The presenter of the radio station Moscow Speaks, renowned film translator and writer Leonid Volodarsky has died at the age of 74, according to family members cited by the station.
Family statements indicate Volodarsky passed away in Moscow after a prolonged illness. Reports on Telegram channels note that he battled pneumonia in his final days.
Family sources say that on August 5 he felt unwell, an ambulance was called, and he was initially placed in a standard hospital ward. On August 6 his condition worsened, and he was moved to intensive care before he died later. Another report from Mash suggests heart failure may have been the cause, with illness affecting his heart and blood vessels contributing to breathing difficulties after his August 5 hospitalization.
Volodarsky’s translations
Born May 20, 1950, in Moscow, Leonid Volodarsky studied at the Moscow State Institute of Foreign Languages, where Maurice Thorez once taught. He spoke English, French, Spanish and Italian fluently.
Volodarsky began translating and dubbing foreign films in 1968. When VHS tapes made distributing movies easier, pirates increasingly turned to his talents for speedy, on-the-fly translations.
A distinctive feature of Volodarsky’s work was his ability to translate films in real time during the viewing experience. His voice work extended to iconic titles such as The Godfather (1972), The Terminator (1984), Die Hard (1988), Star Wars (1999), The Sopranos (1999), X-Men (2000) and Django Unchained (2012). He was known for a unique nasal pronunciation, a trait he explained came from an old nasal injury rather than any intended latch. He was candid about the proportion of projects that reached the level of masterpieces, good cinema, or simply entertaining nonsense, based on his own years of experience.
Over three decades, he reportedly worked on thousands of films. He once recalled a friend and fellow translator who estimated his tally at nearly six thousand works, with a small portion deemed truly outstanding and a substantial share merely enjoyable or average. The exact counts varied with time, but Volodarsky stayed proud of his prolific career.
In the late 1990s, he collaborated with the NTV channel to translate films and series for studios, and his work helped bring translated works from authors like Stephen King and Jerome Selinger to Russian audiences. He stepped back from voice-over work in the late 2000s but returned briefly in March 2022, commenting on the challenges American studios faced in distributing films in Russia due to the political climate surrounding Ukraine. He expressed readiness to negotiate terms, though he stressed that the work had to be fairly compensated and not exploited by piracy or free distribution.
From 2014, Volodarsky was a longtime host on the Moskva Speaks radio station, where he presented a weekly program on Soviet history. Earlier in his career, he had hosted programs on Radio Mayak and Gümüş Yağmur, shaping a broad and enduring presence in Russian broadcast culture.
legendary man
The editor-in-chief of the Moskva Speaks station extended condolences to Volodarsky’s family and friends, describing him as a legendary figure and an outstanding professional. Fellow voice artist Andrey Gavrilov recalled how the news of Volodarsky’s passing shocked him, noting that losing someone he had known for many years felt especially hard. Gavrilov added that when a person departs, it is always painful, and the pain is amplified when the person is a long-standing colleague.
A tribute to Volodarsky’s life will take place on August 11 at 11:00 Moscow time, at the Central Clinical Hospital No.