Soviet clowns were considered one of the best on the planet. The circus in the Soviet Union was a separate art form, which was very popular. Many clowns are still remembered by those who personally found them at their first performances. We will talk about the most famous of them in this article.
Yury Nikulin
Among the Soviet clowns, one of the most famous is the people's artist of the USSR, the idol of several generations of Soviet lovers of humor and laughter, Yuri Nikulin. He was born in Smolensk province in 1921. His parents were artists, so the fate of Yuri was largely predetermined.
In 1939, immediately after graduation, he was drafted into the army. During World War II, he fought near Leningrad. In 1943, he contracted pneumonia, lay in a hospital for a long time, and after discharge, almost immediately received a concussion during one of the air raids on Leningrad.
After the war, he tried to enter VGIK, but he was not accepted, not having discovered acting abilities in him. Therefore, Nikulin went to the school-studio clownery, which worked at the capital's circus on Tsvetnoy Boulevard. This became his home for several decades.
In 1948, the famous Soviet clown made his debut in tandem with Boris Romanov in a room called "Sitter and hack", which immediately captivated the audience. For some time he worked as an assistant with Pencil. He met Mikhail Shuidin, with whom he went on tour across the country to gain experience in the circus.
Nikulin worked with the Pencil for two and a half years, after which he left with Shuydin because of the conflict. Starting to perform independently, they composed a duet famous throughout the country, although they were completely different artists in type and character.
Among the clowns of the Soviet Union, Nikulin was one of the most popular. He worked in his native circus for half a century, becoming his symbol, now a monument to the famous artist has even been erected on Tsvetnoy Boulevard.
At the same time, he simultaneously made a brilliant career in the cinema, playing in the popular comedies Operation Y and other adventures of Shurik, Caucasian captive, and Diamond Hand.
In the circus, he stopped performing only when he was 60 years old. In 1981, he officially left the stage, starting to work as the main director of the circus on Tsvetnoy Boulevard. In 1982 he took the post of director of the circus. With this famous Soviet clown, the circus flourished, a new building was built, the opening of which took place in 1989.
Yuri Nikulin was popular not only in big movies, but also on domestic television. In the 90s, his program came out under the name "White Parrot". She brought together famous and honored artists who told their favorite jokes and funny stories from her own career. The jokes that Yuri Nikulin himself poisoned have always been crowned.
Nikulin died in 1997 at the age of 76 after complications arising from heart surgery.
Mikhail Shuydin
Mikhail Shuydin is a clown from the Soviet comedy trio. He performed with Nikulin and Pencil, not at all lost in the background of famous colleagues on the stage. Shuydin was born in the Tula province in 1922. He was an eccentric acrobat.
Like Nikulin, the Great Patriotic War passed, they were almost the same age. Shuydin participated in the battles of Stalingrad and Kursk, distinguished himself in battles in Ukraine, having received the Order of the Red Star. He was even assigned to the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, which was then replaced by the command of the Order of the Red Banner.
Immediately after the war, he entered the school of circus art. Together with Nikulin, he worked as an assistant with Pencil. His debut was successful when the famous Soviet clown portrayed an important director, being himself full and of small stature. His appearance invariably caused laughter in the hall.
After leaving Pencil with Nikulin, they worked together until 1983, almost until the death of the Soviet clown after a long and serious illness at the age of 60. His stage image is a shirt-guy who knows everything and knows how, unlike Nikulin, who played a melancholy stupidity. These Soviet clowns built their joint work on the contradiction of characters.
Interestingly, in ordinary life, Shuydin and Nikulin practically did not communicate with each other. They were very different characters and way of life, but as partners on stage were inimitable. Spectators specially came to the circus on Tsvetnoy Boulevard to see this amazing couple of artists.
The famous Soviet clown Shuydin shone in the satirical sketches and pantomimes “Little Pierre”, “Tube of Peace”, “Carnival in Cuba”, “Roses and Spikes”.
Mikhail Rumyantsev
Most people know Mikhail Rumyantsev as Pencil. This is one of the most famous stage names of Soviet clowns. He was born in St. Petersburg in 1901. Rumyantsev decided to become an artist when he met in Moscow with the legendary artists of American silent cinema Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford.
Rumyantsev goes to stage courses, and then to the school of circus art, studies with the main director of the circus on Tsvetnoy Boulevard Mark Mestechkin.
