Juozas Budraitis is a prominent representative of the Lithuanian acting school, a popular actor, whose career began in the last century.
The future actor was born in 1940 in the Lipinai village, Lithuania. His parents were peasants, and he was the eldest of five children. During the war, they hid in farms and sheds from the Nazis, and after the war they moved to Klaipeda.
Studying at school did not bring much pleasure to Juozas, but amateur performances were very attractive. He studied well, but he was a little hooligan, and after the ninth grade he was expelled from school.
The tall and strong young man was not taken aback - he went to work as a carpenter, and then he was taken into the army. Three years in the army gave him a great experience of communication and discipline, and Juozas thought about his future profession. After serving, he became a law student.
Film career
How can one become an actor from a lawyer? It happened with Budraitis that he was noticed by director Vytautas Zhalakevicius. A handsome student under two meters in height was ideally suited for the role of Jonas in the film "Nobody Wanted to Die" (1966). And Juozas coped brilliantly, although he never studied to be an actor.
However, he firmly decided to become after this film. Juozas transferred to the correspondence department and continued shooting in films, especially since there were many proposals from directors. And after graduating from university, having received a law degree, he went to work at the Lithuanian film studio.
At that time, the actors of the Soviet Union were filmed only within their own country, and Budraitis was no exception, although he had offers from foreign directors. But he met and made friends with such stars as Oleg Yankovsky and Stanislav Lyubshin. Together with Yankovsky, they starred in the films "Shield and Sword" (1968) and "Two Comrades Served" (1968).
Budraitis starred a lot: in the 70s he managed to star in more than twenty films, and then he got the idea of a director's career. Then he goes to Moscow and enters the Higher Courses for Scriptwriters and Directors, finishes them, and tries to shoot. However, this experience failed - his film "City of Birds" was a failure, and Juozas gave up the idea of becoming a director.
In the 80s Budraitis was also in demand. The most memorable film of that period with his participation is the film "Dangerous Age" (1981), in which Alisa Freindlich was a partner. The film on the hot topic of the midlife crisis was very popular.
The next decade for the cinema was very difficult, but Budraitis did not touch these troubles - he still has a lot of roles in different films: "Classic", "Tragedy of the Century", "Mad Lori" and other films. In the 90s I was lucky to play in the film Publican. In the 2000s, Budraitis continues to actively act in film and play in the theater.
To date, the last work of Juozas Budraitis in the cinema is the family drama "Son" (2017) with the participation of Maria Mironova, Andrei Merzlikin and Olga Sutulova.
In the biography of Budraitis, there are not only roles in films, but also social activities: in 1996 he was offered to become a Lithuanian cultural attaché in Russia, and after some hesitation he agreed. In this post, he spent 15 years, while acting in films.
Personal life
He met his first and only wife Vitta Juozas at the university, at a student party. They got married when Juozas finished his studies, and Vitta was still a student. She trained as a chemist and became quite successful in her profession.
The Budraitis family has two children: the son was named Martin, the daughter - Justina. They are already adults and independent people: Martin lives in Lithuania, Justyna lives in England.
Juozas Budraitis, in addition to cinema, is fond of photography, painting, and also often goes cycling.
