Leonid Kuravlyov
Encyclopedia
Leonid Vyacheslavovich Kuravlyov (born October 8, 1936) is a Soviet/Russia
n actor and People's Artist of the RSFSR (1976).
Leonid Kuravlyov was born in Moscow
in 1936. He lost his father when he was still a little boy. In 1941, Kuravlyov's mother was falsely accused and exiled to the Russian North, where they would spend several years until their return to Moscow. In 1955, Leonid Kuravlyov was accepted to the Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography
and began studying the art of acting.
by his classmate Andrei Tarkovsky
. In 1960, he played the role of a sailor Kamushkin in a historical movie Michman Panin (Warrant Officer Panin) directed by Mikhail Shveitzer. Simultaneously, Kuravlyov acted in Vasily Shukshin's degree work Iz Lebyazhyego soobshchayut (They report from Lebyazhiy). That same year, Kuravlyov graduated from VGIK and joined the Theater Studio of Film Actors. From that moment on, Leonid Kuravlyov played a few leading parts and incidental characters in a few movies. In 1961, Kuravlyov and Shukshin starred in a famous Soviet melodrama Kogda derevya byli bolshimi (When the Trees Were Tall) with Yuri Nikulin
playing the leading part.
Actor and film director Vasily Shukshin is considered to have been the one to widely introduce Leonid Kuravlyov to the general public. In 1964, he shot two films – Zhivyot takoy paren' (There Is Such a Lad) and Vash syn i brat (Your Son and Brother) – both starring Leonid Kuravlyov. Shukshin liked Kuravlyov's acting in these two movies so much that he would constantly offer him different roles in many of his projects. Kuravlyov, however, turned down each one of them because he did not wish to play cliché
d characters.
's eponymous book
was the next step in Leonid Kuravlyov's acting career, in which he managed to create an unforgettable sparkling image of a naive petty thief. Kuravlyov's other notable films of this period include one of the first Soviet horror movies Viy
(Viy or Spirit of Evil; 1967) adaptation of Gogol's novell directed by Georgi Kropachyov, where he played a young seminarist Khoma Brutus, and a psychological melodrama Nepodsuden (Not Under the Jurisdiction; 1969) directed by Vladimir Krasnopolsky and Valeri Uskov, where he played a negative character of Sorokin.
in Stanislav Govorukhin
's Zhizn i udivitelniye priklyucheniya Robinzona Kruzo (Life and Amazing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe; 1972), Nazi officer Kurt Eismann in Seventeen Moments of Spring
(1973), and Lavr Mironovich in Pyotr Todorovsky
's Poslednyaya zhertva (The Last Victim; 1975).
Even though Kuravlyov is very good at playing serious dramatic roles, he is still best known and mostly loved for his comic appearances in movies like Leonid Gaidai
's Ivan Vasilyevich menyayet professiyu
(1973), where Kuravlyov played a thief named George Miloslavsky, who accidentally got teleported
to the times of Ivan the Terrible. Interestingly enough, Andrei Mironov
also tried out for this role, but Leonid Gaidai decided in Kuravlyov's favor.
In 1975, Leonid Kuravlyov starred in one his most famous comedies Afonya
, directed by Georgi Daneliya
. Kuravlyov played a very atypical character – a plumber
named Afonya Borshchyov, who takes bribes, often gets into trouble, abuses alcohol, quarrels with his superiors at work, and doesn’t really know what to do with his life. And then suddenly, one of his neighborhood "female clients" falls in love with him... About 62,2 mln. people went to see Afonya during its first year on cinema screens, making it an unconditional Soviet box-office leader of 1975.
In 1979, Leonid Kuravlyov played a very short role of a thief named Kopchyoniy in Stanislav Govorukhin’s cult film The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed
. The actor masterfully created an accomplished and amazingly credible image of an experienced criminal in just a matter of minutes.
The 1990s were not the best times for the Russian cinema in general and most of the released movies were mediocre and low-grade. During this period, many actors were forced to star in low-quality films just to make ends meet, and Leonid Kuravlyov was not an exception. Perhaps, his role in a movie called Baryshnya-krestyanka (Lady Into Lassie, 1995) is the only one worth mentioning.
as an MVD general. In 2009 he played the Nobleman in Disney
's first Russian-only release, Kniga Masterov (The Book of the Masters), a Princess Bride
-like comedy fantasy based on themes from Russian folk tales
such as Baba-Yaga, Koshchei the Deathless
, Konek-Gorbunok
, Ivan the Fool
and the Alatyr Stone.
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n actor and People's Artist of the RSFSR (1976).
