Gunar Alfredovich Tsilinsky - People's Artist of the USSR, Latvian theater and film actor, director, screenwriter. His path to success was a long one, and the popularity and recognition of the public did not come immediately. Years of hard work on himself took Tsilinsky in order to open his heart to the viewer. Details of his creative biography and personal life in our article.
Childhood
Gunar Tsilinsky was born on May 23, 1931 near Riga, in a small town - Ogre. The thirties in the history of Latvia were not easy - the economic and political crisis, the proclamation of Soviet power, the entry of the Republic of Latvia into the USSR in 1940.
The childhood of the artist just fell on this difficult time for the country. A difficult situation formed the right values in the character of Gunar - he knew from an early age the true price of bread, labor, this word. Realizing how difficult it was for parents, I tried to help them with the housework. From childhood, Tsilinsky was a collected and smart boy, although childish pranks and boyish mischief did not pass him by. Gunar spent all his free time in communication with nature - he liked to go to the river, to walk in the forest.
At the very beginning of World War II, Latvia was occupied by the Nazis. Four years of German oppression left a clear imprint on the boy’s memory, and in the future reflected on his work - Gunar Tsilinsky very sincerely, with an anguish, played in films about the war.
Choice of profession
Tsilinsky's first profession was not related to art, sublime and ephemeral. The craft, which Gunar Alfredovich mastered at the beginning of his life, was associated with timber processing.
In 1948 Tsilinsky graduated from high school, three years later he entered the College of Forestry in his hometown. The choice of specialty was deliberate and due primarily to the fact that Latvia has been famous for its pine forests since ancient times. In this regard, most of the inhabitants of Ogre worked in the forestry and pulp and paper industry. Tsilinsky was no exception in this matter.
Love for nature was manifested in the boy in childhood. And this feeling turned out to be fundamental and determining, real and very sincere. The character of the actor, in principle, was characterized by integrity and thoroughness. Even Gunar Tsilinsky himself justified the choice of his first profession with the following words: “I am a convinced realist and I believe that everything stands on earth.”
After graduating from an educational institution, Gunar immediately started to work. He began his career with work in the Baldon timber industry enterprise. His immediate responsibilities included the organization of timber harvesting.
Road to art
Unlike many actors, Tsilinsky Gunar Alfredovich did not dream of a creative profession since childhood. He was not attracted by the scene, he did not crave to become a screen star, although the external data of the men were gorgeous. Gunar was quite suitable for the role of a handsome smoothie.
Acquaintance of the future actor with theatrical art took place in college. Gunar Alfredovich began to participate in amateur productions. At some point, Tsilinsky became interested in this world, so mysterious and fabulous. In his free time, the young man traveled to the
capital of Latvia, Riga, to perform at the Academic Drama Theater, and often attended the
J. Rainis Art Theater
. However, at first the theater remained just a hobby that did not prompt the young man to exploits or something extraordinary. Passion for theater was still only a hobby, a hobby, and he was assigned only a second plan.
It took Tsilinsky time to radically change his life. And the actor did not come to such a decision right away - the choice was made gradually, slowly. This was largely due to the Baltic character of the actor - measured and not prone to hasty decisions.
New life
Passion for amateur performances once pushed Tsilinsky to the idea of trying his luck in the acting profession.
In the fall of 1951, Gunar Alfredovic became a student at the theater department of the Latvian Conservatory in Riga. I must say, the young man had great difficulty studying - because of the nature of the future actor, it was difficult to overcome himself and cope with natural modesty and shyness. This was reflected in the student's academic performance in many acting subjects - the teachers were dissatisfied with Tsilinsky, at some point they even raised the question of his expulsion from the institute. However, the character of Gunar was distinguished not only by modesty, but also by perseverance. He managed to pull himself together and, overcoming all his fears and insecurities, correcting the general situation, successfully graduated from the conservatory.
Upon graduation, Tsilinsky was accepted into the troupe of the Academic Drama Theater of Latvia. The theater became an actor’s home for many years.
At first, Gunar’s film career did not work out at all. The first few years he did not have the opportunity to prove himself on the TV screen. When Tsilinsky was a student at the conservatory, he came to audition for a painting by Leonid Lukov, but he was not approved.
Movie debut
Actor Gunar Tsilinsky made his film debut only in the late 50s of the last century. Viewers first saw a young and handsome man in the role of fisherman Janis in the film Ada Neretnietse “Alien in the Village” and Bush in Vasily Levin’s film “Stronger than a Hurricane”. However, the viewer was not imbued with love for the aspiring artist, and the first works of Gunar Alfredovich in the cinema did not attract the attention of the public.
I must say that the actor did not always receive decent job offers. In his cinema screen career, there are many films that can be called transitory. The directors constantly offered him images of romantic heroes, since the appearance of the actor contributed to this. An expressive face, a slender camp, elegant manners - he was handsome. The actor did not shun any work and played everything that was offered to him, although deep down he wanted to play characteristic characters. In the meantime, the heroes of the actor Tsilinsky did not resemble living people, but rather, just looked like a beautiful picture, an inanimate mannequin.
