Vasily Livanov
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Vasily Borisovich Livanov (; born 19 July 1935), MBE, is a Soviet and Russian film actor, animation and film director, screenwriter and writer most famous for portraying
Sherlock Holmes Sherlock Holmes () is a Detective fiction, fictional detective created by British author Arthur Conan Doyle. Referring to himself as a "Private investigator, consulting detective" in his stories, Holmes is known for his proficiency with obser ...
in the Soviet TV series. He was named People's Artist of the RSFSR in 1988.


Early years

Vasily Livanov was born into a famous theatrical family. His paternal grandfather Nikolai Aleksandrovich Livanov (1874–1949) was a Volga Cossack from Simbirsk who moved to Moscow in 1905 and performed at the Struysky Theatre under a pseudonym of Izvolsky; after the
revolution In political science, a revolution (, 'a turn around') is a rapid, fundamental transformation of a society's class, state, ethnic or religious structures. According to sociologist Jack Goldstone, all revolutions contain "a common set of elements ...
he worked at the Mossovet and Lenkom Theatres. Vasily's father Boris Livanov (1904–1972) was also a prominent actor and stage director who served at the
Moscow Art Theatre The Moscow Art Theatre (or MAT; , ''Moskovskiy Hudojestvenny Akademicheskiy Teatr'' (МHАТ) was a theatre company in Moscow. It was founded in by the seminal Russian theatre practitioner Konstantin Stanislavski, together with the playwright ...
all his life, while his mother Eugenia Kazimirovna Livanova (née Prawdzic-Filipowicz) (1907–1978) was an artist who belonged to Polish
szlachta The ''szlachta'' (; ; ) were the nobility, noble estate of the realm in the Kingdom of Poland, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Depending on the definition, they were either a warrior "caste" or a social ...
.''Vasily Livanov (2013)''. Echo of One Dash. A Path from Childhood. — Moscow: AST, p. 18-23, 33–39, 51–53, 72–76, 113, 168 Vasily was brought up in the artistic milieu. Many famous actors who worked with his father, like
Olga Knipper Olga Leonardovna Knipper-Chekhova (; – 22 March 1959) was a Russian Empire, Russian and Soviet Union, Soviet stage actress. She was married to Anton Chekhov. Knipper was among the 39 original members of the Moscow Art Theatre when it ...
, Alla Tarasova, Vasily Kachalov (whom Livanov was named after), as well as Pyotr Konchalovsky,
Boris Pasternak Boris Leonidovich Pasternak (30 May 1960) was a Russian and Soviet poet, novelist, composer, and literary translator. Composed in 1917, Pasternak's first book of poems, ''My Sister, Life'', was published in Berlin in 1922 and soon became an imp ...
,
Valery Chkalov Valery Pavlovich Chkalov (; ; – 15 December 1938) was a test pilot awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union (1936). Early life Chkalov was born to a Russian family in 1904 in the upper Volga region, the town of Chkalovsk, Russia, Vasi ...
were frequent guests at their house.Russian Orthodox Church The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC; ;), also officially known as the Moscow Patriarchate (), is an autocephaly, autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox Christian church. It has 194 dioceses inside Russia. The Primate (bishop), p ...
despite never officially converting. His family spent the first war years in evacuation and in 1943 returned to Moscow. In 1954 Vasily graduated from the Moscow Secondary Art School under the USSR Academy of Arts, and in 1958 he finished the acting courses at the Boris Shchukin Theatre Institute. His film career started in 1959 with one of the leading roles in the '' Letter Never Sent''. The movie was shot in
taiga Taiga or tayga ( ; , ), also known as boreal forest or snow forest, is a biome characterized by coniferous forests consisting mostly of pines, spruces, and larches. The taiga, or boreal forest, is the world's largest land biome. In North A ...
at −40 °C, and the director
Mikhail Kalatozov Mikhail Konstantinovich Kalatozov ( ka, მიხეილ კალატოზიშვილი, ; 28 December 1903 – 26 March 1973), born Mikheil Kalatozishvili, was a Soviet film director of Georgians, Georgian origin who contributed to b ...
decided that Livanov and Samoilova should voice their characters crying not in the studio, but outside, right in the woods. As a result, Livanov lost his voice, and in two weeks it returned as a unique hoarse timbre that would become one of Livanov's trademarks ever since.


