Once upon a time this was a very happy, intelligent family. Father - Sherlock Holmes, famous throughout the country, Vasily Livanov. Mother is a cartoonist, Elena Livanova. Their son, Boris, seemed to have all the conditions to make a career and name for himself. But everything was ruined by envy of his own parents and a bottle... The terrible news that Livanov’s son killed his drinking companion with an ax on New Year’s Eve shocked the film circles of Moscow. But it didn’t seem to surprise the parents themselves, even though it almost gave them a heart attack. Just a few months before the tragedy, the Russian “Sherlock Holmes” said in an interview:
I myself am afraid of my son... After all, this is not the first time that he rushes at his mother, then at me. We are very unhappy...
Nikas Safronov, a friend of the accused’s mother, recalls the same thing:
There was an attempt to attack his mother; Boris did not respect his parents at all. But I believe that this is absolutely not their fault. After all, they forgave everything, literally everything... And hoped for the best.
Director Mark Zakharov confirms his words:
Livanov did not teach his son any of this...
But are the parents, especially the father, really innocent? There are other opinions...In the early 80s, filming of the film "Sherlock Holmes" was in full swing. The first episodes, released in 1979, brought instant popularity to Vasily Livanov. But as often happens in the families of actors, who are overwhelmed by enormous popular love and are extremely busy and have no time left for children, perhaps this is the reason that Boris and his parents moved away from each other.
For some reason Boris is very angry with us! - said Vasily Borisovich. – It seems to him that he is not in demand, he could achieve more...
Once upon a time, Boris wrote scripts and acted on the theater stage. But everything was abandoned for the sake of aimlessly drinking alcohol day after day. Even his own young daughter Eva. The Livanovs' entourage says that recently the son and parents have not been able to communicate calmly at all - everything ended in a scandal, almost a stabbing... It seems that the latest incident is some kind of act of recognition of one's own powerlessness in the face of circumstances...
Let us remember that during a showdown, Boris Livanov is believed to have hacked his friend to death with a kitchen hatchet.
As the police told KP, they walked in the apartment until 9 am. Meanwhile, the owner of the apartment fell asleep quite early. He opened his eyes only when the company gathered for more. He ran out after them with a meat hatchet. And, already at the entrance, Livanov hit 31-year-old Igor Khromov several times with it. He died on the spot.
Criminal investigation officers are looking for a chopping hatchet that Boris’s wife, Ekaterina, threw out the window. She says she doesn't remember where he fell. Now experts are working on the spot with metal detectors, searching the snowdrifts around the house.
REPORTAGE
“They took a man out. He was drunk as hell. We were later told that this was the son of the famous artist Livanov...”
For residents of house number seven on Druzhby Street in Khimki near Moscow, where an emergency happened with the son of a famous actor, a drunken fight is, in general, a common occurrence.
Already on the first floor, KP correspondents were met by a local resident snoring peacefully right next to the elevator. The neighbors, who have not yet recovered from New Year’s Eve, rattling their shopping bags with “fuel”, indifferently step over the poor fellow.
Last year my grandfather’s father made a resolution on New Year’s Eve! To death! - an 18-year-old boy living in this house shared with KP. - They put you in prison! Now the guy has been killed. We think they hit him on the head with a bottle... We don’t know Livanov. The drinking party was on the seventh floor in Dimka Gorokhov's apartment. He drinks heavily, but the guy is sincere. Lives with his mother. And we learned about the son of actor Livanov from the police. They interrogated us as neighbors and said that a certain Livanov had killed a young guy.
Neighbors of Gorokhov, to whom, according to them, Boris Livanov came to celebrate the New Year on the evening of December 31, claim that they found the body on the staircase between the sixth and seventh floors at nine in the morning.
I went to take out the garbage, and I saw a young guy lying on the stairs covered in blood! - one of the residents of the entrance told “KP”. - We all drank heavily yesterday, well, I thought that the guy just had too much. And then, when a couple of minutes later he went out to smoke, people were already milling around on the staircase, they said that the guy had been killed. His passport was found next to him. He was born in 86th year. Apparently he lived nearby, also from Khimki. But I haven't seen him here before.