Leonid Kuravlyov was born in Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
in 1936. He lost his father when he was still a little boy. In 1941, Kuravlyov's mother was falsely accused and exiled to the Russian North, where they would spend several years until their return to Moscow. In 1955, Leonid Kuravlyov was accepted to the Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography
Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography
The Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography All-Russian State University of Cinematography named after S. A. Gerasimov), VGIK for short, is a film school in Moscow, Russia.-History:...
and began studying the art of acting.
Leonid Kuravlyov and Vasily Shukshin
Leonid Kuravlyov made his first appearance in a movie while he was still a student. In 1959 he played in the film There Will Be No Leave TodayThere Will Be No Leave Today
There Will be No Leave Today is a 1959 student film by the Russian film directors Andrei Tarkovsky and Aleksandr Gordon. Based on a real postwar incident the film is about an army unit trying to dispose unexploded bombs to save a small town. It was Tarkovsky's and Gordon's second film, produced...
by his classmate Andrei Tarkovsky
Andrei Tarkovsky
Andrei Arsenyevich Tarkovsky was a Soviet and Russian filmmaker, writer, film editor, film theorist, theatre and opera director, widely regarded as one of the finest filmmakers of the 20th century....
. In 1960, he played the role of a sailor Kamushkin in a historical movie Michman Panin (Warrant Officer Panin) directed by Mikhail Shveitzer. Simultaneously, Kuravlyov acted in Vasily Shukshin's degree work Iz Lebyazhyego soobshchayut (They report from Lebyazhiy). That same year, Kuravlyov graduated from VGIK and joined the Theater Studio of Film Actors. From that moment on, Leonid Kuravlyov played a few leading parts and incidental characters in a few movies. In 1961, Kuravlyov and Shukshin starred in a famous Soviet melodrama Kogda derevya byli bolshimi (When the Trees Were Tall) with Yuri Nikulin
Yuri Nikulin
Yuri Vladimirovich Nikulin was a well-known Soviet and Russian actor and clown who starred in many popular films.He was awarded the title of People's Artist of the USSR in 1973 and Hero of Socialist Labour in 1990...
playing the leading part.
Actor and film director Vasily Shukshin is considered to have been the one to widely introduce Leonid Kuravlyov to the general public. In 1964, he shot two films – Zhivyot takoy paren' (There Is Such a Lad) and Vash syn i brat (Your Son and Brother) – both starring Leonid Kuravlyov. Shukshin liked Kuravlyov's acting in these two movies so much that he would constantly offer him different roles in many of his projects. Kuravlyov, however, turned down each one of them because he did not wish to play cliché
Cliché
A cliché or cliche is an expression, idea, or element of an artistic work which has been overused to the point of losing its original meaning or effect, especially when at some earlier time it was considered meaningful or novel. In phraseology, the term has taken on a more technical meaning,...
d characters.
Late 1960s
The role of Shura Balaganov in Mikhail Shveitser's comedy The Little Golden Calf based on Ilf and PetrovIlf and Petrov
Ilya Ilf Ilya Ilf Ilya Ilf (Ilya Arnoldovich Faynzilberg and Evgeny or Yevgeni Petrov (Yevgeniy Petrovich Kataev or Katayev were two Soviet prose authors of the 1920s and 1930s...
's eponymous book
The Little Golden Calf
The Little Golden Calf is a famous satirical novel by Soviet authors Ilf and Petrov, released in 1931. Its main character Ostap Bender, also appeared in a previous novel of the authors called The Twelve Chairs...
was the next step in Leonid Kuravlyov's acting career, in which he managed to create an unforgettable sparkling image of a naive petty thief. Kuravlyov's other notable films of this period include one of the first Soviet horror movies Viy
Viy (film)
Viy is a 1967 horror film produced by Mosfilm and based on the Nikolai Gogol story of the same name.-Synopsis:...
(Viy or Spirit of Evil; 1967) adaptation of Gogol's novell directed by Georgi Kropachyov, where he played a young seminarist Khoma Brutus, and a psychological melodrama Nepodsuden (Not Under the Jurisdiction; 1969) directed by Vladimir Krasnopolsky and Valeri Uskov, where he played a negative character of Sorokin.
1970s
In the early 1970s, Leonid Kuravlyov would star in three to four films a year. He managed to play completely opposite characters like Robinson CrusoeRobinson Crusoe
Robinson Crusoe is a novel by Daniel Defoe that was first published in 1719. Epistolary, confessional, and didactic in form, the book is a fictional autobiography of the title character—a castaway who spends 28 years on a remote tropical island near Trinidad, encountering cannibals, captives, and...
in Stanislav Govorukhin
Stanislav Govorukhin
Stanislav Sergeyevich Govorukhin has been one of the most popular Soviet and Russian film directors since the 1960s...
