Georgy Yungvald-Khilkevich is a famous domestic director and screenwriter. In 1990 he received the title of Honored Artist of the RSFSR. For a quarter century, he served as a full-time director at the Odessa Film Studio.
Director's family
George Yungvald-Khilkevich was born in Tashkent in 1934. In Central Asia, his parents were hiding from the repression, which at that time was rampant in the Soviet Union. His mother was a ballerina, from Russian pillar nobles. Grandfather served as an officer in the tsarist army, at one time he served as commandant of Warsaw. At the same time, in 1917, he abandoned his beliefs, during the October Revolution he sided with the Bolsheviks.
His paternal relatives came from a noble family. Grandfather owned several railways in Poland, his wife was Italian by nationality. According to family tradition, her sister is the same famous opera singer Lina Cavalieri. At the very beginning of the century, she was called the star of the "beautiful era".
His father is the popular opera director Emil-Olgerd Jungwald-Khilkevich, who is considered one of the founders of the Uzbek opera. Obviously, almost all the relatives of the hero of our article at the dawn of the Soviet state were considered alien and even dangerous elements. Therefore, they preferred to be away from the capitals.
Emil Olgerd made his career at the Tashkent Opera House, and has also worked since the founding of the State Opera and Ballet Theater of Uzbekistan.
Youth of George
At age 14, Jungwald-Khilkevich received a serious leg injury while playing sports. After that, he developed osteomyelitis. This is a serious disease that develops in the bones and bone marrow. For four years he was almost completely motionless. He spent this time in a cast, reading voraciously the novels of Dumas and Balzac. He himself later admitted that these works saved him from madness.
After school, he continued his studies at the Architectural Institute of Tashkent, in 1963 he entered the Ostrovsky Theater and Art Institute. He began his creative career at the Tajikfilm and Uzbekfilm film studios, runs a music hall in the capital of Uzbekistan.
Big movie debut
Georgy Yungvald-Khilkevich mastered the basics of the profession of a director in courses at Mosfilm. After that, he released his debut film at the Odessa film studio. It was the comedy Rainbow Formula.
It described a young scientist from the Institute of Insoluble Problems who is working on a rainbow formula. At the same time, he is not allowed to concentrate on work, constantly distracting to useless meetings and meetings. Many famous actors starred in the picture: Savely Kramarov, Frunze Mkrtchyan, George Vitsin.
Fame and success
The director Jungwald-Khilkevich came to popularity in 1969, when he shot two artistic films at once, which today are regularly repeated on domestic television. Fame brought him the heroic-adventure musical film "Dangerous Tours" with Vladimir Vysotsky and Nikolai Grinko in the lead roles. Critics have described this tape as a historical-revolutionary vaudeville. In this case, the plot is based on real events - the diaries of the Russian revolutionary Alexandra Kollontai.
The film takes place in 1910 in Odessa. Under the guise of a French businessman, an underground activist coming to the side of the Bolsheviks arrives in the city. Its task is to organize through the port in Odessa a reliable channel for the delivery of prohibited literature to Russia. For this purpose, a variety show theater is organized, which goes on tour throughout the country.
In the same year, director Jungwald-Khilkevich directed the military-adventure drama "Insolence". The main characters of this tape during the Great Patriotic War find themselves under Vinnitsa. It tells about the construction of an underground complex, which houses the eastern headquarters of Adolf Hitler. In the course of the work, tens of thousands of prisoners of war die.
Musketeers of the king
All-Union recognition to Jungvald-Khilkevich, whose photo is in this article, came in 1978. It was then that his famous epic "D'Artagnan and the Three Musketeers" appeared on the screens. After only a few years, this picture was already considered a classic of Soviet cinema. Thanks to her, Mikhail Boyarsky turned into an idol for millions of viewers.
At the same time, the picture turned out to be a difficult fate. Due to the trial of Georgy Emilievich Yungvald-Khilkevich with screenwriter Mark Rozovsky and poet Yuri Ryashentsev, whose verses were written songs from the film, the tape hit the shelf. The film was not allowed to the viewer for a year, its premiere took place only in 1979.
In this picture, the director turned to his youthful memories, the heroes who helped him cope with a serious injury when he spent four years in a cast, almost without getting out of bed. The action of this story takes place in France in the XVII century. The main character is an impoverished, but noble nobleman from Gascony d'Artagnan, who dreams of joining the royal musketeer. To do this, he goes to the capital.
