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Georgi Emilyevich Yungvald-Khilkevich (russian: Георгий Эмильевич Юнгвальд-Хилькевич; 22 October 1934 – 11 November 2015) was a Soviet and Russian
film director
A film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfilment of that vision. The director has a key role in choosing the cast members, pr ...
, screenwriter, producer, actor,
theatre director
A theatre director or stage director is a professional in the theatre field who oversees and orchestrates the mounting of a theatre production such as a play, opera, dance, drama, musical theatre performance, etc. by unifying various endeavors a ...
and set designer.
Most famous for his musicals and
Alexandre Dumas
Alexandre Dumas (, ; ; born Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie (), 24 July 1802 – 5 December 1870), also known as Alexandre Dumas père (where '' '' is French for 'father', to distinguish him from his son Alexandre Dumas fils), was a French writer ...
adaptations. He directed 22 motion pictures and TV films between 1966 and 2009. Honored Artist of the
Russian SFSR
The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR or RSFSR ( rus, Российская Советская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика, Rossíyskaya Sovétskaya Federatívnaya Soci ...
(1990) and
Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inva ...
(1995).
family and served as a colonel in the
Imperial Russian Army
The Imperial Russian Army (russian: Ру́сская импера́торская а́рмия, tr. ) was the armed land force of the Russian Empire, active from around 1721 to the Russian Revolution of 1917. In the early 1850s, the Russian Ar ...
and a
commandant
Commandant ( or ) is a title often given to the officer in charge of a military (or other uniformed service) training establishment or academy. This usage is common in English-speaking nations. In some countries it may be a military or police ran ...
in
Warsaw
Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officiall ...
. He joined
Bolsheviks
The Bolsheviks (russian: Большевики́, from большинство́ ''bol'shinstvó'', 'majority'),; derived from ''bol'shinstvó'' (большинство́), "majority", literally meaning "one of the majority". also known in English ...
in 1917. Georgi's father Emil Iosifovich Yungvald-Khilkevich was an acclaimed theater director and one of the founders of the
Uzbek National Theater of Opera and Ballet (later Navoi Theater). His paternal grandfather came from Polish
szlachta
The ''szlachta'' (Polish: endonym, Lithuanian: šlėkta) were the noble estate of the realm in the Kingdom of Poland, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth who, as a class, had the dominating position in ...
and owned railroads in Western Ukraine, while his wife Elena Cavalieri was an
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
; she was said to be the sister of the famous opera singer
Lina Cavalieri who was very popular in the Russian Empire and regularly visited
Kyiv
Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the seventh-most populous city in Europe.
Ky ...
with concerts.
Georgi Yungvald-Khilkevich graduated from the
Ostrovsky Tashkent Theatrical Institute in 1963. He worked as a set designer at Tashkent theaters and film studios. In 1966 he finished directing and screenwriting
Mosfilm
Mosfilm (russian: Мосфильм, ''Mosfil’m'' ) is a film studio which is among the largest and oldest in the Russian Federation and in Europe. Founded in 1924 in the USSR as a production unit of that nation's film monopoly, its output inclu ...
courses and started working at the
Odessa Film Studio
Odesa Film Studio ( uk, Одеська кіностудія художніх фільмів) is the Ukrainian, formerly Soviet film studio in Odesa, one of the first in the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union. It is partially owned by a governm ...
, where he later directed most of his movies.
His first major breakthrough happened in 1969 with the musical film ''
Dangerous Tour'' loosely based on the memoirs of
Alexandra Kollontai
Alexandra Mikhailovna Kollontai (russian: Алекса́ндра Миха́йловна Коллонта́й, née Domontovich, Домонто́вич; – 9 March 1952) was a Russian revolutionary, politician, diplomat and Marxist the ...
. The screenplay was written with
Vladimir Vysotsky
Vladimir Semyonovich Vysotsky ( rus, links=no, Владимир Семёнович Высоцкий, p=vlɐˈdʲimʲɪr sʲɪˈmʲɵnəvʲɪtɕ vɨˈsotskʲɪj; 25 January 1938 – 25 July 1980), was a Soviet singer-songwriter, poet, and actor ...
in mind, who eventually played the main part, wrote all the songs and did some uncredited contribution to the final draft. His partners were
Nikolai Grinko
Nikolai Grigoryevich Grinko or Mykola Hryhorovych Hrynko ( uk, Микола Григорович Гринько; russian: Никола́й Григо́рьевич Гринько́; 22 May 1920, Kherson – 10 April 1989, Kyiv was a Soviet ...
,
Yefim Kopelyan
Yefim Zakharovich Kopelyan (russian: Ефим Захарович Копелян; 12 April 1912 – 6 March 1975) was a Soviet Union, Soviet actor of theatre and cinema, one of the legendary masters of the Bolshoi Theatre of Drama (BDT) in Leni ...
