Gaidai was looking for an actor with a colorful appearance for the role of Experienced in the film "Dog Mongrel and an Unusual Cross" for a long time. Yevgeny Morgunov caught the eye of Pyryev. He told him: "You are approved without trial." And Pyryev's word at Mosfilm was law. This is how Morgunov was remembered - in the form of a fat parasite. In his first film - "The Young Guard" in the role of Stakhovich, he looked different - a tall, slender handsome man. But soon Eugene was diagnosed with diabetes. The disease was the cause of his suffering, he recovered greatly, and, paradoxically, thanks to his fullness he got the role that became his hallmark.
“During the war, rations were scanty, the boy often lived from hand to mouth,” says Natalia Morgunova, the actor’s widow. “Mom somehow got a pack of butter. Zhenya ate it all at once, without bread. And soon he was twisted, barely managed to be saved. This is where the metabolism is broken.
In his youth, the actor forgot to take insulin injections, he liked to drink and eat well. Outwardly imperturbable, Morgunov adored practical jokes. He could, entering the restaurant, wave a red crust in front of the waiter’s nose and say: “Put them down so that those guys over there don’t notice me, but I would see them at a glance. And bring something to eat." He was mistaken for a KGB officer, doing everything unquestioningly. Entering the trolleybus salon, the actor, making his way between the passengers, demanded to present tickets, and after a couple of stops he got out, got into another trolleybus, repeated the same trick and reached his destination for free. Having starred in Gaidai's first film, he could no longer joke, remaining unrecognizable. But he was already let through without a queue everywhere.
Coward, Dunce and Experienced in the 60s were the most popular characters in Soviet cinema. Morgunov unwittingly became the culprit of their decline. During the filming of "Prisoner of the Caucasus" he came to a working viewing, accompanied by two girls. Gaidai ordered the outsiders to leave. The director said it rudely. Morgunov, offended, did not obey. And, demonstrating independence, he joked about the unsuccessfully shot episodes of the chase: “Gaidai, you don’t catch mice!”
He repeated the demand without ceremony. And then Morgunov almost attacked him with his fists.
Gaidai crossed out all subsequent scenes from the film related to Experienced.
Of the whole trinity, he was given the smallest fee. He received 25 rubles for the shooting day, Yuri Nikulin - 50 rubles each, and Georgy Vitsin - 40 rubles each.
Morgunov also quarreled with Nikulin after another joke. Once he stood at the entrance to the circus on Tsvetnoy Boulevard before the start of the performance and told all passing citizens that if they had housing problems, they could contact director Nikulin. After a dozen visitors, Nikulin, having learned from whose submission the people were attacking him, ordered that Morgunov not be allowed on the threshold of the circus, saying: “We have enough of our own clowns!”
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After Experienced Morgunov rarely starred - in "Three Fat Men", in "Ilf and Petrov Were Riding a Tram". New, dramatic, facets of his talent were revealed in Pokrovsky Gates. But more often, the actor earned a living by traveling around the cities with combined concerts "Comrade Cinema".
His faithful wife helped him overcome illness and trouble at work. Until the age of 30, Morgunov lived in a civil marriage with the ballerina of the Bolshoi Theater Varvara Ryabtseva, she was 13 years older than him. Then, having married Natalya, he maintained friendship with former mistress and helped her.
Morgunov doted on his sons. Although he understood parental duty one-sidedly, believing that the main thing is to dress, put on shoes and feed. There was also a funny case.
“Somehow he put the child in a stroller and took her not in front, but behind him,” says Morgunova. - The son fell out, but Evgeny Alexandrovich, thinking, did not notice. I woke up hearing the cry of passers-by: “Citizen, you have lost a child!”
AT last years the actor barely moved. His wife even cut the rubber bands on his socks - they pressed and caused unbearable pain. He also cut open the shoes, the swollen feet did not fit into them. Even at concerts, he went on stage in slippers, joking: “On the way, a log fell on my leg.”
- For the last 15 years he lived, as they say, under the knife, four times a year the doctors told him: “We amputate his legs!” - says Natalya Nikolaevna. - He became very quick-tempered and even simply unbearable: rude, embittered. I forgave and endured, realizing that the disease was the cause of everything.
Morgunov was finally crippled by the death of his youngest son.