He lost his main hope of success, a letter of recommendation from Mr. de Treville, lieutenant of the French royal musketeers, after he took part in a fight with Count Rochefort, a famous adventurer who served with Richelieu.
Still, having reached Paris, he again notices Rochefort, rushing after him in pursuit. In a hurry, he accidentally pushes Athos, offends the feelings of Porthos and Aramis. Each musketeer challenges him to a duel. So a friendship is struck between these heroes, who remain inseparable and fall into many dangerous situations.
This tape brought success to the actors who played the musketeers. These are Veniamin Smekhov, Valentin Smirnitsky and Igor Starygin. The picture sounds a lot of songs. It is worth noting that in many films by Jungwald-Khilkevich, vocal compositions are given great importance. The most famous are the "March of the Cardinal Guards", "The Song of Aramis", "Duet of Constance and d'Artagnan", "Ballad of Friendship".
Other famous films
During his career, Jungwald-Khilkevich made more than twenty films. After the success of “D'Artagnan and the Three Musketeers”, “The Musketeers Twenty Years Later” appeared on the screen, then the movie “The Secret of Queen Anne, or The Musketeers Thirty Years Later” and, finally, the tape “The Return of the Musketeers, or Treasures of Cardinal Mazarin”.
In 1979, he shot the musical film "Ah, vaudeville, vaudeville ..." based on the story of Peter Grigoryev's "Daughter of a Russian actor." In 1985, the musical fairy tale "Season of Miracles" was released with Mikhail Boyarsky and Alla Pugacheva in the lead roles. This is a story about an artist who is experiencing a creative crisis, seeking inspiration in the lap of nature. He settles with his friend in a house surrounded by fabulous creatures that live in a forest where various miracles take place.
In 1986, the musical tale "Above the Rainbow" was released. This is a story about a boy named Alik, who loves to dream and write poetry. He has a talent for poetry, but the problem is in physical education classes. In 1988, he directed the historical drama The Prisoner of If Castle, based on the novel by Alexander Dumas Count of Monte Cristo.
Theater work
In 1990, Jungwald-Khilkevich moved to Moscow. In 1997, he began to collaborate with Yuri Kuklachev in the cat theater. He simultaneously performs the duties of director, artist and screenwriter. Designs performances not only in Moscow, but also in Odessa, Paris and Tashkent.
He also tries himself as a director of music videos. At that time, they became extremely popular in Russia. Works with Igor Nadzhiev, Evgenia Kryukova.
The director publishes the book "Our Cinema. Behind the scenes." Jungwald-Khilkevich co-wrote it with his eldest daughter. This is an autobiography that was published in 2000.
In 2003 he transferred to the Theater of Satire as a graphic designer.
Cat Theater Anniversary
In 2015, for the 25th anniversary of the cat theater, Jungwald-Khilkevich is preparing a special performance together with Yuri Kuklachev. The premiere took place on October 15th. This day was the last when the director appeared in public.
He died on November 11, 2015. He was 81 years old. Jungwald-Khilkevich died in intensive care at the Botkin Hospital. He was hospitalized in the surgical department a few days before. Doctors found: the director died due to heart problems.
The hero of our article was buried at the Troekurovsky cemetery.
Personal life
The family of Jungvald-Khilkevich was large. During his life he was married several times. The first time I married a costume designer Svetlana Markova, with whom they worked together at the Odessa film studio. They broke up only in 1970.
From the first marriage, the director was born Natalia in 1960. She became a journalist, for several years she worked as an administrator for the famous composer Yuri Chernavsky.
The second time he married Tatyana Chernova, who was three years younger than him. Chernova made a career as a ballerina in the Opera and Ballet Theater in Uzbekistan. Having married Yungvald-Khilkevich, Tatyana worked with him on the same set for many years. She helped as an assistant on the set of the film "D'Artagnan and the Three Musketeers." But as a result, they also broke up.
His third wife is Nodira Mirzaeva. She is 35 years younger than Jungwald-Khilkevich. Officially, they married in 1995. In the film "Prisoner of If Castle" she played the role of Hyde. They had a daughter, Nina.