Lev Prygunov is a famous domestic actor who became popular thanks to the films “Tone on Pyatnitskaya”, “I am going to a thunderstorm”, “Children of Don Quixote”, as well as his theatrical work.

Lev Georgievich Prygunov

Lev Prygunov is a famous Soviet, and then a Russian actor, poet, painter, people's artist of Russia. On his account – roles in a hundred and extra films. The most popular films of the actor are “tavern on Pyatnitskaya”, “Battle for Moscow”, “I am going to a thunderstorm”, “Children of Don Quixote”.

Childhood, study at a theater university, the beginning of a theater career

Lev was born in the Kazakhstan city of Almaty. His father was a scientist, a tanker-prospector, and his mother worked at school, taught Russian and Russian literature. Leo's father, George Prygunov, died tragically when the boy was only nine years old. George Prygunov fought and managed to survive in the war. He died already in peacetime, four years after the victory, going alone on a scientific expedition. After that, the lion's mother had to raise her son alone.

From the early biography of Leo, we know that in childhood he was a quiet, closed boy. He had no friends. Lev did not like to read and studied poorly at school. But he was very interested in the living nature. Like his father, he was fond of ornithology and botanical, so he spent a lot of time in the steppes and fields. He was even going to become a teacher of biology in memory of his father. Therefore, he went to study at the Almaty Pedagogical Institute, at the Faculty of Pedagogical, but after a couple of years he abandoned it.

Dreaming to become a biologist scientist in memory of his father, the lion suppressed an innate craving for acting. After Lev realized that it was necessary to go in his life on his own road, he took the documents from the pedagogical institute and left Kazakhstan to Leningrad to try to enter the Leningrad Theater Institute. The young man succeeded on the first attempt. Leo Prygunov was accepted on the course of T.I. Soinikova.

After graduating from a theater university, a novice actor performed on the scenes of various metropolitan theaters. He took part in the performances of the Moscow Children's Theater, as well as the theater-studio of the film actor and theater. Stanislavsky. Later, he began to take an active part in the entreprise productions.

Kinematographic career

In his first film, Leo Prygunov starred while studying at the institute. It was the movie dismissal to the shore. During the casting for this film, Prygunov met Vladimir Vysotsky and later was on friendly relations with him. After this film, the young actor began to act a lot. Almost every year a new film was released with his participation. The audience was successful with many films with the participation of this actor-“Morning trains”, as well as “Children of Don Quixote”, “Sasha-Sashenka”, “I am going to a thunderstorm”, etc.

Speaking about the work of Lev Prygunov in the cinema, one cannot fail to mention the film Without the right to make a mistake. In it, the young artist very talentedly played the role of a villain. The painting “Honest, smart, unmarried”, dedicated to the production theme, also became successful. The actor himself considered the historical series “Hearts of Bonivur” to be his best work of Soviet times.

In the 1990s, during the crisis in Soviet film production, Prygunov actively starred in foreign films, playing Russian villains in them.

He starred in foreign films Saint, Express to Beijing, The Story of Robert Hanssen, as well as in some others. The last role of Lev Prygunov in the American film is the image of Mamontov, which he embodied in the thriller Archangel, based on the novel of the same name by Roberto Harris. This picture appeared on movie screens in 2005. In the center of the plot of this film is the attempt of the characters to unravel the mystery of Stalin's death. To do this, they use a mysterious diary stolen and hidden at one time by Beria. The main role in this picture was played by D. Craig. He embodied the image of a man who was looking for the aforementioned diary. But the character of Lev Prygunov (a former KGB agent) in every possible way prevented the American from doing this.

Currently, the actor is involved in the creation of many Russian and Ukrainian films and series. He played in the military drama Confrontation, the action movie Joker, the biographical television series, Landing Batya, the melodrama for family viewing House on Ozernaya.

In addition, Lev Prygunov played in a number of films shot by his son, Roman. These are the films Duhless 2, Indigo, Loneliness of Blood. The film Duhless 2 was released on movie screens in 2015. To date, this is the last full-length film by Lev Prygunov. In it, Prygunov played a small role of Mikhail Ivanovich.

One of the last series with the participation of this actor was the work “Londongrad. Know ours! This series tells about the activities of an unusual agency opened in London by a Russian emigrant. The employees of this agency helped their compatriots, solving their problems. In the film, the Londongrad agency takes on any challenge, from the simplest assignments such as booking tickets to a concert or meeting at the airport, to the more serious ones involving settling problems with British law enforcement. These funny cases became the basis of this television series.