the cities of the Soviet Union. I have an article from the New York Times. “Five minutes of silence of Mher Mkrtchyan” is called. The fact is that at one of his performances in America, more than half of the audience were Americans who spoke neither Russian nor Armenian.

Then the brother came to the front of the stage and stood silently for five minutes and looked into the hall. The audience fell from their chairs to the floor laughing. And Frunzik looked at them once again, bowed and left.”

Mom's favorite

FROM CHILDHOOD Frunzik drew beautifully. However, I didn’t think about any other profession other than acting. He was born in Leninakan, his parents - Mushegh and Sanam - worked at a local textile mill. “Our father and mother were children of genocide,” says Albert Mkrtchyan.

They were 5 years old when they were found literally on the road and placed in the same orphanage. They grew up together, got married, and in 24, when one of the largest textile mills in the Soviet Union opened, they got a job there. There was a club at the plant, in whose amateur circle Frunzik played.”

The Mkrtchyans' apartment was on the second floor. On the staircase, ten-year-old Frunzik hung a curtain and staged one-man performances in front of the children sitting on the stairs. When, after one of the performances, he went out to bow, he was surprised to notice that the audience had become larger - little spectators were sitting on the laps of their parents, who selflessly applauded the little genius.

Even then no one doubted that the boy was extremely gifted. In Yerevan they still tell with admiration how 17-year-old Mkrtchyan played the role of an 80-year-old man and no one could recognize in the bent old man a guy from the working outskirts.

“Frunzik’s theatrical triumph began with his very first roles,” says Albert Mkrtchyan. - As a second-year student at the theater institute, he received an invitation to the Theater. Sandukyan for the role of Aesop, which he was supposed to play together with his teacher. After the first performance, the teacher approached Frunzik, kissed him and gave up the role.

Whom he later played in the theater, from Tsar Guidon to Cyrano de Bergerac. Cinema also immediately fell in love with him. Did Frunzik consider himself realized? Of course not. Only a fool would think that way.

The father did not live to see his son's glory. But mom made it. She loved Frunzik very much. We - me and our two sisters - even took offense at her. But my mother said that we were already fighting, but Frunzik was helpless. When my brother was already very popular, he would come home, get into the shower and call his mother. She came and washed him. There was such music of mother and son.”

Frunzik truly became a superstar after his role as driver Khachikyan in Danelia’s film “Mimino.”

By the way, a lot of funny remarks that have become truly popular (“You ask such questions that it’s even inconvenient to answer”, “What are these Zhiguli cars thinking about?”, “I’ll tell you one smart thing, but don’t be offended” and others), Frunzik came up with it himself. The scene of the interrogation of witness Khachikyan in court is an absolute improvisation of the actor.

At Mkrtchyan’s suggestion, the director filmed an episode in which the heroes of Frunzik and Kikabidze found themselves in the same elevator along with two Chinese. And one Chinese said to another: “How similar these Russians are to each other.” At the request of the censors, the episode had to be cut from the film.

The shooting of “Mimino” was also memorable for its unpleasant moments - Mkrtchyan began to drink heavily. Filming had to be canceled several times. In the end, Danelia set a strict condition for Frunzik - either alcohol or cinema. Mkrtchyan did not touch alcohol for several days. And then he came to the director and sadly said: “I understood why the world is ruled by mediocrity. They don’t drink and start working on their careers from the very morning.”

People's Deputy

DESPITE universal adoration, Frunzik was unhappy in his personal life. After a short first marriage, he met an amazingly beautiful student at the theater institute, Damira. Like all women, she could not resist Frunzik’s charm and soon became his wife. The couple had two children - son Vazgen and daughter Nune. The actor adored them and brought a ton of toys from every trip. But more often than not, he immediately took them away from the children and began to play himself.

“Everything was interesting to him,” says Albert. - How do, for example, toy pigeons work that fly into the sky and then return to your hands? Frunzik took them apart, trying to understand the mechanism. And, of course, then I couldn’t put it back together. Until the end of his life he was surprised by something. For example, I couldn’t understand how the TV worked. How does this film from America reach Yerevan? I disassembled the receiver, untwisted everything, and then even the master couldn’t fix anything.”

Damira accompanied her husband everywhere. In “Prisoner of the Caucasus” she played the wife of Comrade Saakhov’s driver, who sadly tells Yuri Nikulin’s hero about local customs - bride kidnapping.

Every day Damira's behavior became more and more strange. She arranged terrible scenes of jealousy for her husband. Finally, Frunzik could not stand it and, on the advice of friends, turned to doctors. The doctors' verdict turned out to be terrible - schizophrenia. When the efforts of local specialists were powerless, Damira was sent to a psychiatric clinic in France.

