The famous trio and Georgy Svetlani (far right), former cabin boy on Nicholas II’s yacht. To help an old friend, Morgunov arrived late to his own wedding. Photo: Frame from the film.
He starred in more than a hundred films, including “Pokrovsky Gate”, “Three Fat Men”, “The Fate of a Man”. But his role as Experienced gave him nationwide popularity.
He worked as a turner
– Evgeniy Aleksandrovich – One hundred percent experienced from a young age! – says the creator of the Museum of Three Actors (Vitsin, Morgunov, Nikulin) Vladimir Tsukerman, a friend of his “exhibitions”. -Born in Moscow, he lived in the same building as Valentin Gaft. His father abandoned the family when the boy was two years old. He was raised by his mother Olga Lukyanovna, a maternity hospital nurse. Her son idolized her. When the war began, 14-year-old Zhenya went to the factory as a turner, grinding blanks to make shells.
At the age of 16 I sent a letter to Stalin himself (I have a copy): “Dear Joseph Vissarionovich, accept me in art. I am a worker at the Frazer plant, a block maker, I want to devote myself to art, I participated in amateur performances, I worked as an extra at Mosfilm. But our plant manager hinders this desire. “I want to be like Stanislavsky, Nemirovich-Danchenko.” Two weeks later, the plant received a letter from the Kremlin signed by Stalin: “Recommend Comrade Morgunov for his art!” The doll immediately ended up in the Tairov Theater (now Pushkin Theater). A year later he entered VGIK and took Sergei Gerasimov’s acting course.
Somehow we ran out of gas on the set of the movie “The Young Guard.” Director Gerasimov took advantage of the disruptive qualities of his student. Morgunov went to a neighboring military unit. “The movie is war,” he informed the commander. – We are waiting for Marshal Kliment Voroshilov! He will also come to see you. But the filming is on the verge of failure, there is no fuel. The marshal will not be happy.” They gave us fuel. The marshal, of course, did not appear. The commander, without waiting for Voroshilov, went to the filmmakers for a confrontation. The incident was resolved.
After VGIK, Morgunov worked at the Film Actor’s Theater. The secretaries of the Central Committee, Molotov and Kaganovich, arrived there. He met them under the guise of a director and spoke for a long time about the prospects of Soviet cinema and … the need to increase the salaries of young talents. That is, for me, since he was the youngest here. Soon the order came to increase the salary.
Son of pioneer Pavlik Morozov
“Evgeniy Alexandrovich’s talent for improvisation and practical insight fully manifested itself after the birth of the famous trinity,” continues Vladimir Tsukerman. – In the Far East they gave him a red fish worth eight kilograms for a concert. “I can’t accept such an expensive gift knowing that my friends Vitsin and Nikulin don’t have that fish!” And they gave him two more fish.
Arriving in the province, Morgunov used to call the first secretary of the regional committee: “Hello, greetings from Alexei Nikolaevich Kosygin (Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR – Ed.)! Yes, yes, don’t worry. This is Morgunov, member of the Bundestag, winner of the State Prize, People’s Artist of the Soviet Union, Hero of Socialist Labor. Tomorrow Vitsin and Nikulin will arrive for filming. Tell them to bring three special rations from the special warehouse to my hotel before 10 am Well, you know what? Of course, I will report it to Kosygin. The next day there were three rations in the room. Caviar, balyki, other shortages.
– Aren’t you embellishing the member of the Bundestag?
– Morgunov could present himself as anyone, even as the son of the pioneer Pavlik Morozov or the director of the Arabian Desert. He loved to flaunt names and titles. Although he never received the title of People’s Artist. He died an honored artist.
“Everyone will recognize you!” – I once congratulated him. “No, not all,” the actor sighed. “Gynecologists don’t recognize me.” And so Morgunov ends up in the hospital. He calls my mom, tells her his phone number at the hospital. He dials the number and a female voice sounds on the other end of the line: “The gynecology department is listening.” Jester!
Morgunov was a very slender young man when he acted in “Young Guard” (1948). Photo: Frame from the film.
Disappointed by the role of traitor
“In the film “The Young Guard” about the feat of underground Komsomol members in Krasnodon, Gerasimov involved many of his students,” recalls Vladimir Tsukerman. – Morgunov was supposed to play Sergei Tyulenin, one of the leaders of the underground. But for some reason the author of the novel, Alexander Fadeev, resisted. Morgunov had to play the traitor Stakhovich. Filming took place in Krasnodon. The local boys almost gouged out the “traitor”’s eye with a slingshot and hit him on the head with a block of wood at the door. Only his classmate Vladimir Ivanov, who played Oleg Koshevoy, convinced the children that Evgeny was a good person, but he simply got a bad role. Morgunov himself gave the offenders a soccer ball. We made peace.
