Russian People's Artist Nikolai Burlyaev, who turned 80 on August 3, has courage and what director Nikita Mikhalkov called the mystery of creating an image, a quality found only in great actors. Mikhalkov, a Knight of the Order of St. Andrew the Apostle, People's Artist of the RSFSR and artistic director of the Masterskaya 12 theater, shared his praise with TASS.
Mikhalkov said Burlyaev possesses the mystery of creating an image, a trait usually found only in very great actors, and said this describes Burlyaev. He recalled that the two had known each other since childhood and studied together, saying it was hard back then to imagine Burlyaev would grow into a master of such caliber, one unafraid to burn bridges behind him or to lose visibility on screen or stage, unlike many of today's actors who fear this and end up known for a single role.
Early career
Mikhalkov added that since his youth, Burlyaev had gradually grown into an actor of great fearlessness.
Burlyaev was born on August 3, 1946, in Moscow. In 1961, while still in school, he made his debut at the Moscow Mossovet State Academic Theater in the play Leningradsky Prospekt, based on a work by Isidor Shtok, playing the grandson of the lead character through 1964. Andrei Konchalovsky recommended him to Andrei Tarkovsky for the lead role in the 1962 drama Ivan's Childhood, based on Vladimir Bogomolov's war novella Ivan, which won the Golden Lion at the 1962 Venice Film Festival, the first such award for Soviet cinema, while the film Boy and Dove won the Bronze Lion. Burlyaev went on to appear in Without Fear and Reproach (1963), Introduction (1963) and The Blizzard (1964), based on Alexander Pushkin's story.