Kolya drove at high speed. My husband often scolded him for this,” the widow says. “It was as if I foresaw this tragedy. Kolya, returning from his dacha to Moscow at night, fell asleep at the wheel and crashed into a tree.
When his son died, Evgeny Alexandrovich fell into despair for the first time in his life. To save himself from the feeling of emptiness and loss, he tried to escape from home at the first opportunity - it was easier for him in public.
He suffered a stroke. Lying in the hospital, he laughed it off: “You will never take me out of here feet first, because I am not-you-but-my!”
His wife, Natalya Nikolaevna, now lives with her granddaughter Evgenia. The actor has always dreamed that his children and grandchildren would become musicians. The girl plays the cello and is going to the conservatory.
“I have someone to live for, because I also have a son Anton and grandchildren, the eldest is 20 years old, and the youngest is 10,” she says.
“There are a lot of ridiculous rumors and gossip about Morgunov. And they forget that it was he who brought Sergei Bondarchuk into art, knocked out an apartment opposite the Kremlin for Armored and was ready to help anyone, ”said Yevgeny Morgunov’s friend Vladimir Tsukerman.
Morgunov was a straight man, he cut the truth in the face. He quarreled with the Ministry of Culture - because of this he was not given the next title, and Morgunov died an honored, and not a people's artist. He was deleted from film dictionaries, refused to be filmed. We remember Yevgeny Morgunov only for the role of Experienced, and yet he has more than 100 roles in his filmography! Yes, he got the roles of gendarmes, fascists, policemen, some thugs. And he could play Churchill - there are photo tests of Morgunov for this role. Shpalikov wrote for him the role of the poet Demyan Poor, but this did not work out either.
The conflict between Gaidai and Morgunov (Gaidai quarreled with Morgunov so much that he kicked him out right during the filming and has not spoken to him since), during the filming of Gaidai's last film, which featured the famous trinity, "Prisoner of the Caucasus", occurred due to nonsense, - explains Vladimir Tsukerman (according to one version, Morgunov behaved incorrectly while watching the filmed fragments of the film, where for some reason he brought his fans). - After that, Gaidai filmed in the "Prisoner of the Caucasus" instead of Morgunov only understudies - he was no longer carrying the refrigerator, there was also an understudy behind the wheel on Mount Ai-Petri. Gaidai himself later told me: “Bondarchuk brought Morgunov to me to put up. Why reconcile? I don't want to, this person doesn't exist for me."
After Gaidai, other directors tried to "reanimate" the trio - Eldar Ryazanov in "Give a Book of Complaints" and Karelov in "Seven Old Men and One Girl", but it was no longer the same.
* * *
Evgeny Morgunov was not a poor man, continues Vladimir Zukerman. - He lived in a four-room apartment on Krasnoproletarskaya Street in the center of Moscow. He had a wonderful family - two children, his wife Natalya Nikolaevna, who idolized him. They got married in 1962. Prior to that, Morgunov lived with the ballerina Varvara Ryabtseva, who was 10 years older than him. He did not stop communicating with Ryabtseva even after his marriage. When she was quite old, he took care of her, carried medicines, food. The wife was not jealous, she was a wise woman. (By the way, in this Morgunov to some extent repeated the fate of Georgy Vitsin. Vitsin once stole his wife from his teacher Nikolai Khmelev, People's Artist of the USSR. Vitsin was then 19 years old, and his chosen one was 34 years old.)Yes, and Morgunov was a great family man. He took everything to the family. He came to the director of the store "Ocean" during the period of total shortage and said: "5 cans of black caviar, 5 - red caviar and 10 cans of crabs." The director was surprised: “Why so many?” Morgunov shrugged his shoulders: "Vitsin has a birthday in 4 days." - “Do you know, Vitsin came a week ago and said the same thing about you ...”
