Vasili Lanovoy is a notable Russian actor best known as Captain Grey in Alye parusa (1961) and as Anatol Kuragin in War and Peace (1966).
He was born Vasili Semenovich Lanovoy on January 16, 1934, in Moscow, Russia, USSR. His parents were Ukrainian peasants living near Odessa. They escaped from death in the famine of 1931 and survived by moving to Moscow. At the age of 7, Lanovoy went to visit his relatives near Odessa, but there he was caught by the advancing Nazi Armies during the Second World War. Young Lanovoy was abused by the Nazis who fired machine guns above his head to scare him, so he stammered for several years as a consequence. However, he had a dream of being an actor, regardless of his stammer and his heavy Ukrainian accent. He attended the acting class of Sergei Lvovich Stein at Moscow ZIL club, and made his stage debut in a play by 列夫·卡西尔.
Young Lanovoy was torn between two professions, acting and journalism, and entered to study both. In 1953, at age 18, while a Journalism student of Moscow University, he was cast in Problem Child (1954), making his film debut. From 1953 - 1957 he studied acting at Shchukin Theatrical School of Vakhtangov Theatre in Moscow. There his classmate was 塔吉娅娜·萨莫依洛娃, and they married in 1955, and later became co-stars in Anna Karenina (1967) by director 亚历山大·扎尔赫依. At the same time he appeared as Anatol Kuragin in War and Peace (1966) by director 谢尔盖·邦达尔丘克.
Since 1957 Vasili Lanovoy has been member of Vakhtangov Theatre in Moscow. There his stage partners were such actors as 米哈伊尔·乌里扬诺夫, Ruben Simonov, 鲍里斯·扎哈瓦, Mikhail Astangov, 瓦尔瓦拉·波波娃, 伊琳娜·库普琴科, Natalya Tenyakova, Yuliya Borisova, 柳德米拉·马克萨科娃, Lyudmila Tselikovskaya, Marianna Vertinskaya, 尼娜·鲁斯拉诺娃, Nikolai Plotnikov, 尤里·雅科夫列夫, 弗拉基米尔·艾图什, Vyacheslav Shalevich, 安德烈·阿布里科索夫, Grigori Abrikosov, Boris Babochkin, 尼古拉·格里岑科, 尼古拉·特罗菲莫夫, Aleksandr Grave, Evgeniy Karelskikh, Sergey Makovetskiy, and Ruben Simonov, among others. His most memorable stage performances were as Protasov in 'Deti Solntsa' (1968), as Oktavian in 'Antony and Cleopatra' (1975), and the title role in 'Kasanova' (1985). Since taking the role as Prince Calaf in 1963, Lanovoy has been delivering acclaimed performances in the legendary Vakhtangov's production of Carlo Gozzi's comedy 'Princess Turandot'.
Vasili Lanovoy was designated People's Actor of the USSR, was awarded Lenin's Prize (1980), and received numerous awards and decorations for his works on stage and in film. He is married to actress 'Irina Kupchenko', and the couple has two sons. Outside of his acting profession Lanovoy is fond of listening to classical music and singing Ukrainian songs together with his friends and family. In his 70s, he has been maintaining a good physical form through sports and pesco-vegetarian diet. He is living with his family in Moscow, Russia.