Animation

In 1966 he finished the High Directors Courses where he studied under
Mikhail Romm Mikhail Ilyich Romm (; – 1 November 1971) was a Soviet film director, screenwriter and pedagogue. He was named People's Artist of the USSR in 1950. Life and career Early life He was born in Irkutsk into a family of mixed Russian Jewish ...
and joined Soyuzmultfilm as an animation director, screenwriter and voice actor. During the next ten years he wrote and directed several animated films, including '' Most, Most, Most, Most'' and '' The Blue Bird'' feature.''Sergey Kapkov (2006)''. Encyclopedia of Domestic Animation. — Moscow: Algorithm, p. 394-395 Yet his biggest success came with '' The Bremen Town Musicians'' animated musical, a modernised adaptation of the eponymous folktale he created with Yuri Entin and
Gennady Gladkov Gennady Igorevich Gladkov (; 18 February 1935 – 16 October 2023) was a Soviet and Russian composer. He composed music for some of the most famous Soviet movies and cartoons, most notably ''The Bremen Town Musicians (1969 film), The Bremen Town ...
. Both parts showed heavy influence of
rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock-n-roll, and rock 'n' roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from African ...
and
hippie A hippie, also spelled hippy, especially in British English, is someone associated with the counterculture of the 1960s, counterculture of the mid-1960s to early 1970s, originally a youth movement that began in the United States and spread to dif ...
cultures which was unusual for the Soviet cinema. The first film was directed by Inessa Kovalevskaya, while the sequel '' On the Trail of the Bremen Town Musicians'' (1973) was directed by Livanov himself. The leading Soviet pop singer Muslim Magomayev voiced almost all characters in it which only added to the overwhelming popularity of the series ( Oleg Anofriyev did the exact same thing in the first film). Livanov was also the voice behind multiple popular Soviet animated characters such as Gena the Crocodile from the '' Cheburashka'' series, Karlsson-on-the-Roof from the Soviet adaptation of
Astrid Lindgren Astrid Anna Emilia Lindgren (; ; 14 November 1907 – 28 January 2002) was a Swedish writer of fiction and screenplays. She is best known for several children's book series, featuring Pippi Longstocking, Emil i Lönneberga, Emil of Lönneberga, ...
's fairy tale and Boa from '' 38 Parrots''.


Sherlock Holmes

In the late 1970s and in the 1980s, Livanov returned to film stardom in what became the greatest success of his acting career: the role of
Sherlock Holmes Sherlock Holmes () is a Detective fiction, fictional detective created by British author Arthur Conan Doyle. Referring to himself as a "Private investigator, consulting detective" in his stories, Holmes is known for his proficiency with obser ...
in ''
The Hound of the Baskervilles ''The Hound of the Baskervilles'' is the third of the four Detective fiction, crime novels by British writer Arthur Conan Doyle featuring the detective Sherlock Holmes. Originally serial (literature), serialised in ''The Strand Magazine'' from ...
'' and other Holmes TV series directed by Igor Maslennikov. Those movies were filmed between 1979 and 1986. Vasily Livanov played Sherlock Holmes. On 27 April 2007, a sculpture featuring Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson as portrayed by Vasily Livanov and Vitaly Solomin was opened on the Smolenskaya embankment alongside the Embassy of the United Kingdom in Moscow (sculptor Andrey Orlov).


Writer

Apart from screenplays Vasily Livanov has been professionally writing books since the 1960s. He published novels, stories, fairy tales and memoirs, including biography books dedicated to Boris Livanov,
Boris Pasternak Boris Leonidovich Pasternak (30 May 1960) was a Russian and Soviet poet, novelist, composer, and literary translator. Composed in 1917, Pasternak's first book of poems, ''My Sister, Life'', was published in Berlin in 1922 and soon became an imp ...
and other people he personally knew.