A lot of bad things are being said about Morgunov now - they say he had connections with crime; that he envied the more sought-after colleagues in the shop, since he was rarely called for serious roles, and his own scripts, in which he dreamed of resurrecting the trio “Coward - Dunce - Experienced”, were wrapped up; that he drinks a lot, and after sorting out, he rages; that can, for no reason at all, send a person to a known address. But few people remember that sometimes he was ready to break into a cake to help someone. Somehow under New Year Morgunov gathered a star team and went to the Butyrka prison - the son of his friend, journalist Heinrich Sechkin, was sitting there. The actors gave a free concert, and only then the guy was transferred to a double cell from terrible conditions - in a crowded cell, the detainees could only stand, and slept in turns for 2 hours. Morgunov and Yakubovich traveled somewhere to the Far East to rescue a man from prison. He was always like this - somehow an unknown student Yevgeny Morgunov approached the professor of VGIK, the then famous director Sergei Gerasimov, with a request: “Sergey Apollinarievich, look at the soldier!” Gerasimov waved it off: “What kind of soldier? The set is already finished! - “Well, look, listen, let him read something. It's 5 minutes!" Gerasimov relented, listened - and took the soldier without exams. This soldier turned out to be Sergei Bondarchuk.
It was Morgunov who knocked out an apartment opposite the Kremlin to Armored. Someone's children helped arrange in Kindergarten, someone to break through a place in the hospital, someone brought food. Somehow Oleg Anofriev's license was taken away. Morgunov found out about this and tells Anofriyev: “Let's go to the head of the traffic police. Today he is 50 years old, congratulations and we will solve the issue.” Anofriev refused: "Well, Zhenya, don't." But Morgunov insisted. And so they came to the head of the Moscow traffic police, he already had mountains of flowers in his waiting room. Morgunov snatched the best bouquet from the vase and went to the office. After 15 minutes, the rights were in the hands of Anofriev.
Vitsin categorically forbade his daughter Natasha to come to the circus to Nikulin for free, only with purchased tickets. Morgunov, on the other hand, wrote out a countermark for 2 persons, then painted on a one and escorted 12 people to the box of the directorate.
* * *
Once Morgunov got some red “crusts” somewhere, rode a tram, checked tickets, ”recalls Vladimir Tsukerman. - At the bus stop, sometimes he lowered the horns of a trolley bus and said to the first person who came across: “Here, hold on, why are you standing ?!” He, of course, kept, thinking that Morgunov was the driver. And Morgunov crossed to the other side and watched. At this time, the real driver already understood that something was wrong, got out of the cab and scolded the one who grabbed the horns.
When Morgunov was still young, handsome, he was very fond of the wives of the generals. Somehow, at a banquet, several ladies pestered him: “Well, Zhenya, well, cut off a small piece of cake.” - "I do not want!" - "Oh please!" Then he cut off a small piece, left it, and took the rest of the cake and carried it away.
He liked to tease traffic cops. Somehow he was driving a Zhiguli, he deliberately turned into oncoming traffic, of course, he was stopped. Then Morgunov shouted to the traffic cop: “Attention!” He saluted. Morgunov asked: “Well, did you violate it?” - "Violated." - “At ease! I decided to test your vigilance." And drove on. Another time, when a traffic cop stopped Morgunov, he lowers the window and says: “Come here, my dear! Here, shake hands with Morgunov, Vitsin and Nikulin are riding behind. Filming! The law enforcement officer even dropped his staff from his hands.
He laughed, punned, fooled around, but he himself was an incredibly smart and well-read person. Could play Brahms, Chopin, Shostakovich without notes. When I had a presentation of the Museum of Three Actors, I dictated the address to Nikulin and Morgunov: “Come to the street of General Berzarin ...” Nikulin asked: “Who is this Berzarin?” And then Morgunov began to tell the whole biography of the general - where he was born, whom he married, where he studied, on what fronts he fought.
Before the tour, he first studied the history of the city where he was supposed to go. Cemeteries, markets and local history museums are the first three places where he went, getting acquainted with local attractions. Once in Kemerovo, after a concert, the car that was sent for the actors was late. Everyone is standing, asking each other: “Who will take us?” Morgunov, without asking anything, suddenly pointed at the first person with a car parked near the concert venue: “Here is the driver!” The man was embarrassed: “Well, of course, I’ll take you. What are you talking about?" The “chauffeur” turned out to be a KGB colonel from the department for combating organized crime in the highest echelons of power.
