Actor Ural Vladimir: biography and photos

Few will now remember actors of the early twentieth century. To this day, few of them have survived, for example, Vladimir Zeldin. But today it will not be about him, but about a man famous for his work in silent films and the first Soviet films. This Uralsky Vladimir (August 28, 1887 - May 15, 1955) - an actor who played in more than one hundred films and was engaged in scoring cartoons in the first half of the twentieth century. Most of his roles are episodic, but it can not be said that he always remained in the shadows. Vladimir was a favorite of the public both in the theater and in the cinema.

Ural Vladimir: Biography

At the age of 8, the future actor went to work in a bakery in his native Orenburg, where he worked hard for 14 years, until he found a real vocation for himself. In 1909, he went to work in the theater, where, even without special education, he became a real celebrity.

The real sensation among the theater-goers was his appearance in the play "Bitter Destiny," written by Pisemsky. There he played the main role - Ananiya Yakovleva.

The work on the drama was very difficult, but the Ural Vladimir perfectly got used to the role of an obrok muzhik, deceived by his wife, hard-working and honest. In the second half of the play, he needed to depict the killing of the child, it was this moment that was hard for the actor, but Uralsky managed to do it. The audience believed that they were a desperate man. The performance was an extraordinary success.

It was at this time that the actor hides his real name Popov and takes a pseudonym - the Urals. His descendants still have a document issued by the city chancellery. Actors at that time could take another name, which contemporaries called street.

Carier start

After "Bitter fate" Vladimir noticed the capital's masters of the scene - Bogolyubov, Dobronravov and Leonidov. They help him get a job in the Moscow Art Theater and give a role in the production "On the Floor", where he was preparing to play Mite. The actor could not get a professional education, but he won all the directors with his talent.

However, Vladimir Ural could not implement his plans. He was sent to Helsingfors, because he was considered an unreliable citizen. This in 1914 was not uncommon. In the capital, the actor managed to return after the revolution, but he did not permanently reside in Moscow until 1923. Before that time, the actor worked in different theaters.

"Strike"

Actor Vladimir Uralsky began his film career with a silent movie. He starred in the first film "Strike" by Sergei Eisenstein. It was a full-length picture, which was planned as part of a multi-part agitational epic. Vladimir got the role of a worker.

The script of this film totaled only 10 pages, among which were prologue and epilogue, not included in the final picture. Feature of this picture was that it did not have the main roles. All participants were equivalent to each other. Critics still consider the film "The Strike" a brilliant work.

"Battleship Potemkin"

Ural Vladimir continued to work with Sergei Eisenstein, starring in his most famous film "The Battleship Potemkin." The tape was popular all over the world and inscribed in the history of world cinema. Ural Vladimir Mikhailovich (photo of which you can see on this page) played the role of sailor in the tape. Critics flattered about his work. In one of the magazines in the publication there were words: "The play of actors is so convincing that one can even become a Bolshevik".

However, the scene was most memorable to spectators, when the wheelchair rolled along the famous staircase in Odessa. This episode was used more than once in comedies and other films. In the second half of the twentieth century, this picture came a second round of glory thanks to the Italian director Paolo Vilagio and his famous Fantozzi.

"Albidium"

Another significant picture for the Urals was Albidium, published in 1928. There he played a major role and appeared before the audience in the guise of a botanist. This work differed from the previous ones in that the Ural Vladimir did not agitate the audience for Soviet power, but denounced the established system and bureaucracy.

At the box office, this film failed. The first three days he still collected the audience, and then he stopped walking. Later, the authorities banned this film because of the prototype of the character of the Urals. The film guessed that the scientist-breeder is none other than Nikolai Vavilov, recognized as a state criminal. The spectators did not like the grain trade scene, because in the thirties the country had a food crisis, and in the picture they sent wheat abroad.

"Restless economy"

Vladimir Ural, whose films were mostly close to politics and the party, in 1946 starred in an unusual picture for himself "Restless economy" director Mikhail Zharov. It was a military comedy about the savvy of Soviet soldiers.

There he again worked with famous actors - Filippov, Lyubimov and Pugovkin. The role of Vladimir was small, but memorable. He became an ordinary Gvozdarev, whom critics noted for reliability. During the war years, Uralsky filmed a lot, but he remembered this role especially.

"First-grader"

Another unusual work of the Urals was the children's film "First-grader", where he appeared in the usual role of an honest man. In one scene he played a policeman. Despite a small role, many still remember the courageous and strict minister of the law. By today's standards this film is rather short - only 68 minutes. This is a simple and understandable picture, explaining to children that their duty is to learn.

The tape was shot according to the story of Eugene Schwartz, a popular author in the post-war years. Before the release of the film, a part of the story of the same name was published in the magazine "Murzilka", so the children waited for the picture to be released. In 1964, the picture was given a second life at the studio named after Gorky, where restorers restored footage on film. At the beginning of the XXI century in many schools this picture was shown to children. According to critics, despite its naivety, compared with modern cinema, the painting "First-grader" is a vital film that every junior schoolchild needs to see.

The latest works of the actor

One of the last works of Vladimir Mikhailovich was the role of a merchant in the second adaptation of the play "The Inspector General" in 1952. This work is valuable because the director Vladimir Petrov gave the play absolutely verbatim. This is not the first classic film in which the Urals was shot. Earlier, in 1936, he played a bankrupt official in the tape "Gobsek", which was also shot strictly according to the classic work.

Uralsky Vladimir Mikhailovich died in 1955, but his work remains to live and in our days. A large number of films with his participation are now being digitized and again appearing on screens. It is interesting that the next year after the death of the actor, his last film "Green Lights", where he played Lutsenko, appeared on the screens. This work was fundamentally different from previous paintings, primarily because it completely lacked politics, and the feelings and emotions of a person came to the fore.

For his acting life, Vladimir Mikhailovich has appeared in various films. His first pictures were agitational and political, and along with changes in the country he began to appear in comedies, classical paintings and melodramas. It is the romantic drama that can be called the band "Green Lights", in which a large part is given to describe the relationship in the classic love triangle. If you analyze all the work of the Urals, then we can confidently say that during his career he has written himself into the history of not only domestic but also world cinema. At the same time he was able to combine shooting with the sound of cartoons (since 1936) and work in one of the Moscow theaters.