In 1928, he begins to appear in public in the image of the legendary then Charlie Chaplin. After graduating from the school of circus art, he works in Kazan, Smolensk and Stalingrad. In 1932, one of the most famous Soviet clowns in the future, the list of which he rightfully leads, decides to abandon the image of an overseas artist. In 1935, he began working in the circus of Leningrad under the pseudonym Karan D'Ash. Gradually, he forms his own unique stage image, is determined with a costume and a performance program.
In 1936, he moved to Moscow, where he took on the companions of a small scotch terrier nicknamed Klyaks, so began the career of the Soviet clown Pencil. The metropolitan audience was delighted with the new artist.
A unique feature of the Pencil was jokes on political motives. For example, during the Brezhnev stagnation, he went on stage with a large string bag full of models of scarce foods: red caviar, pineapple, and smoked sausage. Once on stage, he froze in front of the audience in silence. The audience eagerly awaited what the clown would say. After some time, he loudly declared: "I am silent because I have everything. And why are you ?!" At the same time, Rumyantsev himself noted that his stage character never allowed himself anything superfluous.
Throughout his career, he performed not only solo, but was also a clown from the Soviet comedy trio, along with Nikulin and Shuidinov. His fame was such that it was believed that by his appearance on the stage he was able to save any performance. Guaranteed to assemble a full room. The Soviet clown, whose photo can be found in this article, was very conscientious in his work, and always demanded complete dedication from all the assistants, uniformists, and illuminators.
He worked in the circus for almost his entire conscious life, for as long as 55 years. The last time he appeared on the scene just two weeks before his death. In March 1983, he was gone. Mikhail Rumyantsev was 81 years old.
Oleg Popov
Perhaps everyone knows him. Soviet clown Oleg Popov was born in 1930 in the suburbs. He began his career as a balancer, speaking on the wire. In 1951, he first appeared on the scene in the role of a carpet clown in the Saratov circus, then moved to Riga. He finally entrenched in this role, working under the leadership of the legendary Pencil in the early 50s.
The Soviet clown Popov created the famous image of the Solar Clown. This was not a discouraging young man in any situations with a bright shovel of straw hair, who appeared on the stage in a plaid cap and striped pants. In his numbers, he often used a variety of circus tricks: juggling, acrobatics, juggling, parodies, but the key place in his performances was occupied by entres, which he put using classical buffoonery and eccentrics. Among his most famous numbers are "Whistle", "Cook", "Ray."
Domestic viewers immediately remembered the name of the famous Soviet clown in a checkered cap. He performed not only on stage, often appeared in television programs, for example, in the children's morning program "Alarm Clock", often starred in films, usually in cameos, and staged circus performances as a director.
The artist often went on tour in Western Europe, as a result they brought him worldwide fame. The Soviet clown in a checkered cap was known in all countries of the world.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Popov went to Germany. In 1991, he settled in the small town of Eglofstein, began performing in his own circus program under the new stage name Happy Hans.
He returned to Russia only in 2015, having spent 24 years in Germany. On June 30, his long-awaited performance in the Sochi circus took place as part of the Master circus festival.
In 2016, a Russian clown, Popov, was scheduled to tour Russia. His performances were sold out in Saratov. In October, he arrived in Rostov-on-Don, where he planned to perform at least 15 times. After that, he was going to go on tour to Samara and Yekaterinburg.
His friends recall that on November 2 he was cheerful, went to the central market, planned to go fishing, to the local river Manych to catch perches. In the evening he watched TV in a hotel room. Around 23.20 he became ill, the hotel employees called an ambulance, but failed to save the actor. As it became known, he fell asleep in his hotel room in a deep armchair and no longer woke up.
By the decision of his wife and daughter, he was buried in German Eglofstein, where his family lives. Moreover, according to the will of the artist, he was put in a coffin in a clown costume.
Asisay
Remembering the famous Soviet clowns, photos of which can be found in this article, it is necessary to talk about Vyacheslav Polunin, better known by the stage name Asisyay.
This national artist of Russia was born in the Oryol region in 1950. He received his higher education at the Institute of Culture in Leningrad, then he graduated from the pop department at GITIS. It was the famous Soviet clown Asisiai, a mime actor, author and director of clown numbers, masks, reprise and performances, famous throughout the country.
It was he who became the founders of the famous mime theater "Lyceum", which successfully performed throughout the country. At the peak of popularity, the "Lyceum" came out in the 80s. Asisiai was the main character of this theater. The most popular were the numbers "Asisyay", "Sad Canary", "Nizzya".
Since 1989, Polunin has initiated a caravan of stray comedians in Moscow, who, speaking from Moscow, has performed all over Europe with performances, uniting many stage venues in different countries into a single theater space. Since 1989, the festival "Peace Caravan" has been held annually.
