Actor Leonid Kulagin: biography and filmography

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

Great actor, screenwriter and talented director. All this is about one person - Kulagin Leonid Nikolaevich (1940-07-06). The actor's hometown is Kirensk, a small Siberian city located on the banks of the Lena River. When the boy was six, the family moved to his father's homeland - in Gorky.

As it turns out, Leonid Nikolaevich all his childhood felt the presence of mighty rivers - Lena and Volga - in his life. Since the names of the rivers are female, women have always accompanied him throughout his life. Leonid Kulagin always found support and support in women, and all his life he loved and considered them his faithful friends.

First steps in theater

How did Leonid Kulagin start his career? The biography of the actor says that his father brought him to the theater when he worked there as an electrician. After school, the boy went to his father, walked backstage and could watch all the performances. In the same theater, the future famous actor first appeared on stage in the play "The Young Guard". But the father left the theatre, and the boy was no longer allowed intobehind the scenes he loves.

Shortly after that, Leonid became friends with a drummer from the opera house, who lived with him in the same yard. So he got to the opera house, where he learned almost all the arias and sang well.

At the end of school, the young talent faced a choice - opera or theater. But, having soberly assessed his capabilities, he made a choice in favor of the studio at the Academic Drama Theater. M. Gorky. After graduating, Kulagin remained in the drama theater as an actor.

Leonid Kulagin: personal life

First love forced the actor to leave his native land. Having passionately fallen in love, he went for a young beautiful actress to Chita, where he got married. After working there for a season and a half, the newlyweds moved to Yaroslavl, his wife's hometown. But life didn't work out there. Turning out to be completely different people, they parted, and Leonid left for Lipetsk, where he was invited by the director of the Chita Theater. This decision became crucial in the life of the actor. There he met his second wife, Eleanor, with whom he remains inseparable to this day. Now they have a son Alexei and already an adult grandson Kirill. By the way, unlike his father, Kirill is thinking of following in the footsteps of his grandfather and is already studying in the drama circle of the House of Actors.

Road to cinema

After graduating from the theater studio, Kulagin sent his photographs to all film studios, being absolutely convinced of his attractiveness, since from childhood he enjoyed increased attention from young people. An unexpected call camefrom Mosfilm, from director Andrei Smirnov, and Leonid decided that Soviet cinema would not do without him. But this opinion changed as soon as the script was read. There was not a single name in it, only nicknames: the commissar, the machinist, the man with the horse's face, and others. Initially, the director prepared for him the role of a man with a horse face. This is how the young actor's illusions about his unearthly attractiveness were destroyed.

The story of the picture was sad, the officials ordered it to be destroyed, seeing political overtones, but thanks to the installer, some boxes with the film survived. Subsequently, the film was restored, but by that time its plot had already lost its relevance. Some episodes of the film came to Mikhalkov-Konchalovsky, who considered the nobleman in the actor. So Leonid Nikolayevich got the role of Lavretsky in "The Nest of Nobles".

After that, the actor became recognizable, starring in the first erotic film "Autumn" in 1974, where more than half of the scenes were filmed in bed. Leonid's partner on the set was the director's wife, Natalya Rudnaya.

Wife Eleanor reacted surprisingly calmly even to such candid shots, and the actor is sure that thanks to such an attitude and understanding, they managed to save the family.

There were quite funny cases during the filming. So, for example, in the film "The Ballad of the Valiant Knight Ivanhoe" (1982), in the final scene, the actor was almost roasted alive by accident, forgetting him tied to a spit over a real fire.

Conquest of Moscow

Even on the set of "The Noble Nest" Kulagin received a call to one of the theaters of the capital, but he did not want to become a Muscovite at all. For this, the actor found thousands of excuses from urgent performances to important tours, although in the end he moved there anyway.

Performing on the capital's stage, according to actor Leonid Kulagin, is more difficult, because sophisticated audiences constantly demand new emotions, colors, and impressions. In the provinces, everything is simpler and more measured. He could not love Moscow with all his heart, despite the fact that he spent many years in this city.

Career director

After the first economic problems, the actor returns to the province - to lead the theater in Bryansk, but not for long. Then again Moscow and again performances on the theater stage. Kulagin finally managed to leave the theater only after 35 years, he immediately began to master a new field - directing. He made his first and rather successful steps in this field while still in the theater. For outstanding success in cinema and theater, he has repeatedly won awards and even received a Silver medal. At the moment, Leonid Nikolaevich is the head of the artistic line in one large production center.

Leonid Kulagin: films. The brightest works

The actor's filmography is quite cumbersome and continues to grow. In addition to the previously listed, Leonid Kulagin starred in the following famous films:

• "Payback" - one of the first paintings in 1970;
• touching film "My home is a theater", filmed in 1975year;
• "Forgive me, Alyosha" (1983);
• "Long, long charm…", released in 1984;
• "Interception" (1986);
• "Afghan kink", which appeared in the wild 1991;
• "Eyes" (1992).

And this is not a complete list of films with his participation, there are later films, for example, the notorious Kulagin and Partners. A large number of military films were also filmed, such as "The Battle for Moscow" and "The Nomadic Front". Somewhere there were leading roles, somewhere episodic, but always, even acting in supporting roles, he completely surrenders to his hero, trying to convey the fullness of emotions.

And Kulagin's most famous directorial works are such films as "Drilling" (2007) and "Wolves" (1993). By the way, he also acted as a screenwriter in the film "Wolves".