Erast Garin

Erast Pavlovich Garin (Russian: Эра́ст Па́влович Га́рин; 10 November [O.S. 28 October] 1902 – 4 September 1980) was a Soviet actor, director and screenwriter. He was, together with Igor Ilyinsky and Sergey Martinson, one of the leading comic actors of Vsevolod Meyerhold's company and of the Soviet cinema. He was named People's Artist of the USSR in 1977.

Garin was born in Ryazan as Erast Gerasimov. He started his acting career in 1919 in an amateur theatre of the Ryazan military district. In 1926 he finished his education in the experimental theatrical workshops of the People's Commissariat for Education. He always looked up upon Meyerhold and Michael Chekhov as his mentors, rejecting naturalistic acting techniques propagated by Konstantin Stanislavski and paying utmost importance to voice and gesture.[1]

Garin worked with Meyerhold in his theatre until its dissolution in 1936. Among his triumphs was the part of Khlestakov in the 1926 production of The Government Inspector. The trance-like quality of his "grotesquely anxious" performances in Meyerhold's productions could be attributed to an expressionistic acting style.[2]

Nikolay Akimov's Theatre of Comedy was the next theatre he worked in. In 1946 he gave up stage performances and concentrated on film acting. In 1941 he was awarded the Stalin Prize for the role of Tarakanov in the film Musical Story. Half-blindness prevented him from playing any major roles in the 1960s and 1970s.[3]

Together with his wife Khesya Lokshina he was director of several films, for which he also contributed scripts. They adapted Mikhail Zoshchenko's novel Respected Comrade in 1930. Garin's memoirs, entitled With Meyerhold, appeared in 1974.

Filmography

As actor

  • Lieutenant Kijé (Поручик Киже, 1934)
  • Marriage (Женитьба, 1936)
  • Bezhin Meadow (Бежин луг, 1937)
  • On the Frontier (На границе, 1938)
  • Musical story (Музыкальная история, 1940)
  • Shveik readies for Battle (Швейк готовится к бою, 1942)
  • Ivan Nikulin, Russian Sailor (Иван Никулин — русский матрос, 1944)
  • The Wedding (Свадьба, 1944)
  • Blue Mountain Land (Синегория, 1946)
  • Cinderella (Золушка, 1947)
  • Encounter at the Elbe (Встреча на Эльбе, 1949)
  • The Inspector-General (Ревизор, 1952)
  • Unfinished Story (Неоконченная повесть, 1955)
  • The Girl Without an Address (Девушка без адреса, 1957)
  • Beloved Beauty (Краса ненаглядная, 1958)
  • The Witch (Ведьма, 1958)
  • Soldiers Were Going (Шли солдаты, 1958)
  • Russian Souvenir (Русский сувенир, 1960)
  • Alyonka (Аленка, 1961)
  • Aquatic (Водяной, 1961)
  • Kain XVIII (Каин XVIII, 1963)
  • An Optimistic Tragedy (Оптимистическая трагедия, 1963)
  • A Little Frog Is looking for His Father (voice) (Лягушонок ищет папу (озвучивание), 1964)
  • The Ordinary Miracle (Обыкновенное чудо, 1964)
  • Rasplyuev's Days of Fun (Весёлые расплюевские дни, 1966)
  • Two Days of Miracles (Два дня чудес, 1970)
  • Gentlemen of Fortune (Джентльмены удачи, 1971)
  • If you are a Man (Если ты мужчина..., 1971)
  • Much Ado About Nothing (Много шума из ничего, 1973)
  • Nylon 100% (Нейлон 100%, 1974)
  • Trading a Dog for a Steam Locomotive (Меняю собаку на паровоз, 1975)
  • Olden times of Poshekhon (Пошехонская старина, 1975)

As director

  • Marriage (Женитьба, 1936)
  • Doctor Kalyuzhnyy (Доктор Калюжный, 1939)
  • Prince and the Pauper (Принц и нищий, 1942)
  • Sinogeria (Синегория, 1946)
  • An Ordinary Miracle (Обыкновенное чудо, 1964)
  • Rasplyuev's Days of Fun (Весёлые расплюевские дни, 1966)

As script writer

  • Marriage (Женитьба, 1936)
  • An Ordinary Miracle (Обыкновенное чудо, 1964)
  • Rasplyuev's Days of Fun (Весёлые расплюевские дни, 1966)

References

  1. ↑ Эраст Гарин на сайте Театра-студии Киноактёра Archived 2016-04-19 at the Wayback Machine.
  2. ↑ Julia Listengarten. Russian Tragifarce: Its Cultural and Political Roots. Susquehanna University Press, 2000. ISBN 1-57591-033-0. Page 137.
  3. ↑ Ученик чародея
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