Vasily Lanovoy
 | This article includes a list of references, related reading, or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. (January 2013) |
Vasily Lanovoy Василий Лановой | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | January 16, 1934 |
| Occupation | Stage and film actor |
| Years active | 1954–present |
| Spouse(s) | Tatyana Samoylova Tamara Zyablova Irina Kupchenko |
Vasily Semyonovich Lanovoy (Russian: Василий Семенович Лановой; Ukrainian: Василь Семенович Лановий, Vasyl Semenovych Lanovyi) (born 1934) is a popular Soviet and Russian actor of Ukrainian descent who works in the Vakhtangov Theatre, Moscow. He is also known as the President of Artek Festival of Films for Children. Lanovoy's honours include the KGB Prize, the Lenin Prize, and the title of People's Artist of the USSR.
Acting career
Lanovoy came to prominence through playing bold, dashing characters, combining heroic bravado with a sensitivity typical of Russian heroes, a tendency evident in many of his early features, such as A Certificate of Maturity (1954) and Pavel Korchagin (1956).
Lanovoy's many film roles from the 1960s include Anatole Kuragin in Sergei Bondarchuk's War and Peace and Count Vronsky in the screen version of Anna Karenina. By this time, he has tried to create complex psychological portraits of his characters.
However, he is best known for his roles in iconic 1970s World War II-themed films. Lanovoy portrayed Ivan Varavva, one of the main characters in the 1971 saga Officers which became a life-motivating movie for the Soviet Army officers. He also played a supporting role of SS General Karl Wolff in the cult spy thriller TV-series Seventeen Moments of Spring (1973).
In 2000s, Lanovoy has appeared primarily in the roles of Soviet-era party bosses, such as Yuri Andropov in the 2005 TV series Brezhnev. In 2012 played the role of Cardinal Richelieu in Russian miniseries/movie The Three Musketeers.
Personal life
Lanovoy was born to a family of Ukrainian peasants and was known as Vasyl Lanovyi in his child years. His parents, originally from the rural Odessa Oblast, escaped the Holodomor famine to Moscow. However, the World War II Nazi/Romanian occupation caught little Vasyl in southern Ukraine with his village relatives while his parents were evacuated to the Soviet rear as workers with a military-critical industrial company. Lanovoy has always positioned himself as a Ukrainian loyal to national culture, especially the Ukrainian folk music pieces of which he traditionally sings at his individual concerts.
Lanovoy is married to Irina Kupchenko, herself a famous Soviet actress and a fellow Ukrainian educated in Kiev. His first wife was another film star, Tatiana Samoilova, best known for her leading part in The Cranes Are Flying.
Honours and awards
- 1971 - Best Actor of the year, by a poll of the Sovetsky Ekran magazine (for the film "Officers")
- 1978 - People's Artist of the RSFSR
- 1980 - Lenin Prize - for participation in the documentary film "The Great Patriotic War"
- 1983 - KGB Award - for the film "Fight at the crossroads"
- 1984 - Prize of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs - for the film Proceed to Eliminate
- 1985 - People's Artist of USSR
- 1994 - Order of Friendship of Peoples - for merits in development of theatrical art
- 2001 - Order of Honour
- 2004 - Order of Merit for the Fatherland, 4th class - for his great contribution to the development of theatrical art
- 2004 - Order of Merit, 3rd class (Ukraine) - for high professionalism and considerable contribution to the development of Russian-Ukrainian cultural relations
- 2008 - Order of Merit for the Fatherland, 3rd class - for his contribution to the development of domestic theatrical and cinematic arts, a multi-year social work
- 2008 - Special Prize of the President of Belarus "for preserving and developing traditions of spirituality in the cinema"
- 2009 - "Great Literary Prize of Russia" (Russian Writers' Union), the prize "For the benefit of Russia" for his outstanding contribution to the development of Russian culture
- 2010 - Tsarskoselskaya art prize
See also
- Going Inside a Storm (1965 film)
- Solaris (1968 TV film)
External links
- 1934 births
- Living people
- Writers from Moscow
- Male actors from Moscow
- Russian people of Ukrainian descent
- Russian male film actors
- Ukrainian male film actors
- Soviet male film actors
- Russian male stage actors
- Ukrainian male stage actors
- Soviet male stage actors
- People's Artists of the USSR
- Recipients of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland", 3rd class
- People's Artists of the RSFSR
- Lenin Prize winners
- Recipients of the Order of Friendship of Peoples
- Recipients of the Order of Honour (Russia)
- Recipients of the Order of Merit (Ukraine), 3rd class