For the “Young Guard” Sergei Gerasimov and five of his students: Nonna Mordyukova, Inna Makarova, Lyudmila Shagalova, Sergei Gurzo, Vladimir Ivanov received the Stalin Prize, good money. Students Sergei Bondarchuk, Vyacheslav Tikhonov and Klara Luchko also stood out. And his classmate Morgunov was not only left without awards and honors: after this film, directors only offered her minor roles of fascists, traitors and other bad characters. By the way, it later turned out that Stakhovich did not betray the Young Guards.
The starring role of the experienced artist had to wait 13 years. And he received it only because veteran actors Mikhail Zharov, Ivan Lyubeznov and Igor Ilyinsky refused to appear in the short film “Barbos the Dog and the Unusual Cross.” They say he’s not old enough to run away from a dog. Then Mosfilm director Ivan Pyryev suggested, rather ordered, director Leonid Gaidai to choose the experienced Morgunov for the role: “Zhenya is young, she is running!” In fact, he was the youngest of the legendary trinity: 33 years old.
The short film was a resounding success! “Barbosa” was acquired by 120 countries. Nikulin, Vitsin and Morgunov instantly became stars! Gaidai directed “Moonshiners”, then “Operation Y”, “Prisoner of the Caucasus”.
And if Morgunov had played Sergei Tyulenin, the country would hardly have received such a magnificent Experienced.
He didn’t want the trinity to be separated.
– They say that it was Morgunov with his unpleasant character who destroyed the trio of comedians at the peak of their popularity.
– Gaidai himself admitted that “Operation Y” devastated him: “I took from the trinity (and she from me) everything she could give, I couldn’t think about the persecutions without shuddering.” Nikulin did not like the script of “Prisoner of the Caucasus”: “It’s not funny! I won’t act.” Gaidai jokingly threatened to call a friend to the party committee at Mosfilm. “And I have my own party committee, in the circus,” Nikulin replied. But the director finally convinced him: “Yura, the script is a script, we will come up with funny tricks ourselves. I give you my word, this is our last film. There will be no more films about the trinity.”
Gaidai kept his word. The film was the last. Morgunov was the only one of the trio who did not want their collapse. And he even wrote scripts for the continuation of his adventures. Useless.
Late at the registry office
– Is it true that the actor’s wife was the TV presenter Svetlana Morgunova?
– No, but this legend was popular among the people. Morgunov lived in a civil marriage for 10 years with the Bolshoi Theater dancer Varvara Ryabtseva. Ella vava, as the actor affectionately called her, was 13 years older than her.
Varvara Ryabtseva was a dancer, but she also acted in films: she had a cameo in “The Story of Lost Time” (1964). Photo: Frame from the film.
Once a student at the Moscow Institute of Aviation Technology, Natalia Luzhkova, mistakenly called Morgunov’s apartment instead of the department and asked when she could take exams. She introduced herself as a teacher and wrote down her phone number. Five minutes later she called me again and invited me to take the tests the next day. But, of course, no one expected the student at the institute. Traditional giveaway!
However, he continued calling a girl who was 13 years younger. In the end, love is carrots… We decided to get married. At the agreed time, the bride arrives at the registry office and hears an announcement over the loudspeaker: “Citizen Luzhkova, her groom is late for the wedding. Please wait.” Can you imagine?
– Morgunov’s next prank?
– You are welcome. In the morning he went to the cemetery to help erect a monument on the grave of Svetlana, the mother of his friend Georgy. Do you remember the old man in “Prisoner of the Caucasus” to whom Vitsin gave a mug of beer? In “The Diamond Arm” he played a hat-wearing social activist who accompanied the house manager, Mordyukova. Svetlani is a legendary personality. He was a cabin boy on Nicholas II’s yacht “Standard” and often played with Tsarevich Alexei and the princesses.
Even on the wedding day, Evgeniy Alexandrovich could not refuse to help his friend. He arrived at the registry office four hours late; The bride was already preparing to leave.
After the wedding, Evgeny Alexandrovich continued to care for Ryabtseva. His wife was not jealous: she understood that an old, lonely woman needed help from her. The Morgunovs had two sons: Anton and Nikolai.
On stage – in slippers
“There were three Morgunovs,” says Vladimir Tsukerman. – The first is a thin and handsome man in the movie “Young Guard”, with curly hair and light eyes.
