Eldar Ryazanov

Eldar Ryazanov studied at Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography. The recorded working language is Russian. Subjects and genres recorded for the work are comedy film, tragicomedy, drama fiction and melodrama. Employment is recorded with Top Courses for Scriptwriters and Film Directors.

Eldar Aleksandrovich Ryazanov was born in Samara. His father, Aleksandr Semyonovich Ryazanov, was a diplomat who worked in Tehran. His mother, Sofya Mikhailovna (née Shusterman), was of Jewish descent. In 1930, the family moved to Moscow, and soon his parents divorced. He was then raised by his mother and her new husband, Lev Mikhailovich Kopp. In 1937 his father was arrested by the Stalinist government and subsequently served 18 years in the correctional labour camps. Ryazanov began to create films in the early 1950s. In 1955, Ivan Pyryev, then a major force in the Soviet film industry, suggested to him to begin work on his film Carnival Night. At first, Ryazanov refused, as he wanted to make "serious films", but then was convinced to begin, as Pyryev believed that "anybody could shoot a melodrama, but only a few can create good comedy." He won instant success, and began to release more films. He was named a People's Artist of the USSR in 1984, and received the USSR State Prize in 1977. He won the Nika Award for Best Director in 1991 for the film Promised Heaven. Among his most famous films are Carnival Night (1955), Hussar Ballad (1962), Beware of the Car (1966), The Irony of Fate (1975), Office Romance (1977), The Garage (1980), Station for Two (1982) and A Cruel Romance (1984). Ryazanov's main genre was tragicomedy.

Ryazanov had an acute ischemic stroke in November 2014. He was admitted to a Moscow hospital on 21 November 2015 due to shortness of breath. He died around midnight on 30 November 2015, of heart and lung failure, at the age of 88.

1950 They are Studying in Moscow (Russian: Они учатся в Москве), documentary – author (in co-operation with Zoya Fomina) 1951 The Way Named October (Дорога имени Октября), documentary – director (in co-operation with Liya Derbysheva) 1952 On the World Chess Championship (На первенство мира по шахматам), documentary – director 1953 Your Books (Твои книжки), documentary – director (in co-operation with Zoya Fomina) 1953 Near Krasnodar (Недалеко от Краснодара), documentary – director 1954 Island of Sakhalin (Остров Сахалин), documentary – director (in co-operation with Vasily Katanyan) 1955 Spring Voices (Весенние голоса), documentary – second director 1956 Carnival Night (Карнавальная ночь) – director 1957 The Girl Without Address (Девушка без адреса) – director 1961 How Robinson Was Created (Как создавался Робинзон) – director 1961 The Man from Nowhere (Человек ниоткуда) – director 1962 Hussar Ballad (Гусарская баллада) – director / screenwriter 1965 Give me a complaints book (Дайте жалобную книгу) – director / actor: chief editor 1966 Beware of the Car (Берегись автомобиля) – director / screenwriter 1968 Zigzag of Success (Зигзаг удачи) – director / screenwriter 1971 Grandads-Robbers (Старики-разбойники) – director / screenwriter / actor: the passer-by 1974 Unbelievable Adventures of Italians in Russia (Невероятные приключения итальянцев в России) – director / screenwriter / actor: doctor 1975 The Irony of Fate (Ирония судьбы или с легким паром!) – director / screenwriter / actor: airplane passenger 1977 Office Romance (Служебный роман) – director / screenwriter / actor: bus passenger 1979 The Garage (Гараж) – director / screenwriter / actor: sleeping Man 1981 Say a Word for the Poor Hussar (О бедном гусаре замолвите слово) – director / screenwriter / actor: confectioner 1982 Station for Two (Вокзал для двоих) – director / screenwriter / actor: railroad supervisor 1984 A Cruel Romance (Жестокий романс) – director / screenwriter 1987 Forgotten Melody for a Flute (Забытая мелодия для флейты) – director / screenwriter / actor: astronomer 1988 Dear Yelena Sergeyevna (Дорогая Елена Сергеевна) – director / screenwriter / actor: neighbour 1991 Promised Heaven (Небеса обетованные) – director / screenwriter / actor: man in diner 1993 Prediction (Предсказание) – director / screenwriter 1996 Hello, Fools! (Привет, дуралеи!) – director / screenwriter / actor: manager of the bookshop 2000 Old Hags (Старые клячи) – director / screenwriter / actor: judge 2000 Still Waters (Тихие омуты) – Director / Screenwriter / Actor: Radiologist / Producer 2003 The Key of Bedroom (Ключи от спальни) – director / screenwriter / actor: police constable / producer 2006 Carnival Night 2 (TV) – director / actor (cameo appearance) 2006 Andersen. Life Without Love – director / screenwriter (with Irakly Kvirikadze) / actor: mortician / producer 2007 The Irony of Fate 2 – actor (cameo appearance)

Ryazanov was one of the most successful film directors of the Soviet Union, and his films are still well-known in the post-USSR landscape. The Irony of Fate is still aired every December 31 in most post-USSR countries, except for Ukraine since the 2014 Revolution of Dignity. A street in Moscow was named after him in 2017, and a museum and memorial dedicated to his memory was opened on the site of his childhood home in Samara.

In his book "Nepoladki v russkom dome" Sergey Kara-Murza wrote that "Ryazanov and the artists close to him, consumed by anti-Soviet feeling, lovingly reflected and thereby in many ways created a certain social and spiritual world - and this world turned out to be possible only when it was surrounded and protected by the crude structures of the Soviet way of life."