's Zhizn i udivitelniye priklyucheniya Robinzona Kruzo (Life and Amazing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe; 1972), Nazi officer Kurt Eismann in Seventeen Moments of Spring
Seventeen Moments of Spring
Seventeen Moments of Spring is a 1973 Soviet TV miniseries. It was filmed at Gorky Film Studio, directed by Tatyana Lioznova and based on the book of the same title by the novelist Yulian Semyonov. The series comprises 12 episodes of 70 minutes each...
(1973), and Lavr Mironovich in Pyotr Todorovsky
Pyotr Todorovsky
Pyotr Yefimovich Todorovsky is a Soviet Russian film director, screenwriter and film score composer.His film Wartime Romance was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. It was also entered into the 34th Berlin International Film Festival, where Inna Churikova won the...
's Poslednyaya zhertva (The Last Victim; 1975).
Even though Kuravlyov is very good at playing serious dramatic roles, he is still best known and mostly loved for his comic appearances in movies like Leonid Gaidai
Leonid Gaidai
Leonid Iovich Gaidai was one of the most popular Soviet comedy directors, enjoying immense popularity and broad public recognition in the former USSR & modern Russia...
's Ivan Vasilyevich menyayet professiyu
Ivan Vasilievich: Back to the Future
Ivan Vasilievich Changes Profession is a Soviet comedy film produced by Mosfilm in 1973. In the United States the film has sometimes been sold under the title Ivan Vasilievich: Back to the Future....
(1973), where Kuravlyov played a thief named George Miloslavsky, who accidentally got teleported
Teleportation
Teleportation is the fictional or imagined process by which matter is instantaneously transferred from one place to another.Teleportation may also refer to:*Quantum teleportation, a method of transmitting quantum data...
to the times of Ivan the Terrible. Interestingly enough, Andrei Mironov
Andrei Mironov
Andrei Alexandrovich Mironov was a Soviet theatre and film actor who played lead roles in some of the most popular Soviet films, such as The Diamond Arm, Beware of the Car and Twelve Chairs...
also tried out for this role, but Leonid Gaidai decided in Kuravlyov's favor.
In 1975, Leonid Kuravlyov starred in one his most famous comedies Afonya
Afonya
Afonya is a Soviet film produced by Mosfilm and first released in 1975. The film became the Soviet box office leader of 1975 with a total of 62.2 million ticket sales...
, directed by Georgi Daneliya
Georgi Daneliya
Georgi Daneliya is a Soviet/Georgian/Russian film director, who became known throughout the Soviet Union for his "sad comedies" .Daneliya graduated from the Moscow Architecture Institute and worked as an architect...
. Kuravlyov played a very atypical character – a plumber
Plumber
A plumber is a tradesperson who specializes in installing and maintaining systems used for potable water, sewage, and drainage in plumbing systems. The term dates from ancient times, and is related to the Latin word for lead, "plumbum." A person engaged in fixing metaphorical "leaks" may also be...
named Afonya Borshchyov, who takes bribes, often gets into trouble, abuses alcohol, quarrels with his superiors at work, and doesn’t really know what to do with his life. And then suddenly, one of his neighborhood "female clients" falls in love with him... About 62,2 mln. people went to see Afonya during its first year on cinema screens, making it an unconditional Soviet box-office leader of 1975.
In 1979, Leonid Kuravlyov played a very short role of a thief named Kopchyoniy in Stanislav Govorukhin’s cult film The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed
The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed
The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed is a 1979 Soviet 5-part television miniseries directed by Stanislav Govorukhin. It achieved the status of a cult film in the USSR, and along with Seventeen Moments of Spring it became a part of popular culture with several generations of russophone TV viewers...
. The actor masterfully created an accomplished and amazingly credible image of an experienced criminal in just a matter of minutes.
1980s and 1990s
During the 1980s, Leonid Kuravlyov starred in a number of memorable movies, such as Damy priglashayut kavalerov (Ladies Invite Gentlemen, 1980), Ishchite zhenshchinu (Look for a Woman, 1982), Demidovy (Demidovs, 1983), TASS upolnomochen zayavit... (TASS Is Authorized to Declare..., 1984), Samaya obayatelnaya i privlekatelnaya (The Most Charming and Attractive, 1985), Priklyucheniya Sherloka Kholmsa i doktora Vatsona: Dvadtsatyy vek nachinaetsya (Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson: The Twentieth Century Approaches, 1986) and many others.The 1990s were not the best times for the Russian cinema in general and most of the released movies were mediocre and low-grade. During this period, many actors were forced to star in low-quality films just to make ends meet, and Leonid Kuravlyov was not an exception. Perhaps, his role in a movie called Baryshnya-krestyanka (Lady Into Lassie, 1995) is the only one worth mentioning.
