For Leonidas in his childhood, it was very important to become a pilot. But Bykov had inappropriate growth and appearance. Most likely, we were lucky that this was the case with the biography of the actor Leonid Bykov. Who knows what would happen if the future actor were taken to the front in 1943. Perhaps his biography would have been different, or would not have developed at all. At that time the Bykov family was in evacuation, in Barnaul. The guy lied that he was eighteen years old and wanted to go to the flight school, but because of the growth and appearance of Leonid immediately exposed.
For a long time for a future actor, the desire to become a pilot was just an obsession. His biography includes the fact that after the war Leonid still entered the flight school, but did not study there for more than a month. And it was not at all a bad performance. It's just that the teachers understood that Leonid would not want that, the pilot could not be a man with a height of one hundred and thirty-six centimeters.
After Bykov realized that he was not going to be a pilot, the guy decided to elect an actor's career. He entered the Kiev School of Actors and was unable to pass the competition. Ambitious and proud, Leonid did not want to return home. He imagined that his acquaintances would ridicule him and it would tear his heart. So the guy went to Kharkov and tried to enter the theater. Honestly, he was just experiencing fate, especially not hoping that he would succeed. But, nevertheless, Bykov was enrolled in the first year of the institute, since all the teachers from the commission were extremely pleased with this young man.
After graduating from the theater institute for almost ten years, Leonid worked at the Kharkiv Theater named after Shevchenko.
Leonid started shooting in 1952. His first well-known role was the role of Petit in The Tamer Tiger. This film quickly became popular among Soviet viewers. Many sympathized with the kind, loving Petya, who had to be only the best friend for the girl, whom he loved so much. The next film was the picture "Maxim Perepelitsa". Here Leonid played the main role, winning the universal love of the audience. He played the role of a cheerful young man who knows how to get out of any trouble, treats life easily and cheerfully. However, in serious situations, never give up and find a way out. Bykov knew how to play both comic and tragic roles. Therefore, if possible, he tried to choose different characters, so that he was not perceived as an actor who constantly wears a mask. That's why Leonid was able to show himself from various sides and make all viewers feel love for him.
In the sixties, Bykov began to try himself as a director. For this he even took his wife and children from Kharkov and went to Leningrad. It was there that he was given the opportunity to make films. Of course, the first samples were not brilliant, but soon Leonid opened his talent as a director. He shot wonderful pictures, which many spectators could appreciate. And then came the years of calm. Bykov returned to Ukraine, but he did not start acting there either. He did not want to shoot either. Leonid began to be disappointed in the cinema. It seemed to him that most of the films are false and uninteresting, they do not have art, just a desire to shoot something that the authorities will like. Leonid saw how many actors from the theater, from film studios, that he admired. For Bykov this was a real blow, because he felt like theater and cinema, such as he wants and sees them, begin to fall apart. This frustrated the actor. It drove him into depression. This went on exactly until the moment when Bykov started filming the movie "Some Old Men Are Going to Battle." It was this picture that became the most beloved and most memorable for moviegoers. It is over her still crying for all generations on Victory Day. This film became an opportunity to glorify the pilots that Bykov so admired. He did everything to this picture came out on the screens. Despite the fact that, at one time, it was considered not heroic enough. They wanted to close the shooting and much more, Leonid was able to remove this masterpiece, playing one of the main roles in it. The singing squadron led by Captain Titarenko won the hearts of absolutely all spectators. In less than six months, the film was watched by fifty-four million people. At that time, it was a very big box office. People were singing dark-skinned, wept over Romeo and other characters, whose young lives were so quickly and unexpectedly taken away by the war.
Another directorial work by Bykov was another film about the war - "Aty-bata, the soldiers were walking". This movie also received recognition among the audience. But, it was on the shooting of this picture that Leonid had his first heart attack. The fact is that Bykov was very worried because of his films, due to the fact that not everything was allowed to speak, due to the fact that all ideas could not be implemented. Of course, he was pleased with triumphs and awards, but he, most of all, wanted only that the audience enjoyed, looking at his paintings.
The second heart attack in Bykov was due to the fact that his son was in history with a robbery of a jewelry store. But, after this, Bykov still recovered. His life was taken away by a car accident. The actor and director was only fifty years old. It was a really terrible combination of circumstances that took a genius man.
At the funeral, Bykov, as he asked in his will, did not cry. Only "cut in" the "Dark-skin", for the last time, for the Maestro.