Tender-Spirited Favourite: Happy 85th Birthday, Vasily Livanov!

By now I’ve written quite often about my love of Soviet – Russian actor Vasily Livanov, but as he turned 85 a few weeks ago I wanted to share an anniversary tribute! To a man who made his mark on the screen with so many memorable, even iconic performances, some with his voice alone. Even before he won the hearts of international audiences as one of the greatest Sherlock Holmes on film (in my very humble opinion, and Jean Conan Doyle’s too), Livanov had this strange – maybe the word is luminosity, that draws you in to his presence, whether on his own or even in moving ensemble scenes, a lively yet faraway look in his softly expressive eyes. Born into an artistic family with ambitions to become a doctor or traveller, his first roles outside the theatre and into film may have been quite natural to him, idealistic, schoolboyish men with ‘bookish morals’: geologists and medical school graduates finding their way in life. In 1959, filming in the middle of a raging Siberian snowstorm (for Kalatozov’s fascinating ‘Letter Never Sent’) caused permanent damage to his vocal chords, giving a raspy hoarseness to his youthful tenor.

And there’s a similar, intriguing multidimensionality in his roles too, this sensible, logical mind wrapped up in a caring spirit. As Holmes, he is absent-minded in his pontification, coolly intelligent in his detection, and as dignified and valiant as every English literary gentleman ought to be. But he also has an impish sense of humour, and is sweetly sentimental as friend to that loyal, trusting, and beloved companion Dr. Watson (the equally sublime Vitaly Solomin), and this gentle emphasis on his soft side makes him even more endearing. In fact, a decade before he put on his deerstalker, Livanov brought that same sensible wonderment to many Soyuzmultfilm children’s series, including my favourite, Crocodile Gena. For a man who has contributed so much to Russian theatre, cinema, television/animation, and literature over the decades, to me Vasily Livanov is practically lovable in every way :’) Xo