Frunzik’s personal life seemed to improve over time. He met a charming woman. Tamara was the daughter of the chairman of the Writers' Union of Armenia Oganesyan.

They say that when the actor once again went to the registry office, one of his friends scolded him, asking if he frequented this institution. To which Frunzik replied with his characteristic humor: “Chaplin actually married eight times. Am I worse? Alas, this marriage did not bring happiness to Mkrtchyan either.

“Was he a reserved person? - says Albert Mushegovich. - No, he lived among people. And at the same time he lived alone. Once he was asked why he walked the streets at night alone, Frunzik was surprised: “Why alone? Cats are walking, dogs are walking. So I'm not alone."

He was an amazingly subtle and kind person. Even too kind. Everyone had complaints against him, but he had none against anyone. Frunzik was a real people's deputy, unofficial, of course. Helped thousands of people. Nobody could refuse him..."

Nune's daughter had gotten married by this time and left with her husband for Argentina. The meaning of Frunzik’s life was his son Vazgen. However, the young man’s behavior also began to alarm his father. Vazgen was shown to the best psychiatrists, who, alas, could not do anything.

The boy inherited his mother's mental illness. They say that when Vazgen was placed for some time in the same French clinic where Dinara was, they did not even recognize each other.

In the last years of his life, Frunzik abandoned cinema, concentrating all his efforts on creating his own theater. “On December 28, 1993, I spent the whole day at his house,” says Albert Mkrtchyan.

We sat and talked about art. Frunzik was only interested in this. I remember he once again put on a cassette of Albioni’s Adagio, which he intended to use in his next performance.

Then I put him to bed and went home for a few hours. It was five in the evening. When I got home, I immediately started calling Frunzika - I had some kind of bad feeling. In general, he and I really felt each other.

I remember one day I suddenly woke up at four in the morning and immediately dialed my brother’s number. He was then in Moscow, filming Mimino. After the first ring, he picked up the phone. "Why are not you sleeping?" - I ask. “What is it,” he answers, “a man just died next to me.”

So that day I tried to call him. Although he understood that this was impossible: Frunzik’s phone was faulty, and it was only possible to make calls from it, and not receive calls. And at seven in the evening they called me and said that Frunzik was no longer there. He became ill, and the ambulance could no longer do anything. Heart attack. He was 63 years old...

At first, the government wanted to postpone the funeral to January 2. But I didn't agree. Armenia said goodbye to her brother on December 31. Thousands of people followed the coffin to the pantheon, where his grave is located.

Now they are starting to make a legend out of my brother, telling things that did not happen. They say his health was undermined by the death of his daughter in a car accident. In fact, Nune died five years after Frunzik passed away.

She had a uterine tumor and had a successful operation. Nune was sitting in her room with her husband, and a blood clot broke loose. After the death of my brother, I adopted Vazgen. But last year he also passed away. Cirrhosis of the liver. He was 33 years old.

Did Frunzik have a tragic life? What great artist’s life is not tragic? This is probably payment for the talent with which the Lord awarded them. Frunzik, of course, understood what kind of actor he was.

But he never showed it. Because he was a Man with a capital M, as Gorky, whom he adored, wrote. Who was left after him? The people who adore him. I stayed, our younger sister, our grandchildren. So the Mkrtchyan family continues. One of them will definitely be as talented as Frunzik.” http://www.aif.ru/archive/1684801

The sun - that's what his friends called him

His smile was irresistible, his acting talent was brilliant, and his huge nose always became the subject of attention of wits. A light-hearted, ironic and outwardly absolutely carefree person, and also a darling of fate: few Soviet actors there was such glory. Frunzik Mkrtchyan seemed to be the personification of absolute success. Who else did all the Yerevan policemen trump on the streets, and the traffic cops turn a blind eye, if the idol was driving, to put it mildly, not crystal sober? Who else in stores or at the market was given anything they wanted without asking for payment? His friends joked: this is communism for an individual. Frunzik did not need a passport, money, or registration. Everyone already knows him, adore him immensely and carry him in their arms.

After the release of Gaidai’s comedy “Prisoner of the Caucasus,” the Yerevan artist Frunze Mkrtchyan, little known throughout the country, woke up famous. After Danelia’s film “Mimino” he became the favorite of millions of moviegoers. They wrote about his talent best critics: what plasticity, what charm! Friends told him: you are the most famous Armenian in the Soviet Union. Viewers, of course, remembered him from other films, but the main film role in the artist’s life was the driver Khachikyan, a touching, kind eccentric from Mimino. In the memory of millions, Mkrtchyan remains as such: a funny and colorful oriental comedian.

