Boris Durov

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Boris Durov
Born
Boris Valentinovich Durov

(1937-01-12)January 12, 1937
USSR
Died5 April 2007(2007-04-05) (aged 70)
Moscow, Russia
Occupation(s)Film director, screenwriter
Notable workPirates of the 20th Century (1979)

Boris Valentinovich Durov (

highest-grossing Soviet movie of all time. He was named Merited Artist of the Russian Federation in 2000.[1]

Biography

Boris Durov was born in Sloviansk, Ukrainian SSR (modern-day Ukraine). He finished the Kazan Suvorov Military School in 1955 and the Riga Higher Military Aviation Engineering School in 1960. At that point he decided not to continue the military career and entered the director's faculty at VGIK. He studied under Yakov Segel along with Stanislav Govorukhin.[2][3]

Upon graduation in 1967 they co-directed their first feature film: Vertical. It was one of the first Soviet movies dedicated to mountaineering and also featured Vladimir Vysotsky in a minor role.[4] As Vysotsky later recalled, "it was my first movie in the sense that I worked as an author (for the first time I wrote songs for a movie) – I was the author of both songs and music".[5] All songs turned into instant hits, they were released by the Melodiya record label on the extended play and basically started Vysotsky's musical career.[4][6] The movie itself became one of the leaders of the 1967 Soviet box office, reaching the 13th place (10th place among Soviet-produced movies) with 32.8 million viewers.[7][8]

Since then Durov had worked at various studios (

Odessa Film Studio, Studio Ekran, Gorky Film Studio, Moldova-Film) directing movies in various genres, from drama and comedy to adventure and children's films. Yet none of them matched the success of his first film or that of Govorukhin's movies. In 1979 they teamed up again and wrote a screenplay for what would be known as the first Soviet action film – Pirates of the 20th Century.[9]

Shot in

Italian ship that happened at the end of the 1970s when all crew members were killed.[9][10][11]

Nevertheless, as Durov later told, "from the very beginning we decided to avoid sentimentality. We came up with a movie about Russian men who are able to defend their women, their ship. At that time the screenplay had to went through censorship. That's when uranium was cut out. Then we suggested to load the ship with opium meant for the pharmaceutical industry – it cost millions. This led to an uproar: no drugs, it's propaganda!.. After all, the screenwriters managed to defend opium".[9]

Apart from gunfights and stunts the film featured

absolute Soviet box-office leader.[13][14]

Durov's next drama movie I Cannot Say "Farewell" was also very successful: with 34.6 million viewers it became the 4th most popular Soviet movie of 1982.[15][16] He continued experimenting in various genres, however, he never managed to repeat the success of his past films. After 1991 he left the industry and returned only in 2002 to direct the Russian detective mini-series The Secret Sign for the TNT channel.[17]

Boris Durov died on 5 April 2007 aged 70, several years after surviving a stroke.[18] He was buried at the Mitinskoe Cemetery in Moscow near his wife, an artist Zinaida Nikolaevna Durova (1937–2003).[19]

Selected filmography

Year Title Original title
Director Screenwriter Notes
1967 Vertical Вертикаль
Green tickY
 co-directed with Stanislav Govorukhin
1969 A Novel About a Chekist Повесть о чекисте
Green tickY
 co-directed with Stepan Puchinyan
1972 This Is My Village Вот моя деревня
Green tickY
Green tickY
1979 Pirates of the 20th Century Пираты XX века
Green tickY
Green tickY
1982 I Cannot Say "Farewell" Не могу сказать «прощай»
Green tickY
1984 Leader Лидер
Green tickY
1986 Hello, Gulnara Rakhimovna! Здравствуйте, Гульнора Рахимовна! actor (physical culture teacher)
1990 Black Magic, or A Date with the Devil Чёрная магия, или Свидание с дьяволом
Green tickY
 co-directed with Yuli Muzyka
2002 The Secret Sign Тайный знак
Green tickY
 TV series

References

  1. ^ President's decree № 1380 at Kremlin.ru (in Russian)
  2. ^ Biography at Russia-K (in Russian)
  3. ^ In the memory of Stanislav Govorukhin by Cultural Shock, Echo of Moscow, 17 June 2018 (in Russian)
  4. ^ a b Vladimir Sergeev. People took notebooks to Vertical to write down Vladimir Vysotsky's songs article at Komsomolskaya Pravda, 24 January 2013 (in Russian)
  5. ^ Vladimir Vysotsky. Monologue at the official State Archive of TV and Radio Programs channel, 1980 (in Russian)
  6. ^ Vladimir Vysotsky's discography at the website dedicated to Vladimir Vysotsky
  7. KinoPoisk
  8. ^ List of the Soviet box office leaders (1962-1969) by Sergey Kudryavtsev (in Russian)
  9. ^ a b c d Veronika Nikitina. Pirates of the 20th Century. How the highest-grossing film of the 1980s was shot article at Rossiyskaya Gazeta, 9 June 2014 (in Russian)
  10. ^ a b Pirates of the 20th Century. Yeremenko-Nigmatulin Archived 2019-04-22 at the Wayback Machine documentary at Russia-1, 2006 (in Russian)
  11. ^ Galina Pogodina. Pirates of the 20th Century: What was the real story article at the Russian 7 History magazine, №2 February 2018 (in Russian)
  12. ^ Pirates of the 20th Century. Yeremenko-Nigmatulin Archived 2019-04-22 at the Wayback Machine documentary at Russia-1 (in Russian)
  13. KinoPoisk
  14. ^ National movies in the Soviet box office by Sergey Kudryavtsev (in Russian)
  15. KinoPoisk
  16. ^ List of the Soviet box office leaders (1978-1989) by Sergey Kudryavtsev (in Russian)
  17. ^ Who owns The Secret Sign? article at Express Newspaper, 10 April 2002 (in Russian)
  18. ^ Film director and screenwriter Boris Durov died at Russia-K, 10 April 2007 (in Russian)
  19. ^ Tomb at the Moscow Tombs website

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Boris_Durov&oldid=1181049352"