The famous Soviet actor of theater and cinema, Georgy Stephenovich Zhzhenov was born on March 22, 1915 in Petrograd. He came from a simple peasant family. Parents of the future actor, Father Stepan Filippovich Zhzhenov and mother Shchelkina Maria Fedorovna were born in Tver, in those days still a province. When in 1917 the revolution began Zhzhenov were forced to move to a village for a while, away from popular unrest and confusion. In the village the family lived for about two years, then in 1919 returned to Petrograd and settled on Vasilievsky Island, in a house on the corner of Bolshoy Prospekt and the First Line.
Circus and cinema
From an early age, George Stepanovich showed great interest circus, theater, and then to the cinema. This is what influenced his further choice. Georgy Zhzhenov studied at the school with a physical and mathematical bias, after finishing the seventh grade, he decided that a technical education would not be able to direct him to the path that he would wish to go on in life. In 1930, G. Zhzhenov decided to try his luck on the creative path; at the age of 15 he could not count on anything, Georgy used the documents of his brother Boris, who was older than him for two years, to enter the Leningrad circus technical school for acrobatics. Later, his trick was revealed, but the administration of the school and the teachers took this "joke" very favorably.
While studying at the second year of the technical school, G. Zhzhenov, along with his classmate Georges Smirnov, put a cascade acrobatic number called "The Chinese Table", with which they subsequently began performing in the circus "Shapito" of the city of Leningrad under the pseudonym "2-ZHORZH-2".
One of Zhzhenov's speeches was noticed by the employees of the film studio. In 1932 he received an invitation to shoot in Eduard Johanson's film "The Bug of the Hero", in which he played the role of tractor driver Pashka Vetrov. This picture was also the debut for the great Russian actor Yefim Kopelyan.
After filming with Johannsna, Zhzhenov decided to continue his acting career, so at the end of the Variety and Circus College he goes to the Leningrad Institute of Stage Arts at the department that prepared the movie actors.
Popularity
Before he became famous, Zhzhenov survived 3 arrests and 3 links. However, in conclusion, he actively participated in theatrical productions. The first work, which brought fame to G. Zhzhenov, was an episodic role in the 1966 film "Beware of the car", the actor played in it an auto inspector, and played so masterly that the audience was remembered no less than the performers of the main roles.
Then another memorable work of the actor was the main role in the films "The Way to Saturn" and "The End of" Saturn ".
Later G. Zhzhenov moved to Moscow (1968), and entered the Moscow City Theater, where over a hundred years he played over a hundred roles.
Indeed, the starry hour of G. Zhzhenov is considered to be the role in the film Veniamin Dorman's "Residnt's Error", which appeared on the screens in 1968. Here G.Zhzhenov got the role of Count Turiev, who emigrated from Russia at an early age, and later became a scout under the code name "Hope", who was sent with a very difficult and dangerous task in the USSR. The picture was of unprecedented success, it was so well received by the viewer that two years later, in 1970, there was a continuation of the film, entitled "The Fate of the Resident." The sequel was no less successful, as a result, twelve years after the release of the second film, in 1982, Veniamin Dorman was to shoot the third film about the resident Turiev, entitled "Resident Return", and in 1986, the final part of this story was published, "The end of the operation Resident".
Other roles in the biography of Georgy Zhzhenov
In total, Georgiy Stepanovich Zhzhenov played more than 70 roles in films and many roles on the stage. Very many movies with the participation of this actor enjoy the constant love of viewers and now. One of the most powerful of his works is the role of Willy Stark in the film "The whole royal army", where the actor was able to show the truly strong and strong-willed character of his character.
In 1975, the actor was awarded the State Prize of the RSFSR behalf of the brothers Vasilyev for the role of General Bessonov in the film "Hot Snow", which was shot based on the same novel by Y. Bondarev.
Georgiy Stepanovich Zhzhenov died on the 91st year of his life, he died on December 8, 2001, he lived a complicated but certainly interesting life, presenting his films to the audience, which are forever listed among the classics of Russian cinematography.