"The Adventures of Pinocchio" 46 years later: What's left behind the scenes, and how the fate of the actors

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

When 46 years ago, in 1975, work on the film "The Adventures of Pinocchio" was completed, film officials did not want to release it on screens, calling it an ugly picture that should not be shown to children. But the film was released, and since then more than one generation of young viewers has grown up on it. Since then, many changes have taken place in the fate of the actors, for some of them this film became the only one in their film career, and representatives of the older generation, unfortunately, are no longer alive. How "The Adventures of Pinocchio" changed the lives of actors - further in the review.

The director of the film, Leonid Nechaev, said that he had found an actor for the main role in an underground passage in Minsk! "" - he recalled. When asked if he wants to act in films, the boy answered without hesitation: "No!" But his parents found this offer tempting, and soon Dima Iosifov and his mother came to the shooting. He had to perform many of the stunts in the film on his own. For example, in one scene he was to be hung upside down from a tree. His mother insisted that a stunt double be filmed in this episode, but the director went for a trick. He asked the boy to play along with him, he said that he was hungry and sent his mother to the store, and at that moment they shot a scene with his participation in two takes.

After "The Adventures of Buratino" Dmitry Iosifov became a real star. Figure skating had to be abandoned - new proposals from directors fell on him, and the boy did not refuse them. He played in several more children's films, including "About Little Red Riding Hood", "Sold Laughter" and others. After school, Iosifov graduated from VGIK and the Belarusian Academy of Arts, and then changed his acting profession to advertising. He shot about 40 commercials, worked on television, took part in the work on the projects "The Last Hero" and "Ten Little Indians", became the director of several films.

The girl for the role of Malvina was also found quite by accident. Once the director's assistant was on a train, her neighbors in the compartment were a mother with a 6-year-old daughter, who sang songs all the way, recited poetry and showed scenes. She impressed the assistant so much that she invited them to the shooting. There she had a hard time: "". After filming, Tatyana Protsenko was seriously injured while riding a bicycle, and doctors forbade her to act in films. But she received so many offers - so, she could play Little Red Riding Hood and Iron Button from "Scarecrow". However, her acting career did not work out, she graduated from the Literary Institute, published poetry collections and raised two children. For the past three years, Tatiana has been struggling with a serious illness and, unfortunately, unsuccessfully. Recently she was gone.

The role of Pierrot was played by Roman Stolkartz, and this work was the only one in his filmography. After school, he received a medical education, emigrated to Israel, where he works today as a pediatrician and brings up four children.

The role of Poodle Artemon also became the only one for the young actor Thomas Augustinas. In 1985, his family moved to Canada, in the 1990s. Thomas worked in the offices of various foreign firms in Russia. He is currently in business in Ottawa. For Grigory Svetlorusov, who played Harlequin, this role was also the only one. Very little is known about his future fate: they say that he was engaged in business, a criminal case was opened against him in connection with fraud, after which he moved to Ukraine, and from there he emigrated to the United States. According to another version, he graduated from the KGB High School and became an intelligence officer. However, at the moment there are no reliable facts confirming both versions.

The role of Karabas-Barabas went to the famous Soviet actor Vladimir Etush. He was so convincing in the role of the villain that during the filming the young actors were intimidated by him. And Buratino did not like him at all. "", - Etush complained to the director. The actor played about 80 roles in films, and in 1987 he became the rector of the B. Shchukin Theater School. Vladimir Etush died in 2019 at the age of 96.

Rolan Bykov played the role of the Cat Basilio in the film, and his wife Elena Sanaeva played the role of Fox Alice. Despite the fact that they were a married couple and were very tender and reverent to each other, during the work the actor did not give his wife mercy. Dmitry Iosifov recalled: "". Unfortunately, 20 years ago Rolan Bykov passed away after a serious illness, and Elena Sanaeva continued her husband's work - she runs the Rolan Bykov Children's Fund.

At the time of filming the film, Rina Zelena was already 72 years old. She flew to Belarus for a short time, and all the scenes with her participation had to be filmed in a very short time. The day before, the actress's only sister died, and she was very upset by her departure. Her health was also critical, and doctors advised her to move more. Dmitry Iosifov recalled how he walked around the pond with her, and she worried about the girls who portrayed frogs - the shooting of this episode took place near Minsk in November, the water was very cold, and the actress threatened the director: "" Unfortunately, she did not wait for the main roles in the cinema - she was called the queen of the episode and one of the most underrated actresses. She played all her most famous roles after 70 years and was very upset that everyone knew her exclusively as Tortilla and Mrs. Hudson: "". In April 1991, the actress passed away.

The role of Duremar has become one of the brightest in the filmography of Vladimir Basov. The director recalled: "". On his account - about 100 works in films. In 1987, at the age of 64, the famous actor died after a second stroke. Unfortunately, actor Nikolai Grinko, who played the role of Pope Carlo in the film, is no longer among the living. He passed away in 1989 at the age of 69.

For more than 40 years this film has been called one of the best films for children, and in the year of its release, the management of the Belarusfilm studio did not want to release it on screens! Their arguments today sound more than ridiculous: "" (meaning Karabas-Barabas). But since it was the end of the year and failure to fulfill the plan threatened to lose the awards, the film was still released on screens.

The audience saw many young actors on the screens only once and in another legendary film: "Adventures of Electronics" 39 years later.