Two acting dynasties of the Livanovs: Soviet cinema stars come from the same village

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

In the last 100 years, several famous artists named Livanov have shone on the theater stage and on screens: one of Stanislavsky's best students Boris Livanov, the main Sherlock Holmes in the USSR Vasily Livanov, star of the television series "State Border" Aristarkh Livanov, one of the first Soviet supermen from an action movie "Destroy the thirtieth!" Igor Livanov. In the acting environment, they joked about them: "Every decent theater should have its own Lebanon." And although not all of them are related by family ties, they say that the ancestors of all the famous Livanovs lived in the same village!

Boris Livanov

In fact, the ancestor of this oldest acting dynasty was not Boris, but his father, Nikolai Livanov, an actor who performed in provincial theaters under the pseudonym Izvolsky. In 1905 he was admitted to the troupe of the Moscow Struisky Theater, and in 1947 he was awarded the title of Honored Artist of the RSFSR. But his son Boris was much more known to the general public.

In the early 1920s. he completed a course at the fourth studio of the Moscow Art Theater and was accepted into the troupe of the same theater. Already in the early 1930s. Boris Livanov became the leading actor of the Moscow Art Theater, Stanislavsky called him one of his best students, Livanov became one of the first laureates of the Stalin Prize and received this award 5 times!

Boris Livanov began acting in films in 1924, fame was brought to him by the main role in the film "Dubrovsky", Prince Potemkin from "Admiral Ushakov", commander Rudnev from the film "Cruiser" Varyag ", General Mamontov in" Oleko Dundich ". In the 1950s. he also tried his hand as a director, staging several performances. In total, during his career, Boris Livanov played about 40 roles in the theater and about 30 in the cinema.

Vasily Livanov

Boris Livanov's son Vasily continued his acting dynasty. He grew up in a creative atmosphere, their house was often visited by Alexander Dovzhenko, Boris Pasternak, Pyotr Konchalovsky, Vasily Kachalov. Vasily Livanov received his acting education at the Shchukin Theater School and directing at the Higher Courses at the USSR State Committee for Cinematography.

Even if in the filmography of Vasily Livanov there was only one role - Sherlock Holmes - he would forever go down in the history of Russian cinema. But besides this legendary role, he played dozens of bright roles. Of course, Sherlock became his calling card - even the British recognized Vasily Livanov and Vitaly Solomin as the best performers of the roles of the famous characters of Arthur Conan Doyle. In the homeland of the writer they said: "".

He was recognized not only at first sight, but also from the first sound - the actor had a unique timbre of voice, which appeared due to an incident during his debut film work. Director Mikhail Kalatozov on the set of the film "Unsent Letter" for maximum reliability decided to dub the winter scenes right on the street in 40-degree frost. Due to strong gusts of wind, there was a terrible noise, the actors tried to shout it down, and as a result Livanov lost his voice, which was restored only a few days later - and sounded completely different: it became hoarse and low. About 300 cartoon characters speak his voice on the screens, the most famous of which are Boa constrictor from "38 parrots", Carlson and Crocodile Gena.

Evgeny Livanov

The founder of the second acting dynasty was Evgeny Aristarkhovich Livanov, who came from a family of priests for several generations. In 1938, his father was arrested on a denunciation, and Eugene became the son of an "enemy of the people", which also affected his acting career. Before the war, he was an actor in the Saratov theater, then went to the front, and after that he was not accepted back to the theater. He was forced to go into amateur performances: he led theatrical circles, staged performances in folk theater studios. Later he worked at the Kiev Puppet Theater.

Aristarkh Livanov

In the second marriage, Evgeny Livanov had two sons - Aristarkh and Igor - and both of them continued the acting dynasty. They played their first roles under the guidance of their father in the Kiev Puppet Theater. Aristarkh graduated from LGITMiK, and then performed on the stages of theaters in Volgograd, Ryazan and Rostov. The first recognition came to him at the Rostov Drama Theater, where he played Grigory Melekhov in The Quiet Don. For this role, Aristarkh Livanov was awarded the State Prize.

In the 1980s. Aristarkh Livanov moved to Moscow, and from that moment a new stage began in his acting career. In 1987 he came to the Moscow Art Theater. M. Gorky, and since then has been performing on the stage of this theater for 33 years. In the same period, he began to actively act in films. Loud popularity came to him after the main role in the television series "State Border", and since then he has played dozens of roles in films. One of his most powerful works, the actor himself considers the role of Captain Voronov in the film "Destroy the Thirtieth!", Where he starred with his younger brother Igor.

Igor Livanov

Like his older brother, Igor Livanov graduated from LGITMiK, and after that he worked at the Ulyanovsk Drama Theater, the Rostov Youth Theater and the Rostov Academic Drama Theater. M. Gorky. In the late 1980s. the actor moved to Moscow and started acting a lot. His first notable work was the main role in the war drama "Report from the Line of Fire", and the whole country started talking about him in the early 1990s, when the film "Destroy the Thirtieth!" Was released, where Igor Livanov played the main character - a commando Sergei Cherkasov.

Igor Livanov went in for sports from his youth - he devoted many years to boxing, and his good physical fitness contributed to the fact that he often starred in action films and war films, performing all the stunts on his own. In total, he played more than 70 roles in films, embodying the images of courageous, noble and strong-willed heroes on the screens. Igor Livanov for a long time deliberately avoided negative characters, not wanting to go against his acting nature.

Although representatives of the two acting dynasties of the Livanovs are not related by kinship, they have repeatedly crossed in life: Vasily has been friends with Aristarkh Livanov for many years, he even helped his younger brother Igor move from Rostov to Moscow by inviting him to his theater. It was Vasily Livanov, who showed detective skills, like his Sherlock Holmes, who unearthed interesting facts about their families. As it turned out, the great-grandfathers of both dynasties were from the same village. It is difficult to say whether they were related or not, because then in this village many residents bore this surname. One thing is certain: their descendants turned out to be incredibly talented artists!

The son of Vasily Livanov did not become the successor of the acting dynasty and brought a lot of experiences to his father: The happiness and pain of the Soviet Sherlock Holmes.