But only the closest people knew about Frunzik’s other life. She had dreams of completely different roles, unfulfilled hopes and heavy drinking bouts. The sun - that's what his friends called him. He answered: if it’s sunny, then it’s very sad. Only the closest people knew: there was an abyss between the acting images of Frunze Mkrtchyan and his personal destiny. A brilliant comedian on screen, in life he is a tragic character. His father drank bitter and beat his son mercilessly. Peers mocked the weak, short boy. Few people know that even during the times of his incredible fame, Mkrtchyan in life was gloomy, taciturn and rarely smiled.

The severe mental illness of Donara’s wife was passed on to their son Vaak, and this illness was incurable, and Mkrtchyan’s daughter Nune died in a car accident. Famous actor and lived and worked in the theater, filming in a state of severe depression, which he tried to extinguish with alcohol. After two or three iconic roles in films, he was rarely invited: a drunken actor is a disaster. But about this dark side The audience did not know “The Sun”; Frunze Mkrtchyan was always a true idol for them - sometimes funny, sometimes sad, but always very understandable. The deafening fame did not spoil Frunzik’s character; he was absolutely devoid of stardom, and was embarrassed by greetings and praises addressed to him. The doors of the highest offices opened before him, but he rarely asked for himself, and often for others, sometimes complete strangers.

Sad funny Frunzik Mkrtchyan

The favorite artist of millions would have turned 87 today. He was funny. His huge nose, his short stature, his manner of speaking made everyone laugh. One day he went on stage and just stood there for a few minutes, then bowed and left. And the audience burst into laughter all this time. Even the fact that almost everyone called him not Frunze, but Frunzik, caused a kind smile.

Did Frunzik Mkrtchyan himself laugh often? Perhaps in his distant childhood he burst into laughter. He probably laughed when he organized children's theater performances for his family and neighbors, he laughed when he watched films with his beloved Charlie Chaplin, he laughed when he made people laugh. And in this he was a real pro, a true actor.

True, Frunzik Mkrtchyan did not immediately become an actor. He was born in 1930 into a simple working family. Mom is a dishwasher, father is a timekeeper, but the boy dreamed of creativity. True, Frunzik had to come down to earth for a while when his father was arrested for theft at the plant. Mkrtchyan Sr. tried to take out a piece of fabric in order to sell it and buy at least some food for the family with the proceeds. But the hungry attacker was quickly caught, convicted and sent to prison for 10 long years. Frunzik’s road to universities was closed, so he had to go and work hard at a factory. Mkrtchyan received a diploma of graduation from the Yerevan Theater and Art Institute only in 1956.

The actor’s friends recalled how he surprisingly ironically talked about his soon-to-be first film debut. Frunzik was then invited to play the role by Alexander Rowe himself in his film “The Secret of Lake Sevan.” Mkrtchyan had simple task- just remove the stone that is blocking the road. Frunzik played the role perfectly. True, the director decided that there was too much of him in the frame, and cut the episode so much that only one leg of Frunzik Mkrtchyan remained in the film.

Despite such a filmography, Georgy Danelia instantly noticed Frunzik Mkrtchyan’s comedic talent. He invited the actor first to his comedy “Thirty-three”, and then to “Mimino”. Mkrtchyan really loved the role of chauffeur Khachikyan, because on the set Danelia allowed him what he did not allow others. Mkrtchyan was a real ringleader, a toastmaster. He came up with episodes for himself, composed jokes, and arranged mise-en-scène. It was Frunzik who composed this catchphrase: “I have such a personal dislike for him that I can’t eat.” He improvised in such a way that the stomachs of the entire film crew were bursting with laughter.

Needless to say, Frunzik improvised on stage, in film, and in life. Among filmmakers, a story has long passed from mouth to mouth about how actor Frunzik Mkrtchyan went to Sochi with a friend. Everything was there: tickets for the next plane, an excellent hotel, entertainment, the best food. And Frunzik left home for the resort with a thousand rubles in his wallet, and returned with this thousand. When young colleagues asked: “How did you do it?”, Frunzik smiled more mysterious than Mona Liza, threw up his hands and made such a face that those around him again roared with laughter. But did Frunzik Mkrtchyan himself laugh? No, alone with himself, Frunze Mkrtchyan became more and more sad.

Between his two jobs with Danelia, Mkrtchyan managed to visit film set“Prisoner of the Caucasus” by Gaidai, where he played the role of the uncle of the main character Nina. And his wife was played by... his wife, the beautiful Danara Mkrtchyan. Frunzik madly loved his wife, who gave him a son and daughter, so he was happy when Danelia offered her the role. But the happiness quickly ended. Soon after filming, Danara was replaced. She began to create scandal after scandal for Frunzik, shouting that he had a mistress in every city, making every day spent at home unbearable.

