Yuri Vladimirovich Nikulin (; 18 December 1921 – 21 August 1997) was a Soviet and Russian actor and clown who starred in many popular films. He is best known for his roles in Leonid Gaidai's comedies, such as The Diamond Arm and Kidnapping, Caucasian Style, although he occasionally starred in dramatic roles and performed in the Moscow Circus.
He was awarded the title of People's Artist of the USSR in 1973 and Hero of Socialist Labour in 1990. He also received a number of state awards, including the prestigious Order of Lenin, which he received twice in his lifetime.
Biography
Early years
thumb|left|150px|Nikulin in 1930s
Nikulin was born just after the end of the Russian civil war, in Demidov, Smolensk Oblast. His father Vladimir Andreyevich was a critic, an author of satirical plays and a director in Demidov's local drama theatre. Yuri’s mother Lidiya was an actress there. They got married in the early 1920s and in 1925 moved to Moscow.
In Moscow, Yuri entered a prestigious School No. 16 and soon received from the school’s pedologist an unfavorable characteristic of "a child with limited abilities". His father, insulted, came to the school and confronted the teacher, proving that Yuri was a bright kid. Vladimir Nikulin led a drama club in the school. They staged contemporary playwrights and Yuri was a passionate artist there. In the eighth grade he was transferred to the school No. 346, which was considered "a mediocre one". He graduated in 1939 and in a few months was called up for military duty.
World War II
thumb|left|Yuri (second on the left, 1 row) with comrades, 1943-1944
Nikulin was drafted to the Red Army on 18 November 1939, at the age of 17. In December he was sent to the Winter War with Finland in an anti-aircraft battery near Sestroretsk. During in the fighting at the Mannerheim Line, he served as a wireman and once was ordered to lay 2 km of wire from reels on a backpack in -30 °C weather. On that night he was so exhausted after the mission that he fell asleep in the snow, fortunately rescued by the border patrol. He suffered from severe frostbite and for the rest of his life his legs froze easily. Upon recovery he returned to his division.
In 1941, he was waiting for demobilization when the German invasion of the Soviet Union began. In 1942, his battery was located near the besieged Leningrad. In 1944 he again escaped death by pure luck – a few seconds after he left a trench shelter it was hit by a heavy artillery missile. In the same year he was by his commander's mistake sent to set wire in an occupied village and wasn’t killed by German soldiers only by sheer luck. Upon the end of the war he was dismissed from the army only in 1946. He started as an assistant of Karandash, then the most famous clown in the USSR. In circus school Nikulin met Mikhail Shuidin. They formed a clown duo and performed together throughout their whole careers.
In the ring, Nikulin played a phlegmatic, slow and unsmiling person, in the West he was compared to Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin. Rich in mimicry, doleful of expression, Nikulin was hailed as "a brainy clown" outside Russia.
Nikulin, affectionately called "Uncle Yura" by Russian children, relied mainly upon his wits to earn his place in history as one of the best clowns of the 20th century. He stopped performing as a clown at 60, explaining that "a clown shouldn’t be gray, it looks pathetic".
Cinema
thumb|left|220px|Nikulin in [[Come Here, Mukhtar!, 1965]]
His screen debut came in 1958 with the film The Girl with the Guitar. He appeared in almost a dozen major features, mainly in the 1960s and 1970s, and achieved great success with short films directed by Leonid Gaidai."
His most popular films include the comedies The Diamond Arm, The Twelve Chairs, Grandads–Robbers. His dramatic talent revealed itself in tragic roles in Andrei Tarkovsky's Andrei Rublev and several films on World War II themes (Sergei Bondarchuk's They Fought for Their Country, Aleksei German’s Twenty Days Without War).
Family
In 1949, Nikulin met his future spouse, Tatiana Pokroskaya, an equestrian and a student of Timiryazev Agricultural Academy. Tatiana brought to the circus a dwarf horse, requested by Karandash. During the rehearsal that day Tatiana witnessed Yuri get run over by a horse, suffer a concussion, a fractured clavicle and almost lose his eye. Tatiana visited him in the hospital, and in six months they were married. Since then she started working in circus, participated in many of his plays and traveled with Nikulin and Shuidin. Tatiana also plays minor roles in several of Nikulin’s films.
Directorship in Tsvetnoy
thumb|Nikulin in the 1990s
Nikulin was remembered as a person of boundless kindness. On a director’s post he rebuilt the Old Circus and established a foundation to help retired circus artists and performers.
Yuri Nikulin died on 21 August 1997 and was buried in Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow. He was succeeded in his office at the Moscow Circus on Tsvetnoy Boulevard by his son, Maxim. After Nikulin’s death the Old Circus on Tsvetnoy Boulevard was renamed in his honor. A bronze monument to Nikulin was placed in front of the circus.
Death
At the end of July 1997, Yuri Vladimirovich felt pain behind his sternum and went to the Center for Endosurgery and Lithotripsy (CELT). The situation was complicated by the fact that Nikulin had diabetes mellitus and was still suffering from the aftereffects of tuberculosis he had contracted during the war. On August 5, he underwent an angioplasty procedure, during which his heart stopped, though it was later restarted. After that, however, he fell into a coma, in which he remained for sixteen days until his death.
