Yury Nikulin - Revision history

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‎Circus Nikulin

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‎Apprenticeship

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‎Early Years

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‎Image Gallery

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‎Epilogue

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‎Epilogue

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‎Epilogue

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‎Image Gallery

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‎Image Gallery

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 Like most Russians that had been used to the tightly controlled ways of the Soviet era, Yury Nikulin lacked business savvy and was prone to being manipulated by unsavory characters. He was in a difficult and very dangerous situation, from which he was saved by a close friend, the colorful and powerful Yury Luzhkov (1936-2019), Moscow's new mayor, who decreed that the new venture controlled by the American company was unethical and illegal, and the contract had therefore to be annulled. The circus finally regained its independence&mdash;which it has kept ever since.
-In August 1996, Moscow celebrated Yury Nikulin's seventy-five birthday at the circus, in presence of all the Russian  circus, cinema and politics luminaries; Moscow's Mayor, Yury Lushkov, who had broken his leg, was rolled into the ring in a wheelchair, with his cast covered with fake diamonds, in reference to Nikulin's greatest screen success, ''The Diamond Arm''. It was a memorable evening, which was widely related by the Russian medias, including a broadcast on Russian television. As a tribute to the great clown, on December 8, the circus had been officially renamed ''Circus Nikulin''.
+In August 1996, Moscow celebrated Yury Nikulin's seventy-fifth birthday at the circus, in presence of all the Russian  circus, cinema and politics luminaries; Moscow's Mayor, Yury Lushkov, who had broken his leg, was rolled into the ring in a wheelchair, with his cast covered with fake diamonds, in reference to Nikulin's greatest screen success, ''The Diamond Arm''. It was a memorable evening, which was widely related by the Russian medias, including a broadcast on Russian television. As a tribute to the great clown, on December 8, the circus had been officially renamed ''Circus Nikulin''.
 ===Epilogue===

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 Karandash (which means "Pencil" in Russian) was one of the first graduates of Moscow's [[State College for Circus and Variety Arts]] (better known in the West as the Moscow Circus School), which had been created in 1927 to produce a new generation of Soviet circus performers. (The circus had been nationalized, along with the other performing arts, in 1919.) A very talented auguste who had taken his inspiration from Charlie Chaplin, Karandash had become extremely popular, even more so during "The Great Patriotic War," when his sarcastic parodies of Hitler and the German army offered comic relief (and revenge) to a population caught in the nightmare of a German military invasion.
-Yury Nikulin made his clown debut in the ring of Tsvetnoy Boulevard on October 25, 1948, in a reprise that he performed with a fellow clown student at the Studio, [[Boris Romanov]] (who later became a successful circus director and dramaturgist). Karandash, who had a keen eye for talent, asked Nikulin to work with him as his assistant and occasional partner. He saw that Yury was what one calls "a natural;" he nurtured him and helped him develop his clown persona, that of a gangly, naïve and lazy character, whose hapless scheming put him in an interminable string of awkward situations&mdash;which he eventually overcame.
+Yury Nikulin made his clown debut in the ring of Tsvetnoy Boulevard on October 25, 1948, in a ''reprise'' that he performed with a fellow clown student at the Studio, [[Boris Romanov]] (who later became a successful circus director and dramaturgist). Karandash, who had a keen eye for talent, asked Nikulin to work with him as his assistant and occasional partner. He saw that Yury was what one calls "a natural;" he nurtured him and helped him develop his clown persona, that of a gangly, naïve and lazy character, whose hapless scheming put him in an interminable string of awkward situations&mdash;which he eventually overcame.
 Scheming to circumvent the Soviet bureaucracy's endless regulations was a trait common to a large majority of Soviet citizens, and Soviet audiences quickly identified with Nikulin's character; his humor touched the right chord, and his clown persona had warmth and great humanity. He had, from the start, a minimal makeup, and his facial expressions were immediately readable and felt genuine. His little jacket and his pants, which were too small for his long-limbed figure, and his porkpie hat completed the image. Which is more, Yury Nikulin didn't need to overplay&mdash;or worse, to "play" a clown&mdash;to provoke laughter: He was indeed "a natural," as truly great clowns always are.