The second is Experienced, well known to all of us. Seeing him in Moonshiners, his classmate Inna Makarova did not recognize the actor. “Is this really our Zhenya?” A fat man weighing 132 kilos appeared on the screen!
– What happened to him?
– A hungry childhood in wartime took its toll. Apparently, the metabolism was altered. One day my mother miraculously got a big piece of butter. Zhenya ate it in one sitting. No bread. Perhaps this was the trigger for the disease. At age 25 she was diagnosed with diabetes. That’s why I gained so much weight at 33 years old.
The third Morgunov is at the end of his life, completely thin, not like Experienced. The last stage of diabetes. My legs hurt a lot. The doctors insisted on amputation. He said no. He came on stage in slippers. He spun from morning to night. He could appear on television, go to a business meeting, from there to an event and then to the theater.
The artist with his wife Natalya and children. Photo: Personal archive of the Morgunov family.
I would have lived longer. But in June 1998, his youngest son, Nikolai, died. At 25 years old. I took my wife and son to the airport and on the way back I apparently fell asleep at the wheel. He crashed into a tree. His death paralyzed Morgunov. A year later he died from a second stroke. He was 74 years old.
The widow Natalya Nikolaevna passed away in 2021. She was buried next to her husband. Two months later, her eldest son, Anton, died in her grave. Her heart stopped.
GOOD AND NAKED!
Paparazzi and blackmailer
One of the great figures of Soviet cinema liked to select actresses through the bed. Somehow, Morgunov climbed the fire escape to the balcony of the apartment where he was conducting “screen tests.” I filmed the process of intercourse with a camera. He then appeared in the leader’s office and sat cross-legged on a chair. He couldn’t stand Morgunov. “Leave!”
“I can leave, but it will take you a long time to convince me to stay.” And she threw a pile of photographs on the table: “And I have prints and negatives somewhere else.”
“I offer you friendship!” – said the owner of the office.
ARTIST JOKES
With a joke and a punch
One day, a traffic police officer stopped Morgunov for violating the rules. “I raped him, I have to answer! – the actor agreed. – Let’s make a hole! And before the inspector’s astonished eyes, he made 10 holes in the bill. “This is for the future if he breaks it.” (In the USSR a fine was attached to the driving license. For three holes in one year they took away their license. – Ed.) Keep driving. He stops at the next traffic police post and addresses the chief. “His employee is crazy. You gave me 10 holes! The artist received a new ticket. History is silent about what happened to that inspector.
At the Moscow Film Festival, Elizabeth Taylor walked into the bar. Morgunov stood up: “Hello, Liz!” “Hello!” – the actress responded to the stranger, mistaking him for an important boss. People were shocked.
The explosion scene in “Barbos the Dog” was filmed at the edge of the forest, not far from the country house of the famous opera singer Ivan Kozlovsky. Vitsin was the first to recover. They were preparing to transform Nikulin. A “burnt” coward sits by the road dressed in burnt rags, singing: “Where, where have you gone?” Local collective farmers passed by there. “What’s wrong with him?” – they ask. “This is the great Soviet tenor Ivan Kozlovsky,” replied the joking Morgunov. – Yesterday, being drunk, I burned down my neighbor’s country house. I burned mine today. “We are waiting for an ambulance to take him to the psychiatric hospital.” And he ran his finger across his temple. “That’s what drinking does to a person!” – sighed one of the collective farmers. He took a check out of his pocket, opened it, and poured vodka on the floor.
Once Morgunov was traveling with director Georgy Danelia from Leningrad to Moscow in a compartment. The artist called the train boss: “Do you know who he is?” – “No”. – “The great Georgian poet Shota Rustaveli (lived in the 12th century. – Ed.). Have you read “Mtsyri”? He wrote. Now at Bologoye station passengers must be picked up with us. Don’t let anyone in. Do you have candles and red calico? We will write the anthem of the Soviet Union.” The train boss brought red cloth, but found no candles. But he did not put any of the passengers in his compartment. So they traveled together to Moscow.
TRACE TO THE PORTRAIT
Classics played without notes.
Despite his outward rudeness, Evgeniy Aleksandrovich was a very erudite person. He played Rachmaninoff, Beethoven, Bach and Mozart very well on the piano. The composer of the film “The Young Guard” was Dmitry Shostakovich. Morgunov admitted to the maestro that he also dreamed of being a composer and asked him to listen to him play. Shostakovich was surprised to see how he played the classics without notes, by ear. I immediately wrote two letters of recommendation to the professors at the Moscow Conservatory. But Morgunov chose to act.