Mkrtchyan was advised a good psychologist. It was he who suggested to the actor that it was not a matter of imaginary mistresses, not of his wife’s insane jealousy, but of her mental illness. Doctors diagnosed Danara with schizophrenia. Since then, thanks to Frunzik, his wife has been observed the best specialists, the woman was taken to a clinic in France, but no one could cure her. After some time it became clear that the terrible incurable disease passed from mother to son... This news hit Frunzik. Colleagues say that after these medical “sentences” to his two loved ones, Frunzik began to appear in public less often. No, when his friends met him, he somehow smiled, joked funny, but he himself didn’t laugh anymore.

Frunzik Mkrtchyan was once asked: “Why do you constantly wander the streets at night all alone?” Frunzik still smiled mysteriously, looked with his sad eyes at the questioner and answered: “Am I alone? Cats and dogs roam too.”

He was briefly shaken and “awakened” new project- Frunzik was offered to create his own theater in Yerevan. But the new brainchild had to live without its creator. In 1993, two days before the New Year, Frunzik Mkrtchyan’s heart stopped. They say that on the night of December 31 to January 1, the entire world Armenian diaspora observed a minute of silence in memory of such a funny, so sad and such a talented actor Frunzik Mkrtchyan.

People's Artist of the USSR Frunzik Mkrtchyan, whose causes of death are not known to everyone, was a famous Soviet and Armenian theater and film actor and theater director.

Frunzik was born in 1930 in Leninakan (now Gyumri), in Armenia. His father was a timekeeper at a factory, and his mother was a dishwasher in a factory canteen. Ros Mkrtchyan grew up with his brother Albert and two sisters - Ruzanna and Klara.

Even as a child, Frunzik began to show acting abilities. After graduating from school, he got a job at a club at a textile mill, where he was an assistant projectionist. At that time, he had already started playing in a local drama club, and then he would enter the studio at Leninakansky drama theater. In 1947, Mkrtchyan was enrolled in the theater troupe of this theater.

In 1956, the artist graduated from Yerevan theater university and became an actor in the Sandukyan Theater. In the same year he made his film debut. It was cameo role in the film "The Secret of Lake Sevan". It is noteworthy that after editing, only Mkrtchyan’s leg was left in the film. But in the theater things went much better for him. He became a recognizable actor, many began to go to the theater specifically to see Frunzik.

Mkrtchyan had a more significant role in the 1960 film “Music Team Guys.” In it he played a musician named Arsen. For the next 5 years, the actor did not act anywhere, but in 1965 he played in famous comedy Danelia "Thirty-three". However, at first the picture was banned by the authorities.

A year later, Mkrtchyan played one of his most famous roles- Uncle Dzhabrail in the comedy “Prisoner of the Caucasus” by Gaidai. After this role, Frunzik began to be recognized throughout the USSR. In the same year, he played a big role in the film “Aibolit-66” by Bykov.

In the 70s, Frunzik’s wife fell ill, he had to give up various roles. But already in the second half of the 70s the comedy “Mimino” was released, where Mkrtchyan played one of the main roles along with Kikabidze. Many of his phrases have become catchphrases and are still quoted, and the picture is repeated on TV channels every year.

Many also remember Mkrtchyan’s role in the drama “The Soldier and the Elephant.” For this role he was awarded the first prize for best acting at the All-Union Film Festival in Yerevan. Then Frunzik starred in “Vanity of Vanities,” where he performed main role. In 1978, the artist was awarded State Prize USSR, and in 1984 - the title People's Artist THE USSR.

In the 80s, Mkrtchyan stopped acting. He refused all roles, but continued to sometimes play in the theater. In the 90s he stopped appearing there too. They say that the reason for Mkrtchyan’s departure from the theater was that not him, but another person was appointed chief director.

Frunzik was married 3 times. His first wife was his classmate Knara, but he was not married to her for long. The artist married Donara Pilosyan for the second time in the mid-50s. She bore him a daughter, Nune, and then a son, Vazgen. After some time, Donara fell ill with an incurable mental illness passed down to her by inheritance. As a result, the woman was hospitalized in a mental hospital in France, where she remained. Frunzik raised two children alone. Later, his son Vazgen was found to have the same disease as his mother. He was admitted to the same hospital as his mother. They say that soon they even stopped recognizing each other.

Mkrtchyan’s third wife was the daughter of the chairman of the Writers’ Union of Armenia, Tamara Oganesyan. But the couple quickly divorced due to the fact that Frunzik began to abuse alcohol.

The artist passed away in December 1993. He died in his Yerevan apartment. Official reason death was called a heart attack. On December 31, the actor’s funeral took place. Thousands of people visited them.