The biography of Armen Dzhigarkhanyan is the story of a person deeply devoted to his work. During his long career, the artist played more than 250 roles and never complained that he was not spoiled by the main characters: even in the supporting roles, Armen Borisovich managed to make a big name for himself. How did the actor's career begin in the distant 60s, and what projects is he busy with today?
early years
The biography of Armen Dzhigarkhanyan began in the sunny city of Yerevan of the Armenian SSR in 1935. When the future artist was only a year old, his father left the family. A little later, the mother of Armen - Elena Vasilievna - remarried. Fortunately, the boy liked the new “dad”, and until the end of his life, Dzhigarkhanyan spoke only positively about his stepfather.
It was no coincidence that Armen came into theatrical art: his mother adored the theater and constantly took her son to performances. Over time, Armen had a natural desire to continue working in an environment he already liked, so the young man after school went to enter GITIS. The admission committee of the university considered that the emphasis of Dzhigarkhanyan would be difficult to fix, so she refused the future actor.
But Dzhigarkhanyan was not going to give up: he returned to his hometown and got a job as an assistant operator at a local film studio. He no longer tried to enter the capital’s university, but went to study at the Yerevan Theater Institute. In the homeland, the artist’s fate was going well: from the second year he was accepted into the troupe of the Yerevan Russian Drama Theater and until 1967 played many good roles on his stage. It was then that the aspiring actor noticed Anatoly Efros and "lured" him to the Moscow Theater. Lenin Komsomol. So Armen Borisovich changed Yerevan to the metropolitan stage.
60s Roles
The biography of Armen Dzhigarkhanyan is inextricably linked with the cinema. For the first time in this form of art, the actor made his debut in 1959: then he got the role of Hakob - a young worker from the movie "Collapse." In 1961, the actor played a supporting role in two films at once - the dramas Twelve Satellites and Before the Sunset. And in 1962, Armen Dzhigarkhanyan played his first major role in the tape “Steps” by Zhirayr Avetisyan. In the story, a military journalist and a field doctor who once fought on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War met in peacetime and recall events of the past.
After such a successful debut, Dzhigarkhanyan became much more likely to get the main roles: in 1965, he plays a young physicist in the two-part drama “Hello, It's Me!”, In which, in addition to Armen, Rolan Bykov and Natalya Fateeva were engaged. In 1967, Dzhigarkhanyan plays a security officer and hereditary intellectual in the film "Operation Trust." In the same year, the artist embodies on the screen the image of an old blacksmith in the film "Triangle".
The year 1968 was marked for Dzhigarkhanyan by the main role in the famous Soviet drama “There Lived a Man”. In the same year, Armen Borisovich played a character who first made him a recognizable person: then the incredibly popular film “New Adventures of the Elusive” was released, in which the actor got the comic role of staff captain Peter Ovechkin.
Filmography of the 70s
The creative biography of Armen Dzhigarkhanyan was developing steadily, but rightly: in the 70s, the viewer already knew his name very well and enjoyed watching paintings with the participation of the actor.
In the new decade, Armen Borisovich again returns to the audience in the image of headquarters captain Ovechkin in the film “The Crown of the Russian Empire, or Elusive Again”. One of the most striking phrases of the character of Dzhigarkhanyan in this film: "I was going to tell you for a long time that you are an idiot, a colonel."
In 1971, the actor starred in the films “Tell Me About You” with Tamara Semina and “Tronka” with the little-known actress Margarita Kosheleva. But in 1972 he plays in Igor Maslennikov’s famous adventure film “Racers”. Armen Borisovich also played a criminal blackmailer in one of the episodes of the cult series “Connoisseurs Conduct Investigation”.
During this period, the main roles went to the artist in the military film “An Hour Before Dawn” and in the film adaptation of Ostrovsky's play “Dowry”. It is impossible not to mention the work of Dzhigarkhanyan in the detective "Diamonds for the dictatorship of the proletariat" and in the family film "Taste of Halva".
But the actor brought true popularity to the role in the well-known comedy “Hello, I am your aunt!”, Where Dzhigarkhanyan played an avid two-faced judge. Following the screens came a film in which the actor was again able to show off his comedic talent. In the film “When September Comes”, the actor played a temperamental Caucasian, who decided to turn the closed and sullen Muscovites into cheerful and polite citizens.
And of course, the 70s would have been in vain if it were not for the artist’s work in the musical film “Dog in the Hay” with Mikhail Boyarsky in the title role.
