This actor is known even to those viewers who do not sit all night on TV screens, and those who do not belong to a cohort of fans who watch old Soviet films. After all, there are films that almost everyone has ever seen. And the characters of this actor cannot be forgotten: Watson in The Blue Carbuncle, Count Ludovico in The Dog in the Hay, Richardson in The Testament of Professor Duel, Victor Borisovich in The Unknown Soldier, Peter Bachey in The Waves of the Black Sea. It is easy to guess who will be discussed below. Of course, this is Ernst Romanov - a talented performer of mostly supporting roles.
Childhood
The ninth day of April 1936 in the town of Kabakovsk (now Serov) was marked by the appearance of the future theater and film actor Ernst Romanov. Parents were not people of art: dad was the director of the Serov Craft School, and my mother was on guard duty at a metallurgical plant. Little Ernst was their firstborn. Subsequently, two more sons were born in the family.
The boy was still in school, but already in his soul settled an all-consuming love of the theater. He even went to amateur art classes, where he was offered the main roles.
In the postwar years, Ernst Romanov was already a completely independent boy. In his hometown there was only one cinema, in the hall of which one could see many captured films. Like many guys of that time, Ernst came there very often. Another permanent venue for his visits was a small local theater. That is what prompted him to think about who he will be in adulthood. After receiving a school certificate, the guy decided that he would definitely be an actor.
The fate of the theater zigzags …
To implement his decision, the future artist Romanov Ernst leaves for Moscow. His talent, determination and perseverance allow him to become a student at the same time two theatrical universities: GITIS and "Pike." The young man did not choose between them for a long time: he gave preference to GITIS, since there was no dormitory in the Shchukin school. The reason may seem prosaic and frivolous to someone. But if you put yourself in the place of a nonresident Romanov, then it immediately becomes clear that in this situation, housing is an important factor.
The course was attended by Ernst Romanov, the famous Mkhatovets Vasily Alexandrovich Orlov. Thanks to his talented teaching, students had the opportunity to get excellent theater training. By the way, Ernst's classmate was the famous (today) theater director Roman Viktyuk.
He was already in his third year when GITIS was visited by representatives of the young Rostov Youth Theater. They were too persistent in their offer to work on the stage of this theater, so a lot of students (including Ernst Romanov) agreed to work for them, concluding an agreement. After a short period of time, he regretted it.
After graduating from GITIS in 1957, Ernst Romanov (the actor is still a beginner) and his fellow students arrived in Rostov-on-Don to work. When they saw the local Youth Theater, they were horrified: there were no conditions for a normal life and fruitful work, the state was simply terrifying. In addition, the theater was treated with some coolness in the city, because football was a priority. The actor recalled how on the way to work often had to literally make his way through the crowds of fans hurrying to the stadium. And this is at the same time when only a few people came to the play "Uncle Vanya". For the ministers of Melpomene it was very disappointing - any desire to do something new and interesting on the stage disappeared.
Tallinn. Theatre. Love…
In such a situation, it was difficult for young actors to remain energetic and think about the distant future. Therefore, they soon began to leave the theater in turn. Ernst Ivanovich lasted two years in Rostov, and then moved to Ryazan, in the regional Drama Theater. But even there the conditions were no better. Romanov worked only one season, after which he moved to Tallinn (Estonia).
But there, everything was completely different. Now the actor was in the troupe of the Russian Drama Theater, and everything here was completely different than before. Ernst Romanov, a theater and film actor, remained in the troupe for eight years, he was offered many interesting roles. Now he was one of the leading actors in this troupe.
But not only with work this ancient beautiful city made him happy. It was on these streets that Ernst Romanov met the only love of his life - actress Leyla Kirakosyan. They created a family that is still strong.