There were still traces of blood at the murder scene. White powder was scattered everywhere - the operatives were looking for the fingerprints of the criminal.
Our elevator was turned off this morning. Because he was covered in blood. Apparently, the fight had already started there,” a man living on the sixth floor shared with reporters.
Local residents only found out about the involvement of Vasily Livanov’s son Boris in the murder when the police arrived at around 10 am:
They took the man out. He was drunk as hell. We were later told that this was the son of the famous artist Livanov. At Gorokhov's (the man whom Livanov came to visit - editor's note) a drunken group gathered in the stairwell all the time.
I celebrated New Year at Gorokhov's. “I live in the next door,” 29-year-old Mikhail Izvolsky told us. - This is the first time I’ve heard about this Livanova. This surname is not familiar to me. There were many guests there. My friend Seryoga Glushko was also with me. By morning we ran out of booze and I was sent to the store to get a “bubble”. I went home to get money, and when I returned from the store, they didn’t let me into the entrance. I look: the police and the ambulance have arrived. Well, I went home to sleep. I still don’t know who killed and who was killed.
Boris Livanov became famous not only thanks to the high-profile surname of his father, Vasily Borisovich Livanov, but also due to a high-profile criminal case - in January 2009 he was accused of murder and sentenced to nine years in prison in a maximum security colony.
According to one version, Boris and his then wife Ekaterina came to visit friends to celebrate the New Year. During the feast, a conflict arose between those present at the table. Allegedly, Livanov Jr.’s wife behaved inappropriately, which attracted the attention of one of her acquaintances. The husband, distraught with jealousy, fatally wounded the men with a knife.
In 2014, Livanov was released early.
The couple separated, and daughter Eva remained with her father. In 2013, by court decision, Ekaterina Livanova was limited in parental rights.
Boris keeps a close eye on his only daughter, so all of Eva’s suitors go through a serious competition. But on vacation, Livanov Jr. lost his nerves again, and he almost killed the heiress’s random gentleman.
“Girls, those who are on the beach in swimsuits, while their boyfriends, husbands, fathers are thinking in the nearest cafe about the meaning of life. Remember, you are not safe as long as there are at least some other guys nearby. Whether they are rescuers or vacationers, someone's husbands. Most likely, they will try to get to know you, not always politely and gallantly. Find out at least the police number and be mentally prepared to dial it. The day before yesterday I spent an hour and a half looking for a young bastard who decided to meet Eva Borisovna in a rather boorish manner. Luckily, the sanatorium security found him before me. His mother promised to put all the necessary information into his 18th margarine head about how his meeting with the girl’s caring father could have ended “in a fun and humorous manner,” Livanov said.
Boris also gave the guys some advice. In his opinion, young people on the beach need to be original in meeting girls.
“First make sure that your head, severed, does not fly into the sea among the jellyfish when the man of the girl you want to meet comes out of the locker room. Then do not make any sudden movements or gestures, the girl is undressed and she is scared. Bring her a cocktail, a shell with a pearl, her portrait that you drew on a stone with a cigarette butt, whatever, as long as it’s neat. Feel like knights and act like it. It will be much smarter. Yes, it’s easier than picking up broken teeth with broken hands and not taking a selfie because of your plastered head. Any girl is someone’s daughter, friend, wife. In the dashing 90s, we all knew this well; whoever forgot about it remained young forever, there, in the 90s,” Livanov said.
Children of Vasily Livanov- two sons and a daughter have always been for him the embodiment of his hopes, but not each of them lived up to them. The eldest daughter Anastasia was born in Vasily Livanov’s first marriage. The actor was in love with his first wife Alina Engelhardt in his youth, but she preferred another man to him. However, after several years of marriage, Alina decided to separate and marry Livanov. Their life could not be called cloudless - the actor loved to drink, and often caused scandals. After the birth of their daughter, they lived for another seven years, and Alina Engelhardt finally decided to file for divorce.