Films with the participation of the artist of the 80s.
Armen Dzhigarkhanyan, whose biography was of interest to many admirers of his talent in the 80s, in the new decade strengthened his position in Soviet cinema by playing the criminal authority of Gorbaty in Stanislav Govorukhin’s cult film “The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed.”
Around the same time, the artist appears in the unforgettable espionage film "Tehran-43" with Alain Delon and Igor Kostolevsky in the lead roles.
A whole string of roles was performed by Armen Dzhigarkhanyan in the 80s, each year his filmography was replenished with at least four films. Among all this diversity, one can distinguish the role of the ataman of the thugs in the tale "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves", the role of the junior minister in "Tales of the Old Wizard", the character of Commissioner Thompson in the detective "Secrets of Madame Wong."
In 1987, the social drama of Tatyana Lioznova was released, in which Dzhigarkhanyan plays a millionaire. His partners on the set were Nadezhda Rumyantseva ("Girls"), Vadim Andreev ("Carmelita") and Oleg Tabakov ("Quadrille"). Around the same period, the detective film “Proceed to Investigation” was released, in which Dzhigarkhanyan played the role of investigator Dzhangirov.
Also, the best films of the 80s in the filmography of the actor can be called the historical film "The Life of Klim Samghin" and the comedy "Bindyuzhnik and the King."
Roles played in the 90s.
Like many other citizens of the USSR, actor Armen Dzhigarkhanyan experienced difficult times in the 90s. The artist’s biography in the 90s is connected with searches and experiments: in 1991 he began to teach acting at VGIK, in 1996 he created his own theater in Moscow, which he jokingly called the theater “D”.
The actor also continued to act in films, but what kind of films were shot in the 90s? It was hardly possible then to see a masterpiece of cinema with the participation of Dzhigarkhanyan. However, there were still good films.
In 1992, Leonid Gaidai’s film, “The weather is nice on Deribasovskaya, or it rains again on Brighton Beach,” in which Dzhigarkhanyan played Katz, was released. The actor got the episodic role in the comedy of Alla Surikova “Moscow Vacations” with Leonid Yarmolnik in the title role. According to the plot of the film, an Italian comes to Moscow, supposedly to get acquainted with her historical homeland. But Russian life leads her into complete confusion and even horror, if not for the charming hero Leonid Yarmolnik, who is trying to somehow facilitate the stay of a foreigner in Moscow.
In 1996, several good films with the participation of the artist were released at once: the series “Queen Margot” and the detective “Kings of the Russian Detective”. Dzhigarkhanyan also appears in the comedy “Poor Sasha” with A. Zbruev and in the crime film “Schizophrenia” with A. Abdulov.
Films of the 2000s
Actor Armen Dzhigarkhanyan, whose biography in the 90s did without tragedies and excesses, in 2000 celebrated its 65th anniversary. And as a gift to his viewers, he agreed to shoot in Vladimir Bortko’s cult series “Gangster Petersburg”. In this picture, the artist received the role of the criminal authority of Gurgen. The series was wildly popular, and Armen Borisovich himself played in the 1st, 2nd and 4th parts of the film.
By this time, the situation in Russian cinema had straightened out, only now the actor was no longer offered the main roles. Unless in 2002, Dzhigarkhanyan played a major role in the comedy with Sergei Bezrukov “If the Bride is a Witch”. Also, Armen Borisovich received the main role in the famous series “Cavaliers of the Starfish”, which was broadcast on the STS channel.
Armen Dzhigarkhanyan in the 2000s appeared in a cameo role in the popular show “My Fair Nanny”, played Stalin in the TV series “Star of the Epoch” with Marina Alexandrova in the title role.
Another major role went to the artist in 2007 in the comedy film "Ore and Sam." Then Dzhigarkhanyan’s partners on the set were Alexander Kalyagin and singer Glukoza.
Whoever Dzhigarkhanyan played in films, but in the same year he had a unique opportunity to translate God himself into the comedy film "The Best Movie". A year later, the actor appeared in the crime film "Brownie" with Konstantin Khabensky in the title role, and then played the main role in the melodrama "Parent's Day."
Recent projects with the artist
Armen Dzhigarkhanyan, whose biography was filled with many interesting creative projects and events, even having passed the 80-year mark, is not going to leave the screens.
In 2010, he played a major role in the Armenian film "Return", which tells about the events of 1988 and the courage of people who survived the Karabakh movement. In the same year, Dzhigarkhanyan appeared in the image of a veteran of the Great Patriotic War in the children's film "Goldfish in the City of N".