He died in Moscow on August 21, 1997, in his 76th year, due to complications following heart surgery. A farewell ceremony for the artist was held on August 25, 1997, at the Moscow Circus on Tsvetnoy Boulevard. He was buried at Novodevichy Cemetery.
Filmography
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!Year
!English title
!Original title
!Role
!Notes
|-
| 1958
| A Girl with Guitar
| Девушка с гитарой
| Fireworker
|
|-
| 1959
| The Unamenables
| Неподдающиеся
| Vasily Klyachkin
|
|-
| rowspan="2"|1960
| Yasha Toporkov
|
| Prosha
|
|-
| Dead Souls
| Мёртвые души
| Waiter
| Uncredited
|-
| rowspan="3"|1961
| My Friend, Kolka!
| Друг мой, Колька!
| Vasia the driver
|
|-
| Nowhere Man
| Человек ниоткуда
| Policeman
|
|-
| Dog Barbos and Unusual Cross
| Пёс Барбос и необычный кросс
| Fool
| Short; a part of almanac Absolutely Seriously
|-
| rowspan="3"|1962
| Moonshiners
| Самогонщики
| Fool
| Short
|-
| When the Trees Were Tall
| Когда деревья были большими
| Kuzma Kuzmich Iordanov
|
|-
| Molodo-zeleno
| Молодо-зелено
| Nikolay, chauffeur
|
|-
| rowspan="2"|1963
| Bez strakha i upryoka
|
|
|
|-
| Strictly Business
| Деловые люди
| Burglar
| (segment "Makes the Whole World Kin")
|-
| 1964
| Big Fitil
| Большой фитиль
| Petya-Petushok the burglar
|
|-
| rowspan="4"|1965
| Come Here, Mukhtar!
| Ко мне, Мухтар!
| Police lieutenant Glazychev
|
|-
| Give Me a Book of Complaints
| Дайте жалобную книгу
| Salesman
|
|-
| Fantazyory
|
|
|
|-
| Operation Y and Shurik's Other Adventures
| Операция «Ы» и другие приключения Шурика
| Fool
| (segment "Operatsiya Y")
|-
| rowspan="3"|1966
| Kidnapping, Caucasian Style
| Кавказская пленница, или Новые приключения Шурика
| Fool
|
|-
| Andrei Rublev
| Андрей Рублёв
| Patrikei
|
|-
| Little Fugitive
| Маленький беглец
| Clown Nikulin
| cameo
|-
| 1967
| Seven Old Men and a Girl
| Семь стариков и одна девушка
| Fool
|
|-
| rowspan="2"|1969
| Newbie
| Новенькая
| Yevgeniy Ivanovich
|
|-
| The Diamond Arm
| Бриллиантовая рука
| Semyon Semyonovich Gorbunkov
|
|-
| 1970
| Deniska's Tales
| Денискины рассказы
| Deniska's neighbor
|
|-
| 1971
| The Twelve Chairs
| 12 стульев
| Tikhon the janitor
|
|-
| rowspan="3"|1972
| Grandads-Robbers
| Старики-разбойники
| Nikolay Myachikov
|
|-
| Telegram
| Телеграмма
| Fyodor Fyodorovich
|
|-
| Point, Point, Comma...
| Точка, точка, запятая…
| Zhiltsov's father
|
|-
| 1975
| They Fought for Their Country
| Они сражались за Родину
| private Nekrasov
|
|-
| 1976
| Travka's Adventures
| Приключения Травки
|
|
|-
| rowspan="2"|1977
| Twenty Days Without War
| Двадцать дней без войны
| Major Lopatin
|
|-
| Bobik Visiting Barbos
| Бобик в гостях у Барбоса
| Bobik / grandfather
| Short, Voice
|-
| rowspan="2"|1983
| I Don't Want To Be Adult
| Не хочу быть взрослым
| clown on TV
|
|-
| Yeralash № 38
| Ералаш
| uncle Yura
|
|-
| 1984
| Scarecrow
| Чучело
| Nikolai Bessoltsev, grandfather
|
|-
| 1991
| Captain Crocus
| Капитан Крокус
| Author
| (introduction; final film role)
|}
Awards and honors
thumb|Nikulin on a 2021 stamp of [[Kyrgyzstan]]
- Hero of Socialist Labour (1990)
- Order "For Merit to the Fatherland", 3rd class (1996)
- Two Orders of Lenin (1980, 1990)
- Order of the Patriotic War, 2nd class (1985)
- Order of the Red Banner of Labour (1986)
- Order of the Badge of Honour (1967)
- Medal "For Courage" (1945)
- Medal of Zhukov
- Medal "For Labour Valour" (1958)
- Medal "For the Defence of Leningrad" (1943)
- Medal "For the Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945"
- Honored Artist of the RSFSR (1963)
- People's Artist of the RSFSR (1969)
- People's Artist of the USSR (1973)
- Vasilyev Brothers State Prize of the RSFSR (1970)
On 18 December 2011, Google celebrated his 90th birthday with a Google Doodle.