Yury Yakovlev

Yuri Yakovlev
Yuri Yakovlev in 2008
Born	Yuri Vasilyevich Yakovlev 25 April 1928 Moscow, Soviet Union
Died	30 November 2013 (aged 85) Moscow, Russia
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1950–2013
Spouse(s)	Kira Machulskaya Ekaterina Raikina Irina Sergeeva

Yuri Vasilyevich Yakovlev (Russian: Ю́рий Васи́льевич Я́ковлев; 25 April 1928 – 30 November 2013) was one of the most popular and critically acclaimed Soviet film and theatre actors. He was named People's Artist of the USSR in 1976.

Life and career

Yakovlev joined the Vakhtangov Theatre in 1952 but his first flirtation with fame came in 1958, when he played Prince Myshkin in Ivan Pyryev's adaptation of The Idiot. Yakovlev followed his first success with regular appearances in Eldar Ryazanov's comedies, most notably Hussar Ballad (1962), in which he played Poruchik Rzhevsky. The feature was such a resounding success that Rzhevsky's character gave rise to innumerable Russian jokes.

In the 1960s and 1970s Yakovlev's career was varied and interesting, his roles ranging from Stiva Oblonsky in the classic Soviet adaptation of Anna Karenina (1968) to the paranoically jealous Ippolit in another of Ryazanov's comedies, The Irony of Fate (1975). His participation in a series of films about World War II won him the USSR State Prize for 1979.

Yakovlev enjoyed perhaps his greatest popular acclaim in Leonid Gaidai's film version of Mikhail Bulgakov's egregiously funny Ivan Vasilievich Changes His Occupation (also known as Ivan Vasilievich: Back to the Future) (1973). His film career effectively came to a halt after Georgi Daneliya's sci-fi extravaganza Kin-dza-dza!, in which he appeared alongside Yevgeny Leonov.

He performed on the stage of the Vakhtangov Theatre. The actor has also played over seventy roles onstage, including mysterious Casanova (Three Ages of Casanova), brilliant court diplomat Duke Bolingbroke (Glass of Water), and tragically genius Prokofiev (Lessons of Master).

Selected filmography

• 1954 — The Great Warrior Skanderbeg as Warrior
• 1958 — The Idiot as Prince Myshkin
• 1959 — Ballad of a Soldier as narrator (voice)
• 1961 — Nowhere Man as Vladimir Porazhaev
• 1962 — Hussar Ballad as Lieutenant Dmitry Rzhevsky
• 1964 — An Easy Life as Alexander P. Bochkin, underground businessman
• 1966 — Beware of the Car as narrator (voice)
• 1967 — Anna Karenina as Stiva Oblonsky
• 1970 — The Seagull as Boris Alexeyevich Trigorin, writer
• 1971 — Grandads-Robbers as narrator (voice)
• 1973 — Ivan Vasilievich: Back to the Future as Ivan the Terrible / Ivan Vasilievich Bunsha, building superintendent
• 1974 — Earthly Love as Tikhon I. Bruchanov, Secretary of district committee of Communist Party

Honours and awards

• Honorary Member of the Russian Academy of Arts
• Honoured Artist of the RSFSR
• People's Artist of the RSFSR (1968)
• People's Artist of the USSR (1976)
• Order of Merit for the Fatherland;
  • 2nd class (10 June 2008) - for outstanding contributions to the development of domestic theatrical and cinematic arts, many years of creative activity
  • 3rd class (17 October 1996) - for services to the State and outstanding contribution to the development of theatrical arts
• Order of Lenin (1988)
• Order of the Red Banner of Labour (1978)
• USSR State Prize (1979) - for his role Tikhon Ivanovich Bryukhanova in two-part film "Love Earth" and "Destiny"
• Stanislavsky State Prize of the RSFSR (1970) - for his performance as Yegor Dmitrievich Glumova in the play "The Wise Man Stumbles" by Alexander Ostrovsky
• State Prize of the Russian Federation in Literature and Art in 1994 (29 May 1995) - for the performance of the State Academic Theatre named Eugene. Vakhtangov "Guilty Without Guilt" on the play by Alexander Ostrovsky
• Russian Federation President Prize in Literature and Art in 2003 (13 February 2004) - for outstanding creative and scientific contribution to the artistic culture of Russia
• "Golden Mask", awarded with "Silver Mask" for best actor (Salvador Allende, "Unfinished Dialogue") (1976)
• Gold Medal for AP Dovzhenko film "Destiny" (1978)
• Prize "Crystal Turandot." (1998)
• Prize of the business community, "Idol" for high service to art. (1999)
• Chekhov's Medal (2010)

External links

• Yury Yakovlev at the Internet Movie Database
• Yakovlev on the Vakhtangov Theatre Homepage
• Biography of Yury Yakovlev (English)