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 On November 18, 1939, after graduating from high school, young Yury Nikulin was drafted into the Red Army for his three-year mandatory military service. This would have a long-lasting impact on Yury Nikulin as a man: In June 1941, the USSR declared war on Germany and the Axis powers, and what will be known in Russia as "The Great Patriotic War" started. Yury Nikulin was then serving in the 115th anti-aircraft artillery regiment. During the Soviet-Finnish war (1939-1940), his anti-aircraft battery had guarded the air approaches to Leningrad.
-The siege of Leningrad (St. Petersburg) started in 1941, and Yury and his regiment fought to save the old imperial capital. The siege of Leningrad by the Germans was particularly brutal. In 1943, Yury was hospitalized for shock-shell treatment (today known as PTSD), and was subsequently transferred to another anti-aircraft battalion, where he oversaw an intelligence department. He was in Courland, Latvia (which had been annexed to the USSR) when the war ended on May 9, 1945; he remained in the Red Army for another year and was demobilized, a decorated soldier, on May 18, 1946, with the rank of Senior Sergeant. For the rest of his life, Yury Nikulin never forgot his war companions; even at the height of his fame, he always remained "one of them."
+The siege of Leningrad (St. Petersburg) started in 1941, and Yury and his regiment fought to save the old imperial capital. The siege of Leningrad by the Germans was particularly brutal. In 1943, Yury was hospitalized for shock-shell treatment (today known as PTSD), and was subsequently transferred to another anti-aircraft battalion, where he oversaw an intelligence department. He was in Courland, Latvia (which had been annexed by the USSR) when the war ended on May 9, 1945; he remained in the Red Army for another year and was demobilized, a decorated soldier, on May 18, 1946, with the rank of Senior Sergeant. For the rest of his life, Yury Nikulin never forgot his war companions; even at the height of his fame, he always remained "one of them."
 ===Apprenticeship===

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 File:Nikulin_Banknotes.jpg|Russian banknote in tribute to Nikulin (2021)
 File:Nikulin_Medal.jpg|Nikulin commemorative medal (2021)
 </Gallery>
 [[Category:Artists and Acts|Nikulin, Yury]][[Category:Clowns|Nikulin, Yury]][[Category:Circus Owners and Directors|Nikulin, Yury]]

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 Nikulin's body laid in state in the ring of Circus Nikulin for several days; thousands of Muscovites lined the sidewalk to pay a last tribute to their beloved clown, whose body rested in an open casket surrounded by an honor military guard. On August 27, after a last ceremony at the circus, he was buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow, the place where Soviet and Russian celebrities from politics, science, and the arts are brought to rest. (Next to his is the resting place of Raïsa Gorbacheva.) Eight trucks were necessary to transport all the floral tributes that had been brought to the circus. On his tomb, a statue by the sculptor Aleksandr Rukavishnikov (the author of the monument erected in front of Circus Nikulin) represents the great clown, seated on a ring curb, his favorite dog, a giant schnauzer, lying next to him.
-[[File:Nikulin_Banknotes.jpg|thumb|left|400px|Russian banknotes celebrating Yury Nikulin (2021)]]Besides his talent as a movie actor and as a clown, Nikulin was known as a great joke teller; Nikulin's jokes ("anecdotes" in Russian) were often quoted, and compilations of them were published in book form. This had led in 1993 to the creation of a very popular television show, ''The White Parrot Club'', which used Yury Nikulin's talent as a joke teller; it ended when Yury Nikulin passed away. Although there were other joke tellers with him on the show, the producers judged that its audience had tuned on principally to see Nikulin telling his jokes, and he couldn't be replaced&mdash;so great was his place in the Russian people's heart.
+[[File:Nikulin_Banknotes.jpg|thumb|left|400px|Russian banknotes celebrating Yury Nikulin (2021)]]Besides his talent as a movie actor and as a clown, Nikulin was known as a great joke teller; Nikulin's jokes ("anecdotes" in Russian) were often quoted, and compilations of them were published in book form. This had led in 1993 to the creation of a very popular television show, ''The White Parrot Club'', which used Yury Nikulin's talent as a joke teller; it ended when Yury Nikulin passed away. Although there were other joke tellers with him on the show, the producers judged that its audience had tuned in principally to see Nikulin telling his jokes, and he couldn't be replaced&mdash;so great was his place in the Russian people's heart.
 December 18, 2021 marked the one-hundredth anniversary of Yury Nikulin's birth. Once again, tributes, special documentaries and reminiscences of all sorts inundated the Russian medias. On the occasion, a commemorative medal was issued, as well as a commemorative 100 rubles banknote bearing his image. Twenty-four years after his death, the beloved Yury Nikulin had remained, for the Russian people, their favorite clown and comic actor, and more importantly, "one of us."

