MOSCOW, December 17, Pavel Surkov. Today marks the 95th anniversary of the birth of Leonid Bronevoy, one of the most beloved Soviet actors. His life was not as easy as many thought, fame came quite late, and he did not find his audience right away.
Joy and misfortune
The childhood of the future artist seemed cloudless — his father worked in the GPU (they say that her husband’s mother did not approve of this decision, understanding all the risks and responsibilities). The boy studied music and showed talent early — he played the violin and piano.
But everything collapsed when my father was arrested in the late 30s: someone reminded him of an old statement in support of Trotsky. And then the war broke out — and the Bronevs were evacuated to Central Asia, to Chimkent. Remembering how strangers helped his mother, how the locals took care of his family, the artist until his last breath denied any nationalism and always spoke warmly about people from Central Asia.
From baker to actor
Trying to help his family, he changed many occupations, and was even an apprentice baker. And then he ended up in the sewing workshop of the local puppet theater — and fate “changed”; Bronevoy literally fell ill with the stage. He entered the Tashkent Theater and Art Institute, and then the Moscow Art Theater School, from which he graduated as an external student. Then he met his first wife, and soon she gave him a daughter.
An acting career forced Bronevoy to wander all over the country. He was assigned to provincial theaters, but a tragic fate brought him to the Moscow stage. When his daughter was only four, his wife died of cancer, and Leonid Sergeevich decided to go to his relatives in the capital to try his luck. It worked out: he was accepted into the troupe of the Theater on Malaya Bronnaya. But even there they did not give big roles for a long time, until the famous director Anatoly Efros came. It was he who noticed Bronevoy, and soon all of Moscow began to talk about the new theater star.
Andropov supported
Well, then — the legendary “Seventeen Moments of Spring”. They say that Yuri Andropov personally approved the actors for the main roles. Seeing Bronevoy's last name, the KGB chairman suddenly became thoughtful. There was something familiar about her — as it turned out, for some time Yuri Vladimirovich studied in Kyiv and rented a corner from some Bronevoy, who fed a poor student. This Bronev turned out to be the actor’s grandfather.
Leonid Sergeevich did not look much like the real Heinrich Muller, but director Tatyana Lioznova needed organic matter — and Bronevoy had more than enough of it. An incredibly charming, but at the same time cunning and dangerous enemy: such a fascist has never been shown on our screen. It is not surprising that the images of Stirlitz and Müller instantly disappeared into folklore, being realized in numerous anecdotes — which, it must be said, both Bronevoy and Vyacheslav Tikhonov were quite skeptical about.
But one of the recognizable features of the screen Müller is — constant twitching of the head — appeared impromptu: the collar of the suit was too small for Bronevoy and stung all the time. But Lioznova really liked the gesture and decided to leave it that way.
By the way, the premiere of the television film coincided with an important event in the life of the artist himself: on the first day of filming, he married his second wife, with whom he lived until the end of his days. It turned out quite symbolic.
Mark Zakharov
After “Seventeen Moments of Spring” Bronevoy became famous literally throughout the country. New roles appeared, including those of Mark Zakharov, to whose Lenkom troupe Bronevoy moved and forever connected his life with this very stage. There were also vivid cinematic images — the doctor in “Formula of Love”, pop artist Arkady Velurov in Mikhail Kozakov’s film “Pokrovsky Gates”. For the role of Velurov, the actor’s long-standing talent came in handy — he himself plays the piano in the film.
In the theater, Zakharov also always noted Bronevoy and gave him new roles — here the Fried Eggs in “Marriage”, and the Duke of Norfolk in “Royal Games”, and the Father in “The Executioner’s Lament”, Firs in “The Seagull”…
Leonid Sergeevich played selflessly and zealously. There were rumors about the difficult and quarrelsome character of the actor. But for him, nothing simply existed except his profession, so he focused on it, not allowing the slightest hackwork and being harsh towards those who, in his opinion, “underperformed.”
The audience adored him: they went to the theater “to see Bronevoy”, greeting his every appearance on stage with an ovation. He also continued to act in films. He was attentive to the choice of roles, and did not exchange himself for consumer goods and newfangled TV series — that’s why the roles were notable, such as the actor Zhuravlev in the film by Alexei Popogrebsky “Simple Things” (for which the actor received a “Nick”).
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He left, not having lived a little more than a year before his 90th anniversary: the artist was seen off with applause on the stage of Lenkom, which had become his home. Soon, Leonid Sergeevich’s wife also died. But the roles remained, literally dismantled into quotes. And also incredible charisma, fantastic organics and amazing craftsmanship.