Once Morgunov arrived in the Gorky region, immediately called the administration: “Greetings to you from Alexei Nikolaevich Kosygin. This is Morgunov National artist Member of the Bundestag. After me, Vitsin and Nikulin will come to you on tour, I will take care of it. Tomorrow at 10 am, please, so that there are no complications, bring three special rations - for me, Vitsin and Nikulin. I will report you to the right person." At 10 am they really brought rations. And on Far East Morgunov was awarded 8 kilograms of fish for participating in the concert. He shook his head: “I have no right to take such an expensive gift from you, knowing that my friends Vitsin and Nikulin will not have such fish.” They gave him two more fish. Nikulin later complained: "If only he brought us a piece."
* * *
In fact, Morgunov could control himself in food, says Vladimir Zukerman. - At Utyosov’s wake, he didn’t even drink a glass, he said: “I came to say goodbye to a friend, and not to drink and eat.” And he sat all evening, didn’t drink a gram, didn’t eat anything. At VGIK, a fellow student of Morgunov once drew pictures of the future. Morgunov was portrayed as a respectable plump person. Everyone laughed, but after a short time he really became like that - he weighed 132 kg. At the end of his life, diabetes completely knocked him down, and the death of his son broke him down so much that he began to lose weight again (the youngest son of Morgunov, Nikolai, died in 1998 in a car accident. His father will survive him only a year, having suffered two heart attacks and a stroke during this year).
He had a diabetic foot, he, limping, went on stage in a boot and a slipper, said that he had fallen from a horse during the filming and injured his leg. It was all very sad, my leg hurt terribly, but nothing could be done.
- Coward, Dunce, Experienced
The famous trinity - Coward, Dunce and Experienced - was loved by the audience of everything Soviet Union. But few knew about the difficult fate of Yevgeny Morgunov, who played key roles in domestic comedies. The whole country fell in love with his image of a bully, but in real life Morgunov was a completely different person.
"Joseph Vissarionovich, take me into art"
V International Film Festival in Moscow. Two film comedians Yevgeny Morgunov (USSR) and Pierre Bourville (France). 1967 Photo: aif.ru
Evgeny Morgunov and Oleg Popov. 1965 Photo: kinoistoria.ru
Spartak fan Yevgeny Morgunov at the stadium. 1963 Photo: aif.ru
Evgeny Morgunov was born in Moscow on April 27, 1927. The father left the family when the son was not even two years old, and the mother had to raise the boy alone. Eugene was fond of poetry and music since childhood, but his creative plans were crossed out by the Great Patriotic War: at the age of 14 he got a job at a factory where he turned blanks for shells. During this difficult time, the Morgunov family lived in poverty, often starving. One day, Eugene's mother brought a pack of butter, and the hungry teenager ate it all, without bread. He immediately became ill, this incident disrupted the metabolism and later led to the development of diabetes.
However, Morgunov did not leave dreams of the stage and the theater. The director of the plant did not let him go to study, and then in 1943 the future artist wrote a playful letter to Joseph Stalin:
“Dear Joseph Vissarionovich, accept me into art. I am a worker at the SVARZ Sokolniki Car Repair Plant, a dummy, I want to be in art, I participated in amateur performances, I worked as an extra at Mosfilm. But the director of our plant prevents this aspiration. I want to be like Stanislavsky, Nemirovich-Danchenko."
In response to this letter, Morgunov received an unexpected and not at all joking recommendation:
"Send Comrade E. A. Morgunov to enter the Tairov Theater as an auxiliary actor."
So Yevgeny Morgunov got to the Chamber Theater, where he was noticed by one of the largest directors of that time - Sergey Gerasimov, and a year later he took his course at VGIK.
Coward, Dunce, Experienced
Yevgeny Morgunov as Experienced in the film by Leonid Gaidai "Moonshiners" (1961)
Yuri Nikulin (Doonie), Georgy Vitsin (Coward) and Yevgeny Morgunov (Experienced) in the film by Leonid Gaidai "Operation" Y "and other adventures of Shurik" (1965)
Yevgeny Morgunov as Experienced in Leonid Gaidai's Captive of the Caucasus, or Shurik's New Adventures (1966)
Thanks to Gerasimov, Morgunov received one of his most famous film roles - the role of Stakhovich in the film The Young Guard. However, the mask of a negative hero did not bring him popular love, rather the opposite. Because of the role of a young actor, strangers once beat him up. To the question "For what?" they answered, they say, for playing a traitor. Since then, Morgunov has not taken on such characters.
