Oleg Menshikov was born on November 8, 1960, in Serpukhov, a small town near Moscow…
Soon the Menshikovs moved to Moscow and settled down in the southern part of the capital, not far from Kashirskoe shosse. Here Oleg spent his childhood and youth.
… The family got a small two-room flat where father, mother, grandfather and little Oleg lived. His dad was a military engineer. His mum was a neuropathologist. Both of them worked right there - in the Kashirsky district. They had a common life, similar to all the others. Kindergarten, games in the yard, cartoons over TV. There was just one unusual thing - Oleg's love for music. … The boy's gift was noticed by the attentive parents.
… They bought an old violin and the lessons began. Fortunately, a music school was very close to the place where the Menshikovs lived.
… At the age of 6 Oleg went to elementary school. He was a good pupil, got used to a new daily routine, lessons and homework very quickly.
"We lived near each other and were friends in childhood and youth", - Larisa Chesnokova recalls. - "First, we studied in different classes. Then our "A" and "B" classes were united, when a special math class was being formed. Although Oleg used to take part in everything we did, he always kept a certain distance between himself and the rest of us. Every attempt to break it, to enter his life was instantly met with opposition. Not a rude one, but it was clear that it was impossible to change anything."
… Oleg was never an A-student. But being a student of a math class, he was rather good at exact sciences, although the humanities were his favourite ones. Inborn self-esteem didn't let him be worse than other students, and he did not allow himself to get bad marks regardless of his love for this or that particular subject. Everyone was aware of his strength of mind and his aspiration for being ahead of the classmates. He often went to Moscow - to the theatre - with his parents and friends. It was the best thing for him.
… Irina Lvovna Petrova recalls: "A very deep character, with a strong critical attitude. Although he could hide it. He listened to our remarks, requests, advice. He didn't object as though he agreed. And then he did everything in his own way. He always had his point of view, his opinion. He never got involved in quarrel or fight to prove it. Actually, he never got involved into anything preferring to take a detached view. He did only the things he considered right and necessary."
There is one more description of the pupil Menshikov, given to him by a pioneer leader Machilskaya - "not a frozen kid". That may have been a result of the upbringing, of the parents' care when they managed to find a wise balance of strictness and freedom in relations with the son.
…Oleg Menshikov was keen on juggling. From "Artek" (the best pioneer camp in the Soviet Union) he brought a great book. He picked up information about all the magical tricks in it… Oleg's classmate Irina Golubenko's bright orange neckerchief was a thing he was dying to use during showing his tricks. "He was absolutely crazy about it, always begged me to give it to him for his tricks. But I didn't," - laughs Irina. Feeling sorry for Oleg, Irina's friend Larisa Chesnokova bought him a similar neckerchief, although it was red and a bit smaller. But Oleg didn't like Larisa's version - he always did (and does) know exactly what he wanted. And he never took anything in exchange.
By the time when Oleg became a student of a math class, the music school where he studied became larger - there were much more students in it. Thus it was necessary to rent new places. One of such places became school #866 where Menshikov studied. Pianos were put in many classrooms. Here young musicians practiced after general studies were over. However, in the mornings during the breaks the music could be heard too. Oleg played more than others. His favourite tunes were cancan and melodies from classic operettas. That was his major love then. He loved operetta so much that he managed to make almost all his classmates love it too. Oleg went to the Operetta Theatre twice a week. Everyone knew that Oleg saw "Earl de Luxemburg" six times and the wonderful "Maritsa" - seven times… He managed to obtain free passes for himself and his friends. Oleg brought the score of "Silva" and Larisa Chesnokova learned all aria's of the main character by heart. "Once Svetlana Varguzova, prima of Moscow operetta, performed in our Palace of Culture "Moskvorechje", - Larisa recalls. - It all was very unexpected, but Irina Golubenko and I managed to attend her concert and we phoned Oleg at once, as we knew how much he loved this genre. He was very busy, I guess, doing his homework and was not going to go anythere. But as soon as he heard of the concert, he was there at once. He was as always neat, with a good haircut, wearing a nice "polo-neck" - they were in fashion then. We had never seen him untidy. He kept in shape since childhood."
By the way, operetta is still one of Oleg's passionate attachments, although he is unlikely to attend such performances now. It is sad that his rare musical gift is not being used in cinema or theatre.
Besides his faculty for music, the acting gift was also Oleg's distinguishing feature since early years. He had lively imagination, inherent to creative personalities, which always makes their life harder. Once he even went through some bad moments because of that. In a house opposite to Oleg's there lived an evil boy Seryozha, famous among other children for his cruel jokes. Once he saw Oleg in the balcony and shouted to him, "Oleg, lock the door, there are Gipsies in your front steps. They want to kidnap you!" And Oleg believed him. Parents were out. He imagined what would happen to him and got really scared. Then he decided to protect himself - he placed furniture near the door and set at the windowsill to be able to ask for help. He asked Seryozha, "Are they coming?" - "Yeah, they are about to kidnap you and take you with them…" Oleg had to endure terrible moments before his parents returned home.
However, Oleg liked to play jokes as well. His jokes were not evil, but sometimes they ended in quite an unexpected way. In fact, those were his first little performances, followed by his wish to act something, to make the audience believe him. Once during a lesson, his classmates noticed that Menshikov was holding a pin in his mouth. Oleg held it in his mouth and from time to time acted as though he swallowed it. Finally everyone was looking at him. Children asked, "Put it away! What if you swallow it!" Oleg seemed not to hear them. And then he screamed, "A-a-a-ah… I swallowed it!.."
