Oleg Yankovsky would have turned 80 years old

Oleg Yankovsky has a rare, amazing acting biography. As his friend and colleague Alexander Zbruev correctly noted, you pronounce Yankovsky’s name, and a list of roles immediately pops up. And many actors are known only by sight. They don’t even remember the name.

Yankovsky’s most important paintings, which determined a lot in fate, are “Mirror” by Andrei Tarkovsky, where he, a 30-year-old and not yet very famous actor, actually played the poet Arseny Tarkovsky, whom he resembled, “Nostalgia” by Andrei Tarkovsky, “Flights” in a dream and in reality” by Roman Balayan, “In love by choice” by Sergei Mikaelyan, “An Ordinary Miracle”, “That Same Munchausen”, “Dragon” by Mark Zakharov, “The Regicide” by Karen Shakhnazarov, “The Kreutzer Sonata” by Mikhail Schweitzer…

Of the three Yankovsky brothers – besides Oleg, these are Nikolai and Rostislav – none remained. Following the youngest, the middle Nikolai left in reverse order in 2015, the eldest Rostislav in 2016, who worked all his life at the Minsk Russian Theater, where the acting career of Oleg Yankovsky began at the age of 14, replacing an ill drag queen.

Oleg Yankovsky was born in Kazakhstan, where his repressed father was exiled – a nobleman, staff captain of the Semenovsky Life Guards Regiment, who served in the Red Army under the command of Tukhachesky. The Yankovsky family moved to Saratov in the early 50s. There Oleg received a profession, found a family, there, as he himself said, fate gave him a son.

In 1965, he graduated from the Saratov Theater School, and since 1964, as a student, he already played on the stage of the Saratov Drama Theater. He worked there until 1973, gaining all-Union fame after the release of the films “Two Comrades Served” and “Shield and Sword.”

At the age of 27, Yankovsky played Prince Myshkin in the play “The Idiot” in Saratov. Now the square near the theater bears his name. There is a figure of Yankovsky in the image of Baron Munchausen, looking into the sky.

Having moved to Moscow, Yankovsky worked at Lenkom with Mark Zakharov, who revealed a lot about him, especially in cinema. For more than 30 years, the actor appeared on this stage, playing dozens of roles – Hamlet, Trigorin, Peter I, even Lenin without makeup.

Oleg Yankovsky was fanatically devoted to the acting profession, comparing it to spacewalk. Karen Shakhnazarov recalled in our interview: “He was a brilliant actor, accumulating the demands of the time. There are amazing actors who can work wonderfully all their lives and not be an expression of their time. He combined an expressive appearance, inner world and professional skill; he always wanted to be the first. I have never met such an actor who is so devoted to his profession. All his life he subordinated his profession, he was always in combat readiness. He knew his worth, was ambitious, but was devoid of snobbery and star fever.”

He was picky, did not waste time on trifles, and could refuse the role for a variety of reasons. For example, he abandoned Woland in “The Master and Margarita” by Vladimir Bortko. Who would do that these days? But something confused Yankovsky, perhaps the devilish essence of the hero.

In 2000, Yankovsky made his debut in film directing, filming “Come See Me” together with cameraman Mikhail Agranovich. There was no continuation.

Philip Yankovsky – beloved son, director, actor, eternal monk

When Oleg Yankovsky was 55 years old, he said in our interview that he dreamed of the time when his son Philip would do something important in art, and people would say: “Meet Oleg Yankovsky, the father of that same Philip Yankovsky.” And he saw the moment of Philip’s successful entry into big cinema, his directorial debut. Now Internet search engines primarily show Philip’s son, Ivan Yankovsky. But isn’t this happiness?

Philip Yankovsky is now 55 years old. He was born in Saratov in 1968. At the age of five, he starred in Tarkovsky’s “Mirror” with his father, actually playing Andrei Tarkovsky as a child. It seemed so small, but the memories remained vivid and priceless.

Philip graduated from the Moscow Art Theater School, where his master was Oleg Tabakov, then the directing department of VGIK with another master, Vladimir Naumov. Like many of his peers, Yankovsky the son shot video clips in the 90s, and in the early 2000s he made his directorial debut with the full-length film “In Motion,” which was awarded the Nika film award as “Discovery of the Year” in 2003. Oleg Yankovsky was very proud of this.

