Stanislav Govorukhin

Stanislav Sergeyevich Govorukhin (; 29 March 1936 – 14 June 2018) was a Soviet and Russian film director, actor, screenwriter, producer and politician. He was named People's Artist of Russia in 2006. His movies often featured detective or adventure plots.

Biography Govorukhin was born in Berezniki, Sverdlovsk Oblast (now Perm Krai). His parents divorced before he was born. His father Sergei Georgievich Govorukhin came from Russian Don Cossacks and was arrested as part of the decossackization genocide campaign started by Yakov Sverdlov. He had been exiled to Siberia where he died around 1938 at the age of 30. His mother Praskovya Afanasievna Glazkova was a tailor. She came from the Volga region, from a simple Russian family of a village school teacher. She raised Sergei and his sister Inessa by herself and died at the age of 53.

Govorukhin started his career as a geologist in 1958. He then joined a television studio in Kazan and enrolled at the VGIK. During the Soviet period, Govorukhin became noted for his successful adaptations of adolescent classics, including Robinson Crusoe (1972), Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1981), In Search of the Castaways (1983) and Ten Little Niggers (an adaptation of Agatha Christie's original 1939 novel And Then There Were None) in 1987.

Most of his Soviet movies were made at the Odessa Film Studio. He was good friends with Vladimir Vysotsky and directed three movies starring him – Vertical (1967), White Explosion (1969) and The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed (1979), one of the cult films of the late Soviet era. He also dedicated several movies to mountaineering, most notably Vertical and White Explosion which became some of the first examples of this subgenre in the Soviet cinema.

During the perestroika Govorukhin became less active at film making and more active in politics. He became one of the leaders of the Democratic Party of Russia. In 1990 he directed a much-publicized documentary highly critical of the Soviet society entitled We Can't Live Like This (also translates as You Can't Live Like That or This Is No Way to Live). Although his feature films were previously ignored by the critical establishment, this film won him the Nika Award for Best Director.

By the start of the 2000s he returned to cinema, co-starring with Alisa Freindlich in the detective TV series Female Logic and releasing another revenge movie, Voroshilov Sharpshooter (with Mikhail Ulyanov in the lead role). He directed a total of seven movies since then. In recent years he had been also actively working as a producer. Russian President Vladimir Putin at the farewell ceremony for Stanislav Govorukhin, 16 June 2018. Govorukhin died on 14 June 2018 at the age of 82 following a long illness. He was buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow.

Politics Govorukhin had been a member of the State Duma since its inauguration in 1993, running the Duma culture committee for some time. In 2000 he was a candidate in Russian presidential elections.

In March 2014, he signed a letter in support of the position of the president of Russia Vladimir Putin on Russia's annexation of Crimea.

Personal life

Govorukhin was married twice. He had one son from his first marriage — Sergey Govorukhin (1961–2011), a war correspondent, writer and director of documentary films who took part in different armed conflicts in Tajikistan, Yugoslavia, Afghanistan and both Chechen wars between 1994 and 2005. In 1995 he was wounded by Chechen terrorists which resulted in one of his legs being amputated. Nevertheless, he continued his work. In 1998 he released one of the most acclaimed documentaries about the First Chechen War — Damned and Forgotten that was awarded with the Nika Award in 1998 as the best documentary. He also took part in several non-governmental organizations dedicated to helping disabled war veterans. In 2011 he survived a stroke and died several days later at the age of 50. He left two sons and one daughter.

During the 1990s Stanislav Govorukhin became professionally interested in landscape painting. He held a number of exhibitions from 1998 onwards.

Govorukhin belonged to the Russian Orthodox Church. In 2016, during his 80th birthday, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow awarded him with the II class Order of Sergius of Radonezh.

Filmography Year Title Original title Director Screenwriter Notes 1964 Pharmacist Аптекарша Short 1967 Vertical Вертикаль Co-directed with Boris Durov 1968 Angel Day День ангела 1969 White Explosion Белый взрыв 1972 Life and Amazing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe Жизнь и удивительные приключения Робинзона Крузо 1974 Contraband Контрабанда 1977 A Breeze of «Hope» Ветер «Надежды» 1978 Marshal of Revolution Маршал революции Actor (General Alexander Kutepov) 1979 The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed Место встречи изменить нельзя Pirates of the 20th Century Пираты XX века 1980 Invasion Вторжение 1981 The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn Приключения Тома Сойера и Гекльберри Финна 1982 The Return of Butterfly Возвращение Баттерфляй Actor (Mikhail Pavlyk) 1983 Among Grey Stones Среди серых камней Actor (judge) 1985 In Search of Captain Grant В поисках капитана Гранта 1986 Secrets of Madame Wong Тайны мадам Вонг 1987 And Then There Were None Десять Негритят Soviet cinematic adaptation on the Agatha Christie novel of the same title. Assa Асса Actor (Krymov) 1988 Champagne Splashes Брызги шампанского 1989 Double Exposition Двойная экспозиция Actor (Herman Andreevich)1990 We Can't Live Like This Так жить нельзя Sons of Bitches Сукины дети Actor (Sergei Popov, a writer) 1991 And the Wind Returns... И возвращается ветер... Actor (Sergei Gerasimov)1992 Russia We Lost Россия, которую мы потеряли Encore, Once More Encore! Анкор, ещё анкор! Actor (Komdiv)1994 Great Criminal Revolution Великая криминальная революция Moscow Nights Подмосковные вечера 1995 The Black Veil Чёрная вуаль Heads and Tails Орёл и решка Actor (Zosima Petrovich) 1997 War Is Over. Forget It... Война окончена. Забудьте... Cameo 1999 Voroshilov Sharpshooter Ворошиловский стрелок 2000 The Captain's Daughter Русский бунт 2002–2006 Woman's Logic (mini-series) Женская логика Actor (Andrei Streltsov) 2003 Bless the Woman Благословите женщину Actor (Komdiv)2005 Not by Bread Alone Не хлебом единым Actor (minister) The 9th Company 9 рота Actor (training regiment commander) 2007 Actress Артистка 2008 Passenger Пассажирка Producer, actor (Russian consul) On June 1941 В июне 41-го 2010 In the Style of Jazz В стиле jazz Producer Lovey-Dovey 3 Любовь-морковь 3 Actor (General) 2013 Weekend Weekend Producer 2015 The End of a Great Era Конец прекрасной эпохи Producer