Contemporaries recalled that the artist had a difficult character. He combined the delicate nature of a connoisseur of poetry and art and the desire to play a trick on others. For example, Morgunov played a prank on the passengers of Moscow trolleybuses: after getting out of the transport, he introduced himself as a driver, removed the “horns” by the rope and handed it to some passenger with a request to hold it until he figured out the engine. After that, the actor walked around the trolley bus and ran across the road, watching how the real driver yelled at the unwitting participant in the prank.
Morgunov did not develop relations with fellow actors and directors, for a long time he got only episodic roles. The situation was saved by Leonid Gaidai: he offered the actor the role of Experienced, which brought him all-Union fame. However, the famous trinity of friends - Coward, Dunce and Experienced - broke up pretty quickly. In 1966, during the filming of The Prisoner of the Caucasus, Morgunov quarreled with Gaidai, after which the director sent the actor to Moscow, and simply deleted the unfilmed scenes with his participation from the script. Soon, after another strange prank, Morgunov's friendship with Nikulin was also upset. Morgunov came to the circus building on Tsvetnoy Boulevard, wearing a deputy badge, and began to inform passers-by that they could contact the circus director to solve any housing problems. Nikulin's office was immediately overwhelmed by dozens of petitioners, and he ordered that Morgunov not be allowed into the circus.
These episodes shook the position of Morgunov in the cinema and later he did not receive a single major role. The artist experienced this hard, and his health also deteriorated: in the last years of his life, he almost could not walk, and put on slippers for theatrical performances and filming.
"Chairman" - future husband
Evgeny Morgunov with his son Nikolai. Photo: peoples.ru
Evgeny Morgunov with his wife Natalya and sons Anton and Nikolai. Photo: mk.ru
Evgeny Morgunov with his wife Natalya. Photo: diletant.media
There were two women in Morgunov's life. With the ballerina of the Bolshoi Theater Varvara Ryabtseva, Evgeny Alexandrovich lived for 10 years. The actor met his future wife Natalya in 1963: instead of the institute, the girl mistakenly called her friend, and Morgunov, who was visiting her, picked up the phone. He introduced himself as an employee of the department and called the student back several times on "educational" issues. And then he decided to invite her on a date. The Morgunovs' wedding took place in 1965, later their sons, Anton and Nikolai, were born. Natalya not only supported her husband in the most difficult moments of his life, but also made sure that he at least occasionally followed the instructions of doctors. According to her recollections, her husband loved to live beautifully, so he did not adhere to any diets - he ate everything he wanted, even skipped insulin injections. Poor health also affected the actor's relationship with family and friends. Natalya Morgunova recalled that her husband was easily irritated, could flare up for any reason, however, in her opinion, diabetes was the reason for this.
The artist's health finally deteriorated after his youngest son Nikolai died in a car accident. Morgunov soon suffered two heart attacks and a stroke, and exactly one year after the death of his son, on June 25, 1999, he himself died.
We liked everything about Ryabtsev: both the way he teaches and the way he talks about his favorite art of dance. It was a pleasure to work with him. “Multipleness is the contamination of the expression of thought. The conciseness of the gesture is a great art, ”Ryabtsev used to say. One day Ryabtsev came to the lesson limping heavily. Surrounding him, we began to ask what had happened to him. Vladimir Alexandrovich, suffering from pain in his leg, sat down on a chair and said very quietly:
- I got drunk ... like a pig, I don’t remember what happened. Our faces instantly changed. Compassion is gone. Surprise, and some of the girls - fright: Ryabtsev - and suddenly got drunk! The boys hid their grin... Vladimir Alexandrovich looked at everyone, smiled painfully and said to the accompanist:
— Mazurochka can be? With the very first measure, Ryabtsev got up from his chair and literally “flew” around the hall, famously leading the imaginary Lady. The whole class gasped at once. It was a delightful deception, a teacher's game.