From Lenkom to the Drama Theater
After working in the Tallinn Theater, Romanov goes to Kiev: he was invited to work at the Lesya Ukrainka Theater. But the heyday of his career did not happen there. Ernst Ivanovich later in an interview shared with journalists his feelings that were raging in his soul at that time: the attitude was not at all the same as he was used to in Estonia. There he was a "star of the first echelon", and in the Ukrainian capital he was accepted as a beginner. In the performances he received the most minor roles. For a long time, the actor could not withstand this situation. He left Ukraine.
The Romanov couple moved to Leningrad in 1969. Ernst Ivanovich began working at the famous Lenkom. But here he did not stay long. The roles played were not very many, the most notable of them was the Duke of Buckingham (based on the novel by Alexander Dumas, the play “Three Musketeers” was staged).
Two years later, the actor transferred to the troupe of the Leningrad Pushkin Drama Theater. Here, his roles were quite noticeable and warmly received by the audience: Ogibalov in “Hoarfrost on the Stacks”, Antonio in “Much Ado About Nothing” … But the actor worked in these walls for only three years. And cinema became the “fault”.
The Soviet period of Cinema Romanov …
Ernst Romanov’s film debut took place in 1957 (just this year he received a GITIS diploma). Then his character was an officer in the melodrama "Duel" (director Vladimir Perov, the story of A. Kuprin). But the role was so small that the name of the actor was not even indicated in the credits. The next fifteen years, Ernst Ivanovich practically did not act in films, occasionally appearing only in episodes.
Everything changed at the very beginning of the 70s, when the roads led Romanov to Leningrad. In 1972, he played a small role - a character named Vadik. It was a psychological drama "Monologue", directed by Ilya Averbakh. Since that time (this is one of the interesting facts in the life of Ernst Romanov), he considers Averbakh and Margarita Terekhova his “godmothers” in the world of cinema. It is the painting "Monologue" - for him a real debut in the cinema.
Diverse actor
The following year, Ernst Romanov, whose films occupied a deep niche in Soviet cinema, despite the fact that his roles were small, was invited to the set of the famous science fiction film “The Collapse of Engineer Garin”. He was offered the role of Alexei Semenovich Khlynov (the voice acting, however, was produced by another actor). Since 1974, the actor has been a member of the Lenfilm film studio. Now the roles rained down on him like from a cornucopia.
The filmography of Ernst Romanov clearly shows the amazing and versatile talent of the actor. Its range is wide enough. He easily plays both character-comedic and dramatic roles. Romanov has his own corporate identity: an expressive look that can reflect the internal state of his characters, the fullness of their feelings. He starred in the best directors of domestic cinema: Gleb Panfilov, Nikita Mikhalkov, Pyotr Fomenko, Vladimir Naumov and others.
Movie roles
Ernst Romanov played in films over a hundred roles. Among his works are the films “Niagara”, “Born of the Revolution”, “Simulator”, “Mother”, “The Life of Klim Samghin”, “Like I was a Child Prodigy”, “Taste of Bread” … Count Ludoviko remains one of the most interesting roles for the actor from the musical comedy by Jan Fried “The Dog in the Hay”: an almost insane old man who was lucky to find his missing son Teodoro many years ago.
Throughout his entire creative life, the actor very often had to play doctors of various specialties and transform into heroes who were much older than himself by age. The same Count Ludovico was played at the age of 41. Another interesting age role is Nikolay Belov, a whitened gray hair, an elderly intellectual, a Leningrad doctor, who during the years of the war became the chief doctor of a medical train. It was a military drama directed by Pyotr Fomenko. The actor was then only 39 years old.
When the new century began, and the new cinema began to gradually revive, Ernst Romanov, after a break, returned to the screen. His acting talent, plus charisma and character did not allow him to stay away. There was no end to offers.
His new characters are the chief physician Viktor Kazimirovich Butkevich in the detective “The Owl Cry”, professor Sergey Vedensky in the film “It All Started in Harbin”, Colonel Alexei Sychek in the series “Golden Guys” …. In recent years, Ernst Romanov even played homegrown "godfathers" in detective stories of recent years.
