Vasily Livanov | |
|---|---|
 Livanov in 2017 | |
| Born | Vasily Borisovich Livanov (1935-07-19)19 July 1935 (age 89) |
| Occupation(s) | Actor, animation director, film director, screenwriter, writer |
| Years active | 1959–present |
| Spouse | Elena Livanova (1973–present) |
| Children | 3 |
| Parent(s) | Boris Livanov and Evgenia Livanova |
| Website | 221b |
Vasily Borisovich Livanov (Russian:Василий Борисович Ливанов; born 19 July 1935),MBE,[1] is a Soviet and Russian film actor, animation and film director, screenwriter and writer most famous for portrayingSherlock Holmes in theSoviet TV series.[2] He was namedPeople's Artist of the RSFSR in 1988.
Vasily Livanov was born into a famous theatrical family. His paternal grandfather Nikolai Aleksandrovich Livanov (1874–1949) was aVolga Cossack fromSimbirsk who moved to Moscow in 1905 and performed at the Struysky Theatre under a pseudonym of Izvolsky; after therevolution he worked at theMossovet andLenkom Theatres. Vasily's fatherBoris Livanov (1904–1972) was also a prominent actor and stage director who served at theMoscow Art Theatre all his life, while his mother Eugenia Kazimirovna Livanova (néePrawdzic-Filipowicz) (1907–1978) was an artist who belonged toPolishszlachta.[3]
Vasily was brought up in the artistic milieu. Many famous actors who worked with his father, likeOlga Knipper,Alla Tarasova,Vasily Kachalov (whom Livanov was named after), as well asPyotr Konchalovsky,Boris Pasternak,Valery Chkalov were frequent guests at their house.[3][4] In 1940 his family was staying inChernivtsi along with other Moscow actors, and his Polish nanny took him to the localCatholic church where he wasbaptized, presumably with his mother's permission. Today he belongs to theRussian Orthodox Church despite never officially converting.[3]
His family spent the firstwar years in evacuation and in 1943 returned to Moscow.[3] In 1954 Vasily graduated from the Moscow Secondary Art School under theUSSR Academy of Arts, and in 1958 he finished the acting courses at theBoris Shchukin Theatre Institute. His film career started in 1959 with one of the leading roles in theLetter Never Sent.
The movie was shot intaiga at −40 °C, and the directorMikhail Kalatozov decided that Livanov andSamoilova 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.[4]
In 1966 he finished theHigh Directors Courses where he studied underMikhail Romm and joinedSoyuzmultfilm as ananimation director, screenwriter and voice actor. During the next ten years he wrote and directed several animated films, includingMost, Most, Most, Most andThe Blue Bird feature.[5]
Yet his biggest success came withThe Bremen Town Musicians animated musical, a modernised adaptation of the eponymous folktale he created withYuri Entin andGennady Gladkov. Both parts showed heavy influence ofrock and roll andhippie cultures which was unusual for the Soviet cinema. The first film was directed byInessa Kovalevskaya, while the sequelOn the Trail of the Bremen Town Musicians (1973) was directed by Livanov himself. The leading Soviet pop singerMuslim 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).[6][7]
Livanov was also the voice behind multiple popular Soviet animated characters such asGena the Crocodile from theCheburashka series,Karlsson-on-the-Roof from the Soviet adaptation ofAstrid Lindgren's fairy tale and Boa from38 Parrots.[5]
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 ofSherlock Holmes inThe Hound of the Baskervilles andother Holmes TV series directed byIgor Maslennikov.[8][9]
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 theEmbassy of the United Kingdom in Moscow (sculptor Andrey Orlov).[10]
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 toBoris Livanov,Boris Pasternak and other people he personally knew.[11]
Livanov was married twice. His first wife (1958–1970) was Alina Engelgardt, daughter of the acclaimed Soviet biochemistVladimir 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.[12] In June 2017 Maria Golubkina, an actress, daughter ofLarisa Golubkina and stepdaughter ofAndrei Mironov, announced her engagement to Boris Livanov, but in just a month they "decided to take a break".[13]
Vasily Livanov was a close friend ofVitaly Solomin andRina 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."[14]
He is a stout supporter ofVladimir Putin and his policies against Ukraine, supporting both theannexation of Crimea and the2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.[15]
| Year | Film | Original title | Role | Other |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1959 | Letter Never Sent | Неотправленное письмо | Andrei | |
| 1960 | Resurrection | Воскресение | Kryltsov | |
| Blind Musician | Слепой музыкант | Pyotr | ||
| 1962 | Colleagues | Коллеги | Sasha Zelenin | |
| 1968 | I Was Nineteen | Ich war neunzehn | Wadim Gejman | |
| Junior and Karlsson (animation) | Малыш и Карлсон | Karlsson-on-the-Roof (voice) | ||
| 1969 | Gena the Crocodile (animation) | Крокодил Гена | Gena the Crocodile (voice) | |
| The Bremen Town Musicians (animation) | Бременские музыканты | Screenwriter | ||
| Ded Moroz and Summer (animation) | Дед Мороз и лето | Screenwriter | ||
| 1970 | Waterloo | Ватерлоо | officer | |
| Karlsson Returns (animation) | Карлсон вернулся | Karlsson-on-the-Roof (voice) | ||
| The Blue Bird (animation) | Синяя птица | dog, miner (voices) | Director, screenwriter | |
| 1971 | Cheburashka (animation) | Чебурашка | Gena the Crocodile (voice) | |
| 1973 | On the Trail of the Bremen Town Musicians (animation) | По следам бременских музыкантов | Director, screenwriter | |
| 1974 | Shapoklyak (animation) | Шапокляк | Gena the Crocodile (voice) | |
| 1975 | The Captivating Star of Happiness | Звезда пленительного счастья | Nicholas I of Russia | |
| 1976 | 38 Parrots (animation) | 38 попугаев | Boa (voice) | |
| 1977 | The Steppe | Степь | Kazimir | |
| 1979 | Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson | Шерлок Холмс и доктор Ватсон | Sherlock Holmes | |
| 1980 | The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson | Приключения Шерлока Холмса и доктора Ватсона | Sherlock Holmes | |
| 1981 | The Hound of the Baskervilles | Собака Баскервилей | Sherlock Holmes | |
| The Mystery of the Third Planet (animation) | Тайна третьей планеты | Gromozeka (voice) | ||
| Dog in Boots (animation) | Пёс в сапогах | British detective (voice) | ||
| 1983 | The Treasures of Agra | Сокровища Агры | Sherlock Holmes | |
| Moon Rainbow | Лунная радуга | Galbraith | ||
| Cheburashka Goes to School (animation) | Чебурашка идёт в школу | Gena the Crocodile (voice) | ||
| 1985 | Contract (animation) | Контракт | security alarm (voice) | |
| 1986 | The Twentieth Century Approaches | Двадцатый век начинается | Sherlock Holmes | |
| 1987 | Friend | Друг | Drug (voice) | |
| 1988 | Pereval (animation) | Перевал | Boris (voice) | |
| 1997 | Don Quixote Returns | Дон Кихот возвращается | Don Quixote | Director, screenwriter, producer |
| 2000 | The New Bremen Town Musicians | Новые бременские | Screenwriter | |
| 2005 | The Master and Margarita | Мастер и Маргарита | Alexandr Stravinsky |