Ryabtsev, satisfied and smiling, sat down on a chair and, turning to Misha Kaverinsky, said:
- That's it. You, brother, really believed in my fantasy. Well done you all. The range of rapidly changing feelings was read perfectly. Why did you believe me? Is Ryabtsev famous for being a drunkard? I'll tell you a secret, I drink only on two occasions: when it rains and when it doesn't... Ryabtsev couldn't go on any further. His joke caused a Homeric laughter. When we calmed down, he continued:
Why did you believe me? Yes, because I sincerely, deeply felt my “sore leg”, and you all experienced this moment in your own way. I emphasize - re-re-zhi-whether. And what should be done on the stage so that the partner, the partner, the audience will believe you? Deeply sincerely experience, even if you are playing this performance for the hundredth time. But! Beware of over-playing Better not-before-playing. Let our motto be: “A little stronger than in life, and it’s better to be under” than “over”. Often he said: “You got a “re”. The student understood that he had overplayed and it turned out implausible.
Ryabtsev devoted a lot of time to studies at the school. He searched and selected musical material, composed plots for scenes and etudes together with his students. He taught enthusiastically and with great interest. No matter how busy he was in the theater and as an artist, and as the head of the ballet troupe, and as a member of the artistic council, he never missed classes. In parallel with the art of choreography, Vladimir Alexandrovich devoted a lot of time to dramatic art. Since childhood, love for the Maly Theater and participation in performances with leading figures of dramatic art have turned over the years into a need to try one's hand in this genre. In 1913, he toured in St. Petersburg, where at the Fontanka Theater he played together with the outstanding actress Roshchina-Insarova in the play "The Hostess of the Hotel". She played the role of Mirandolina, and Ryabtsev - Fabrizio.
In 1921, Ryabtsev was one of the founders of the Ancient Vaudeville Theatre. He was an actor, director, choreographer. Actors of the Bolshoi Theater loved to go to this theater. Ryabtsev was great in vaudeville. This theater did not exist for long, but Ryabtsev's love for this genre remained for life. Only once I was lucky to see my teacher in one of the pictures of the old vaudeville "Lev Gurych Sinichkin". He played the role of Lev Gurych himself. His daughters are Ryabtsev's wife Varvara Kesler. also a ballet dancer. It was under sad circumstances in my life. Vladimir Alexandrovich found out that I had been operated on due to pulmonary tuberculosis, gathered a team of artists and arrived at the sanatorium where I was staying. Kind, soulful person, Ryabtsev decided to please the sick ballerina. That evening he played like a great master, he played selflessly, with the return of all his creative powers. The audience did not let him go for a long time ...
Vladimir Alexandrovich tried his hand at choreography. In 1920, Vladimir Ivanovich Nemirovich-Danchenko invited him to stage dances in Lecoq's operetta Madame Ango's Daughter at the music studio of the Art Theatre. At the Bolshoi Theater in 1921 he staged Stravinsky's Petrushka. On the same evening with "Petrushka" Ravel's "Militant Dance" was going on. Ryabtsev created this number for E. Geltser and L. Zhukov. During the war with Nazi Germany Vladimir Alexandrovich was in Moscow. In the front-line capital, he still played his favorite roles - Marcellina, Sancho Panza, and others. He courageously endured all the hardships of wartime. On November 27, 1945, Glinka's opera Ivan Susanin was performed at the Bolshoi Theater. At the ball at Sigismund's, the artists danced the Krakowiak and the Mazurka. Vladimir Alexandrovich, as always, danced in the first couple, creating the image of a proud Polish gentry, with a mane of gray hair and a dashing mustache. With the first bars of the mazurka, Ryabtsev suddenly swayed and fell. He died on stage...
Evgeny Morgunov is a man whose name will forever remain inscribed in the history of Soviet cinema. Today he is no longer with us, however, despite this, the screen images embodied by him are still alive in the hearts of people and are also loved by millions of viewers.So isn't this a reason to remember the life and work of your favorite actor in a little more detail? In this article, we will try to trace how the career of the great Soviet actor developed, and what are the most significant moments
Childhood and family of Evgeny Morgunov
The childhood of the great actor was spoiled by the war. His father died at the front, and from the age of fourteen he himself worked at the Moscow Fraser plant, where he helped in the manufacture of blanks for artillery shells. Despite hard work, Eugene has always been a big kid. And this, as Morgunov himself says, was solely the merit of his mother. Being a midwife, she always found an opportunity to bring home an extra piece of bread, a chocolate bar or another can of stew. The Morgunov family lived in poverty, however, thanks to the efforts of their mother, they never went hungry.AT early age The main joy for the future actor was music. He was very fond of listening to the records at his disposal, as well as singing his favorite tunes in an undertone. During this period, the real idol of Yevgeny Morgunov was Leonid Utesov. The future actor knew by heart all his songs and always dreamed of performing on stage just like him.
