Soviet and Russian actor, theater and film director, chairman of the Union of Theater Workers of the Russian Federation, member of the Public Chamber of Russia. An artist with a capital letter who “chemically” merges with his characters. The audience's favorite aunt from Brazil is Alexander Kalyagin.
Biography and merits
Alexander Aleksandrovich Kalyagin was born on May 25, 1942 in the town of Malmyzh, Kirov region, into a family of higher education teachers - a dean-historian and linguist. Unfortunately, when the child was one year old, his father died, and the mother raised the child alone, without arranging her personal life. Soon the family moved to Moscow, to live with relatives. Because the boy was a late child, his mother constantly spoiled him and gave her love. Already at the age of 5, she supported her son's interest in the theater and presented a small stage with the wings, where the future actor mastered his skills. At the age of 13, the boy wrote a letter to Arkady Raikin about his desire to build a career as an artist, and the great actor sent the teenager his answer. Alexander has kept this letter all his life.
Listening to his mother's opinion, Alexander in 1959 was educated as an obstetrician, graduating from the Moscow Medical School No. 14, after which he worked for two years at an ambulance station. Thoughts about an acting career began to be realized in 1965, after graduating from the B. Shchukin Theater School. Further, the biography of Alexander is replenished with experience in the Taganka Theater, the Theater. M. N. Ermolova (1967), the Sovremennik Theater (1970) and the Moscow Art Theater (1971). In 1992, Alexander created and headed his own theater "Et Cetera", which is still developing today.
Alexander himself considers the beginning of his acting career to be the role of Poprishchin in "Diary of a Madman". This was followed by the recognizable roles of Trigorin in Chekhov's "The Seagull", Poluorlov in the play "Old New Year", Leni Shindin in the play "We, the undersigned", Orgon in "Tartuffe", Fedya Protasov in "Living Corpse" and others. In the acting career of the artist, there are more than 35 performances.
In the role of director, Alexander took place in 1996. His first production of "Reluctant Healer", as well as the next five productions ("Faces", "Suppress and Excite", "Chekhov. Act III", "The Inspector General", "We, the undersigned"), attracted the viewer and emphasized the versatility of the artist's talents. One of the productions even won a prize. Anni Dilligila (Turkey's highest theater award).
Since 1978, Alexander has been holding the title of Honored Artist of the RSFSR. Since 1983 - People's Artist of the RSFSR. He is a two-time winner of the USSR State Prize for the brilliant performance of the roles of Ganiev and V. I. Lenin. Alexander is the owner of the Badge of Honor and the Orders for Services to the Fatherland, II, III and IV degrees, the Order of Honor, as well as the Golden Mask and Musical Heart of the Theater awards. Since 2014, Alexander has been an honorary citizen of the Kirov region.
Personal life
The actor took his chosen ones to the registry office twice. With actress Tatyana Korunova, Alexander had his first child - daughter Ksenia, who in 2001 gave birth to a grandson to the artist. Unfortunately, his wife died of cancer, leaving a 4-year-old daughter in Alexander's arms.
For the second time, Alexander became the husband of the People's Artist of the Russian Federation - Evgenia Glushenko, with whom he had a son, Denis. The marriage lasted about 30 years, after which it broke up.
Filmography
His film debut took place in 1967 (the role of a representative of the Moscow Party Committee). Bright roles later became: the role of Vanyukin ("At home among strangers, a stranger among friends", 1974), the role of Platonov ("An unfinished piece for a mechanical piano", 1976), the role of Chichikov ("Dead Souls", 1984) and a lot others. In total, the actor's filmography includes participation in more than 50 films and TV series. However, the actor became famous all over the world for the role of an aunt from Brazil in the film "Hello, I am your aunt!" (1975). This image stuck with the artist for life and haunted him every March 8th. The artist played all his roles easily and naturally, merging with his characters so much that critics compared him with Smoktunovsky.
Alexander showed his talent as a director in the cinema (films "My friend" (1985) and "Prokindiada 2" (1994). In addition, Alexander's voice can be heard in the films "Agony" and "Trans-Siberian Express", in a number of cartoons ("Tale of Fairy Tales", "Cat Leopold", "Mumu", etc.)
The last work was the scoring of the cartoon "The New Adventures of Leopold the Cat" in 2015.
Today the artist continues to work and delight the viewer with new productions and films. The actor is planning new tours with his own theater and new performances. The author's program continues to appear on the radio "Echoes of the Theater".