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 ===Epilogue===
-Sadly, his anniversary celebration was to be last appearance of Yury Nikulin in the ring. He died from complications following heart surgery in a Moscow hospital on August 22, 1997. ''Izvestia'', the Russian newspaper of reference, said in its report that Nikulin "was one of us, very close to each of us." Such was Yury Nikulin's place in the Russian psyche that Russian president Boris Yeltsin appeared on television that very same evening for an emotional address, in which he echoed the comments made by ''Izvetsia'': "Everybody loved him&mdash;from the small to the great." During his stay in the hospital, health bulletins had been issued every day, as it would have been done for a head of state.
+[[File:Nikulin_Tomb.jpg|thumb|right|400px|Nikulin's tomb at Novodevichy Cemetery (2015)]]Sadly, his anniversary celebration was to be last appearance of Yury Nikulin in the ring. He died from complications following heart surgery in a Moscow hospital on August 22, 1997. ''Izvestia'', the Russian newspaper of reference, said in its report that Nikulin "was one of us, very close to each of us." Such was Yury Nikulin's place in the Russian psyche that Russian president Boris Yeltsin appeared on television that very same evening for an emotional address, in which he echoed the comments made by ''Izvetsia'': "Everybody loved him&mdash;from the small to the great." During his stay in the hospital, health bulletins had been issued every day, as it would have been done for a head of state.
-[[File:Nikulin_Tomb.jpg|thumb|right|400px|Nikulin's tomb at Novodevichy Cemetery (2015)]]The doctor who announced publicly Nikulin's passing did so with tears in his eyes. When Russia's Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin had visited him in hospital a week earlier, he had reminded the doctors that Nikulin was "very important to Russia." Reports on his death and reactions to what became a true national tragedy dominated the news for days. Tass, the state news agency, said that "Russia became an orphan after losing its unique and beloved actor." Even the American ''The New York Times'' chimed in, calling him a "Beloved Russian Master Comic," and noted that "he once explained his goal as trying to 'fish love out of people' and preached the power of laughter to help people overcome suffering."
+The doctor who announced publicly Nikulin's passing did so with tears in his eyes. When Russia's Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin had visited him in hospital a week earlier, he had reminded the doctors that Nikulin was "very important to Russia." Reports on his death and reactions to what became a true national tragedy dominated the news for days. Tass, the state news agency, said that "Russia became an orphan after losing its unique and beloved actor." Even the American ''The New York Times'' chimed in, calling him a "Beloved Russian Master Comic," and noted that "he once explained his goal as trying to 'fish love out of people' and preached the power of laughter to help people overcome suffering."
 Nikulin's body laid in state in the ring of Circus Nikulin for several days; thousands of Muscovites lined the sidewalk to pay a last tribute to their beloved clown, whose body rested in an open casket surrounded by an honor military guard. On August 27, after a last ceremony at the circus, he was buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow, the place where Soviet and Russian celebrities from politics, science, and the arts are brought to rest. (Next to his is the resting place of Raïsa Gorbacheva.) Eight trucks were necessary to transport all the floral tributes that had been brought to the circus. On his tomb, a statue by the sculptor Aleksandr Rukavishnikov (the author of the monument erected in front of Circus Nikulin) represents the great clown, seated on a ring curb, his favorite dog, a giant schnauzer, lying next to him.

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 File:Nikulin_Circus_Empty.jpg|Circus Nikulin's house (c.2015)
 File:Nikulin_Tomb.jpg|Yury Nikulin's tomb (c.2015)
 File:Nikulin_Monaco_Stamp.jpg|Monaco Postage Stamp celebrating Yury Nikulin's 100th anniversary (2021)
 File:Nikulin_Zaika_Stamp.jpg|Kyrgyzstan Postage Stamp celebrating Yury Nikulin's 100th anniversary (2021)

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 File:Nikulin_Diamond_Arm.png|Poster for ''The Diamond Arm'' (1969)
 File:Nikulin_and_Shuydin_-_Camera.jpg|Nikulin & Shuydin (c.1970)
 File:Yury_Nikulin_clown.jpg|Yury Nikulin (c.1970)
 File:Yury_Nikulin_(c.1970).jpg|Yury Nikulin (c.1970)