Views: 166
Evgeny Morgunov is a famous Soviet actor with a difficult fate. His biography included years of creative neglect and years of glory, serious illness and personal tragedy.
Evgeny Aleksandrovich Morgunov was born on April 27, 1927 in Moscow. He was not yet a year old when his father left the family. The boy grew up with his mother, an ordinary woman who worked as a nurse in a hospital.
From the age of 14, Evgeniy worked at a defense plant along with adults. Already at this age he knew exactly what he wanted - to become an actor. In rare free hours, he studied in the drama club at the Palace of Culture, went to the theater and conservatory.
At the age of 16, Evgeniy decides to quit the factory to pursue his dream, but the director does not let him go. Morgunov is not at a loss and writes a naive letter to Stalin himself, which begins with the words: “Accept me into art...” Incredibly, but soon a letter signed by Stalin arrives in the name of the director of the enterprise, in which he was instructed to send Evgeniy to the school at the Tairov Theater. This is where the actor’s creative path begins.
Childhood and family of Evgeniy Morgunov
The childhood of the great actor was spoiled by the war. His father died at the front, and from the age of fourteen he himself worked at the Moscow plant, where he helped in the manufacture of blanks for artillery shells. Despite the hard work, Evgeniy was always a big child. And this, as Morgunov himself says, was solely the merit of his mother. As a midwife, she always found an opportunity to bring home an extra piece of bread, a chocolate bar, or another can of stew. The Morgunov family lived poorly, however, thanks to the efforts of their mother, they never went hungry.
Evgeny Morgunov in his youth
At an early age, the main joy for the future actor was music. He loved to listen to the records he had at his disposal, and also to hum his favorite melodies in a low voice. During this period, the real idol of Evgeny Morgunov was Leonid Utesov. The future actor knew all his songs by heart and always dreamed of performing on stage just like him.
Leonid Morgunov: biography
Leonid Morgunov is a professional KVN player as part of the teams “Deja Vu”, “Heart of Siberia” and “Parapaparam”, as well as one of the hosts of the popular travel show “Russo Turisto”. He was born in the city of Neryungri, which is located in Yakutia. Before him, no one in the family had anything to do with the stage, but his father was a big fan of KVN, recorded the funniest games on video tapes and always watched them in the company of his son. Therefore, Lenya got used to the performances of cheerful and resourceful people from an early age.
Video course “Spring”
Landscaping for busy people, a beautiful garden without the hassle
A training course for those who want to make their dacha beautiful and prefer to spend their time, effort and money wisely.
Special offer! 50% discount! Make good use of your self-isolation!
₽ 1200.00 ₽ 600.00
MORE ❯❯❯
Showman Leonid Morgunov
The boy also began to be interested in music early. He tried to play various musical instruments, and his parents even enrolled him in a music school to study piano, but young Morgunov did not have the patience to study there. Later, he taught himself to play the guitar, and even appeared on stage as part of a school band. Another teenage hobby was sports, especially hockey, to which he devoted long Yakut winter evenings.
Leonid Morgunov is fond of sports
In high school, Leonid Morgunov became interested in KVN, became involved in spontaneously emerging school groups and dreamed of creating his own full-fledged team. This desire was realized in law college, where he entered after school. By and large, the young man was not particularly interested in law; he spent most of his time at rehearsals and city competitions. After graduating from college, Leonid went to the capital of Siberia and entered the Novosibirsk Pedagogical University.
Leonid Morgunov
However, Morgunov was not often seen at the university, since he plunged headlong into professional KVN competitions. After the capital of Siberia, the capital of Russia awaited the young man. Morgunov went to Moscow at the suggestion of the STS TV channel, with which he still collaborates, being involved in various television projects. In addition to KVN and television shows, Leonid, together with his close friend Sergei Oborin, is a very popular organizer of festive evenings.
Morgunov's film career, filmography
In 1943, as a joke and, in general, not seriously hoping for success, a young guy sent a letter to Joseph Stalin, in which he asked to contribute to his development “in art.” Fifteen days have passed since the correspondence was sent. And during this time, everyone seemed to have already forgotten about the letter written to Stalin. However, some time later, the management of the plant where Evgeny Morgunov worked received a letter from the Kremlin.
By order of Stalin, Morgunov ended up in the Tairov Theater
The official document stated the following: “Send Comrade Morgunov E.A. for admission to the Tairov Theater as a supporting actor. Stalin." Thus, our today's hero became a student of the famous director Alexander Tairov, who at that time worked at the Moscow Chamber Theater.
However, the actor stayed in this place only for a year and already at the end of 1944 he transferred to VGIK to the workshop of Sergei Gerasimov. Here, such famous future actors as Vyacheslav Tikhonov, Nonna Mordyukova, Sergei Bondarchuk and some others became Morgunov’s classmates.
Evgeny Morgunov “This is not a Lezginka…” Already while studying at VGIK, Evgeny Morgunov made his acting debut. The first acting work of our today's hero was a cameo role in the film “At 6 pm after the war,” followed by some other small film work.
It is quite noteworthy that during this period Evgeny Morgunov was considered a fairly average actor. Directors rarely invited him to their new projects, and the scale of his roles left much to be desired.