Recognition of viewers
Not only with the personality characteristics of the actor was the crisis in the profession that Gunar Tsilinsky was experiencing. Films of those years also had a special specificity. Everything was interconnected. However, time passed, patterns and stereotypes changed. The requirements for actors who auditioned for the role also changed. Gradually, Tsilinsky’s career began to develop in a new round.
The first recognition came to the artist when he played the underground revolutionary Dresin in the film "Tobago" changes course "in 1965. The film was about the struggle of the Communists with the bourgeois system in Latvia, but the plot was presented to the viewer in an adventure form.
The image of the protagonist created by Tsilinsky was perfectly combined with the spirit of the picture itself. The smart and at the same time very brave Dresin performed by Gunar was in the thick of things and at the same time was the instigator of everything that happened. And the image created by the actor was no longer an insensitive mannequin, but a very real personality. At the same time, the actor’s external data seemed to have also changed. Beauty shone with new shades, features became softer and more attractive.
About finding yourself
Life stories of people who have achieved heights in the profession each time confirm the golden rule of success - nothing in life is given just like that, before you get something, you need to work hard. Before success comes, it is necessary to pass many trials that temper character, accumulate will and help a person find the true path.
So it was with Gunar Tsilinsky. For many years he was an unrecognized genius - he worked on stage, tried to develop in his profession, but did not see the return from the viewer and did not feel satisfaction from his own work. He constantly struggled with himself - he searched, tried, grew. This confrontation required a considerable waste of energy, on the one hand, and helped the actor look into himself and learn his inner world, on the other. As a result of torment and search came both success and recognition.
Tsilinsky took place as an actor. Over the years, giving an interview, he admitted that he did not regret the time when no one believed in him: “If there were not those thorny paths, I would not have fully realized my mistakes and would not have understood why I couldn’t succeed what is available to others. " Gunar Alfredovich not only remembered his experience, but was not going to forget about it - this is his most important wealth.
"Nocturne"
A year later, the actor Gunar Tsilinsky, whose filmography began to replenish with more and more new paintings, created the image of a lyrical hero in a film called “Nocturne”. The picture tells about the romantic relationship between two lovers of citizens of different countries - the Latvian Georges and the Frenchwoman Ivetta. Against the backdrop of the relationship of lovers, their struggle against fascism is clearly marked out first in Spain, later in France (young people served in the ranks of the international army).
The actor, who previously played the role of heroes, revealed himself as an artist of a dramatic genre. Although the film combined two sides of one Tsilinsky - heroic and lyrical. Two heroes appeared before the audience. One of them was courageous, the other taught courage.
However, even successful roles in these two films can only be called the predecessors of the real success of the actor Tsilinsky in the cinema.
The image of Nikolai Kuznetsov in the film “Strong in Spirit” is the truly masterful work of the artist Gunar Alfredovich Tsilinsky, which brought real satisfaction from the work to both the viewer and the actor himself.
"Strong-willed"
The film “Strong in Spirit” is a military-themed movie that tells about the heroism of a real person - intelligence agent Nikolai Kuznetsov. An interesting story is connected with the role - when Tsilinsky received an offer to star in the film, he initially decided that this was not his image, and wanted to abandon the role. But fate did not allow the actor to miss his finest hour, did not allow him to lose his luck.
Tsilinsky carefully prepared for filming a movie. He studied archival information, talked with friends of the legendary scout. The actor took this issue very seriously and was rewarded for his work - Kuznetsov in his performance turned out to be very lively and real. And the actor himself experienced the whole gamut of feelings that an artist can only survive, transforming on the screen into another person.
Not the least role here was played by the fact that Tsilinsky at that time had a huge acting experience on the stage and work in several television films. Everything coincided, everything worked out, the stars converged.
Director's work
In addition to acting, Tsilinsky is known as a film director, screenwriter. His first job in this role appeared in 1976. The painting titled "Sonata above the Lake" was set based on the novel "Well" by Regina Ezera. In total, there are nine films in the director’s piggy bank of Tsilinsky, including “Fear”, “Ram”, “Rust”, “When the brakes are released”, “This strange moonlight”. For seventeen years, starting in 1975, the director of the Riga film studio was Gunar Tsilinsky.
The personal life of the actor also developed. With his future wife, actress Velta Line, he met in the theater. Despite the fact that the woman was eight years older than Tsilinsky, he really liked her. Soon the young people got married. In marriage, their son Aigar was born, who later went on the path of his parents and connected his life with art. He subsequently became an actor and director.
Gunar Tsilinsky died of a heart attack at age 62 in July 1992. The actor was buried in the Forest Cemetery in Riga.