Later, Philip directed “State Councilor”, “Sword Bearer”, “Stone Head”, which received the “Golden Boat” at the “Window to Europe” festival in Vyborg. In it, Nikolai Valuev, a politician and athlete, made his debut as an actor, playing a boxer nicknamed Stone Head. The main female role was played by Philip’s wife, actress Oksana Fandera. The film was released in 2008. After that, Philip hasn’t filmed anything yet. But he began to act a lot.

He played Felix Yusupov in the French-Russian film “Rasputin” by Jose Dayan with Gerard Depardieu in the title role, Yan Tushinsky – the prototype of Yevgeny Yevtushenko – in the series “Mysterious Passion” by Vlad Furman based on the work of the same name by Vasily Aksenov. He is often offered the roles of monks, using his special texture and spiritual appearance. For the first time, Philip played a monk in “Full Moon Day” by Karen Shakhnazarov. Later there were “Monastery” and “Parish”. He played private Ivan Shukhov, serving ten years in Stalin’s camps after German captivity in Gleb Panfilov’s film “Ivan Denisovich” based on Solzhenitsyn, with which the outstanding director ended his career. Together they attended the Locarno International Film Festival. This was the final trip of the Churikova and Panfilov family, in which Philip Yankovsky also took part.

At the Chekhov Moscow Art Theater he played Dmitry Karamazov in the play “The Karamazovs According to Dostoevsky” directed by Konstantin Bogomolov, and this is one of the most significant works in the play. Over the years, Philip becomes more and more like his father. Once upon a time comparisons did not please him; he wanted an independent life in art. And now it evokes completely different emotions. My father’s early departure changed a lot.

On June 26, 2021, Philip had a grandson, Oleg Ivanovich Yankovsky.

Ivan Yankovsky – beloved grandson, angel, boy

Ivan Yankovsky is 33 years old, and he has already received five Golden Eagle film awards. There are only a few such filmmakers, and those who are equal in the number of awards are much older. My grandfather didn’t have that much. He lived in a time when prizes did not pour out of a cornucopia. The older generation lived differently.

In December 2023, Ivan received the Golden Eagle for his role in the online series “Fisher” by Sergei Taramaev and Lyubov Lvova, competing with himself in “Volunteer’s Playlist” and with his father in “Black Cloud.” Both were present at the ceremony at Mosfilm, and the son asked Philip Yankovsky for forgiveness for his victory.

Ivan received previous awards for “Queen of Spades” by Lungin, “World Champion” by Alexei Sidorov, where he played Anatoly Karpov, “Text” by Klim Shipenko and “Fire” by Alexei Nazhny. In a year, Ivan will be able to claim the sixth Golden Eagle for “The Boy’s Word. Blood on the Asphalt” is a series that has eclipsed the minds of its contemporaries, the phenomenon of which will still be studied.

Ivan played his first film role – a boy angel – at the age of 10 in his grandfather’s film “Come See Me.” He studied at the Moscow International Film School from the eighth grade, entered GITIS first on the course of Vladimir Andreev, then moved to the workshop of Sergei Zhenovach. In 2013, Ivan joined the troupe of his theater “Studio of Theatrical Art”, where he played Ivan Bezdomny in “The Master and Margarita”, Maksudov in “Notes of a Dead Man” by Bulgakov, Oleg Leonidovich in “The Suicide” by Erdman.

In the thriller “Indigo” by Roman Prygunov, he starred for the first time in the leading role, surprising him with the rare photo genius that his grandfather possessed. But then at the family council they decided that it was more important to graduate well from a theater university, and then work in cinema. Only six years later, Ivan again appeared on the screen in Mikhail Mestetsky’s “The Rag Union”. Next – “The Queen of Spades” by Pavel Lungin, “Text” by Klim Shipenko, “Handra” by Alexei Kamynin, where he masterfully played “not Tarkovsky,” but in fact Tarkovsky, capturing his facial expressions and gestures, as probably no one could another. Perhaps Oleg Yankovsky. They have a lot of intersections – mental, acting. They starred with the same directors. Oleg Yankovsky played the poet and Decembrist Ryleev in Vladimir Motyl’s film “Star of Captivating Happiness”, Ivan played the Decembrist Bestuzhev-Ryumin in Andrei Kravchuk’s “Union of Salvation”. The difference, of course, is huge, but the vector is approximately the same.

