Oleg Basilashvili
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| Oleg Basilashvili | |
|---|---|
| Born | Oleg Valerianovich Basilashvili September 26, 1934  Moscow, USSR |
| Years active | 1955 - present |
Oleg Valerianovich Basilashvili (Russian: Басилашвили, Олег Валерианович); September 26, 1934 is a well-known Soviet/Russian film and theatre actor of Georgian origin, as well as political figure in the former Soviet Union and in the new Russia.
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[edit] Biography
[edit] Childhood
Oleg Valerianovich Basilashvili was born on September 26, 1934, in Moscow, USSR. His father, named Valerian Basilashvili, was a director of the Moscow Polytechnical College. His mother, named Irina Ilyinskaya, was a teacher of linguistics.
His father made up a humorous story that his grandfather had once arrested a dangerous criminal, named Dzhugashvili, who was really Joseph Stalin. In reality Basilashvili's maternal grandfather was a Russian orthodox priest and an architect, who participated in the construction of the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow. During the Second World War young Oleg Basilashvili was evacuated from Moscow to the Transcaucasian republic of Georgia. There young Basilashvili went to a primary school and lived with his paternal grandfather until the end of WWII.
[edit] Acting career
In 1956 Oleg Basilashvili graduated from the Acting School of the Moscow Art Theatre (MkHAT). He made his film debut as a young groom in film Nevesta (aka .. The Bride, 1956) by director Grigori Nikulin based on a story by Anton Chekhov. At that time together with his first wife, Tatyana Doronina, Basilashvili joined the troupe at the Bolshoi Drama Theatre (BDT) in Leningrad under the leadership of the legendary director Georgi Tovstonogov. Since 1959 Basilashvili has been a permanent member of the troupe at the BDT in St. Petersburg. There his stage partners were such stars as Kirill Lavrov, Tatyana Doronina, Alisa Freindlich, Lyudmila Makarova, Svetlana Kryuchkova, Zinaida Sharko, Valentina Kovel, Innokenti Smoktunovsky, Oleg Borisov, Pavel Luspekayev, Sergei Yursky, and many other remarkable Russian actors. Basilashvili's most memorable stage works were in Uncle Vanya, a play by Anton Chekhov, Kholstomer (aka.. Story of a horse), based on the eponymous story by Leo Tolstoy, The Lower Depths (aka.. Na Dne), a play by Maxim Gorky, and other classic plays, directed by Georgi Tovstonogov at the BDT in St. Petersburg.
[edit] Film career
Oleg Basilashvili shot to fame with his roles in films by director Eldar Ryazanov. They collaborated in such popular films as Office Romance (1977), A Railway Station for Two (1982), Nebesa obetovannye (1991), and Predskazanie (1993), which became significant box-office hits. Among Basilashvili’s film partners were such actors as Alisa Freindlich, Lyudmila Gurchenko, Nikita Mikhalkov, Nonna Mordyukova, Evgeni Leonov, and Natalya Gundareva, among many other Soviet/Russian film actors.
His most acclaimed film role was made in collaboration with director Georgi Daneliya in a remarkable film Osenniy marafon (1979). The film is a cross-genre comedy and melodrama with a bitter humor and satire of the Soviet life. In it Basilashvili plays a man in his mid-life crisis, who is torn between two nice women, his wife and his mistress, and all three of them become entangled in the game of lies and personal demands, being at the same time strangled by the stagnant Soviet reality. Basilashvili co-created a memorable acting ensemble with such actors, as Natalya Gundareva, Evgeni Leonov, Marina Neyolova, and Nikolai Kryuchkov. The film became a Soviet classic, and was awarded at International film festivals in Berlin and San Sebastian.
[edit] Political career
During the 1990s he was a visible political figure in Russia, and was elected the representative of Leningrad (St. Petersburg) in 1990. Eventually he became a member of the pro-democratic group of representatives in the Russian Parliament, and a supporter of such politicians as Anatoly Sobchak and the first Russian President Boris Yeltsin. Oleg Basilashvili was a strong proponent of returning the original name to the city of St. Petersburg. He quit politics after 2000, and focused on his acting career.
[edit] Comeback
After a few years of his artistic hiatus, Oleg Basilashvili made a comeback with an impressive performance in the role as Woland in TV series Master i Margarita (2005), an adaptation of the eponymous novel of Mikhail Bulgakov by director Vladimir Bortko. In his own words, Basilashvili played the character of Woland in resemblance of an authoritarian and manipulative bureaucrat, alluding to a Soviet-era dictator. Basilashvili created a powerful interplay with a stellar ensemble of actors, such as Aleksandr Abdulov, Kirill Lavrov, Anna Kovalchuk, Aleksandr Galibin, and other notable Russian actors.
[edit] Recognition
Oleg Basilashvili was designated People's Artist of the USSR (1984). He was awarded the State Prize and was decorated by the Russian government.
[edit] Sources
Biography written by: Steve Shelokhonov (2007).
[edit] External links
- Oleg Basilashvili at the Internet Movie Database
- (Russian) Biography and filmography of Oleg Basilashvili on Peoples.ru
