Georgiy Stepanovich Zhzhenov (Russian: Гео́ргий Степа́нович Жжёнов, IPA: [ɡʲɪˈorɡʲɪj sʲtʲɪˈpanəvʲɪdʑ ˈʐːonəf];[a] 22 March 1915 – 8 December 2005), was a Soviet and Russian stage and film actor and writer. He is known for playing the spy Mikhail Tulyev in the "Resident" quartet of films, Beware of the Car (1966), The Hot Snow (1973), and many others, and was a popular actor. He was appointed People's Artist of the USSR in 1980.
Zhzhonov's parents grew up in a peasant family from the Tver Region. His mother was his father's second wife, and there were five children in this family. They moved to the city and his father opened his own bakery, but never became wealthy.[1]
Zhzhonov was born on 22 March 1915,[2] and, like many of his peers, finished school in grade seven. He then studied acrobatics at the Leningrad College of Circus and Estrada Arts, and started to give performances with a friend. There he was spotted by film director Eduard Ioganson in 1932, and asked him to play the part a tractor driver in the film Hero's Mistake. After this break, Zhzhonov was accepted by the Leningrad Theatrical School, where he studied under renowned director Sergei Gerasimov,[1] graduating in 1935.[2]
Travelling in a train with Nikolai Kryuchkov and Pyotr Aleynikov on a train, he met an American diplomat, and later he was charged with espionage related to this man he barely knew.[1]
In 1936, Zhzhonov's brother Boris, a Leningrad University student, was arrested for "anti-Soviet activities and terrorist leanings", during a period of political repression by the government in the wake of the assassination of Sergei Kirov. Zhzhonov's family was exiled to Kazakhstan; however, Georgiy instead headed to the set of Komsomolsk, a film being made by Gerasimov in Komsomolsk-on-Amur.[1][2] In 1938, Zhzhonov was arrested on political motives was forced to confess, and sentenced multiple times to seventeen years in the gulag at Kolyma. Put to work as a logger and gold miner, he managed to survive, unlike his brother Boris, who died of exhaustion in Vorkuta, and another brother who was executed by firing squad.[1] Just before Victory Day (9 May) in spring 1945, Zhzhonov was released on parole and sent to work at the Magadan Theatre. Two years later he was fully released, thanks to the efforts of Gerasimov (although banned from living in larger industrial cities), and went to Sverdlovsk. Here he was able to do some film acting when the studios were open.[1]
He was again arrested in 1949 and this time exiled to Norilsk, where he took stage roles with the local drama theatre until 1953. He was finally exonerated at the age of 38 (around 1953).[1][2]
He returned to Leningrad around 1954, first working at the regional drama theatre, then Lensovet Theatre, until 1962.[2]
He started taking on cameo roles in films. In 1966 his role as a compassionate traffic warden in Eldar Ryazanov's comedy Beware of the Car was noticed. In 1968[b] and he played the spy Mikhail Tulyev in The Secret Agent's Blunder (Resident's Mistake), directed by Venyamin Dorman. This was the first of a quartet of films based around the same character. The sequel, Secret Agent's Destiny (or Resident's Way) was released in 1970, with Resident Return (Resident Is Back) in 1982 and End of the Resident Project in 1986.[1]
He also met director Yuly Karasik on the set of The Man I Love at this time, but in the meantime his relationship with Igor Vladimirov, director of Lensovet, deteriorated to the point that Zhzhonov left Leningrad and went to Moscow. There he joined Mossovet Theatre, led by Yuri Zavadsky.[1][2]
Ironically, Zhzhonov was frequently cast in the roles of policemen and KGB agents. This Gulag victim was even awarded a special KGB prize for the screen versions of three novels by Yulian Semyonov. Zhzhonov was also invited to play Stierlitz, but declined for personal reasons.[citation needed]
In later life, Zhzhonov was a member of the jury at human rights International Human Rights Film Festival "Stalker", which toured the country.[1]
Zhzhonov loved literature, and wrote short stories when he was a young man, although they were not published. Later, he wrote memoirs of his days in the gulags, as well as a novel, From Capercaillie to the Firebird and a number of stories.[1]
He was appointed People's Artist of the USSR in 1980.[3][4]
His awards include:[citation needed]
In 2005, Zhzhonov spent his 90th birthday acting in the Russian Army Theatre. Later that day, he was invited to the Kremlin to be invested with the highest civilian decoration of Russia. During a conversation that followed, President Putin admitted that Zhzhonov's roles had prompted him to become an intelligence officer.[citation needed]
Zhzhonov had an elder brother, Boris. He married four times, with three marriages producing a daughter.[1]
He died of lung cancer on 8 December 2005, and was buried in Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow.[2]
