Volodin A.M. (1919-2001), playwright

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VOLODIN (real surname Lifshitz) Alexander Moiseevich (1919-2001, St. Petersburg), playright, poet, script and prose writer. Took part in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-45. In 1949 graduated from the All-Union State Film Institute and moved to Leningrad where in 1954 his first collection of Short Stories was published. The plays by Volodin (Factory Girl, 1956; Five Evenings, 1959; My elder sister, 1961; The appointment, 1963; etc.), are imbued with lyricism and reveals a keen interest in the problem of the value of personality, personal will and freedom; influenced greatly the further development of Soviet drama. The productions of Volodin's plays, including those staged in Leningrad Theatres, were highly successful; the co-operation of Volodin and Gorky Bolshoi Drama Theatre headed by G.A. Tovstonogov was especially effective. At the same time Volodin's works provoked intense discussions, were severely attacked by Soviet official critique and some banned by censorship. He was author of dramatic parables (Two Arrows 1967; Castrucci, 1968; The Mother of Jesus, 1970; etc.); film scripts Somebody is Ringing, Open the Door (1965, directed by A.N. Mitta; Grand Prix Golden Lion of St. Mark of International Children Film Festival in Venice, 1966), Adventures of a Dentist (1965, directed by E.G. Klimov, general release in the late 1980s), Mothers and Daughters (directed by S.A. Gerasimov, 1975), Autumn Marathon (1979, directed by G.N. Danelia; Gold Shell Prize of International Film Festival in San Sebastian and other awards) etc.; confessional-autobiographical and memoirs prose (Uneasiness. Notes with remarks, 1993 etc.). Vasilyev Brothers State Prize of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (1981), Prize of the President of Russian Federation (1999), Triumph Prize (1999) and others. Lived at 44 Bolshaya Pushkarskaya Street. Buried at Komarovskoe Cemetery.

References: Ланина Т. В. Александр Володин: Очерк жизни и творчества. Л., 1989.

D. N. Cherdakov. Danelia Georgy Nikolaevich
Gerasimov Sergey Apollinarievich
Gorky Maxim (Alexey Maximovich Peshkov)
Klimov Elem Germanovich
Mitta Alexander Naumovich
Tovstonogov Georgy Alexandrovich
Volodin Alexander Moiseevich
Bolshaya Pushkarskaya St./Saint Petersburg, city, house 44
Ланина Т. В. Александр Володин: Очерк жизни и творчества. Л., 1989 Tovstonogov Bolshoy Drama Theatre
Komorovskoe Cemetery