Leonid Vyacheslavovich Kuravlyov (Russian: Леонид Вячеславович Куравлёв; 8 October 1936 – 30 January 2022) was a Soviet and Russian film actor. He became a People's Artist of the RSFSR in 1976.[1]
Leonid Kuravlyov
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|---|---|
Леонид Куравлёв
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Kuravlyov in 1997
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| Born | Leonid Vyacheslavovich Kuravlyov (1936-10-08)8 October 1936 |
| Died | 30 January 2022(2022-01-30) (aged 85)
Moscow, Russia
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| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1959–2015 |
| Spouse |
Nina Kuravlyova
(m. 1960; died 2012) |
| Children | 2 |
Kuravlyov was born in Moscow into a working-class family.[2] His father Vyacheslav Yakovlevich Kuravlyov (1909–1979) worked as a locksmith at the Salyut Machine-Building Association and his mother Valentina Dmitriyevna Kuravlyova (1916–1993) was a hairdresser.[3][4] In 1941 with the start of the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union (known in Russia as the Great Patriotic War) his mother was arrested on false report, accused of counter-revolutionary activity (Article 58) and exiled to Karaganda, Kazakh SSR to work at the local plant.[5] In five years she was freed without a right to live in Moscow and sent to Zasheyek, Murmansk Oblast in the Russian far north where she continued working as a hairdresser. In 1948 she managed to get a permission to see her son who spent a year with her at Zasheyek, and in 1951 she finally returned to Moscow.[5][6]
In 1955 Kuravlyov entered VGIK to study acting under Boris Bibikov.[7] He graduated in 1960 and joined the Theater Studio of Film Actors.[8] He made his first movie appearances while still a student. In 1960 he was noted by Vasily Shukshin and took part in his diploma film Reported From Lebyazhye.[9] In 1961 they both starred in the popular melodrama When the Trees Were Tall, and in 1964 Shukshin gave him the leading role in his comedy movie There Is Such a Lad which brought Kuravlyov true fame and which he considered to be the start of his successful movie career.[3] He also acted in Your Son and Brother (1965) and felt so grateful for what the director did for him that he later named his son after Shukshin.[10]
The role of Shura Balaganov in Mikhail Schweitzer's comedy The Little Golden Calf based on the bookbyIlf and Petrov was one of his first successful roles: he managed to create an image of a brash yet charming petty thief.[11][12] His other notable roles of that period include Khoma Brut in one of the first Soviet horror movies Viy (1967),[13] antagonist Sorokin in a psychological melodrama Not Under the Jurisdiction (1969),[14] Robinson CrusoeinStanislav Govorukhin's Life and Amazing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe (1972), a Nazi officer Kurt Eismann in Seventeen Moments of Spring (1973)[15] and Lavr Mironovich in Pyotr Todorovsky's The Last Victim (1975).[16]
In the 1970s he appeared in three to four films per year.[17] Even though Kuravlyov was adept at playing serious dramatic roles, he is still best known for his leading roles in top-grossing comedy movies such as Afonya (1975) by Georgiy Daneliya (11th highest-grossing Soviet film, highest grossing film of the year,[2] 62.2 mln viewers),[18] Leonid Gaidai's Ivan Vasilievich: Back to the Future (1973, 17th highest-grossing film, 60 mln viewers)[19] and It Can't Be! (1975, 46th highest-grossing film with 46.9 mln viewers), The Most Charming and Attractive (1985) by Gerald Bezhanov (the highest-grossing film of 1985, 44.9 mln viewers)[20] and others.[21][22]
According to Russian actress Lidiya Fedoseyeva-Shukshina, after being tipsy, Kuravlyov openly spoke about his negative attitude towards the leadership of the Soviet Union.[23] She recalled that, drunk, he had opened the window at her house and had shouted to the whole street that he hated the Soviet regime.[23] She had feared that "the police would come and take everyone away as rebels."[23]
During the late 1990s he hosted a popular TV programme The World of Books with Leonid Kuravlyov where he talked about new book releases. In two years it was closed and then relaunched with new hosts.[24] In 2012 he was awarded the IV class Order "For Merit to the Fatherland".[25]
Kuravlyov was a devoted Christian, a member of the Russian Orthodox Church.[26]
In 2014 Kuravlyov along with 100 other Russian members of culture signed an open letter in supportofVladimir Putin's position regarding Ukraine and Crimea.[27] In his last years Kuravlyov lived in a nursing home where he was diagnosed with dementia.[23]
In January 2022, he was hospitalized with pneumonia.[23] According to Kuravlyov's son, tests for COVID-19 were negative.[23]
Kuravlyov died from pneumonia on 30 January 2022, at the age of 85.[19][28]
