
Leonid Kuravlyov
Acting
Biography
Soviet and Russian film actor. He became a People’s Artist of the RSFSR in 1976. Kuravlyov was born in Moscow into a working-class family. His father Vyacheslav Yakovlevich Kuravlyov (1909–1979) worked as a locksmith at the Salyut Machine-Building Association and his mother Valentina Dmitriyevna Kuravlyova (1916–1993) was a hairdresser. In 1941 with the start of the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union (known in Russia as the Great Patriotic War) his mother was arrested on false report, accused of counter-revolutionary activity (Article 58) and exiled to Karaganda, Kazakh SSR to work at the local plant. In five years she was freed without a right to live in Moscow and sent to Zasheyek, Murmansk Oblast in the Russian far north where she continued working as a hairdresser. In 1948 she managed to get a permission to see her son who spent a year with her at Zasheyek, and in 1951 she finally returned to Moscow. In 1955 Kuravlyov entered VGIK to study acting under Boris Bibikov. He graduated in 1960 and joined the Theater Studio of Film Actors. He made his first movie appearances while still a student. In 1960 he was noted by Vasily Shukshin and took part in his diploma film Reported From Lebyazhye. In 1961 they both starred in the popular melodrama When the Trees Were Tall, and in 1964 Shukshin gave him the leading role in his comedy movie There Is Such a Lad which brought Kuravlyov true fame and which he considered to be the start of his successful movie career. He also acted in Your Son and Brother (1965) and felt so grateful for what the director did for him that he later named his son after Shukshin. The role of Shura Balaganov in Mikhail Schweitzer’s comedy The Little Golden Calf based on the book by Ilf and Petrov was one of his first successful roles: he managed to create an image of a brash yet charming petty thief. His other notable roles of that period include Khoma Brut in one of the first Soviet horror movies Viy (1967), antagonist Sorokin in a psychological melodrama Not Under the Jurisdiction (1969), Robinson Crusoe in Stanislav Govorukhin’s Life and Amazing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe (1972), a Nazi officer Kurt Eismann in Seventeen Moments of Spring (1973) and Lavr Mironovich in Pyotr Todorovsky’s The Last Victim (1975). In the 1970s he appeared in three to four films per year. Even though Kuravlyov was adept at playing serious dramatic roles, he is still best known for his leading roles in top-grossing comedy movies such as Afonya (1975) by Georgiy Daneliya (11th highest-grossing Soviet film, highest grossing film of the year, 62.2 mln viewers), Leonid Gaidai’s Ivan Vasilievich: Back to the Future (1973, 17th highest-grossing film, 60 mln viewers) and It Can’t Be! (1975, 46th highest-grossing film with 46.9 mln viewers), The Most Charming and Attractive (1985) by Gerald Bezhanov (the highest-grossing film of 1985, 44.9 mln viewers) and others. During the late 1990s he hosted a popular TV programme The World of Books with Leonid Kuravlyov where he talked about new book releases. In two years it was closed and then relaunched with new hosts. In 2012 he was awarded the IV class Order “For Merit to the Fatherland”. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Known For

Fitil is a popular Soviet/Russian television satirical/comedy short film series which ran for about 500 episodes. Some of the episodes were aimed at children, and were called Фитилёк, Fitilyok, Little Fuse. Each issue contained from the few short segments: documentary, fictional and animated ones. Directed by various artists, including Leonid Gaidai who presented his famous trio of Nikulin, Vitsin and Morgunov into the cast. It was called in USSR as "the anecdotes from the Soviet government".
Fuse

Russian detectives unwind the ball of the most intricate and cruel crimes. They are consummate professionals, the best cops in town. Even on the most dangerous missions, this quartet never loses their sense of humor. It is it that helps them find the most incredible ways out of any situation. They uphold the law and emerge victorious.
Streets of Broken Lights

Guests are invited to the studio to have conversations with Andrey Malakhov, where they talk about their personal and professional successes, as well as anything else that interests them. Through these open discussions on air, viewers get a complete impression of the guest's life and their perspective on various issues.
Hello, Andrey!

