The Great Combinators of World Cinema: Which Actor Became the Best Ostap Bender

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

October 15 marks the 121st anniversary of the birth of the famous Soviet writer and journalist Ilya Ilf, who, in collaboration with Yevgeny Petrov, became the creator of one of the most famous literary heroes - Ostap Bender. The novels "Twelve Chairs" and "The Golden Calf" have been filmed more than once, but most viewers are hardly familiar with all versions. In addition to Archil Gomiashvili, Andrei Mironov and Sergei Yursky, many actors, including foreign ones, tried on the image of Ostap Bender.

Surprisingly, the first Ostap Benders appeared not in Soviet cinema, but in foreign cinema, long before the famous film adaptations of Leonid Gaidai and Mark Zakharov. Back in 1933, the Czech-Polish film production Twelve Chairs was released, where the main characters, renamed Ferdinand Shuplatko and Kamila Klepka, were played by Vlasta Burian and Afolf Dymsa. At the same time, the filmmakers moved the scene to Poland, and the plot was not related to the expropriation of property.

Another foreign adaptation of the novel by Ilf and Petrov was the English film Please Sit in 1936, where Ostap Bender was played by George Formby.

In 1938, the film Thirteen Chairs, adapted to German realities, was released, starring Hans Moser. According to the plot, hairdresser Felix Rabe inherits 13 antique chairs from his aunt, one of which was sewn with 100,000 marks. Instead of the "leader of the nobility" and an employee of the registry office, Kisa Vorobyaninov, in many foreign versions, the hairdresser became the main character.

In 1957, a remake of a German film was shot in Brazil. Its creators surprised the audience with the fact that a woman played by Renata Fronzi became the assistant of the hapless hairdresser in search of inheritance sewn into chairs.

Another remake was filmed in 1969. In the French-Italian comedy "One of Thirteen" ("12 + 1"), a girl (actress Sharon Tate) also helps the protagonist to look for jewelry.

In 1962, the Cuban version of "12 Chairs" was released, in which the action was transferred to Cuba, shortly after the Cuban Revolution. The main characters - Oscar and Don Ipolito - were played by Reinaldo Miravalles and Enrique Santiesteban.

The first Soviet Ostap Bender was theater and film actor Yevgeny Vesnik, who reincarnated as the Great Combinator in the performances The Golden Calf (1956) and 12 Chairs (1963). The actor said that in total he appeared on stage in the image of Ostap Bender more than 600 times! And Kisa Vorobyaninov was then played by Anatoly Papanov, who later appeared in the same image in the cinema. Years later, Evgeny Vesnik said that he considers his interpretation of the image of Ostap Bender to be the most correct, while Archil Gomiashvili “intellectually falls short” of this role, Sergei Yursky does not outwardly correspond to the Great Combinator described by Ilf and Petrov, and Andrei Mironov “I just didn’t understand what I was playing”: in his performance Bender is a joker, a comedic hero, not a tragicomic figure.

On the screens, viewers first saw Bender performed by Igor Gorbachev - in the Leningrad television show "12 chairs" in 1966.

The film "The Golden Calf" by Mikhail Schweitzer is called the most classic adaptation of the novel by Ilf and Petrov. He worked on the script for about three years and explained his idea as follows: "". The role of Ostap Bender in this production was played by Sergei Yursky, who said: "".

In the Soviet film adaptations of "12 Chairs", the main role was played by actors who, as a rule, were older than the literary Ostap Bender, but in the American version of 1970 he was played by his peer, 28-year-old actor Frank Langella. And although the American version of the novel by Ilf and Petrov was too simplified, the main character looked quite convincing, consistent with the author's description - a young, charming, "with a military bearing", arrogant and desperate adventurer.

In 1971, Leonid Gaidai's film "12 Chairs" was released, where Archil Gomiashvili played the role of Ostap Bender. The search for actors continued for a very long time, the director chose the main character from 22 applicants, among whom were Vladimir Basov, Vladimir Vysotsky, Alexei Batalov, Oleg Borisov, Andrei Mironov, Valentin Gaft and other famous actors. At first, he decided to opt for Aleksandra Belyavsky, but together with Sergei Filippov, he looked "unauthorized", and the role went to 44-year-old Archil Gomiashvili, who had long played Bender on the theater stage.

Five years later, Mark Zakharov shot his version of "12 Chairs", who already at the stage of writing the script knew that Andrei Mironov, rejected by Gaidai, would become his Bender, and Anatoly Papanov, who also did not pass auditions in the previous film, would become Kisa Vorobyaninov. Gaidai was very jealous of the new version of "12 chairs" and called Zakharov's film "a criminal offense." Gomiashvili also did not appreciate this adaptation, considering it an "operetta farce."

In 1993, Vasily Pichul's film Dreams of an Idiot, based on The Golden Calf, was released. Here Ostap was played, perhaps, by the most unusual of all the contenders for this role - the singer Sergei Krylov. In 2003, another original interpretation of the novel appeared - the film of the German director Ulrike Oettinger "12 Chairs", where the main role was played by Georgy Deliev.

In the New Year's musical "12 Chairs" in 2005, Nikolai Fomenko appeared as Ostap Bender. And in 2006 the series "The Golden Calf" was released, where the main role went to Oleg Menshikov. At that time, the actor was already 46 years old, but his interpretation of the legendary character of critics and colleagues was blown to smithereens for this reason. Director Tatiana Lioznova said: "". Mark Zakharov agreed with her: "".

But Archil Gomiashvili was called an adventurer in real life. The real Ostap Bender: How an actor made the dream of his most famous movie hero come true.