Aleksandr Demyanenko

Infobox actor
name = Aleksandr Demyanenko


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birthname = Aleksandr Sergeyevich Demyanenko
birthdate = birth date|1937|5|30
birthplace = Sverdlovsk, USSR
(now Yekaterinburg)
deathdate = death date and age|1999|8|22|1937|5|30
deathplace = Saint-Petersburg, Russia
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occupation = actor
yearsactive = 1948-1999
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awards = People's Artist of the USSR (1991)

Aleksandr Demyanenko ( _ru. Александр Сергеевич Демьяненко; born May 30, 1937, Sverdlovsk, USSR — August 22, 1999, Saint-Petersburg, Russia) was a Soviet and Russian film and theater actor, People's Artist of the USSR.

Early life

Aleksandr Demyanenko was born in Sverdlovsk, USSR in 1937. He went to a music school from 1946 to 1952. In 1954 he failed to enter the school of arts. In 1955, however, he entered a theater school in Moscow, USSR. He studied at GITIS.

Career

In 1958 he was cast in the film "The Wind". In 1959 he graduated from the GITIS theatre acting school. He then worked in the Mayakovsky Theater in Moscow. In 1959 he starred in "Everything Begins with Hitting the Road".

In 1961 Aleksandr Demyanenko moved to Leningrad and starred in the film "Grown-Up Children". He then went on to play in "A Night Before Christmas", "Peace to Him Who Enter" and was cast for the title role in "Dima Gorin's Career". In 1962 he starred in "A Trip Without a Load" and "Bang the Drum". In 1963 he starred in "Cheka Employee", "The First Trolleybus" and "Kain XVIII". In 1964 he starred in "The Returned Music" and "State Offender".

In 1965 he was cast for the role of Shurik in a classic Soviet comedy "Operation Y and Other Shurik's Adventures". This role earned Demyanenko the image of nerdy student Shurik ("Shurik" being a diminutive form of the name Aleksandr). In 1966 he starred in the semi-sequel to the film "The Prisoner of Caucasus, or Shurik's New Adventures". In 1967, he starred in the film "War under the Roofs" and in 1968 in "The Dead Season". In 1969 he starred in "Tomorrow, April 3rd" and "The Ugryum River". In 1971 he starred in "Dauria". In 1972 he starred in "Hello and Goodbye" and "The Singing Teacher". Demyanenko tried to avoid being typecast as "Shurik" and was not able to get major roles.

In 1973 he once again reunited with Leonid Gaidai to star in the film "" where he plays a scientist (also by the name of "Shurik") who invents a time machine. Demyanenko was unable to gain popularity for other roles as he was typecast as a scientist due to his tremendous popularity as the nerdy, crime-fighting student Shurik. He frequently started to voice foreign films to earn some extra money.

Aleksandr Demyanenko suffered from alcoholism. He lived in poverty following the collapse of the socialized welfare system of the Soviet Union. He appeared in the TV Show/movie "Old Songs of the Main Things 2" in 1997 playing the aged Shurik. He had a brief role in the TV series "Strawberry" played his other famous role of the nerdy professor in "Old Songs of the Main Things 3" in 1998. In 1999 Aleksandr Demyanenko died from a heart attack. Some analysts say this played part in the success of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation in the December 1999 elections as the lack of a social welfare system was frequently blamed for his death.

elected Filmography

*"Mitya" (1959)
*"The Grown up Children" (1961)
*"Dima Gorin's Career" (1961)
*"State Criminal" (1964)
*"Operation Y and Other Shurik's Adventures" (1965)
*"The Prisoner of Caucasus, or Shurik's New Adventures" (1966)
*"" (1973)
* "Strange Adults" (1974)
* "The Last Winter Day" (1974)
* "Unique"(1975)
* "Eleven Hopes" (1975)
* "Crane in the Sky" (1977)
* "A Moment Decides Everything" (1978)
* "Chest of Drawers Was Lead Through the Street..." (1978)
* "The Nightingale" (1979)
* "The Bat" (1979)
* "The Useless Girl" (1980)
* "Comrade Innokenty" (1981)
* "It Was Beyond the Narva Gate" (1981)
* "An Awful Day"(1982)
* "My Love: A Revolution" (1982)
* "The Green Van" (1983)
* "Echo of a Distant Blast" (1983)
* "Stories of an Old Magician" (1984)
* "Dear, Dearest, Beloved, Unique" (1984)
* "Dream in the Hand, or Suitcase" (1985)
* "A Bright Person" (1988)
* "Tamara Aleksandrovna's Husband and Daughter" (1988)
* "A Play for Millions" (1991)
* "And to Hell with Us" (1991)
* "The White Clothes" (1991)
* "Seven-Forty" (1992)

External links

* [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0218849/ Aleksandr Demyanenko's IMDb page]