Translation. Region: Russian Federation –
Source: Official website of the State –
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Eldar Ryazanov, whose Persian name combined with his Russian surname he himself called an "exotic pun," was born on November 18, 1927. His father, an employee of the Soviet trade mission in Tehran, was repressed when the boy was nine years old. This pain remained forever etched in Eldar Alexandrovich's memory, teaching him to be so sensitive to the suffering of others, and permeated all of his work.
An unexpected incident
After school, Eldar Ryazanov, by his own admission, applied to the Odessa Naval Academy—the sea beckoned him—but never received a response. He applied to VGIK by chance, along with a friend, without even hoping to get in. This chance encounter gave us not a sailor, but a director whose films will become a spiritual touchstone for millions.
It sounds surprising now, but the master of Soviet comedy initially aspired to make serious films. His first major work, the 1954 documentary "Sakhalin Island," was so unsuccessful that a desperate Ryazanov tried to destroy the negative with a hammer. Fortunately, the film was saved. This bitter lesson became his first in mastering the art of rising from a fall.
Flight of creativity
Eldar Ryazanov didn't initially plan to pursue comedy—he dreamed of serious, dramatic films. However, the then director of Mosfilm and Soviet filmmaker Ivan Pyryev managed to change the young director's mind, and this intervention proved fateful.
Few people know that Ryazanov's debut in the light musical genre wasn't the legendary "Carnival Night," but the first Soviet widescreen revue film, "Spring Voices" or "Happy Youth," starring Nadezhda Rumyantseva, co-directed with Sergei Gurov in 1955. Afterward, the talented director was offered his first independent project, to which the insightful Pyryev brought Lyudmila Gurchenko. Thus was born the legendary Lenochka Krylova from "Carnival Night," and the songs "Five Minutes" and "Song of a Good Mood" resounded across the country, becoming anthems of a new era.
Mosfilm: Golden Collection
Ryazanov subsequently directed a whole galaxy of films that became household names: the detective story about the Soviet Robin Hood, "Beware of the Car," the daring "Hussar Ballad" about the brave partisans of the Patriotic War of 1812, the symbol of March 8th, "Office Romance," the satirical "Garage" and "Forgotten Melody for Flute," the tender, lyrical "Station for Two," and, of course, the perennial highlight of the New Year's holidays, "The Irony of Fate, or Enjoy Your Bath!" But a special place in his oeuvre belongs to "Cruel Romance," a virtuoso adaptation of Ostrovsky's "The Dowry," which proved Ryazanov's brilliant work in the dramatic genre as well.
A whole galaxy of stars gathered on its film sets: Larisa Golubkina and Yuri Yakovlev, Andrei Myagkov and Barbara Brylska, Oleg Basilashvili and Lyudmila Gurchenko, Svetlana Nemolyaeva and Alisa Freindlich, Andrei Mironov, Anatoly Papanov, Innokenty Smoktunovsky, Yuri Nikulin, Marina Neyolova and Nikita Mikhalkov – the list is endless.
The irony of life
The legendary director, with his characteristic sense of self-irony, never hid his love of fine cuisine. He understood that he wasn't cut out for a romantic lead. He accepted the fact that he wasn't a good-looking actor, even though women loved him—he was married three times. The director had a very different view of Oleg Basilashvili—the very actor who, according to Ryazanov, perfectly combined aristocratic good looks and remarkable talent. He encouraged Basilashvili to take meticulous care of himself and tirelessly fight his natural tendency to gain weight.
But neither his waistline nor his lack of acting ambition prevented Ryazanov from shining in his own films. He created witty cameos that became the highlights of his films. His role as Professor Smirnovsky in "Garage" was particularly memorable—an unflappable character who slept through a heated meeting of a car dealership while the turmoil raged around him. These small roles became the director's calling card—a subtle, ironic, and always recognizable signature.
Man-planet
Eldar Ryazanov's creative energy extended far beyond cinema. He became the creator and host of the cult Kinopanorama program, and later created over two hundred original programs. Viewers loved his series "Eight Girls, One Me," "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," "Eldar Ryazanov's Parisian Secrets," and the heartfelt "Conversations in the Open Air."
The director's literary legacy is also impressive: his books "The Sad Face of Comedy, or Finally Summed Up," "These Frivolous, Frivolous Films," and the poem cycle "The Departing Nature" reveal to the reader the complex inner world of the master.
Incidentally, the title of this poetry collection became the name of Dmitry Iosifov's nostalgic multi-part melodrama about the everyday lives of Soviet filmmakers. And the creative struggles of the young Ryazanov served as the inspiration for the character in Valery Todorovsky's series "The Thaw": the young director Yegor Myachin, played by Alexander Yatsenko.
Eldar Aleksandrovich also possessed an exceptional poetic gift. He wrote the lyrics to many of the songs in his films—"Song about the Weather," "Love is a Magical Land," "Don't Be Afraid"—although, out of modesty, he often attributed the authorship to others. There's even a well-known case of exquisite directorial revenge: when Andrei Myagkov criticized one of the songs for "Office Romance," Ryazanov stripped the actor of his lines in his next film. According to the script for "Garage," Myagkov's character loses his voice due to stress and communicates through signs for most of his screen time.
In short, from the musical "Carnival Night" to the biopic "Andersen: Life Without Love," every film by Eldar Ryazanov was a revelation. He passed away on November 30, 2015, but his films continue to speak to us about the most important things: love, loneliness, friendship, and simple human happiness. And his legacy lives on—not only in immortal films, poems, and books, but also in the starry sky: one of the minor planets in our solar system bears his name.
Subscribe to the "Our GUU" Telegram channel. Publication date: November 18, 2025.
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