Alexander Lazarev (actor)

Alexander Sergeevich Lazarev
Александр Сергеевич Лазарев
Born January 3, 1938
Leningrad, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Died May 2, 2011 (aged 73)
Moscow, Russian Federation
Occupation Actor
Years active 1961–2010
Spouse(s) Svetlana Nemolyaeva
Awards People's Artist of the RSFSR (1977)

Alexander Sergeevich Lazarev (Алекса́ндр Серге́евич Ла́зарев; January 3, 1938 – May 2, 2011) was a Soviet and Russian theater and film actor. In 1977 Alexander Lazarev was assigned People's Artist of Russia and received the USSR State Prize, for his work in Moscow Mayakovsky Theater. Throughout his career spanning fifty years he's had more than 50 roles.[1] Alexander Lazarev appeared in more than 100 films, one of which, G. Natanson's One More Thing About Love (Ещё раз про любовь), Tatiana Doronina co-starring, made him famous in 1968, followed by another success, Late Flowers (1969). Lazarev, a man of impeccable manners and impressive stature (which brought him roles of statesmen and army generals), in real life was different too: according to the ORT obituary, "there was hardly anyone in the Russian actors' community for whom the words 'real gentleman' would have suited better".[2] Svetlana Nemolyaeva, Lazarev's widow, is a well-known Soviet and Russian actress. Aleksander Lazarev Jr., their son, is enjoying successful career in film too.

Biography

Aleksander Lazarev was born in Leningrad, the son of a painter and designer Sergey Nikolayevich Lazarev (1899–1984) and Olympiada Kuzminichna Lazareva (née Tarasova, (1907–1996). The couple, described as the 'first generation Soviet intelligentsia', were spending most of their modest earnings on books, theater and art. Aleksandr's first three years were perfectly happy, then the hell broke loose. In winter 1941 during the blockade the whole of the family's library's got burnt in the furnace to keep rooms warm. Finally the three managed to make it out of the besieged city and settled in Orenburg. The Lazarevs returned home in 1944 and the next year Alexandr went to school.[3] By the time of his graduation he knew already he was going to become an actor, Robert Taylor's performance in Waterloo Bridge was cited later as the major influence.[4] In 1955 Lazarev joined the MKhAT young actors studio. Then, having failed to impress Nikolay Akimov of Leningrad's Theater of Comedy (his early childhood favourite), he settled at Mayakovsky Theater, led at the time by Nikolay Okhlopkov to be instantly loaded with barrage of roles (in just one Hamlet he had five). The role of Boytsov, an electrician in Aleksei Arbuzov's The Irkutsk Story was Aleksander Lazarev's first major success in theater. On March 27, 1960, he married young Mayakovsky Theater actress Svetlana Nemolyaeva to form a union that later for 51 years, till his death.[3]

Lazarev's another strong stage performance, in Aleksander Stein's The Ocean (1961), led to his debut on big screen as Yango in a melodrama/thriller called Free Wind (1961, based on Isaak Dunayevsky's operetta). Among the actor's other notable theater roles were anarchist sailor Guscha in Between the Rainfalls (Okhlopkov's last work in theater), uber-lieutenant Schering in The Defector (1964) and Varavvin in Pyotr Fomenko-directed Death of Tarelkin (1966). And then in 1968 a leading role of physicist Yevdokimov in G. Natanson's One More Thing About Love (co-starring Tatyana Doronina) made Lazarev famous overnight.[3]

Andrey Goncharov's arrival as Mayakovsky Theater's director marked the second phase of Alexander Lazarev's successive work here. His performance as Don Quixote in A Man of La Mancha (hyped as the first Soviet musical theater production) was praised by critics, while a leading role in Venceremos! after Genrikh Borovik's play brought the actor the USSR State Prize. Among other important stage works of Lazarev of the time were General Khludov (in Flight, 1978, based on Mikhail Bulgakov's play), Rittmeister in The Life of Klim Samgin (1981, after an unfinished Maxim Gorky's novel) premiered as a TV play in 1986), Vladimir Mayakovsky in Mark Rozovsky's The Beginnings (1983). More and more of his comic gift started to come through in Crayfish Laughter (1986, a play about Sarah Bernhardt, the latter played by Svetlana Nemolyaeva),[5] Circle (1988, after W. Somerset Maugham's 1921 play), A Patron's Joke (1992, by Arkady Averchenko). Victim of Our Age (1994, after Alexandr Ostrovsky's play The Last Victim) brought him the Moscow Prize for Literature and Arts. Another prestigious award, Chrystal Turandot, he's got for Keen IV, Tatyana Akhramkova's production of Grigory Gorin's play. In another Gorin's play A Plague On Both Your Houses (1995, again produced by Akhramkina) Lazarev performed in duet with Svetlana Nemolyaeva. He continued to appear in films throughout the 2000s but none of them made headlines. "In theater he was continuously demonstrating his brilliance, his versatility, his comedy actor's potential. In cinema? Silence. Not one of our famous film directors has ever invited him to play anyone of a substance. 'What we have we neglect, once we lose it – mourn it'," writer Edward Radzinsky, speaking on the Russian TV (and quoting the Russian proverb) commented in the wake of the actor's death on May 2, 2011.[2][3]

Filmography (select)

Literature

References

  1. ↑ "Александр Лазарев (старший)". www.kino-teatr.ru. Retrieved 2011-01-01.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Ушёл из жизни Александр Лазарев". Russian 1st TV Channel news. Retrieved 2011-01-01.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 "Александр Сергеевич Лазарев". www.peoples.ru. Retrieved 2011-01-01.
  4. ↑ Igor Bin. "Александр Сергеевич Лазарев (биография)". www.peoples.ru. Retrieved 2011-01-01.
  5. ↑ Cмех лангусты. - www.weekend.ru.

External links