Alexander Leonidovich Kaydanovsky, a Soviet and Russian film and theater actor, director and screenwriter, is known throughout the world for the title role in Tarkovsky’s masterpiece Stalker. In his filmography there are also a lot of pictures that later became part of the golden fund of Soviet cinema. He was called the brilliant actor Marcello Mastroianni, Rutger Hauer, Richard Gere and Robert De Niro. Complicated, multifaceted, independent, despising hypocrisy and lies, Kaydanovsky never compromised, until the last defending his innocence.
Childhood and youth
Hometown of Alexander Kaydanovsky - Rostov-on-Don. The future great actor was born on July 23, 1946. Alexander's father was an engineer, my mother worked in a theater studio as a director of children's performances. During the war, Rostov was badly damaged, and in the ruins of the university library, which were next to the house in which the Kaidanovsky lived, one could find a variety of books. Apparently, it was then that Alexander developed a passion for reading and an interest in art in general.
When Sasha was 14, his parents divorced. Having received secondary education, Sasha went to Dnepropetrovsk to study as an electric welder, but very soon changed his mind, came back and entered the Rostov School of Arts. After a scandal, he had to finish the course with another teacher. In 1965, Alexander moved to Moscow and entered the Moscow Art Theater, from where he soon left, disappointed, at the Schukin School. By the way, the explosive nature of Alexander, who did not recognize anyone’s power over himself, was the cause of many troubles and problems that haunted the actor all his life. Once even he almost went to jail, but he was saved by the People's Artist of the USSR Mikhail Ulyanov.
Creative career
In 1969, Kaydanovsky graduated from the Shchukin school, and he was taken to the Vakhtangov Theater, from where he soon transferred to the Moscow Art Theater and Theater on Malaya Bronnaya. In 1973, the actor was drafted into the army, and he served in the cavalry regiment at Mosfilm, where he was noticed by a young director Nikita Mikhalkov. The image of the white guard in Mikhalkov’s film “Among Among Strangers, A Stranger Amongst Their Own” turned out to be so successful that it brought Kaydanovsky all-Union fame, he was recognized on the street, and directors vied with each other for similar roles.
In 1979, Tarkovsky's film "Stalker" was released, in which Kaydanovsky brilliantly played the most complex role of a guide to the Unknown inspired by faith in an ideal world. This role became a landmark for the actor, and after it he starred only occasionally. As he himself said: “I can’t be anyone after“ Stalker. ”It's like playing the role of Christ, taking on the role of chief accountant.” Perhaps for this reason, Kaydanovsky decided to make films himself. After graduating from the Higher Courses for Scriptwriters and Directors in 1984, he directed his first film, Simple Death. The picture was awarded a prize at the film festival in Spain. Then Kaydanovsky released two more films - "The Kerosene Wife" and "Guest".
In his last years, Kaydanovsky taught directing at the Shchukin school, lectured at the Higher Courses, and in 1994 was invited to the Cannes Film Festival as a member of the jury. In 1995, he began work on the film "Ascent to Erhard", but Alexander Leonidovich did not have time to finish it.
