A supporting actor with an amazing ability to add to the film that very "zest", without which the picture will be uninteresting, will not be remembered by the audience - this is about him, about Yuri Nikolaevich Medvedev.
Yuri Nikolaevich Medvedev was filming until the last day. We can safely say that he passed away under the spotlight. The audience adored his heroes, quoted them, smiled at the mere mention of them. But not many knew who he was and where he came from, what a difficult life path he went through. The war, the lack of the desired recognition and the main roles, and these are far from all the adversities that he had to cope with.
Biography of actor Yuri Medvedev
Yuri Nikolaevich was born in Mytishchi, April 1, 1920. He was artistic from early childhood, and it is not surprising that after graduating from high school, the young man chose drama school as his profile education. Two years before the start of one of the most terrible world wars, in 1942, he graduated from the Moscow City Theater School, became part of the troupe of the WTO Theater, which then, until the very victory, performed on the front lines.
The talent of the young talent at the front was highly appreciated. He, one of the few, managed to stir up the exhausted soldiers, give them a second wind, make them not just smile after a hard battle, but laugh out loud, from the heart. His role was already formed then - a stupid and at the same time cunning hero, laughing, trusting, but at the bottom of his soul cunning. Not all actors could convey such characters, but Yuri Nikolaevich found such images easily.
Career of the actor Yuri Medvedev
When the Great Patriotic War ended, the WTO theater remained "out of work". For some time the troupe still performed in hospitals, where the wounded were treated, but then only the stage remained. Medvedev was invited to the Yermolova Theater, where he served for the next 40 years of his life.
Yuri Nikolaevich adored his profession, played supporting roles with pleasure, but deep down he was waiting for that very main role. Perhaps this was the reason that after serving 40 years in one theater, he decided to move to another. In 1986, Yuri Medvedev left the Yermolova Theater for the Maly Theater of the USSR.
In parallel with his work in the theater, he also acted in films, and quite actively. The film debut of the actor Yuri Medvedev happened in 1954, when he took part in the work on the animated film Orange Sun. Yes, he just voiced one of the cartoon characters (Brovkin the rooster), but the way he did it amazed both the creators of the picture and the audience. Even with his voice, this actor could convey a whole range of emotions, subtleties of the character of his hero. In the same year he was invited by Ivan Pyriev himself to play a supporting role in the film "Trial of Loyalty". And there he played brilliantly.
Theatrical roles of Yuri Nikolaevich Medvedev
Yuri Nikolaevich was a real "people's" actor, but he was officially awarded this title only in 1981. The peak of his theatrical creativity fell on the war and post-war years. There is no complete list of episodic and supporting roles that Medvedev played then, but it is known that the repertoire of the WTO theater included a huge number of performances, and Yuri Nikolayevich took part in almost all of them.
At the Yermolova Theater, Yuri Medvedev played in such productions as
- "Elder Son" (Sarafanov),
- "Uncle Vanya" (Telegin),
- "Prince Silver" (Mikheich),
- "Forest" (Schastlivtsev) and others.
In addition, in his theatrical piggy bank there are images of the Chest from People with a Clear Conscience, Seni Gorin from Old Friends, Kuteikin from The Minor, and many other bright supporting characters.
Filmography of actor Yuri Nikolaevich Medvedev
This unique actor began acting in films at a rather mature age - after 30 years. He always got the so-called folk heroes who surround the viewer in everyday life - simple, gullible merry fellows from the next doorway, hard workers from their native factory or collective farm brigade. He enriched any image. Complemented with unique character traits, made it even deeper and more intense than the scriptwriters and directors expected.
Critics and experts in the field of cinema consider the best works of actor Yuri Medvedev such his heroes as
- "Amphibian Man" - fishmonger,
- "Funny stories" - house manager,
- "Normandie-Niemen" - mechanic Ivanov,
- "Come to me, Mukhtar!" - janitor,
- "Gloomy River" - merchant Gruzdev,
- The Man from Boulevard des Capucines is an elderly cowboy.
Yuri Medvedev played in the cinema chairmen, theater critics, doctors, retired career officers, theatergoers, vacationers, porters, but his role remained unchanged - he was a comedian.
Yuri Nikolayevich made a significant contribution to the Soviet cartoon world - he voiced one of the princes in The Tale of the Golden Cockerel, Rabbit's brother in Housewarming, the cat in The Brownie and the Hostess and many other animated characters.
Personal life of actor Yuri Medvedev
Yuri Nikolaevich was a monogamous person, and lived all his life with one woman. The actor did not like to talk about his personal life, information about who his wife was, how many children a couple had, is not freely available.
Actor Yuri Medvedev died in the middle of the summer of 1991. He had serious heart problems, had been for a long time, but he worked in his usual rhythm. On the set of the film "Seven Days with a Russian Beauty" which took place in Gomel, the actor became ill. An ambulance was called immediately, when the attack began, the man was taken to the hospital, the operation began, but it was not possible to save him. After his death, the body of Yuri Medvedev was transported to Moscow, he was buried at the Troyekurovsky cemetery in the capital.