In the photo are the children of Vasily Livanov and his wife
Since then, Livanov has had almost no contact with his daughter - his first wife, having learned that a son was born in the actor’s new family, forbade him to meet with Nastya. However, when Anastasia turned nineteen, she invited her father to her wedding. However, a close relationship between them never developed, and Vasily Livanov’s daughter prefers to remember her father as rarely as possible. The actor met his second wife at the Soyuzmultfilm film studio, where she worked as an animator. She gave birth to two more children of Vasily Livanov - sons Boris and Nikolai. By the way, the actor’s youngest son is only a month older than his grandson, the son of his daughter Anastasia.
In the photo is Livanov’s eldest son Boris
The children of Vasily Livanov are also creative personalities. Anastasia, having graduated from the Faculty of Biology at Moscow State University, eventually became a sculptor, Boris is an artist and writer, Nikolai, like his father, graduated from VGIK and became an actor. Unfortunately, several years ago the eldest son of Vasily Livanov found himself in a tragic situation. As a result of a domestic conflict, he killed a man and was sentenced to nine years in prison. By this time he had been married twice and had a daughter from his first wife, who suffered from alcoholism. And Boris himself experienced a huge craving for alcohol, which greatly worried his parents.
In the photo - Vasily Livanov with his granddaughter
According to Vasily Borisovich, he and his wife were tired of the behavior of their eldest son, on whom no admonitions or conversations from his parents had any effect. It even happened that Vasily Livanov turned to the police with a request that law enforcement officers protect him from Boris’s attacks. It cost Vasily Livanov a lot of strength and health to obtain guardianship over Boris’s daughter, who has been hard of hearing since childhood. Only the youngest of Vasily Livanov’s children, son Nikolai, does not cause his father any worries. Having graduated with honors from VGIK, he shows great promise and makes his father happy.
Also read.
Childhood
Vasily Livanov is a representative of a glorious acting dynasty. His father, Boris Livanov, was a famous theater and film artist, director, winner of several state awards and holder of orders, including the Order of Lenin and four Orders of the Red Banner of Labor. The beautiful Polish woman Evgenia Kazimirovna, Vasily’s mother, was a professional artist. The founder of an extraordinary creative dynasty was Vasily Borisovich’s grandfather, Nikolai Aleksandrovich Livanov, known under the pseudonym Izvolsky. Unlike his Muscovite descendants, Nikolai Livanov was from the Volga steppes and began his career on the provincial stage. Subsequently, he acquired a small mansion in Moscow, where little Vasya visited more than once.An amazing creative atmosphere reigned in the family, where there was no place for gray, dull everyday life. Cherkasov, Kachalov, Pasternak, Dovzhenko, and Konchalovsky often visited the Livanovs. The life of the growing Vasily harmoniously combined drawing, poetry, wild boyish antics and sports. The boy never dreamed of a career as an artist or painter. His fantasies were dominated by exploits in bloody battles, traveling around the world or taming wild animals.
Actor career
In 1954, after graduating from the Moscow Art School at the USSR Academy of Arts, Vasily passed the exams at the Surikov School. But the theater outweighed the fine arts, and the young man entered the Theater School. B.V. Shchukin. Even during his student years, Vasily clearly demonstrated his ability to direct. They staged and staged the play "Three Fat Men". Student Livanov's efficiency often bordered on fanaticism. He could work for days on end, forgetting about food and sleep. Once the young man even ended up in the hospital with nervous exhaustion. This was the effect of many hours of rehearsals. 
The stormy student years were replaced by hard work at the Theater. Evgeniy Vakhtangov, where Vasily Borisovich entered in 1958, after graduating from the Shchukin School. Just a year later, the young actor was invited to play a role in Mikhail Kolatozov’s film “The Unsent Letter.” It was thanks to this film that Livanov’s voice became so recognizable. Mikhail Konstantinovich Kolatozov, trying to achieve maximum authenticity, decided to voice over some scenes not in the studio, but where they took place - in the “open field”. The scoring took place on a frosty, blizzard night. The stormy wind did not allow the director’s ideas to be brought to life, and Livanov Jr., who tried in vain to shout out the wild howls of the blizzard, not only lost his voice, but also caught a severe cold. After several weeks of forced silence, the actor regained the ability to speak, but the characteristic hoarseness remained in the timbre of his voice forever.