The actor also played the Russian oligarch in the Israeli melodrama Troika and an elderly patient in the famous TV series with Olga Budina, Zemsky Doctor. Continuation ".
An interesting role went to Dzhigarkhanyan in the Belarusian film "German", where he played the gangster Konrad Gicometti. In addition, Armen Borisovich can be seen in the crime film "Comrades of the Police", in the detective story "Soul of the Spy" and the series "The Last Janissary".
I must say that both in youth and in our days, the actor does not shun any work. Dzhigarkhanyan is not confused by the fact that a star of his level is offered episodic roles and secondary characters. Perhaps this is the secret of his success and the root of all achievements?
The Importance of Dzhigarkhanyan's Creative Contribution to Cinema
The artist Armen Dzhigarkhanyan, whose biography is worthy of a separate book, is an indispensable character for Russian and Soviet cinema.
Firstly, he is one of the few artists who knows how to play positive and negative heroes, police and criminals, military and handymen, hard workers and lazy people, loafers, and sneaks. Versatility is a rare enough quality for an actor.
Secondly, Dzhigarkhanyan was included in the Guinness Book of Records, since not a single Russian actor was able to appear in his life in more than 250 films, as Armen Borisovich did.
His work is appreciated not only in Russia but also abroad. In 1999, the US government even allocated a green card to the actor as an outstanding artist. And one wealthy American fan gave Armen Borisovich a spacious house in the States.
But even in the homeland, the merits of Dzhigarkhanyan before the national cinema are appreciated. A long list of regalia, titles and awards of an artist can take more than one page of text. But the most important thing is that the actor three times became a people's artist: first the RSFSR, then the Armenian SSR and finally the USSR. And also Dzhigarkhanyan has the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, II degree, which was awarded to Armen Borisovich for his many years of creative work.
Armen Dzhigarkhanyan: biography. First wife and second wife
As often happens with many famous artists, Armen Borisovich in his life was not limited to one single marriage. Many fans who like Armen Dzhigarkhanyan, biography, personal life, the children of the actor are also interesting. And in this sphere of life, the actor, I must say, succeeded.
He first got married back in the 60s, when he worked at the Yerevan Theater. Then he began a stormy romance with his colleague - actress Alla Vannovskaya. In this marriage, Dzhigarkhanyan had a daughter, Elena, and it seemed that everything was fine, but suddenly the actor leaves his wife, taking his daughter with him. Many people who are interested in Armen Dzhigarkhanyan, biography, personal life, children, photos of the actor, for a long time did not know why this marriage broke up. This was a difficult test for the actor, Armen Borisovich for a long time tried to come to terms with difficult circumstances in family life, but the situation was becoming more and more tense, so he decided on a desperate step.
The actor after some time married a Russian language teacher Tatyana Vlasova. This marriage lasted 40 years. Armen Dzhigarkhanyan, a biography whose children were always interested in the press, did not hide the fact that he gladly gave his name to his stepson - the son of Tatyana Stepan. However, T. Vlasova permanently lived in the United States and did not intend to move to Russia, and Dzhigarkhanyan could not leave Moscow, so the couple broke up in 2015.
Now the actor Armen Dzhigarkhanyan, a biography whose personal life is still occupied by the public, lives with his beloved woman, who is much younger than him. According to the woman herself, she is not confused by the age difference, because she was in love with the artist from 16 years old.
Dzhigarkhanyan himself claims that the young wife keeps him in shape and does not allow him to die. By the way, she began to take care of the health of her idol back in 2002, when Dzhigarkhanyan was lying in a Moscow hospital with a micro stroke.
Until 2015, the actor and his young fan talked as friends. When Armen Borisovich was free from a previous marriage, then all of Russia was surprised to learn that the famous artist was not going to put an end to his personal life.
Armen Dzhigarkhanyan: biography. Daughter Elena and her tragic fate
Dzhigarkhanyan had only one bloody child. The daughter of Armen Dzhigarkhanyan Elena, whose biography also did not escape the all-seeing eye of the paparazzi, was named after the artist’s mother. As a child, father took the girl with him when parting with her mother and raised with his second wife Tatyana Vlasova.
The daughter of Armen Dzhigarkhanyan Elena, whose biography was very tragic, was also an actress and even played with her father in the same theater. But by an absurd accident, she choked on carbon monoxide in her own car at the age of 23.