,
Ivan Pereverzev
Ivan Fyodorovich Pereverzev (russian: Ива́н Фёдорович Переве́рзев; 3 September 1914 – 23 April 1978) was a Soviet and Russian stage and film actor. People's Artist of the USSR (1975).
Filmography
* '' The Convey ...
and
Georgi Yumatov
Georgi Aleksandrovich Yumatov ( rus, Гeopгий Алeксандpoвич Юматов, p=ɡʲɪˈorɡʲɪj jʊˈmatəf; 11 March 1926 – 6 October 1997) was a Soviet and Russian film actor. He appeared in 72 films between 1946 and 1994. He ...
. The film became one of the leaders of the Soviet box office in 1970 (9th place).
In 1978 Khilkevich turned to
Alexandre Dumas
Alexandre Dumas (, ; ; born Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie (), 24 July 1802 – 5 December 1870), also known as Alexandre Dumas père (where '' '' is French for 'father', to distinguish him from his son Alexandre Dumas fils), was a French writer ...
who happened to be one of his favourite writers since childhood. His 3-part made-for-TV adventure musical ''
D'Artagnan and Three Musketeers
''D'Artagnan and Three Musketeers'' (russian: Д'Артаньян и три мушкетёра, ''D'Artanyan i tri mushketyora'') is a three-part swashbuckler musical miniseries produced in the Soviet Union and first aired in 1978. It is based o ...
'' was an ultimate success, with many songs and catchphrases becoming part of the popular culture. It was followed by three sequels in
1992,
1993
File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peacefu ...
and
2009. In 1988 he made another Dumas adaptation –
The Prisoner of Château d'If based on
The Count of Monte Cristo novel. The screenplay was co-written by
Mark Zakharov
Mark Anatolyevich Zakharov (russian: Марк Анатольевич Захаров; 13 October 1933 – 28 September 2019) was a Soviet and Russian stage and film director, screenwriter and pedagogue best known for his fantasy parable movies. He ...
, while all the songs were written and performed by
Alexander Gradsky
Alexander Borisovich Gradsky (russian: Алекса́ндр Бори́сович Гра́дский; born Alexander Borisovich Fradkin, 3 November 1949 – 28 November 2021) was a Russian rock singer, bard, multi-instrumentalist and composer. H ...
.
Among his other notable works was another musical
Ah, Vaudeville, Vaudeville... and a comedy
The Art of Living in Odessa based on
The Odessa Tales
''Odessa Stories'' (russian: Одесские рассказы, Odesskiye rasskazy), also known as ''Tales of Odessa'', is a collection of four short stories by Isaac Babel, set in Odessa in the last days of the Russian empire and the Russian Revo ...
by
Isaac Babel
Isaac Emmanuilovich Babel (russian: Исаак Эммануилович Бабель, p=ˈbabʲɪlʲ; – 27 January 1940) was a Russian writer, journalist, playwright, and literary translator. He is best known as the author of ''Red Cavalry'' ...
. He rarely turned to cinema during the
post-Soviet years. In 1997 he joined
Yuri Kuklachev
Yuri Dmitrievich Kuklachyov (russian: Ю́рий Дми́триевич Куклачёв; born 12 April 1949, in Khimki) is a Soviet and Russian clown who was awarded the title People’s Artist of the RSFSR
People's Artist of the RSFSR (russia ...
at the National Cats Theater in Moscow as a stage director and scriptwriter. He also worked as a set designer in various theaters.
His last film in the Musketeer series directed in 2007 and screened in 2009 was met with harsh critique and became a box office bomb.
Yungvald-Khilkevich died from the heart failure at the age of 81. He was buried at the
Troyekurovskoye Cemetery
The Troyekurovo Cemetery (russian: Троекуровское кладбище, Troyekurovskoye kladbishche), alternatively known as ''Novo-Kuntsevo Cemetery'' (russian: Ново-Кунцевское кладбище, Novo-Kuntsevskoye kladbishch ...
in Moscow. He was survived by his third wife, an actress Nadira Mirzaeva (born 1969), and two daughters — Natalia (born 1960) and Nina (born 1997).
За кадром
/ref>
Selected filmography
Bibliography
Georgi Yungvald-Khilkevich, Natalia Yungvald-Khilkevich. ''За кадром ('' eng. ''Behind the Screen)''. Moscow: Цетрополиграф, 2000 (Autobiography).
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yungvald-Khilkevich, Georgi
1934 births
2015 deaths
Soviet film directors
Soviet screenwriters
Male screenwriters
Mass media people from Tashkent
Burials in Troyekurovskoye Cemetery
Russian film directors
20th-century Russian screenwriters
20th-century Russian male writers