Actor Laimonas Noreika: biography, personal life, filmography

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

During Soviet times, due to difficult relations with capitalist countries, Latvians and Lithuanians were often invited to play foreign roles in films. Among these artists, Pēteris Gaudins, Gunars Cilinski, Ivars Kalnins, Donatas Banionis and Laimonas Noreika deserved the greatest fame. The last of the list is known mainly due to secondary roles. Despite this, he was very fond of the domestic audience.

Laimonas Noreika: biography of early years

The parents of the future actor were simple people who earned a small fortune through their work. They were far from theatrical art, but they loved it with all their hearts. Laimonas' father was an ordinary tailor, but very famous. Thanks to his success in the profession, he was able to provide his son, who was born at the end of November 1926, with all the best.

From an early age, Laimonas Noreika went to the theater with his parents. Later, he fell in love with this art form so much that he decided to become aactor. Supporting his son's undertakings, his father enrolled him in a local drama club. Soon, the young man's acting talent became known far beyond the circle. So, in the gymnasium where he studied, not a single production or holiday could do without his participation.

After graduating from school, Noreika got a job at the Vilnius Drama Theater. In parallel with his work, he studied at the studio at the Siauliai Drama Theater for two years.

The beginning of an acting career

Laimonas Noreika has always dreamed of shining on the theater stage. Cinema at that time was still a fairly young art, so the ardent young man was not very interested in it. Meanwhile, it was the cinema that played a pivotal role in his life.

When the artist turned 21, he was invited to play a character named Juozas in the film "Marite". Although the role was small, the aspiring actor attracted attention and was soon invited to study at GITIS.

After graduating from this university, Laimonas returned to his homeland and for thirteen years worked in the most famous theaters in Lithuania.

During these years he played leading roles in productions such as Maxim Gorky's Enemies, Anton Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard, William Shakespeare's King Lear, Arthur Miller's The Price.

Having succeeded as an actor, Laimonas Noreika decided to try his hand at recitation. From the mid-sixties of the last century, he began to tour around Lithuania reading famous poetic works. This endeavor proved to be very successful.

Filmography of the actor

WhatAs for cinema, after a successful debut in the career of Laimonas, there was a break of 18 years. However, on the threshold of his fortieth birthday, the actor was invited to play the role of the Domovoy bandit in the film "Nobody Wanted to Die." Despite the fact that his hero was negative, thanks to this role, Noreika became famous throughout the USSR.

After Brownie, Laimonas often began to play negative characters. In most cases, these were German officers ("Farhad's Feat", "Dead Season").

In 1969, the actor was offered to play a somewhat unusual character for his role - the Soviet agent Zolotnikov, posing as the German engineer Nikolai Kraft. This is how the film "The Tale of the Chekist" appeared, which became one of the most famous paintings in the filmography of the actor.

In subsequent years, this artist played many more roles in Soviet films. After The Tale of the Chekist, they began to offer him to play not only negative foreign characters, but also positive characters. The most interesting of his works in subsequent years: "The Experiment of Dr. Abst", "Mission in Kabul", "Treasure Island", "All the King's Men", "The Last Day of Winter", "Fact", "Return Move", "Visit to the Minotaur”, “War and Peace”.

Other achievements

In addition to theater and cinema, Laimonas Noreika has also achieved success in other areas. So, since 1984, he began teaching at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre.

In addition, the actor tried his hand as a writer. So, three books were published from his pen: "The Diaries of an Actor" (a collection of essays), "Midnight Notes" andČiurlionio 16 (Dienoraščiai, atsiminimai).

Also, being one of the best readers in his country, shortly before his death, Laimonas recorded several CDs with poems by Lithuanian poets.

Laimonas Noreika: personal life

Unlike others, this actor did not like to spread about his personal life. For this reason, fans knew almost nothing about his family. Meanwhile, Laimonas Noreika was a rather happy person. His family was strong and friendly.

He was married only once - to Sigita Polikit. Unfortunately, the wife died quite early (at 58).

Three children were born from this marriage: daughters Ruta and Sigita, as well as son Jonas.

The artist himself survived his wife and died at the age of eighty. Many famous cultural figures gathered for his funeral. And instead of music, they included audio recordings on which Laimonas read poems.

The artist was buried at the Antakalnis cemetery in Vilnius.

Fun facts about the actor

• The actor's height is 182 cm.
• Laimonas has naturally dark hair that he has never dyed. For some roles, the actor specifically let go of his beard.
• After his retirement, the actor wanted to retire from the profession and focus on writing his memoirs. However, Eymuntas Nekrošius invited him to play a small role in his experimental production of Three Sisters. Together with the troupe of Nekroshus, Noreika traveled all over the CIS and Europe.
• Among Russian actors, Laimonos's best friends were Lev Durov, AnatolySolonitsyn, Boris Andreev, Ludmila Chursina and Yuri Yakovlev.
• Starting from the painting "Nobody Wanted to Die", Noreika often played together with his compatriot Donatas Banionis. Their most famous collaborations are Dead Season and Fact.
• Despite his unusually pleasant voice, Laimonas Noreika spoke Russian with an accent. Films with his participation in the USSR were duplicated. Only in a few of them the viewer could hear the real voice of the artist. For example, in the film "Parking for three hours" Noreika did without an understudy, but to explain his accent, he had to make changes to the script.

Few modern viewers under thirty know who Laimonas Noreika is. Despite this sad fact, the actor's films have become classics, and his contribution to the development of world culture is huge, albeit underestimated.