Biography and filmography of Gaidai

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

Leonid Gaidai remains one of the most beloved directors and screenwriters of most viewers. The biography and filmography of this talented person is of interest not only to the audience of the Soviet era, but also to modern youth. This is not surprising, because his paintings can be reviewed with great interest over and over again.

Short biography

In the Amur Region, in the city of Svobodny, 1923, on January 30, the third child was born in the family of the railway worker Iov Gaidai, who was named Leonid. From his father and mother, the boy inherited a light, cheerful disposition, which will be very useful to him on his chosen life path. Over time, the family moved to the Irkutsk region, where in his younger years Lenya worked at the Satire Theater and participated in performances at the local House of Culture. In 1942, he was drafted into the army and a year later received a serious leg injury. Returning home, he went to study at the drama theater, graduated from it in 1947. After that, he successfully played in performances for two years, but he realized that he wanted to try his hand at directing.

In 1949, Gaidai went to Moscow to study as a director. It was there that he met the one who became his wife for life - Nina Grebeshkova. It was she who supported him during periods of creative failure. In the same student years, Gaidai's filmography began when he starred as an actor in the film "Lyana" (1955). Three years later, the drama "Wind" was released, where Leonid again starred. But after these films, directing became his main career, and therefore Gaidai's acting filmography is rather meager. So, it can be seen back in "12 chairs" in 1971 and "the weather is good on Deribasovskaya …" in 1992. This talented person passed away in November 1993.

Directorial debut

Leonid began his journey as a director in 1955, a year later the film "The Long Way" saw the light of day. Although the picture was not a comedy, professionals saw him as an excellent comedian and recommended that he focus on this genre. It was from this moment that Gaidai's directorial filmography began. His first comedy was the work "The Bridegroom from the Other World", but the satire of the film was not liked by the officials and they criticized and cut the picture. The young director was shocked. Two years later, he presents the viewer with the film story “Thrice Risen” (1960), but since this was not his genre, the work turned out to be a failure. Gaidai despaired because he did not understand what to shoot.

Lucky turn

Having gone to visit his parents, Gaidai found the newspaper "Pravda" in the attic, in which there were Oleinik's poems "Dog Mongrel". He saw a fascinating story in this, his wife supported him in this. Soon a short film was shot without words, in which Dunce, Coward and Experienced gained popularity. Yes, it was a breakthrough in which comedian Gaidai Leonid Iovich showed up. The filmography of the director began from that day to interest others. The next short film Moonshiners (1961) was immediately shown to the world, it featured the same comedic trio. Further, “Business People”, “Leader of the Redskins” and “Soulmates” were filmed.

Special recognition came to Gaidai after the release of the short stories "Operation Y" in 1965. A year later, "Prisoner of the Caucasus" consolidated his success. Also, Gaidai's filmography was replenished in 1968 with "The Diamond Hand". All three films of this time were the highest grossing.

Fulfills the title of comedian

The director's talent did not run out on this - in 1971, people laughed again, watching the comedy "12 Chairs" in cinemas. By the way, for the role of Ostap Gaidai tried 22 artists, many of them were famous. These are Batalov, Mironov, Basov, Evstigneev and others. As a result, Archil Gomiashvili, who at that time was unknown to the viewer, became Bender. Leonid Gaidai himself played Korobeinikov in the episode.

Comedies were the hallmark of this director, and he made two more, which received no less fame. In 1973, the viewer laughed at "Ivan Vasilievich changes his profession", and two years later at "It can't be!".

The eighties also saw the release of two comedies,which became legendary - "For matches" and "Sportloto-82". In the latter, a significant role in the comedy of the film was made by Pugovkin, who brilliantly presented his character.

Comedy recession

After these pictures, several more comedies were released, but they turned out to be weaker and did not differ in the lightness and irony that was present in previous works. Perhaps the point is the time when the shooting was carried out, because it was a period of perestroika. The latest works included "Dangerous for life" and "Good weather on Deribasovskaya …".

Gaidai's filmography

The list of films directed by Leonid Iovich is quite impressive. Some of the works have already been mentioned in this article, the rest of the films that this talented person worked on are listed below:

• "Honeymoon Journey";
• "They drove a chest of drawers down the street…";
• "Incognito from Petersburg";
• "Impossible";
• "Private detective, or Operation Cooperation";
• "Dog Mongrel and the extraordinary cross";
• "Totally Serious";
• "Long way";
• "Fun adventure".

Recognized Talent

As is customary in our society, most often a talented person receives recognition after passing away. So it happened with Gaidai. Few people knew about the death of the director, but after it he was recognized as a master of satire and comedy.

Today Leonid Gaidai belongs to the classics of the genre. We are ready to review the best films of this director again and again. Tothese include "The Twelve Chairs", "Diamond Arm", "Obsession", "Prisoner of the Caucasus" and many others.