Morgunov's career in cinema, filmography
In 1943, for fun and, in general, not seriously hoping for success, the young guy sent a letter to Joseph Stalin, in which he asked to contribute to his development "in art." Fifteen days have passed since the mail was sent. And during this time, everyone seemed to have already managed to forget about the letter written in the name of Stalin. However, some time later, a letter from the Kremlin came to the management of the plant where Yevgeny Morgunov worked. 
The official paper read as follows: “Send Comrade Morgunov E.A. for admission to the theater named after Tairov as an actor of the auxiliary composition. Stalin." Thus, our today's hero became a student of the famous director Alexander Tairov, who at that time worked in the Moscow Chamber Theater.
However, in this place the actor stayed only for a year and already at the end of 1944 he was transferred to VGIK in the workshop of Sergei Gerasimov. Here, Morgunov's classmates became such well-known actors in the future as Vyacheslav Tikhonov, Nonna Mordyukova, Sergei Bondarchuk and some others.
Evgeny Morgunov "This is not a lezginka for you ..."
Already during his studies at VGIK, Evgeny Morgunov's acting debut took place. The first acting work of our today's hero was an episodic role in the film "At 6 pm after the war", followed by some other small work in the cinema.
It is noteworthy that during this period, Evgeny Morgunov was considered a fairly average actor. The directors rarely invited him to their new projects, and the scale of his roles left much to be desired.
After graduating from VGIK, the actor began to play the Theater-Studio of a film actor. In the same period in the actor's career, his first truly significant role happened - the role of the traitor Stakhovich in the film "Young Guard". However, immediately after filming, everything returned to normal again. In the period from 1948 to 1961, the actor got only small and insignificant roles. Exceptions were quite rare, and therefore the invitation of Leonid Gaidai to play a role in a small cinematic film "Dog Mongrel and an Unusual Cross" was largely unexpected for Morgunov. It is noteworthy that the role of Experienced in many ways turned out to be problematic for the director and the entire film crew. The other two characters were picked up quickly enough, but the last acting vacancy remained open for a long time.
One way or another, in 1961, a short comedy film was released on wide screens and, unexpectedly for everyone, brought great success to the film crew. Soon the script was written and another similar tape - "Moonshiners", which was again waiting for a resounding success.
Evgeny Morgunov, like other characters of the famous trinity, instantly became popular and famous. However, paradoxically, this did not affect the format of the roles offered to him. Until 1965, the actor received only small roles. Some exception was only the picture "Give me a plaintive book", in which Yevgeny Morgunov and other characters of the famous trinity "Doonie, Coward and Experienced" got small, but very noticeable roles.
jokes big man. Evgeny Morgunov
However, the roles played a little later became really bright. Roles in the films "Operation" Y "and other adventures of Shurik", "Prisoner of the Caucasus", "Seven old men and one girl" and some others became real hits of the Soviet film distribution and made Yevgeny Morgunov one of the most popular comedians in the Soviet Union. Since then, our today's hero has played many wonderful roles. He tried on a wide variety of cinematic images, but in each of them the audience wouldy-nilly wanted to see at least something from the legendary "Experienced".
In 1978, Evgeny Morgunov was awarded the title of Honored Artist of the RSFSR. However, from that moment on, his career began to slowly roll downhill. Bright roles came across less and less. The cinema itself also became smaller, the state of affairs in which during the period of perestroika became completely deplorable.
In the early nineties, the actor began to drink a lot, suffering from creative lack of demand. In the next few years, Yevgeny Alexandrovich had a heart attack and a stroke. The decisive blow for the great actor was the death of his son that happened in 1998. Having survived that for only a year, Evgeny Morgunov died due to another stroke.
Personal life and contribution to culture
Concluding this article on an optimistic note, we note that the actor has been married to one woman almost all his life - Natalya Morgunova. Together they lived for more than 36 years. During this time, two sons appeared in the actor's family, as well as several grandchildren and granddaughters. 
After the death of the actor, many of them took part in a number of actions dedicated to the memory of the great Soviet actor. In particular, the film actor's wife was present at the opening of the monument to the "magnificent trinity" in the distant city of Khabarovsk.