It is noteworthy that since 1988 Polunin has been living and working mainly abroad. In 1993, he assembled a new troupe, with which he staged a dozen premiere performances.
Talking about the principles of his work, Polunin always noted that for him, clowning is a new way of seeing the world, it is a special perception of reality, within which the clown heals the souls of the audience.
Vladimir Durov
The trainer and circus artist Vladimir Durov was born in Moscow in 1863. Even in his youth, he left the military gymnasium, because he became interested in the circus. He began to speak in 1879.
In 1883, he settled in the Winkler menagerie circus in Moscow. He began his artistic career as a strongman, then he tested the roles of an illusionist, onomatopoeic, clown, couplet player. Since 1887, he began to specialize exclusively as a satirist and clown trainer.
I built the entire training of animals on the principle of feeding, developing conditioned reflexes in them with the help of encouragement, for each successful trick the animal received a treat. Durov studied the works of Sechenov and Pavlov, putting scientific achievements as the basis of his training method.
In his own house in Moscow, he conducted psychological experiments on animals, attracting famous psychiatrists and psychologists, for example, Pavlov and Ankylosing spondylitis. To start making money, he opened a living corner right in his house, which over time became known as the Durov's Corner. "In it, he gave paid performances with animals. For example, he came up with a unique famous number called The Mouse Railway.
This work was suspended by the October Revolution and the ensuing devastation. The doors of the "Corner of Durov" reopened in 1919, but as if not as private, but as a state theater. Durov himself was allowed to live in his former home, which by that time had been nationalized.
Already in the Soviet Union, Durov continued his telepathy experiments with the famous Soviet biophysicist Bernard Kazhinsky. In 1927, already in the status of the Soviet clown, Durov published the book "My Beasts", which over time was repeatedly reprinted and enjoyed great popularity.
In 1934, Vladimir Durov died at the age of 71. After his death, daughter Anna continued the business; in 1977, Durov’s Corner passed to her nephew Yuri. Now he is in charge of the great-grandson of Vladimir Leonidovich - Yuri Yurievich, continuing the tradition of Soviet and Russian clowns working with animals.
Leonid Yengibarov
Remembering the names of clowns of the USSR, photos of which are presented in this article, it is necessary to remember about Leonid Yengibarov. This is a clown-mime who has acted in the image of a “sad clown” for almost his entire career.
He was born in Moscow in 1935. At the age of 20 he entered the circus school in the clownery department. Since 1959, he began performing at the arena of the Novosibirsk Circus. Then he appeared on the stage of circuses of Tbilisi, Kharkov, Minsk, Voronezh. Gathering full halls in the Soviet Union, he went on a foreign tour to Poland, where he, too, was waiting for success.
In 1962, Yengibarov was awarded a medal in Leningrad for the best number, where he met Roland Bykov and Marcel Marceau. These meetings played an important role in his career, with Bykov they remained friends until the end of his life.
In 1963, Yengibarov became known as a film artist. He starred in the comedy of Levon Isahakyan and Heinrich Malyan "The Way to the Arena" - starring the clown Leni, who decides to work in the circus, despite the protests of his parents who wish him a different future.
A year later, Yengibarov appears in the classic historical melodrama of Sergei Parajanov, "Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors." He plays the role of a dumb shepherd, proving that he is capable of not only humorous, but also tragic roles.
In 1964, the “sad clown” left for Prague, where he won the professional competition. His novels are published there for the first time, it turns out that Yengibarov is also a talented writer. In Prague, he gives birth to a daughter, Barbara, her mother is a Czech journalist and artist, whose name is Yarmila Galamkova.
In 1966, a documentary film dedicated to the artist, "Leonid Yengibarov, get acquainted!" Was released on Soviet screens.
By the end of the 70s, he toured the whole Soviet Union on tour, most of all he was appreciated by the audience in Kiev, Odessa, Leningrad and Yerevan. In 1971, Yengibarov, in collaboration with his colleague Belov, released a performance called "Star Rain". It is shown in the capital's variety theater. After Yengibarov leaves the circus to establish his own theater with solo performances filled with clownery, reprisals and various tricks. So the production of "The Clown Fads" appears.
Yengibarov’s short story book “The First Round” is published in Yerevan. Then he starred in Tengiz Abuladze in the comedy parable "Necklace for my beloved" in the image of the clown Suguri. In the early 70's, he toured with his theater across the country, having played 210 performances in 240 days.
