The supporting actor with an amazing ability to add the very “zest” to the film, 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 shot until the last day. We can safely say that he passed away under the spotlights. Spectators adored his heroes, quoted them, smiled at the mere mention of them. But not many knew about who he was and where he came from, what a difficult life path. The war, the lack of desired recognition and the main roles, and this is not all the adversities with which he had to cope.
Biography of actor Yuri Medvedev
Yuri Nikolaevich was born in Mytishchi on April 1, 1920. He was artistic from early childhood, and it is not surprising that the young man chose a theater school as a specialized education after graduating from high school. 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 WTO theater troupe, which then, until the victory, performed on the front lines of the front.
The talent of young talent at the front was highly appreciated. He, one of the few, managed to stir exhausted soldiers, give them a second wind, make them not just smile after a hard fight, but laugh “out loud” from the heart. His role already developed then - a silly and at the same time cunning hero, amusing, trusting, but at heart insidious. To convey such characters was not given to all actors, but to Yuri Nikolaevich such images were given easily.
Career 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 the next 40 years of his life.
Yuri Nikolaevich adored his profession, played with pleasure the roles of the second plan, but deep down he was waiting for that very main role. Maybe this is precisely the reason that after serving 40 years in one theater, he decided to move to another. In 1986, Yuri Medvedev left the Yermolova Theater at 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 actor Yuri Medvedev happened in 1954 when he took part in the work on the animated film "The Orange Sun." Yes, he simply voiced one of the animated characters (Brovkin's cock), but the way he did it struck both the creators of the picture and the audience. Even with his voice, this actor could convey a whole range of emotions, the subtleties of the character of his hero. In the same year, Ivan Pyryev himself invited him to a supporting role in the film "Test of Fidelity." And there he played brilliantly.
Theatrical roles of Yuri Nikolaevich Medvedev
Yuri Nikolaevich was a real "national" actor, but officially this title was awarded only in 1981. The peak of his theatrical creativity came in the war and post-war years. There is no complete list of episodic and supporting roles that was then performed by Medvedev, but it is known that the repertoire of the WTO Theater included a huge number of performances, and Yuri Nikolaevich took part in almost every one of them.
At the Yermolova Theater, Yuri Medvedev played in such productions as
- "The eldest son" (Sarafanov),
- "Uncle Vanya" (Telegin),
- "Prince of Silver" (Mikheich),
- "Forest" (Lucky) and others.
In addition, in his theatrical piggy bank there are images of the Chest from "People with a Clear Conscience", Senya Gorin from "Old Friends", Kuteikin from "The Little One" and many other bright supporting characters.
The filmography of the actor Yuri Nikolaevich Medvedev
In the movie, this unique actor began acting in a fairly mature age - after 30 years. He always got the so-called folk heroes who surround the viewer in ordinary life - simple, gullible fun people from the next entrance, hard workers from their factory or collective farm brigade. He enriched any image. Complemented with unique character traits, made even deeper and more saturated than scriptwriters and directors had expected.
Critics and experts in the field of cinema consider the best works of actor Yuri Medvedev such heroes as
- Amphibian Man - Fishmonger,
- "Funny stories" - the manager,
- "Normandy-Neman" - mechanic Ivanov,
- "To me, Mukhtar!" - janitor,
- "Gloom River" - a merchant Gruzdev,
- "Man from the Capuchin Boulevard" - an elderly cowboy.
Yuri Medvedev played cinema chairs, theater critics, doctors, retired staff officers, theatergoers, vacationers, porters, but his role remained unchanged - he was a comedian.
Yuri Nikolayevich made a considerable contribution to the Soviet animated world - he voiced one of the princes in The Tale of the Golden Cockerel, Brother Rabbit in Housewarming, a cat in Domovoy and Mistress and many other animated characters.
