Yevgeny Pavlovich Leonov was born on September 2, 1926. During World War II he worked at a factory as the pupil of the turner, then studied in Aviation Technical School of S.Ordzhonikidze. Love for theatre has brought him to Moscow Drama School, where he studied with E.M. Sheremeteva and A.A. Goncharov. After graduation in 1948 from Drama School, Yevgeny Leonov has been accepted in the troupe of Moscow Drama Theatre of K.S. Stanislavsky, where he worked twenty years and played the first significant theatrical role - Lariosik in performance «Days of the Turbins» directed by Michael Yanshin. 

In 1968 the actor moved to Theatre of V. Majakovsky, which Andrey Goncharov supervised, and in 1972 started to work for director Mark Zakharov In Moscow Theatre of Lenin's Komsomol. Among his significant theatrical works: tsar Kreon in Z. Anuja's «Antigone» play, Ivanov in "Ivanov" by A.P. Chehov, Tevie-milkman â «Prayer for the dead» by Sholohom-Aleihem. In movies Evgenie Leonov started in 1947, and the first notable role was in 1955, in «Rumyantsev Case» by Joseph Hejfits and «Road» by Alexander Stolper. Success has come to the actor in 1961 with comedy by Vladimir Fetin «Striped Voyage», in which he played role of "tamer" Shuleikin. And though after that success the actor began to be invited to play in more comedy movies, the same director has noticed in him powerful drama talent - three years later Fetin hired Leonov to play Jacob Shibalka, leaging role in film «Don's Story», which was based on Michael Sholokhov's stories. Yevgeny Leonov's work in this movie has been awarded by a prize «Silver Peacock» at festival in New Delhi.
Yevgeny Leonov has created interesting drama characters also in «Byelorussian Station» by Andrey Smirnov, in «Bonus» by Sergey Mikaelyan, in TV movies «Elder son» by Vitaly Melnikov and «Roundabout» by Michael Schweitzer, in «Legend about Til». Among the most known movies staring Leonov - Alexander Seriy's comedy «Gentlemen of luck», tales «Ordinary miracle» and «To kill a dragon», directed by Mark Zakharov based on plays by Yevgeny Schwarz. But most of all Yevgeny Leonov has acted in films of such known directors of the Soviet cinema, as Eldar Ryazanov and Georgi Daneliya - simply enough to name the movies directed by them, which were some of Russian people's favorites and which are watched with pleasure still, and not in a small degree due to Leonov's remarkable actor talent: «Zigzag of Luck», «For a poor hussar say a word», «Autumn Marathon», «Kin-Dza-Dza». Especially it is necessary to note another side of actor's talent of Yevgeny Leonov - he voiced many animated characters, like Winnie-the-Pooh from Feodor Hitruk's most popular cartoon «Winnie-the-Pooh». The life of the remarkable actor has stopped on January 29, 1994. That day he was scheduled to perform «Prayer for the dead», but when it was declared, that it is cancelled because of Leonov's death, no one returned the ticket ...

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