Clown Andrey Nikolaev died – Kommersant

Circus artist Andrei Nikolaev, known as the clown Andryusha, has died at the age of 85, the press service of the Russian State Circus reported. According to him, the artist died suddenly yesterday, August 14, no reasons were given. The media wrote that last week he was hospitalized with jaundice.

“The management, the trade union committee and the entire staff of the Russian State Circus express their deep condolences to the family and friends of Andrei Nikolaev in connection with his departure. Clown Andryusha with his sparkling humor, infectious laughter, endless energy and amazing subtle philosophy will forever remain in the memory and in the hearts of his fans, relatives and friends, to whom he secretly bequeathed: there should be no artificiality in art – you always need to go only from yourself, ” – says in press release.

Telegram channel Base wrote that Andrei Nikolaev was hospitalized in Moscow on August 11 due to liver problems. He also had traces of the transferred coronavirus, but in the end he was discharged from the hospital in the evening of the same day. According to the channel Mash, the artist was urgently hospitalized with an acute stage of obstructive jaundice. He allegedly refused the operation. On August 12, he himself did not confirm his hospitalization to TASS.

Andrei Nikolaev graduated from the directing department of GITIS. He staged a dozen numbers of the comic circus and stage, since 1976 he was a professor at GITIS. In the 60s, he came up with the image of the non-verbal Andryusha, who all the time got into non-standard situations. Since 1972, he supplemented the image with an evening suit, which he changed in front of the audience. Since that time, he began to sing songs and read monologues.

He is the only owner of the Grock Golden Mask prize in the USSR, which he was awarded in 1969. In 1980 he received the title of People’s Artist of the RSFSR.

Laura Keffer