Georgy Nikolaevich Danelia (1930-2019) - Soviet and Russian film director, screenwriter and memoirist. People's Artist of the USSR. Laureate of State Prizes of the USSR and the Russian Federation.
Danelia shot such well-known films as "I Walk Through Moscow", "Mimino", "Afonya" and "Kin-Dza-Dza", which have become classics of Soviet cinema.
There are many interesting facts in the biography of Danelia, which we will tell about in this article.
So, before you is a short biography of George Danelia.
Danelia's biography
Georgy Danelia was born on August 25, 1930 in Tbilisi. His father, Nikolai Dmitrievich, worked in the Moscow Metrostroy. Mother, Mary Ivlianovna, initially worked as an economist, after which she began to shoot films at Mosfilm.
Childhood and youth
Love for cinematography instilled in George by his mother, as well as his uncle Mikhail Chiaureli and aunt Veriko Anjaparidze, who were People's Artists of the Soviet Union.
Almost all of Danelia's childhood was spent in Moscow, where his parents moved a year after the birth of their son. In the capital, his mother became a successful production director, as a result of which she was awarded the 1st degree Stalin Prize.
At the beginning of World War II (1941-1945), the family moved to Tbilisi, but after a couple of years they returned to Moscow.
After leaving school, Georgy entered the local architectural institute, which he graduated in 1955. After receiving his diploma, he worked for several months at the Institute of Urban Design, but every day he realized that he wanted to connect his life with cinema.
The next year Danelia decided to take the Advanced Directing Courses, which helped him gain a lot of useful knowledge.
Films
Danelia appeared on the big screen as a child. When he was about 12 years old, he played a cameo role in the film "Georgy Saakadze". After that, he appeared a couple of times in artistic paintings as minor characters.
The first directorial work of Georgy Danelia was the short film "Vasisualy Lokhankin". Over time, the guy got a job as a production director at Mosfilm.
In 1960, the premiere of Danelia's feature film "Seryozha" took place, which won several film awards. After 4 years, he presented the famous lyric comedy "I Walk Through Moscow", which brought him all-Union fame.
In 1965, Georgy Nikolayevich filmed the equally popular comedy "Thirty Three", where the main role went to Yevgeny Leonov. It was after this tape that the director's humorous talent was used in the newsreel "Wick", for which the man shot about a dozen miniatures.
After that, the pictures “Don't Cry!”, “Completely Lost” and “Mimino” appeared on the big screen. The latter work gained immense fame and is still considered a classic of Soviet cinema. The audience was delighted with the performance of Vakhtang Kikabidze and Frunzik Mkrtchyan.
During that period of his biography, Danelia also shot the tragicomedy Athos, which told about the life of an ordinary plumber.
An interesting fact is that in 1975 the film was the leader in distribution - 62.2 million viewers. In 1979, the "sad comedy" "Autumn Marathon" appeared on the screen, where the main male role went to Oleg Basilashvili.
In 1986, Georgy Danelia presented the fantastic film "Kin-dza-dza!", Which still does not lose its popularity. The use of science fiction in tragicomedy was a novelty for Soviet cinema. Many phrases of the heroes quickly became popular among the people, and many used the famous "Ku" as a greeting with friends.
Interestingly, Danelia considered his best work the film "Tears were Falling", which did not gain much popularity. The key character was played by Evgeny Leonov. When the hero got hit by a fragment of a magic mirror, he began to notice the vices of people, which he had not previously paid attention to.
In the 90s, Georgy Danelia made 3 films: "Nastya", "Heads and Tails" and "Passport". For these works in 1997 he was awarded the State Prize of Russia. Danelia also co-authored the comedy "Gentlemen of Fortune" and the New Year's tape "Frenchman".
In 2000, Georgy Nikolayevich presented the comedy "Fortune", and 13 years later he shot the cartoon "Ku! Kin-Dza-Dza!". An interesting fact is that from 1965 until his death, the actor Yevgeny Leonov starred in all the films of the master.
Theatre
In addition to directing, Danelia showed interest in music, graphics and painting. Two academies - the National Cinematic Arts and Nika - chose him as their academician.
Over the years of his creative biography, Georgy Danelia has received many awards in various categories. He won a number of awards, including "Nika", "Golden Ram", "Crystal Globe", "Triumph", "Golden Eagle" and many others.
Since 2003, the man served as chairman of the George Danelia Foundation, which set itself the goal of helping the development of Russian cinema.
In 2015, the foundation launched a new project, Cinema in the Theater, which consisted of stage adaptation of popular films. The authors of the project decided to start the reverse process of filming theater plays.
Personal life
During his life, Danelia was married three times. His first wife was the daughter of the Deputy Minister of the Oil Industry Irina Gizburg, with whom he married in 1951.
This marriage lasted for about 5 years. During this time, the couple had a girl named Svetlana, who will become a lawyer in the future.
After that, George married actress Lyubov Sokolova, but this marriage was never registered. Later, the couple had a boy, Nikolai. Having lived with Lyubov for about 27 years, Danelia decided to leave her for another woman.
For the third time, Georgy Nikolaevich married actress and director Galina Yurkova. The woman was 14 years younger than her husband.
In his youth, the man had a long affair with the writer Victoria Tokareva, but the matter never came to a wedding.
In the 21st century Danelia published 6 biographical books: "Stowaway Passenger", "The Toasted One Drinks to the Bottom", "Chito-Grito", "Gentlemen of Fortune and Other Film Scripts", "Don't Cry!" and "The cat is gone, but the smile remains."
Death
George experienced his first clinical death back in 1980. The reason for this was peritonitis, which negatively affected the work of the heart.
A couple of months before his death, the director was admitted to the hospital with pneumonia. To stabilize his breathing, doctors introduced him into an artificial coma, but this did not help.
Georgy Nikolaevich Danelia died on April 4, 2019 at the age of 88. Death was due to cardiac arrest.
Danelia Photos
