Aleksandr Sergeyevich Demyanenko (Russian: Александр Сергеевич Демьяненко; May 30, 1937 – August 22, 1999) was a Soviet and Russian actor, People's Artist of the RSFSR (1991). He is best known for playing the character Shurik in Leonid Gaidai's movies.
Contents
Life and career
Early life
Demyanenko was born in Sverdlovsk, Soviet Union in 1937. Aleksandr's mother, Galina Belkova, was an accountant. His father, Sergei Petrovich Demyanenko, was an actor who graduated from the Lunacharsky State Institute for Theatre Arts. Sergei later worked as a director at the Sverdlovsk Opera Theatre, and as a child Aleksandr played bit parts at the theatre. Aleksandr attended a theater workshop at the Palace of Culture and parallel to that he studied piano at a music school. He also learned foreign languages with an emphasis on German in middle school and in high school started to sing in a baritone. In 1954, he began to study jurisprudence at the Sverdlovsk University of Law, but was expelled from the first semester for skipping lessons. In 1954, he failed to get into the Moscow Art Theatre, however in 1955, he was accepted both at the Lunacharsky State Institute for Theatre Arts and at the Boris Shchukin Theatre Institute in Moscow. He ended up choosing Lunacharsky.
Acting career
In 1959, he was cast in the film The Wind. The same year he graduated from the Lunacharsky State Institute for Theatre Arts theatre acting school. He then worked in the Mayakovsky Theatre in Moscow. In 1959, he starred in Everything Begins with Hitting the Road.
In 1961, Aleksandr Demyanenko moved to Leningrad and became staff actor at Lenfilm studio. There he 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 Cain XVIII. In 1964, he starred in The Returned Music and State Offender.
In 1965, he was cast for the role of Shurik in the classic Soviet comedy Operation Y and Shurik's Other Adventures. This role earned Demyanenko the image of nerdy student Shurik ("Shurik" being a diminutive form of the name Aleksandr). In 1967 he starred in the semi-sequel to the film Kidnapping, Caucasian Style. 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 3 and The Ugryum River. In 1971, he starred in Dauria. In 1972, he starred in Hello and Goodbye and The Singing Teacher.
In 1973, he once again reunited with Leonid Gaidai to star in the film Ivan Vasilievich: Back to the Future where he played a scientist named 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 provided voice-overs for foreign and domestic films, and even Donatas Banionis admitted that his dubbing was an improvement over his original acting.
Later years
He appeared in the television movie Old Songs of the Main Things 2 in 1997 playing an aged Shurik. He had a brief role in the TV series Strawberry and reprised his famous role of the nerdy professor in Old Songs of the Main Things 3 in 1998.
He was diagnosed with congestive heart failure but was afraid of getting bypass surgery. In 1999, Aleksandr Demyanenko died from a heart attack. Some analysts say this played a 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.
Personal life
His first marriage was to Marina Sklyarova with whom he went to acting classes. He divorced Sklyarova when he became involved with voice-over director from Lenfilm Liudmila Demyanenko. She became his second wife and they remained married until his death. He became the stepfather to her daughter Angelica Nevolina, who later became an actress.
Filmography
The Wind (1959) as Mitya
Five Days, Five Nights (1960) as soldier
Adult Children (1961) as Igor Nikolayevich Vinogradov
Dima Gorin's Career (1961) as Dima Gorin
Peace to Him Who Enters (1961) as Alexander Ivlev
A Trip Without a Load (1962) as Pavel Sirotkin
Cain XVIII (1963) as Ian
State Criminal (1964) as Andrei Nikolayevich Polikanov
Operation Y and Shurik's Other Adventures (1965) as Shurik
Kidnapping, Caucasian Style (1967) as Shurik
My good Dad (1970) as Dad
Find me, Lyonya! (1971)
Dauria (1971) as executioner
My God, Ilya! (1972) as Ilya
Failure of Engineer Garin (1973) as episode (uncredited)
Ivan Vasilievich: Back to the Future (1973) as Shurik
Strange Adults (1974) as Nalivaiko
The Last Winter Day (1974)
Unique (1975) as scientist
Eleven Hopes (1975) as Volodya
Dubbing
Live-action
The 13th Warrior – Melchisidek (Omar Sharif)
Armageddon – Rockhound (Steve Buscemi)
The Assassination – Michael Howard (Roy Scheider)
The Client – Assistant District Attorney Thomas Fink (Bradley Whitford)
Cocoon – Bernie Lefkowitz (Jack Gilford)
Con Air – Garland "The Marietta Mangler" Greene (Steve Buscemi)
Enemy of the State – Thomas Brian Reynolds (Jon Voight)
Face/Off – Victor Lazarro (Harve Presnell)
Falling Down – Sergeant Martin Prendergast (Robert Duvall)
A Few Good Men – Lieutenant Sam Weinberg (Kevin Pollak)
The Fugitive – Dr. Charles Nichols (Jeroen Krabbé)
The Great Race – The Great Leslie (Tony Curtis)
The Importance of Being Earnest – Algernon Moncrieff (Michael Denison)
JFK – Jack Martin (Jack Lemmon)
Lethal Weapon 3 – Captain Ed Murphy (Steve Kahan)
The Lion in Winter – Geoffrey (John Castle)
Le Magnifique – François Merlin / Bob Saint-Clar (Jean-Paul Belmondo)