Vasily Borisovich Livanov (; born 19 July 1935), MBE,List of Honorary Awards January–June 2006 is a Soviet and Russian film actor, animation and film director, screenwriter and writer most famous for portraying Sherlock Holmes in the Soviet TV series.Anton Makarenko. Russian Sherlock Holmes Livanov turns 80 article by Russia Beyond, 20 July 2015. Retrieved 26 February 2026. He was named People's Artist of the RSFSR in 1988.
Early years Vasily Livanov was born into a famous theatrical family. His paternal grandfather Nikolai Aleksandrovich Livanov (1874–1949) was a Volga Cossack from Simbirsk who moved to Moscow in 1905 and performed at the Struysky Theatre under a pseudonym of Izvolsky; after the revolution he worked at the Mossovet and Lenkom Theatres. Vasily's father Boris Livanov (1904–1972) was also a prominent actor and stage director who served at the Moscow Art Theatre all his life, while his mother Eugenia Kazimirovna Livanova (née Prawdzic-Filipowicz) (1907–1978) was an artist who belonged to Polish szlachta.Vasily Livanov (2013). Echo of One Dash. A Path from Childhood. — Moscow: AST, p. 18-23, 33–39, 51–53, 72–76, 113, 168. .
Vasily was brought up in the artistic milieu. Many famous actors who worked with his father, like Olga Knipper, Alla Tarasova, Vasily Kachalov (whom Livanov was named after), as well as Pyotr Konchalovsky, Boris Pasternak, Valery Chkalov were frequent guests at their house.Vasily Livanov: "Vitaly Solomin Simply Destroyed Himself with the Last Play" Seven Days magazine, 28 January 2015 (in Russian). In 1940 his family was staying in Chernivtsi along with other Moscow actors, and his Polish nanny took him to the local Catholic church where he was baptized, presumably with his mother's permission. Today he belongs to the Russian Orthodox Church despite never officially converting.
His family spent the first war years in evacuation and in 1943 returned to Moscow. In 1954 Vasily graduated from the Moscow Secondary Art School under the USSR Academy of Arts, and in 1958 he finished the acting courses at the Boris Shchukin Theatre Institute.
His film career started in 1959 with one of the leading roles in the Letter Never Sent. The movie was shot in taiga at −40 °C, and the director Mikhail Kalatozov decided that Livanov and Samoilova should voice their characters shouting not in the studio, but outside, right in the woods. As a result, Livanov lost his voice, and in two weeks it returned as a unique hoarse timbre that would become one of Livanov's trademarks ever since.
Animation In 1966 he finished the High Directors Courses where he studied under Mikhail Romm and joined Soyuzmultfilm as an animation director, screenwriter and voice actor. During the next ten years he wrote and directed several animated films, including Most, Most, Most, Most and The Blue Bird feature.Sergey Kapkov (2006). Encyclopedia of Domestic Animation. — Moscow: Algorithm, p. 394-395.
Yet his biggest success came with The Bremen Town Musicians animated musical, a modernised adaptation of the eponymous folktale he created with Yuri Entin and Gennady Gladkov. Both parts showed heavy influence of rock and roll and hippie cultures which was unusual for the Soviet cinema. The first film was directed by Inessa Kovalevskaya, while the sequel On the Trail of the Bremen Town Musicians (1973) was directed by Livanov himself. The leading Soviet pop singer Muslim Magomayev voiced almost all characters in it which only added to the overwhelming popularity of the series (Oleg Anofriyev did the exact same thing in the first film).
Livanov was also the voice behind multiple popular Soviet animated characters such as Gena the Crocodile from the Cheburashka series, Karlsson-on-the-Roof from the Soviet adaptation of Astrid Lindgren's fairy tale and Boa from 38 Parrots.
Sherlock Holmes In the late 1970s and in the 1980s, Livanov returned to film stardom in what became the greatest success of his acting career: the role of Sherlock Holmes in The Hound of the Baskervilles and other Holmes TV series directed by Igor Maslennikov.
Those movies were filmed between 1979 and 1986. Vasily Livanov played Sherlock Holmes.
