In 1951 Bykov graduated and immediately joined the Moscow Youth Theater where he served as an actor and a stage director until 1959. Simultaneously he also appeared in several movies in episodic roles, worked as an actor at the Moscow Drama Theater (1951—1952), as the head of the theater studio at the Bauman
Palace of Culture (1951—1953), as a
stringer for various children's programmes at the
Soviet Central Television and as an editor on radio (1953—1959). He made his acting debut in the film
School of Courage. In 1957 he organized a Student's Theater at the
Moscow State University where he served as the main director up until 1959. As a film director he became known for his experimental
children's and family movies. Among his most famous works are
Seven Nannies (1962),
Aybolit-66 (1966),
Attention, a Turtle! (1970) and
Scarecrow (1983). His films are generally associated with
postmodernism, presented as a mix of different styles, genres and techniques, with theatrical musical numbers,
arthouse editing,
fourth wall breaking and so on. An unexpectedly grim
Scarecrow released in 1984 became especially controversial and led to a lot of public criticism; some insisted it should be banned. Bykov survived a heart attack in the process. Yet in 1986 with the start of
perestroika he was awarded the
USSR State Prize for his movie. Since 1989 Bykov had been involved in the political life of Russia. Between 1989 and 1991 he served as a member of the
Congress of People's Deputies of the Soviet Union. He also headed a Nonpartisan Socio-Political Movement 95 that expressed support to culture, science, education and ecology. During the
1995 Parliamentary elections he headed a liberal pro-government Common Cause party along with
Irina Khakamada and
Vladimir Dzhanibekov. He also served as a president of the Help bank at one point. In 1996 Bykov was diagnosed with
lung cancer and survived a surgery. He died two years later from
thrombosis. He was buried at
Novodevichy Cemetery. ==Personal life==