A quartet of childhood pals who create a business together find themselves at the core of a powerful Moscow gang in the aftermath of an unplanned murder.
Brigada

No description available.
Investigation Held by ZnaToKi

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson is a series of five films produced by Lenfilm for the Soviet Central Television, split into eleven episodes, starring Vasily Livanov as Sherlock Holmes and Vitaly Solomin as Dr. Watson. They were directed by Igor Maslennikov and filmed in Russia (the then Soviet Union) between 1979 and 1986, and the series was one of the most successful in the history of Russian television.
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson

A Soviet spy is tasked with disrupting the negotiations between Karl Wolff and Allen Dulles taking place in Switzerland, aimed at forging a separate peace between Germany and the Western Allies.
Seventeen Moments of Spring

Detective television series based on the works of Arthur Conan Doyle. Five films about Sherlock Holmes, shot by Igor Maslennikov earlier, were remounted in 2000, a connecting story about Conan Doyle's literary secretary, Mr. Wood, who is preparing an anniversary collection of stories about Holmes for the beginning of the coming XX century. Sir Arthur receives huge mail every day, addressed not to him, but to Sherlock Holmes. And then one day a letter arrives with a plea for help, and Doyle begins an investigation...
Memories of Sherlock Holmes

Titular Advisor Erast Fandorin took part in military operations during the Russian-Turkish War of 1877-1878. Being a Serbian volunteer, Erast Petrovich meets a charming young lady, Varvara Andreevna Suvorova, who is heading to the location of the Russian troops to see her fiance. With her help, Fandorin manages to unravel a complex and mysterious espionage case…
The Turkish Gambit

The final film of the television series "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson." It is based on the late and little-known stories of Arthur Conan Doyle, united by the theme of the approaching world war and the struggle of the legendary detective with foreign spies.
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson: The Twentieth Century Begins - Part 2

After WWII is over, a young officer Volodya Sharapov returns to Moscow to work in MUR - Moskovskiy Ugolovny Rozysk (Moscow Criminal Police). There he meets Gleb Zheglov who is a chief of a squad which fights organized crime. Their main task is to track down a gang "Chernaya Koshka" (Black Cat) which terrorizes the city. Also, they have to find out who murdered Larisa Gruzdeva. Zheglov believes it was her husband Ivan Gruzdev, but Sharapov has his doubts about it...
The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed

The fifth and final part of the cycle of Soviet television feature films, filmed by director Igor Maslennikov based on the stories of the English writer Arthur Conan Doyle about the famous detective Sherlock Holmes. In the first part based on the works - "The Adventure of the Engineer's Thumb", "The Adventure of the Second Stain". In the second part based on the works - "The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans", and "His Last Bow".
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson: The twentieth century begins

The story of a man who routinely dodges all responsibility, bemoans fate, spends his days boozing, and refuses to work. The act of playing long-lost father to a pretty teenager spurs him to turn over a new leaf.
When the Trees Were Tall

Douglas is a foreign entrepreneur, who ventures to Russia in 1885 with dreams of selling a new, experimental steam-driven timber harvester in the wilds of Siberia. Jane is his assistant. On her travels, she meets two men who would change her life forever: a handsome young cadet Andrej Tolstoy with whom she shares a fondness for opera, and the powerful General Radlov who is entranced by her beauty and wants to marry her.
The Barber of Siberia

A Russian mystery miniseries set both in medieval times and in the days of Perestroika.
Entrance to the Maze

A scientist builds a time machine and accidentally sends his apartment complex manager and a petty burglar to 16th century Moscow, while Tsar Ivan the Terrible travels to 1973.
Ivan Vasilyevich Changes His Profession

A seminary student on monastery holiday kills an old witch in a remote village. The hag then transforms into a beautiful young woman whose dying wish is for him to watch over her wake for three nights. With terrors occurring and his faith waning, he reads prayers on the overnight watch and tries to survive the supernatural encounters.
Viy

A self-proclaimed "knight" and his hapless squire travel the Spanish countryside, attacking "giants" that are really windmills in his attempt to win the love of the fair Dulcinea. The film's title is taken from the book of the same name by Miguel Unamuno.
Life of Don Quichote and Sancho

How far can a man overcome by a destructive passion go? And does he realize that slavish worship of irrepressible desires always entails retribution?
Little Tragedies

From a simple misunderstanding, a kind, funny story has grown about charming village people, about ridiculous situations in which they periodically find themselves.