Evgeny Morgunov did not immediately begin to get big roles in films
After graduating from VGIK, the actor began playing in the Studio Theater of a film actor. During the same period in the actor’s career, his first truly significant role happened - the role of the traitor Stakhovich in the film “The Young Guard”. However, immediately after filming, everything returned to normal. In the period from 1948 to 1961, the actor received only small and insignificant roles. Exceptions were quite rare, and therefore the invitation of Leonid Gaidai to play a role in the small film “Barbos the Dog and the Unusual Cross” was largely unexpected for Morgunov. It is quite noteworthy that the role of Experienced in many ways turned out to be problematic for the director and the entire film crew. The other two characters were cast fairly quickly, but the last acting vacancy remained open for quite a long time.
Still from the film “Barbos the Dog and the Unusual Cross”
One way or another, in 1961, a short comedy film was released on wide screens and, unexpectedly for everyone, brought great success to the film crew. Soon the script for another similar film was written - “Moonshiners”, which again was a resounding success.
Evgeny Morgunov, like other characters of the famous trinity, instantly became popular and famous. However, paradoxically, this did not in any way affect the format of the roles offered to him. Until 1965, the actor received only small roles. The only exception was the film “Give me a book of complaints”, in which Evgeny Morgunov and other characters of the famous trinity “The Dunce, the Coward and the Experienced” got small, but very noticeable roles.
Big man jokes. Evgeny Morgunov However, the roles played a little later became truly striking. Roles in the films “Operation “Y” and other adventures of Shurik”, “Prisoner of the Caucasus”, “Seven Old Men and One Girl” and some others became real hits at the Soviet film distribution and made Yevgeny Morgunov one of the most popular comedy actors in the Soviet Union. Since then, our today's hero has played many wonderful roles. He tried on a wide variety of cinematic images, but in each of them the audience, willy-nilly, wanted to see at least something from the legendary “Experienced”.
The famous trinity - Coward, Dunce and Experienced
In 1978, Evgeny Morgunov was awarded the title of Honored Artist of the RSFSR. However, from that moment on, his career began to slowly go downhill. Bright roles came across less and less often. The cinema itself also became smaller, the state of affairs in which during the period of perestroika became completely deplorable.
In the early nineties, the actor began to drink a lot, suffering from lack of creative demand. Over the next few years, Evgeniy Alexandrovich suffered a heart attack and stroke. The decisive blow for the great actor was the death of his son in 1998. Having survived him for only a year, Evgeny Morgunov died due to another stroke.
Grave of Evgeny Morgunov
Biography
Every lover of Soviet comedies knows Evgeniy Morgunov by sight, although few of today’s youth are interested in the name of Experienced from Gaidaev’s inseparable trinity. Unfortunately, due to an absurd quarrel with the director, Evgeniy Aleksandrovich jeopardized his career and therefore did not become known for other images besides the criminal in the famous comedies about the adventures of Shurik. Morgunov was a straightforward person, a lover of jokes and practical jokes. In particular, the actor periodically used his talent by posing as an official, as a result of which he entered events for free, dined in restaurants, etc.
Actor Evgeny Morgunov
Evgeny Morgunov was born in Moscow. Young Morgunov's childhood was calm. The boy played in amateur performances, was fond of yard football and spent a lot of time with friends. His adolescence occurred at the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, where his father was almost immediately sent. Soon Alexander Morgunov died. To help his mother, the teenager worked at a military factory from the age of 14, where he was engaged in hard labor. The artist spent 12 hours straight grinding blanks for projectiles. For such selfless work, the young man soon received a diploma, but until the end of his days, Evgeniy Alexandrovich believed that he had not done anything special.
Evgeny Morgunov in his youth
At the same time, young Morgunov became interested in cinema. The young man spent all his free money on morning trips to the cinema, often sacrificing his studies at school. Soon he became obsessed with the idea of becoming an actor. In addition to participating in amateur performances, he managed to act as an extra at the Mosfilm film studio, and then wanted to turn his life into acting. In the process of implementing this idea, an unexpected obstacle arose, since the director of the plant opposed the wishes of his employee and did not agree to let him go. Then the brave young man acted radically and, no less, wrote with a request to Stalin himself. Two weeks later, the director received a response in which there was an order to send Morgunov to the Chamber Theater, where he became a student of the brilliant director Alexander Tairov.
Evgeny Morgunov in his youth
Morgunov worked in the theater for about a year, playing minor and episodic roles. Gradually, he realized that he could not make up for the lack of acting education even with experience, and therefore submitted documents to VGIK, where he entered without much difficulty. The young man studied under the guidance of the famous director Sergei Gerasimov.
At the university, Morgunov met many talented guys who later became famous Soviet actors, in particular, Sergei Bondarchuk and Nonna Mordyukova.
Personal life and contribution to culture
Concluding this article on an optimistic note, we note that the actor was married to one woman almost his entire life - Natalya Morgunova. They lived together for more than 36 years. During this time, two sons appeared in the actor’s family, as well as several grandchildren.
Evgeny Morgunov - Experienced of the merry trinity
After the death of the actor, many of them took part in a number of events dedicated to the memory of the great Soviet actor. In particular, the wife of the film actor was present at the opening of the monument to the “magnificent trinity” in the distant city of Khabarovsk.
Personal life
Evgeniy Alexandrovich was married twice. His first wife was ballerina Varvara Ryabtseva, who was 13 years older than her husband. Their family life did not work out.
Evgeny Morgunov with his family
The artist’s second wife was a girl named Natalya. The couple got married in 1965, and they had two sons - Anton and Nikolai. The younger Nikolai died in an accident a year before his father’s death.
