Georgy Millyar for many people is associated with childhood, Russian folk tale and the magical atmosphere of the holiday. The images of fairy-tale characters he created have become a real classic of children's cinema.
Millyar's biography
Millyar was born on November 7, 1903 in Moscow. His father Franz de Mille was a French engineer who came to Russia to work in the field of bridge construction.
Here Franz met Elizaveta Zhuravleva, who later became his wife. The party was very profitable, since Elizabeth was the daughter of a gold miner and had a rich dowry.
However, the marriage was short-lived, George was only about three years old when his father passed away. Despite the loss of a breadwinner, the family lived in abundance. They had a huge apartment in Moscow, dachas in the Moscow region and in the south of the country (Gelendzhik), servants and a governess for teaching the child.
Millyar received a very good education. The French governess taught the boy foreign languages, literature, music and natural sciences. His aunt, a well-known actress at that time, instilled love for the theater in George. Even as a child, Millyar staged home plays and performed in front of relatives.
In 1914, George was sent from pre-revolutionary Moscow to live with his grandfather in Gelendzhik. The revolution ruined the family and prudent relatives, taking care of the boy's future, changed his native French surname de Mille to Millard. In the future, George did not expand on his origin and the fact that he is fluent in several languages.
The creative life of Georgy Millyar
After leaving school, Millyar began working at the Gelendzhik theater as a prop. He dreamed of becoming an actor, and one day in 1920 he had such an opportunity.
Suddenly, one of the leading actresses of the theater fell ill, and the management decided on an emergency replacement. As a result, Millyar not only replaced the actress, but also made an excellent impression with his acting. From that time on, he was invited to various small roles.
In 1924, Georgy returned to Moscow and entered the acting school at the Moscow Theater of the Revolution (modern theater named after Mayakovsky).
Studying was given to him with difficulty, problems with diction and a specific appearance did not give the young man a chance for success for a long time. After graduation, he was accepted into the troupe of the Mayakovsky Theater. He worked there for over 10 years, gaining fame as an interesting character actor. In the piggy bank of Millyar's theatrical works there are the following roles: pharmacist (Romeo and Juliet), Duke Albano (Lake Lul), Count Ludovico (Dog in the Manger) and many others.
In 1938, Millyar left the theater, deciding to devote himself to cinema. At first he played cameo roles, but then got his first big role (King of the Peas) with Alexander Rowe in the fairy tale "By the Pike." The fairy tale turned out to be simply amazing, and children and adults were delighted with the film.
In the wake of success, Rowe begins filming children's fairy tales and invites Georgy Millyar to appear in almost all of his films. Thanks to this tandem, Rowe's films and Millyar's amazing acting work entered the classics of children's cinema. Many generations remember him Babu Yaga, Miracle Yudo and Koshchei the Immortal. Separately, it is necessary to highlight the charismatic trait performed by Millyar in the film based on Gogol's story "Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka." In some films, Rowe Millyar played not one, but several roles at once.
He played not only in fairy tales, but also in other films, with other directors. However, Millyar's fabulous images were so vivid and distinctive that the directors did not risk giving him the roles of serious or dramatic characters.
Personal life
As for the personal life of Georgy Millyar, there were many rumors. One of them was about a short marriage to an unfaithful frivolous actress. It is only known for certain that Millyar lived up to 65 years with his mother in one of the rooms of his once luxurious Moscow apartment, which the revolutionaries turned into a communal apartment. In life, Millyar was a simple and friendly person, he loved to hooligan and joke.
In old age, he married his neighbor Maria Vasilievna. He treated his wife and her children from a previous marriage very warmly and anxiously. Only on the 85th anniversary he was awarded the title of People's Artist. Despite this, the audience adored him and constantly invited him to creative meetings. He died on June 4, 1993.