It's not so hard to imagine what happened next. The lesson was over. Frightened classmates and a teacher thought what to do. A child was dying… Then they recalled Oleg's mother was a doctor and decided to call her immediatelly… Later kids tried to find out how they managed to take a pin out of his stomach. But he kept silence, changed the subject never answering friends' questions. In reality, he never swallowed that pin at all. He just wanted to act danger and enjoy the audience, to create drama before everybody's eyes - drama he had planned and played very well.
Sometimes strangers became his audience too. For example, passengers of a bus or a tram. Once a company went to someone's birthday party. Menshikov held all the tickets playing with them in the open window. Friends asked him to take them away, but Oleg liked to play and be the centre of attention. And then the inevitable happened - the tickets flew away. A ticket collector, who kept an eye on the company, appeared from nowhere and demanded the fine. Menshikov spent quite a time persuading him to let them go, but it all ended in a police station where the girl brought the fine to free the joker. By the way, he had surely realized what could have come of all his tricks.
Oleg's friends of that time also remember another episode when a victim was his classmate Eugeny Savichev. Once riding in a tram, Oleg began asking his friend to show his ticket, knowing very well that they had not got any. He was "playing" a ticket collector. Savichev laughed at first, then he tried to make him stop all that… But Oleg didn't stop, especially because other passengers were looking at them. Menshikov became more and more persistent. He adressed the passengers, "People! This person has no ticket!" Of course, people responded instantly blaming the guy and almost driving him to hysterics… The ticket problem seemed to be a regular one, because almost all Oleg's classmates recall different situations about it.
However, what seemed to worry Menshikov the most was the necessity to name himself to a ticket collector. "Everyone knows my mum in this district, - he explained to careless Marina Kopysova, who told him that nothing awful would happen if they wrote their names. - "It's a shame for her…" According to Marina's words, he loved and respected his parents and was a bit afraid of them.
Another demonstration of the acting gift was Oleg's ability to parody, which he did rather gently but very funny. He was especially good at parodying girls.
… Oleg's character changed quite visibly after he returned from "Artek". "It was a different boy," - says Nina Machilskaya. - "Obviously, he saw many things in "Artek", got to know many people, grew up, and our school life was not enough for him any more. He went through soul-searching, we were the past for him. The easiest explanation could have been - "he put on airs". But it wasn't so. He got bored of living like he used to live. There were new standards, new demands. We were boring. Maybe, he didn't need us any more…"
… In high school he began staging performances. The first one was staged by New Year's Eve. Of course, Oleg chose operetta - or, to be more precise, it was something eclectic, created by the director himself. He included episodes from his favourite plays into the performance. They were mixed with Menshikov's own compositions. He used famous melodies. The school principal donated one hundred rubles on costumes and illumination. Some of the costumes were rented, others were made by the actors themselves. Many people took part in the performance, they played Gypsies, peasants. There were leading and supporting characters. Menshikov was engaged in everything, and he was also the leading performer. The highlight of the show was the aria from "Marisa", performed by Oleg.
"In the 9th grade Oleg began staging a performance," - Marina Kopysova recalls. - "He did everything himself, being both a director and an actor. He recorded all the music on the tape. He ordered the decor to Tolya Kireev. I was higher than others, so he made me a compere. I was a shy girl and was afraid, but he managed to persuade me to do it. I guess, he already was a good director, because he discovered talent in many people who had no idea they could act. He was a great dancer and singer. He was the one who gathered all of us together. His musical skills played a huge role in that. We had pianos in many classrooms. During the breaks Oleg played with great pleasure. And we sang. He had many different children around him - A-students, trouble-makers, sportsmen, idlers. He got on well with everybody, never got in a fight. Actually, it is hard to imagine that someone would have beaten him up. Menshikov - never! And he still is special. He was very touchy, he could not stand orders. There was another leader in our class - Pavel Grudinin, a handsome, friendly guy with a great sense of humour. When we gathered around playing Oleg, Pasha ordered, "Maestro, music!" Oleg hated it. And he even stopped talking to him for a long time, he just didn't notice him."
…On graduating from school, Oleg Menshikov already knew he would become an actor. His parents were not too excited about his decision, as it usually happens in non-artistic families. They wanted their son to gain a "serious" profession. However, they didn't object, respecting Oleg's long-time dream. Actually, Oleg passed his first "elimination test" at the age of 15. It happened thanks to his parents' friends. When Oleg was a nine-year pupil, he and his parents went to a wedding party of their friends' daughter, who worked in the Maly Theatre as a costume designer. There Oleg had to become an orchestra - he played piano the whole evening accompanying to singing and dancing guests. One of the guests was a teacher of the Shepkin Drama School Vladimir Bagratovich Monakhov, who watched Oleg. "Elena Innokentjevna Menshikova told me her son wanted to become an actor," - says Monakhov. - "I thought the guy was interesting and I invited him to my place to recite something. Soon Oleg came to me. He recited Pushkin. Of course, it was not perfect, but where would the perfection come from at his age? The most important thing was that I saw Oleg becoming a poet while reciting. I understood he was talented. Very talented. He reminded me of Gerard Philipp, a great romantic, the Prince of French cinema and theatre…"
And what about Oleg's beloved music? He finished music school. He was a member of an orchestra. He could have entered the Music Conservatory. But he didn't have to choose between music and stage. There was only stage for him. And he took his documents to the Shepkin Drama School, one of the oldest theatrical institutes in the country, where many wonderful actors had studied the traditions of the great Russian Art.