Enibarov’s bright career ended suddenly and tragically. In the summer of 1972 he came on vacation to Moscow. Starts working on a new play. July turned out to be incredibly hot and dry that year. In addition, peat bogs burn near Moscow; on some days in the capital, it was such that a person cannot be seen from a distance of several meters.
On July 24, Yengibarov returns home after a concert at the Green Theater. He feels unwell due to a sore throat that he carries on his legs. His mother, Antonina Andrianovna, prepares dinner and goes to bed with her friend. The next morning she discovers that Leonid had not yet risen.
By evening, he becomes ill, he asks to call an ambulance crew. When doctors arrive, the artist becomes better, he even starts to give compliments to the nurse. But after another two hours, his condition worsens again. Mother calls an ambulance again. Yengibarov asks for a glass of cold champagne, from which his vessels are narrowed, his condition only worsens. The doctors who arrived for the second time are not able to help him, the clown dies of chronic coronary heart disease.
According to doctors, the cause was a blood clot, which was formed due to the fact that the son returned already sick from the tour and rehearsed performances with angina. At the time of his death, Yengibarov was only 37 years old. He was buried at the Vagankovsky cemetery.
Many perceived his death as a personal tragedy.
Yuri Kuklachev
People's Artist of the RSFSR Yuri Kuklachev gained fame as a trainer of cats. He was born in Moscow region in 1949. He dreamed of becoming a clown since childhood. But he was not taken to the circus school for seven years in a row.
Finally, in 1963 he enters a vocational school at a printer, but does not despair in his place. Working in the printing house "Young Guard", in the evenings she is engaged in a folk circus at the Red October Palace of Culture. In 1967 he became a laureate of the amateur art competition.
At the final concert of the competition, he was noticed by circus artists on Tsvetnoy Boulevard, Kuklachev was still invited to the circus school. In 1971, he became a certified artist of the Union State Circus, in which he worked until 1990. His image is a simple-minded, but at the same time slightly crafty buffoon from the people in a stylized Russian shirt. Initially works under the pseudonym Cornflower.
In search of his own zest, Kuklachev decided in the mid-70s that a cat should appear in his performances. It is believed that they are difficult to train, but Kuklachev manages to successfully work with them. Over time, the troupe of animals began to replenish with new tailed artists, this allowed to make several numbers with animals.
It was the numbers with cats that brought Kuklachev all-Union popularity, he was successful on foreign tours.
In 1990, the circus artist receives at his disposal the building of the former theater "Call", located on Kutuzovsky Prospekt. Soon, at its base, he opens one of the first private theaters in the country, which over time is called the Kuklachev Cat Theater. It turns out that this is the first feline theater in the world, immediately it becomes famous far beyond the borders of Russia.
In 2005, the theater receives the status of a state, and in addition to cats, dogs appear in the reprisals.
Now Kuklachev is 69 years old, he continues his work in the cat's theater.
Evelina Bledans
Russian actress of Latvian origin Evelina Bledans started as a clowness. She was born in Yalta in 1969. She graduated from the acting department of the Institute of Performing Arts in Leningrad.
The first fame came to her in 1999, when she was featured in the comic troupe "Masks", which released popular television shows based on clowning, pantomime and an eccentric. Artists stood out for working in the silent movie genre. The artistic director Georgy Deliev, who himself was one of the artists of the comic troupe, came up with and implemented all the projects.
In the 90s, the famous television series "Mask Show" was released, in total, it was possible to shoot five seasons, which include almost two hundred episodes.
After that, Evelina Bledans became famous as a television and film actress.
Clown in soviet culture
The clown has become so popular in the Soviet Union that he can often be found outside the circus arena. For example, the Soviet toy clown was in great demand in the USSR, which was considered a special gift for any holiday, and especially for a birthday.
In the comedy program of pop artist Evgeny Petrosyan, which was popular in the 90s, the clown toy became a symbol, it can always be seen on the project screensaver.
The Soviet cartoon about the clown "Cat and Clown" also demonstrates how these artists were popular. It was released in 1988, directed by Natalia Golovanova.
The cartoon was shot in the spirit of a classic buffoonery, which tells the story of an old clown who spent many years working in a circus. In his lifetime, he saw a lot, it is already difficult to surprise him with something. But this succeeds the magic cat, which is able to turn into all kinds of objects.
This 10-minute cartoon demonstrates a tense and irreconcilable struggle between the characters, each of which has a strong and unstable character. On the one hand, there is an elderly clown, and on the other, a cocky, naive and at times frankly rude cat. This unusual work ends very unexpectedly: the cat at the very end turns into a boy.