Correspondence with Stalin
Actor Yevgeny Morgunov was born on April 27, 1927 in Moscow. From the age of two he grew up without a father, his mother worked as a housekeeper. They lived poorly in a small room on Matrosskaya Tishina. When the war began, 14-year-old Eugene got a job at a factory for the production of cannonballs. In her spare time, she studied at the theater club in the Palace of Culture and dreamed of becoming an actress. He stated this in a letter to Joseph Stalin in 1943:
“Dear Joseph Vissarionovich, please accept me as an actor! I work as a puppet in a factory, but I want to be in the arts – I participated in amateur performances, worked as an extra at Mosfilm. But the manager of our factory is holding back my enthusiasm.”
Soon, on a government letterhead signed by Stalin, a reply came to the name of the factory manager: “Send Comrade EA Morgunov to the Moscow Chamber Theater as a supporting actor. Stalin’s.”
in a separate report
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Young was sent to gain experience in the Tairov Chamber Theater. In 1944, 17-year-old Morgunov entered VGIK, in the acting department Sergei Gerasimov. His first notable role was as the villain Yevgeny Stakhovich in the film adaptation of The Young Guard (1948). The actor played a negative character so convincingly that children followed him and attacked him. This was reported in the documentary film “A great man’s jokes”. Evgeny Morgunov.
A little-known episode from the artist’s life is connected with the “Young Guard”. The music for the performance of the same name, staged before the shooting of the film, was written by Dmitri Shostakovich. Upon learning of this, Morgunov persuaded the composer to listen to him and surprised him with his talent.
“Yes, young man, you should definitely devote yourself to music,” Shostakovich said, and wrote a letter of recommendation to Vasily Tselikovsky, professor of the conservatory.
However, Morgunov did not take advantage of this chance to devote himself to cinema: “Two trains were moving towards each other at full speed at the same time. It was bound to be a disaster. But it did not happen: the trains did not meet! Why? It doesn’t have to be”.
Morgunov’s fellow students recalled that he was interested in history, psychology, poetry and music. According to them, he had excellent hearing and could play Tchaikovsky’s first concerto for piano and orchestra from memory.
Gaidai’s comedies
For about 20 years, Morgunov starred in mostly little-known historical and patriotic films. By the time he was 34, he had changed a lot due to diabetes: he had become fat and bald. It was then that Ivan Pyryev, the director of Mosfilm, drew attention to him. He called his secretary and said:
“Tell Leonid Iovich Gaidai that I approved Yevgeny Alexandrovich Morgunov for the role of Veteran. Do not waste time, waste money, do not call anyone else.
Morgunov gained real popularity in the 1960s when he appeared in Gaidai’s comedies Moonshiners, Mongrel Dog and an Unusual Cross Country, Operation Y and Shurik’s Other Adventures, and Prisoner of the Caucasus or Shurik’s New Adventures. “Everything was stolen before us!”, “Do not make noise. I am a disabled person “(” Operation “Y”), “This is not a lezginka for you, but a twist … You crush a cigarette butt with the toe of your right foot – like that. You crush the second cigarette butt with the toe of your left foot. And now both cigarette butts together you crush: op-op-op ”(“ Caucasian Prisoner ”) and others.
In the following years, the actress did not play the main roles, but her secondary characters were memorable. In total, Morgunov wrote “Three Fat Men”, “The Tale of Lost Time”, “Seven Old Men and a Girl”, “Pokrovsky Gates”, “Simply Terrible!” He acted in 72 films, including and the Destiny of Man. In 1963, he tried himself as a director and shot the film “When the Cossacks Cry” based on the story of Mikhail Sholokhov.
Antiques and scandals
The artist was an energetic, sociable, witty and curious person. During the tour, Morgunov learned about local attractions, got into a car and drove to discover new places. He tried to take advantage of everything and skillfully used his popularity to buy food, medicine, any scarce goods and solve various problems. Learning about the problems of his acquaintances, the actor rushed to solve them with the help of links. Georgy Danelia spoke about Morgunov’s ability to build relationships:
“In an actor’s work on a role there is a concept – an extension. Attachments can be different: from below, on an equal footing, from above. In the solo performances of Morgunov there were only two outbuildings: on an equal footing with the authorities, and also on top with everyone.
He communicated amicably with officials of any rank: he was friendly and relaxed, as with a classmate at the same table. And he spoke to the rest calmly, in a flat voice, with a sense of his own superiority and slight contempt. The “others” realized before them that he was the boss. And so they obeyed him and let him go anywhere.
Sometimes Morgunov went too far in communicating with his superiors. During the filming of The Prisoner of the Caucasus, Gaidai was worried that the chase footage wasn’t funny enough. When the film crew got together to watch the footage indoors every night, Morgunov brought two girls there. The director wanted to remove the outsiders from the hall, but the actor said: “Gaidai, you never catch mice!”
The director was offended and replied: “This is the last movie with you, Evgeny Alexandrovich.” He then crossed out all the episodes from the script with Experienced and then shot the movie without Morgunov. When Sergei Bondarchuk tried to reconcile them, Gaidai said that “actor Morgunov is no longer for him.”
For many years, the actor maintained warm relations with colleagues from the trio “Coward, Dunce, Experienced” – Yuri Nikulin and Georgy Vitsin. With the development of the yellow press in the 1990s, Morgunov told reporters that “we all worked together, and for some reason the State Prize was awarded only to Nikulin.” The actor was offended by a colleague, but it was later reported that they reconciled.
Health problems
At the age of 25, Morgunov was diagnosed with diabetes and therefore recovered greatly. In her youth, the actress skipped insulin injections and loved to eat a lot, which negatively affected her health. Morgunov despised his fullness, as it did not interfere with his career.
In the last 15 years of his life, the actor began to experience complications. He was often hospitalized, threatening to have both swollen and swollen legs amputated. When the pain was unbearable, the performer went on stage in free slippers and joked that on the way to the theater, “a log fell on his foot”.
During the exacerbations, Morgunov was angry and often said too much, so many stopped greeting him. The actor never complained about feeling bad, and those around him did not understand why he was so angry.
In 1994, doctors no longer concealed that Morgunov would not leave the hospital. Learning about this, the actor said to the professor:
“You can’t carry me forward with your feet. I’m irresistible!”
He actually left the hospital and visited the Maly Theater on the same day. Morgunov’s health was stable for several years, but in 1998 a disaster happened – his 26-year-old son Nikolai died in a car accident. The tragedy crippled the artist, and he finally stopped following the advice of doctors. Morgunov’s wife, Natalya, spoke about her husband’s condition during this period:
“When Kolya died, Zhenya fell into despair for the first time in her life. Her husband tried not to show how hard it was for her, but I saw it: it had been cut from the root.
Morgunov at that time almost did not walk. On the morning of June 25, 1999, after a second stroke, he died at the Moscow Central Clinical Hospital at the age of 73.
Source: Gazeta
Barbara Dickson is a seasoned writer for “Social Bites”. She keeps readers informed on the latest news and trends, providing in-depth coverage and analysis on a variety of topics.