Child actors who have grown up and achieved impressive success, but not in the movies

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

Most often, stories about the fate of young actors evoke sympathy in readers - very many of them, having swallowed fame in childhood, cannot then repeat their first success in cinema and remain disappointed for life. However, there are also happy ones among the stellar biographies. The heroes of this review safely escaped star fever and in adulthood became officers, diplomats and famous artists, realizing themselves in areas far from cinema.

James Lloydovich Patterson - black kid in the movie "Circus"

Almost 85 years ago, the film "Circus", directed by Grigory Alexandrov, was released. Of course, this was a picture of its time, but its most powerful moral message is very close to the modern era. All the spectators of the vast Land of the Soviets were moved by the sight of two-year-old baby Jimmy. The little actor was the son of an African American Lloyd Patterson, who came to the USSR for a couple of months and stayed here for many years. He liked the developing country, and also the beautiful young artist Vera. Soon the international couple got married and had three sons.

Grigory Alexandrov was looking for a dark-skinned baby for a very long time, but in Moscow in the 30s it was difficult to find one. Desperate, the director learned that the artist Vera Aralova had a suitable child. After the release of the film and the tremendous success, the young family was also in the spotlight. Usually in the USSR, marriages with foreigners were not encouraged, but the authorities were always loyal to the Pattersons, and after such success - even more so. Lyubov Orlova considered Jimmy her son all her life and took care of the boy for many years.

During the war, great grief fell upon the family - Lloyd died, and Vera Aralova had to be with the children herself. Jimmy was sent to the Nakhimov School, and the boy began to dream of the sea. In 1955, a dark-skinned lieutenant graduated from the walls of the Higher Naval School of Diving and left to serve in the Black Sea Fleet. All his free time, the guy wrote poetry, and after a few years he decided to enter the Institute. Gorky. The young poet became a member of the USSR Writers' Union, his works were published regularly. In the 90s, which had a hard impact on all creative people, James Lloydovich emigrated to America with his mother. In 2020, he turned 87 years old.

Andrey Gromov - Vanechka from the movie "Officers"

It is possible that a lop-eared and charming boy would really have a successful career in the cinema, because he started acting from the second grade. For the first time, Andrei got the main role only thanks to a fortunate coincidence. He was chosen as an understudy for the protagonist in the film "The Adventures of the Yellow Suitcase", but right before filming the "main cast" fell ill, and Gromov played the boy Petya, so well that the next invitation to the movie came literally right away - now in the film "Valerka, Remka + … ". "Officers" became Andrey's third and last film work.

The role of Ivan Trofimov was written specifically for the little actor. Gromov coped with her so well that after the film, many boys began to strive for the Suvorov school and dream of serving in the army. However, Andrey made an important decision for himself. Even during the filming, he heard the conversations of adult movie stars that acting happiness is very fickle, and not everyone manages to realize themselves in this profession, therefore, despite the deafening success, the boy decided to do what he considered the main thing for himself - study. Of course, constant shooting could not have a good effect on grades, so he had to catch up with his classmates.

Having received a certificate, Andrey entered MGIMO at the Faculty of International Economic Relations and defended his doctoral dissertation. Since 1996 Andrei Yuryevich Gromov has been serving in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation. In the early 2000s, he worked as a senior adviser to the Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the UN in New York, and for the last two years he has been the Consul General of the Russian Federation in Bulgaria. The personal life of everyone's beloved "Vanechka" was also successful. He is married and has two children.

Anna Plisetskaya and Philip Rukavishnikov - Jane and Michael Banks in Mary Poppins Goodbye

An artistic girl who perfectly played a little Englishwoman in a children's musical, already during the filming of the film was a ballerina with experience of performing and working in front of the camera. Anna is the last of the Plisetskys (as the woman says about herself) and the niece of the famous Maya Plisetskaya. Her mother was an artist of the Bolshoi Theater, and her father was a choreographer. Six years after the film's release, Anna graduated from the Vaganova Ballet Academy in St. Petersburg and performed solo roles at the Mariinsky Theater.

Today, “the last of the Plisetskys” is a world-renowned ballerina, she was a soloist with Maurice Béjart's troupe for several years, participated in the creation of programs to support talented children and is a co-author of unique creative experiments to combine different styles of music and ballet. Anna does not like to tell journalists about her personal life, she only explains that “you will not meet such people as in the previous generation, the issue has been discontinued”.

Anna's cinematic "brother" is also a descendant of a famous dynasty. Philip Rukavishnikov became a sculptor, like his father, grandfather and great-grandfather. After a successful role in the film, he tried to find himself on television, hosted the author's program, but still painting and sculpture remained the main passion of the young man.

Graduated from the Moscow State Art Institute. VI Surikov, Philip began independent work and today his sculptures can be seen in many museums. In collaboration with his father, he created a monument to Nabokov in Montreux, as well as a fountain in Lavrushinsky Lane, opposite the Tretyakov Gallery.

While filming Mary Poppins, Goodbye, the young actors had a unique opportunity to watch the work of real professionals. One of the brightest shooting episodes for them was a joint work with Oleg Tabakov, who brilliantly reincarnated as Miss Euphemia Andrew. In our cinema, you can recall several examples of famous male actors and their female roles, which brought them fame and success.