Leonid Kuravlyov

Acting

Born Oct 08, 1936

From Moscow, RSFSR, USSR

Died Jan 30, 2022

Soviet and Russian film actor. He became a People’s Artist of the RSFSR in 1976. Kuravlyov was born in Moscow into a working-class family. 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. 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. 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. In 1955 Kuravlyov entered VGIK to study acting under Boris Bibikov. He graduated in 1960 and joined the Theater Studio of Film Actors. 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. 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. 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. The role of Shura Balaganov in Mikhail Schweitzer’s comedy The Little Golden Calf based on the book by Ilf and Petrov was one of his first successful roles: he managed to create an image of a brash yet charming petty thief. His other notable roles of that period include Khoma Brut in one of the first Soviet horror movies Viy (1967), antagonist Sorokin in a psychological melodrama Not Under the Jurisdiction (1969), Robinson Crusoe in Stanislav Govorukhin’s Life and Amazing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe (1972), a Nazi officer Kurt Eismann in Seventeen Moments of Spring (1973) and Lavr Mironovich in Pyotr Todorovsky’s The Last Victim (1975). In the 1970s he appeared in three to four films per year. 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, 62.2 mln viewers), Leonid Gaidai’s Ivan Vasilievich: Back to the Future (1973, 17th highest-grossing film, 60 mln viewers) 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) and others. 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. In 2012 he was awarded the IV class Order “For Merit to the Fatherland”. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Leonid Kuravlyov

Known For

Viy

The Master and Margarita

Afonya

The Barber of Siberia

Ivan Vasilyevich Changes His Profession

There's Good Weather in Deribasovskaya, Or It's Raining Again in Brighton Beach

The Golden Calf

The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed

The Most Charming and Attractive

The Book of Masters

Filmography — Acting

Viy

The Master and Margarita

Afonya

The Barber of Siberia

Ivan Vasilyevich Changes His Profession

There's Good Weather in Deribasovskaya, Or It's Raining Again in Brighton Beach

The Golden Calf

The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed

The Most Charming and Attractive

The Book of Masters

What a Mess!

Mimino

The Codex of Disgrace

Dangerous for Your Life!

Look for a Woman

Restricted Area

The Roundabout

Spanish Actress for Russian Minister

Holy Moly!

Sherlock Holmes in the 20th Century

When the Trees Were Tall

Private Detective, or Operation Cooperation

The Invisible Man

The Beginning

May I Die, Lord...

Martinko

Before We Part

Snake Catcher

Without Father

The Left-Hander

A Day and the Whole Life

First Encounter - Last Encounter

About Friends and Comrades

Liberation: The Battle of Berlin

For the Matches

There Will Be No Leave Today

Ultimatum

The Turkish Gambit

Entrance to Labyrinth

Shine, Shine, My Star

Elder Sister

There Is Such a Lad

Ladies Invite Gentlemen

Ono

While the Dream is Mad

Facts of the Past Day

Don't Leave Your Lovers

It Can't Be!

Little Tragedies

Kysh and TwoBriefcases

Old Songs About the Main Thing 3

Mirgorod and Its Inhabitants

Vitya Glushakov - A Friend of the Apaches

KGB Agents Also Fall in Love

It's Just Awful!

Saga of the Ancient Bulgars: The Ladder of Vladimir the Red Sun

An Unrealistic Story

The Enchanted Wanderer

I Am His Bride

Time, Forward!

How Is It Going, Crucians?

The Night Before Christmas

Chest of Drawers Was Lead Through the Street...

The Stairway

The Twelve Months

Lady Into Lassie

Destroy the Thirtieth!