Personal life

Livanov was married twice. His first wife (1958–1970) was Alina Engelgardt, daughter of the acclaimed Soviet biochemist Vladimir Engelgardt. They had a daughter Anastasia. Since 1972 he has been married to Elena Artemievna Balabanova, an art director and animator. They have two sons, Boris and Nikolai. In 2009 Boris was charged with a murder of Igor Khromov whom he cut with a knife during a drunken brawl; he was imprisoned for nine years, but set free following a parole in 2015. In June 2017 Maria Golubkina, an actress, daughter of Larisa Golubkina and stepdaughter of Andrei Mironov, announced her engagement to Boris Livanov, but in just a month they "decided to take a break". Vasily Livanov was a close friend of
Vitaly Solomin Vitaly Mefodievich Solomin (; 12 December 194127 May 2002) was a Soviet and Russian actor, director and screenwriter, best remembered for playing Dr. Watson in a series of Sherlock Holmes adaptations for Soviet television. He was the younger b ...
and Rina Zelyonaya, who played Doctor Watson and Mrs. Hudson. As he writes in his memoir:
"It happens so that when someone passes away, we customarily treat his actions and related events as the thing of the past. But everything about my beloved closest friend and partner Vitaly Solomin has become a part of my way of life, my conscience, so for me it will become the thing of the past only when I pass away too."
He is a stout supporter of
Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who has served as President of Russia since 2012, having previously served from 2000 to 2008. Putin also served as Prime Minister of Ru ...
and his policies against Ukraine, supporting both the annexation of Crimea and the
2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...
.


Honors and awards

* Honored Artist of the RSFSR (1981) * People's Artist of the RSFSR (1988) *
Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" The Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" () is a state decoration of the Russian Federation. It was instituted on 2 March 1994 by Presidential Decree 442. Until the re-establishment of the Order of St. Andrew in 1998, it was the highest order of ...
, 4th class (1 December 2005) — ''"For substantial contribution to the development of national cinema"''. * Honorary Member of the
Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...
(20 February 2006) — ''"For service to the theatre and performing arts"''. * Order of Honour (27 October 2016) — ''"For great services in the development of national culture and arts, many years of fruitful activity"''. * Special Golden Eagle Award (27 January 2017) — ''"For outstanding contribution to the history of Russian cinema"''.
Vasily Livanov received Golden Eagle Award for his contribution to cinema
' article by
RIA Novosti RIA Novosti (), sometimes referred to as RIAN () or RIA (), is a Russian state-owned domestic news agency. On 9 December 2013, by a decree of Vladimir Putin, it was liquidated and its assets and workforce were transferred to the newly created ...
, 27 January 2017 (in Russian)


Selected filmography


References


External links


Biography of Vasily Livanov

The Sherlock Holmes Museum




* *
The adventures of Sherlock Holmes in Russia

221b.ru - Russian site dedicated to Vasiliy Livanov
{{DEFAULTSORT:Livanov, Vasily 1935 births 20th-century Russian male actors 20th-century Russian male writers 20th-century Russian screenwriters 21st-century Russian male actors 21st-century Russian male writers 21st-century Russian screenwriters Living people Male actors from Moscow Academicians of the National Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences of Russia High Courses for Scriptwriters and Film Directors alumni Honorary members of the Order of the British Empire Honored Artists of the RSFSR People's Artists of the RSFSR Recipients of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland", 4th class Recipients of the Order of Honour (Russia) Russian male screenwriters Russian people of Polish descent Audiobook narrators Russian animated film directors Russian animators Russian children's writers Russian film directors Russian male film actors Russian male novelists Russian male short story writers Russian male voice actors 20th-century Russian memoirists Soviet animation directors Soviet animators Soviet children's writers Soviet male film actors Soviet male voice actors Soviet memoirists Soviet novelists Soviet screenwriters Soviet male screenwriters Soviet short story writers Anti-Ukrainian sentiment in Russia