1990s to present
In 2002 he starred in Russian mini-TV series BrigadaBrigada
Brigada , also known as Law of the Lawless, is a Russian 15-episode crime miniseries that debuted in 2002. It became very popular, but received mixed reviews due to accusations in aestheticization of violence. The miniseries follows the story of four best friends from 1989 to 2000, mainly...
as an MVD general. In 2009 he played the Nobleman in Disney
Walt Disney Pictures
Walt Disney Pictures is an American film studio owned by The Walt Disney Company. Walt Disney Pictures and Television, a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Studios and the main production company for live-action feature films within the Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group, based at the Walt Disney...
's first Russian-only release, Kniga Masterov (The Book of the Masters), a Princess Bride
The Princess Bride (film)
The Princess Bride is a 1987 American film based on the 1973 novel of the same name by William Goldman, combining comedy, adventure, romance, and fantasy. The film was directed by Rob Reiner from a screenplay by Goldman...
-like comedy fantasy based on themes from Russian folk tales
Narodnye russkie skazki
Russian Fairy Tales , is a collection of Russian fairy tales, collected by Alexander Afanasyev and published by him between 1855 and 1863. His work was explicitly modeled after the Brothers Grimm's work, Grimm's Fairy Tales....
such as Baba-Yaga, Koshchei the Deathless
Koschei
In Slavic folklore, Koschei is an archetypal male antagonist, described mainly as abducting the hero's wife. None of the existing tales actually describes his appearance, though in book illustrations, cartoons and cinema he has been most frequently represented as a very old and ugly-looking man...
, Konek-Gorbunok
Pyotr Pavlovich Yershov
Pyotr Pavlovich Yershov was a Russian poet and author of the famous fairy-tale poem The Humpbacked Horse .-Biography:...
, Ivan the Fool
Ivan the Fool
Ivan the Fool or Ivan the Ninny is a character used in Russian folklore, a very simple-minded, but nevertheless lucky young man. Ivan is described as a likeable fair-haired and blue-eyed youth....
and the Alatyr Stone.
Some filmography
- Shirli-MyrliShirli-MyrliShirli-Myrli is a 1995 farce comedy film of late post-Perestroyka era directed by Vladimir Menshov based on a screenplay by Vitali Moskalenko and Andrei Samsonov. Produced by Vladimir Dostal and Aleksandr Litvinov. Music by Timur Kogan, sound by Olga Ilyina. Cinematography by Vadim Alisov...
(1995) - Master and Margarita (1994)
- The Trust That Has BurstThe Trust That Has BurstThe Trust That Has Burst is a Soviet 1984 TV miniseries based on stories by O. Henry. Directed by Aleksandr Pavlovsky...
(1984) - Copper AngelCopper Angel (film)Copper Angel is a 1984 Soviet motion picture production of Gorky Film Studios. The film was directed by Soviet director Veniamyn Dorman and starred Anatoly Kuznetsov, Leonid Kuravlyov and Aleksandr Filippenko.-Plot:...
(1984) - Little TragediesLittle Tragedies (film)Little Tragedies is a 1987 Soviet television miniseries directed by Mikhail Shveytser, based on works by Alexander Pushkin.-Cast:* Aleksandr Trofimov * Vladimir Vysotsky - Don Juan* Georgi Taratorkin - Charsky* Sergei Yursky - Improvisator...
(1979) - Ivan Vasilievich: Back to the FutureIvan Vasilievich: Back to the FutureIvan Vasilievich Changes Profession is a Soviet comedy film produced by Mosfilm in 1973. In the United States the film has sometimes been sold under the title Ivan Vasilievich: Back to the Future....
(1973) - LiberationLiberation (film series)Liberation is an epic five-part film series considered the most large-scale World War II film ever made in the Soviet Union. Filmed from 1967 to 1971, the first part was released during 1970 for the 25th anniversary of Victory Day...
(1970) - The Little Golden CalfThe Little Golden Calf (film)The Little Golden Calf is a 1968 Soviet film directed by Mikhail Shveytser, based the eponymous novel by Ilf and Petrov.-Cast:* Sergei Yursky as Ostap Bender* Leonid Kuravlyov as Shura Balaganov* Zinovi Gerdt as Panikovsky...
(1968) - Time, Forward!Time, Forward!Time, Forward! is a 1965 Soviet drama film directed by Sofiya Milkina and Mikhail Shveytser based on a novel with the same name and a screenplay by Valentin Katayev. Composer Georgy Sviridov, sound by Lev Trakhtenberg. Production by Mosfilm by the order of Goskino.The title is derived from...
(1968)