At the Theater. M. Ermolova Ivan Yankovsky plays Zilov in “Duck Hunt” based on Vampilov. With this performance last fall he participated in the Theater Festival. Oleg Yankovsky in Saratov. For the first time he was in his father’s homeland, he went on stage where his grandfather had once played. In Saratov, they later quoted his every statement, the way he compared Zilov with Makarov in “Flights in a Dream and in Reality,” and this is one of Oleg Yankovsky’s most favorite roles. Ivan visited places associated with his relatives, saw the school where his grandfather studied, the place where his great-grandmother’s house stood on Bolshaya Kazachyaya, the high-rise building on Sovetskaya where Oleg Ivanovich lived with his wife Lyudmila Zorina and son Philip.

Lisa Yankovskaya – fragile and demonic beauty

Liza Yankovskaya also studied at the Moscow International Film School, entered the Moscow Art Theater School on the course of Viktor Ryzhakov, but later moved to GITIS in the workshop of Oleg Kudryashov. Her film debut took place in Avdotya Smirnova’s “The Story of One Destination,” where Lisa played Sophia Tolstoy’s sister, Tatyana. Now in her filmography there are a dozen roles.

She starred in the series “Optimists. Caribbean” by Alexei Popogrebsky, played in “Nika” by Vasilisa Kuzmina the adult Nika Turbina, incredibly popular in early childhood, who began writing poetry from a young age. This is a very bright acting job. The girl poet could not stand adult life. The gift left her, and she voluntarily passed away in 2002. It was this fracture that Lisa played. For her role as Nika Turbina, she received a special prize “For Outstanding Play” at the South by Southwest festival in Texas. It is curious that a year before filming, Lisa was supposed to play Nika in Ilya Nosochenko’s play. When she was called to audition, she thought: “Really Nika again? Well hello!”. Fateful coincidence.

Director Vasilisa Kuzmina recalls: “We had a huge casting, which took a long time and painfully. Liza Yankovskaya was the very first to arrive. When I saw her, I decided that that was it, Nika. Then she stopped herself: it couldn’t be that the first girl was an exact hit. After dozens of candidates, we finally returned to Lisa and were not disappointed. She is a very sensitive and incredibly organic actress.”

In Evgeny Grigoriev’s film “Accomplices,” she also has an unusual role. She played the wife of a biathlete (Yura Borisov), who arrived in his native village, where everything is not as it was seen before – harsh morals and life according to concepts. Her heroine will behave unexpectedly. Abysses will open up in her, and this is what Liza Yankovskaya is given the opportunity to play.

If Philip Yankovsky is often offered the roles of monks, or even representatives of a sect, then Lisa is lucky to play ballerinas. She has already played two – in the series “Ballet” and the film “Frau” by Lyubov Mulmenko, for which Lisa received an award for best actress at the Russian film festival “Mayak” in Gelendzhik. Her ballerina at the Perm Opera and Ballet Theater, Kristina, was drawn to “Giselle” by a strange young man, Ivan (Vadik Korolev from the group OQJAV), who works in the “Hunter and Fisherman” store, lives in a mossy grandmother’s apartment, and calls all the girls “Frau.”

Lisa’s Christina is a nervous, demonic beauty with a bewitching low voice. Yankovskaya’s voice is special. It doesn’t seem to match her fragile appearance, and as a rule, such anomalies confuse experienced teachers when entering a theater university, but Lisa definitely has this advantage.

She hasn’t worked much in the theater yet, but she played at the Moscow Art Theater. Chekhov Yulia in Butusov’s play “The Man from the Fish”, and it was talented. For now she is focused on cinema.

In the Yankovsky family, they take care of their reputation – this was how Oleg Ivanovich started. They don’t appear where they shouldn’t. Only on business, at their premieres, not for the sake of noisy fame.