On 27 April 2007, a sculpture featuring Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson as portrayed by Vasily Livanov and Vitaly Solomin was opened on the Smolenskaya embankment alongside the Embassy of the United Kingdom in Moscow (sculptor Andrey Orlov).
Writer Apart from screenplays Vasily Livanov has been professionally writing books since the 1960s. He published novels, stories, fairy tales and memoirs, including biography books dedicated to Boris Livanov, Boris Pasternak and other people he personally knew.Vasily Borisovich Livanov bibliography at the Russian State Library. Retrieved 26 February 2026.
Personal life Livanov was married twice. His first wife (1958–1970) was Alina Engelgardt, daughter of the acclaimed Soviet biochemist Vladimir Engelgardt. They had a daughter Anastasia. Since 1972 he has been married to Elena Artemievna Balabanova, an art director and animator. They have two sons, Boris and Nikolai. In 2009 Boris was charged with a murder of Igor Khromov whom he cut with a knife during a drunken brawl; he was imprisoned for nine years, but set free following a parole in 2015.Vasily Livanov's family: First interview after the son was released at the Story Caravan Collection magazine, 19 February 2015 (in Russian) In June 2017 Maria Golubkina, an actress, daughter of Larisa Golubkina and stepdaughter of Andrei Mironov, announced her engagement to Boris Livanov, but in just a month they "decided to take a break".Boris Livanov: "Me and Masha Decided to Take a Break" interview at Story Caravan Collection magazine, 1 August 2017 (in Russian).
Vasily Livanov was a close friend of Vitaly Solomin and Rina Zelyonaya, who played Doctor Watson and Mrs. Hudson. As he writes in his memoir:
"It happens so that when someone passes away, we customarily treat his actions and related events as the thing of the past. But everything about my beloved closest friend and partner Vitaly Solomin has become a part of my way of life, my conscience, so for me it will become the thing of the past only when I pass away too."He is a staunch supporter of Vladimir Putin and his policies against Ukraine, supporting both the 2014 annexation of Crimea and the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Awards and honors Heinrich Greif Prize (1969) Honored Artist of the RSFSR (27 November 1981) People's Artist of the RSFSR (18 April 1988) Order "For Merit to the Fatherland", 4th class (1 December 2005) — "For substantial contribution to the development of national cinema".President's Decree № 1381 at Kremlin.ru. Retrieved 26 February 2026. Honorary Member of the Order of the British Empire (20 February 2006) — "For service to the theatre and performing arts".List of Honorary Awards January – June 2006, Foreign and Commonwealth Office – UK Ministry of Foreign Affairs Retrieved 26 February 2026. Order of Honour (26 October 2016) — "For great services in the development of national culture and arts, many years of fruitful activity".President's Decree № 572 at Kremlin.ru Special Golden Eagle Award (27 January 2017) — "For outstanding contribution to the history of Russian cinema". Order of Holy Prince Daniel of Moscow, 2nd class
Filmography
Live action
Animation
Voice acting Junior and Karlson (1968) as Karlsson-on-the-Roof Gena the Crocodile (1969) as Gena the Crocodile Karlson Returns (1970) as Karlsson-on-the-Roof Cheburashka (1971) as Gena the Crocodile Shapoklyak (1974) as Gena the Crocodile 38 Parrots (1976–1991) as Boa Dog in Boots (1981) as English Detective The Mystery of the Third Planet (1981) as Gromozeka Cheburashka Goes to School (1983) as Gena the Crocodile The Pass (1988) as Boris
Other Most, Most, Most, Most (1966; director and screenwriter) The Bremen Town Musicians (1969; screenwriter; co-written with Yuri Entin) Ded Moroz and Summer (1969; screenwriter; co-written with Yuri Entin) The Blue Bird (1970; director and screenwriter) On the Trail of the Bremen Town Musicians (1973; director and screenwriter; co-written with Yuri Entin) The New Bremen Town Musicians (2000; screenwriter; co-written with Yuri Entin)
References
External links
Biography of Vasily Livanov The Sherlock Holmes Museum Internet site dedicated to Vasiliy Livanov A review of the Sherlock Holmes series
The adventures of Sherlock Holmes in Russia 221b.ru - Russian site dedicated to Vasiliy Livanov