Yury Vasilyevich Yakovlev (25 April 1928 – 30 November 2013 ) was a Soviet and Russian actor. He was awarded the honorary title of People's Artist of the USSR in 1976.

Main works

Yury Yakovlev is best known for his roles in late Soviet film, particularly for his roles in Eldar Ryazanov's and Leonid Gaidai's comedies. Yakovlev's most popular comedic roles in Eldar Ryazanov's films are Poruchik Rzhevsky in Hussar Ballad (1962), Ippolit in The Irony of Fate (1976), and comic roles of the tsar Ivan the Terrible and his namesake Ivan Vasilevich Bunsha in Leonid Gaidai's comedy Ivan Vasilievich: Back to the Future (1973). He also played dramatic roles, such as inimitable complicated psychological role of the Prince Myshkin in The Idiot (1958), and other cinema roles (Dangerous turn, Earthly Love movies). He was the leading artist of the Vakhtangov State Academic Theatre during its heyday.

Life and career

The early years

From a young age he was fond of acting and theatre. At the turn of the 1940s, he studied acting at Shchukin Theatrical School of Vakhtangov Theatre in Moscow starting to work as an actor at Vakhtangov Theatre.

Theatrical career

Yakovlev joined the ensemble of the Vakhtangov State Academic Theatre in 1952. He played over seventy roles onstage, including Casanova in Three Ages of Casanova, Duke Bolingbroke in Glass of Water, and Prokofiev in Lessons of Master.

Film career

Yakovlev became really famous as a cinema actor in 1958, after his inimitable complicated psychological role of the Prince Myshkin in The Idiot directed by Ivan Pyryev. He achieved international fame playing the role as Prince Myshkin. Yakovlev made his first appearance in an Eldar Ryazanov comedy in 1961, in The Man From Nowhere. Yakovlev followed his first success with regular appearances in Ryazanov's comedies, most notably splendid film Hussar Ballad in 1962, in which he played phantasmagoric role of 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 branched out into further various roles, from the nobleman Stiva Oblonsky in the 1967 adaptation, the classic Soviet movie adaptation of Tolstoy's Anna Karenina, directed by Alexander Zarkhi, to jealous fiancé Ippolit in Ryazanov's The Irony of Fate. Perhaps his most famous roles were the tsar Ivan the Terrible and his namesake Ivan Vasilevich Bunsha in Leonid Gaidai's 1973 comedy Ivan Vasilievich: Back to the Future – the movie about the travel using the time machine (based on the play Ivan Vasilievich (play) by Mikhail Bulgakov).

Decline in popularity

His participation in two-part film "Love Earth" and "Destiny" – a series of movies about the World War II brought him the USSR State Prize for 1979. His film career effectively came to a halt after the role of the alien Bi in Georgiy Daneliya’s 1986 sci-fi comedy Kin-dza-dza! where he starred alongside Yevgeny Leonov and Stanislav Lyubshin. The last role in Ikno was the role in the film The Irony of Fate 2 (Ирония судьбы. Продолжение) as Ippolit Georgievich.

Death

Yakovlev felt ill in early morning of 29 November 2013. He soon fainted in his home. He was rushed to a Moscow hospital where he died there on 30 November 2013 from heart failure, aged 85. On the same day, the death of Yuri Yakovlev was reported by RIA Novosti to Times.am 'with reference to the theater's press service. "Yury Vasilyevich Yakovlev, one of the most popular and critically acclaimed Soviet film actors, died today in Moscow hospital. Ria Novosti informs about this referring to the Vakhtangov's theatre press service." RIA News posted that day the information: "Юрий Васильевич скончался сегодня ночью в больнице. Прощание состоится в театре Вахтангова. Дата будет определена позже. Yuri Vasilyevich died in the hospital tonight. His funeral will be held at the Vakhtangov Theater. The date will be announced later" "Прощание с Юрием Васильевичем Яковлевым состоится на основной сцене Вахтанговского театре во вторник в 10.00, а похоронен артист будет на Новодевичьем кладбище. Farewell to Yuri Vasilyevich Yakovlev will take place on the main stage of the Vakhtangov Theater on Tuesday at 10.00, and the artist will be buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery."

Selected filmography

Honors and awards