Andrey Myagkov

Andrey Vasilyevich Myagkov (8 July 1938 – 18 February 2021) was a Soviet and Russian actor. He is best known for his roles in famous films directed by Eldar Ryazanov, such as The Irony of Fate (1975), Office Romance (1977), The Garage (1979) and A Cruel Romance (1984).

Biography

Andrey Myagkov was born on 8 July 1938 in Leningrad, USSR. His father, Vasily Myagkov, was a professor at Leningrad State Technical University.[2] Young Myagkov showed interest in theater and acting and participated in a drama club at high school. Upon his graduation from high school he chose to study chemistry and attended Lensoviet Leningrad Institute of Technology, graduating in 1961 as a chemical engineer. His first job was engineer-researcher at Leningrad State Institute of Plastics. At the same time he continued to play on stage as an amateur actor.

In 1961, he entered the Nemirovich-Danchenko Moscow Art Theatre school. After graduation in 1964 Myagkov joined the Sovremennik Theatre in Moscow.[4] There his stage partners were such notable Soviet actors as Oleg Yefremov, Yevgeny Yevstigneyev, Galina Volchek, Oleg Tabakov, Oleg Dahl, Igor Kvasha, Valentin Gaft. One of his first stage plays was Uncle's dream (based on Fyodor Dostoevsky's novel of the same name) where he performed the role of the uncle.

In cinema he got his big break when director Elem Klimov offered him the lead role in the satiric film Adventures of a Dentist (1965). His next work in cinema was a role of Alyosha in critically acclaimed The Brothers Karamazov (1969) based on Dostoevsky's eponymous novel, which made him known.

In 1975, he gained fame in the enormously popular comedy-drama film The Irony of Fate as a surgeon Zhenya Lukashin. In 1977, he starred in another Ryazanov hit, Office Romance, as timid statistician Anatoly Novoseltsev, alongside Alisa Freindlich, in which he also debuted as a singer. For both roles he was awarded the USSR State Prize. In 1978 he was named Best Actor by readers of Soviet Screen.

In 1977, Myagkov left the Sovremennik Theatre and joined the Moscow Art Theatre (MKhAT), where he debuted in the leading role as Zilov in Duck Hunt by Aleksandr Vampilov, and eventually established himself as a leading actor in many other stage productions.

His other notable films are The Days of the Turbins (1976) based on Mikhail Bulgakov's novel, The Garage (1979), Vertical Race (1983), A Cruel Romance (1984).

In 1990s, Myagkov concentrated on theatrical performances and worked as a professor at the Moscow Art Theatre school. In this period he starred in the drama Mother (1990), Leonid Gaidai's comedy film Weather Is Good on Deribasovskaya, It Rains Again on Brighton Beach (1992), and the detective story Contract with Death (1998).

Myagkov played over 50 roles in film and on television. In 1989, Myagkov made his debut as director on the stage of Moscow Art Theatre with Goodnight, Mama (Spokoinoy nochi, Mama). In 2000 he directed a stageplay, Retro.