In 1959, Livanov left the Vakhtangov Theater for the Film Actor Studio Theatre. In 1961, the film “The Blind Musician” was released, based on the story of the same name by V. G. Korolenko, where the young actor brilliantly played the main role. Subsequently, Vasily Borisovich will say: “The film “The Blind Musician” will forever remain the most memorable for me. There, for the only time in my life, I was a partner with my father, the great Russian artist Boris Nikolaevich Livanov.”
This was followed by A. Sakharov’s famous film “Colleagues,” which gained enormous popularity among an audience of millions. In 1963, in the film “The Blue Notebook” by L. Kulidzhanov, Livanov had the opportunity to appear before the viewer in the image of Felix Dzerzhinsky. The actor played his role so convincingly that he subsequently received repeated invitations to take part in films about the legendary security officer. However, Livanov never returned to this character. Vasily Borisovich does not like to repeat himself.
Over time, a brilliant film career ceased to satisfy Livanov’s creative nature. The next stage was the Higher Courses of Film Directing, which he graduated with honors in 1966. His diploma work was the cartoon "The Most-The-The-The-Most". Livanov transformed from a magnificent actor into a brilliant director, screenwriter and cartoon director. He created “The Blue Bird” based on Maeterlinck’s fairy tale, “Father Frost and Summer”, the famous “The Bremen Town Musicians” and “In the Footsteps of the Bremen Town Musicians”. For the film "New Bremen" released in 2001, Vasily Borisovich wrote the script.
In addition to creating cartoons, Livanov was involved in dubbing them. It’s hard to imagine how we would perceive Crocodile Gena, Carlson or Boa Constrictor from “38 Parrots” if they did not have such a charmingly rasping voice.
In the 70s, Vasily Livanov appeared on screens quite rarely. One of the most memorable roles in those years was Emperor Nicholas I in the film “Star of Captivating Happiness” (1975). And in 1978, the film “Yaroslavna - Queen of France” by Igor Maslennikov was released, where Livanov appeared before the audience in the image of the knight Benedictus.
Livanov’s creative collaboration with Maslennikov continued in the cult TV series “The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson.” Work on the series continued for many years. The film, which was loved by the audience from the first frames, was liked even by the British, who recognized Vasily Livanov and Vitaly Solomin as the best performers of the roles of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. In 2006, Vasily Borisovich was awarded the Order of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain. In Moscow, near the British Embassy on Smolenskaya Embankment, a monument to Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson was unveiled in 2007, immortalizing the images of Vasily Livanov and Vitaly Solomin.
The creative collaboration of talented actors grew into a close friendship that lasted for many years, until the death of Vitaly Solomin. Yielding to the persuasion of Vitaly Methodievich, Livanov staged his story “My Favorite Clown.” The play of the same name, in which Solomin himself played the main role of the clown Sinitsyn, was successfully performed for several seasons on the stage of the Maly Theater.
Vasily Livanov created many literary works. He wrote the stories “Agniya, daughter of Agnia” - a legend about the Scythians, “Night Arrow”, “My Favorite Clown”, “The Wealth of the Military Attaché”, numerous fairy tales and stories for children. Now Vasily Borisovich is writing memoirs, where a significant place is occupied by memories of great cultural figures.
Personal life of Vasily Livanov
Livanov was married twice. His first marriage to Alina Engelhardt, the daughter of an academician, broke up shortly after the birth of his daughter Anastasia. A few years later, the actor met a girl who became his second wife. Elena Artemyevna and Vasily Borisovich have been together to this day, for almost 40 years. The couple raised two sons and are now raising grandchildren.The actor left cinema and devoted himself entirely to his favorite activities: family, friends, pets.
The last few years in the life of Vasily Borisovich were overshadowed by a scandalous story. By the will of his daughter-in-law, Livanov found himself in the midst of an extremely unpleasant incident related to the establishment of guardianship over his granddaughter Eva. Monstrous streams of dirty insinuations fell on the brilliant actor, writer and director. The conclusion involuntarily suggests itself - perhaps it’s time to somehow protect people like Livanov from scoundrels hungry for cheap PR.
