Oleg Popov

Oleg Popov

Born: July 31, 1930
Died: November 2, 2016
in Vyrubovo, Russia
Oleg Konstantinovich Popov (Russian: Олег Константинович Попoв, 31 July 1930 – 2 November 2016) was a Soviet and Russian clown and circus artist. People's Artist of the USSR (1969).

Popov was born on 31 July 1930, the son of a clock-repairman. At age 12, he began working as an apprentice typographer for the newspaper Pravda, and he later joined Pravda's Athletic Club. There, in 1945, someone suggested that he apply for Moscow's State College of Circus and Variety Arts (better known as the "Moscow Circus School"). He was accepted and studied acrobatics, juggling, and other circus skills there, graduating in 1949. He made his debut at the Tbilisi Circus in the Georgian SSR. Afterwards, he continued his career at the Moscow Circus on Tsvetnoy Boulevard (today Circus Nikulin).

In 1955, Popov performed abroad for the first time, in Warsaw, and the following year, he toured with the Moscow Circus in France, Belgium, and England. He was immediately noticed by the press, which made him a circus star. The Soviet regime quickly built on his success abroad and transformed him into a goodwill ambassador for the Soviet Union. He appeared at the Brussels World Fair in 1958 and was broadcast from Moscow on American television in 1957. He toured the United States in 1963 and 1972 with the Moscow Circus. In 1969, Popov was honored with the title of People's Artist of the USSR. He toured extensively around the world in subsequent years with the Moscow Circus. In Australia, he was named King of Moomba (1971).

Popov performed as a clown, combining his talents as a mime, a tightrope walker, and a juggler. At the 8th International Circus Festival of Monte-Carlo in 1981, he received the coveted Gold Clown award as a tribute to his stellar career. His clown character followed the tradition of the Russian folk character "Ivanushka," who fools other people and who is teased himself.

In the early 1990s, after the fall of the Soviet Union, he toured with a unit of the Moscow Circus in Germany for a number of years, where he eventually settled. He later performed extensively in Germany, in circus shows, on television, or with his own touring show. He married Gabriela Lehmann, a German circus performer in 1991. She was 32 years younger. In 2006, Popov was invited to perform at the 30th anniversary of the International Circus Festival of Monte Carlo. Aged 75 years of age, he received a standing ovation.

In 2015, he returned for the first time to Russia after 28 years' of living in Germany; it was at the First "Master" gala event (the Russian circus equivalent of the Academy Awards ceremony) at the Sochi State Circus, where he was given a long standing ovation. The Russian Minister of Culture, Vladimir Medinsky read a welcoming message from President Vladimir Putin. In December 2015 he was one of the judges at the final show of "The Blue Bird" contest—a young talent competition on the Russia-1 television channel. ...

Source: Article "Oleg Popov" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.

Movies for Oleg Popov...

Free Admittance
Title: Free Admittance
Released: March 28, 1987
Type: Movie
Adventures of a little Czech girl Yana visiting in Moscow with her parents and dog.
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Sun in a String Bag
Title: Sun in a String Bag
Character: Sun Clown
Released: July 19, 1979
Type: Movie
Incredible comedy about the adventures of Oleg Popov, the Sun Clown
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Mama
Title: Mama
Character: The Bear
Released: September 15, 1976
Type: Movie
Mrs. Rada the Goat tells her five children to behave while she goes to the fair, and under no circumstances open the door to anyone except her. But the Big Bad Wolf, Kostika (Titi) Suru, and his nephew, the Little Bad Wolf, along with friends Rassul the Lynx and Petrika the Donkey has made a plan to kidnap the children while their mother is away. And when the eldest child, Matei, decides to disobey his mother and visit the fair himself, things start to go badly for the goat-family.
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A Funny Dream, or Laughter and Tears
Title: A Funny Dream, or Laughter and Tears
Character: Mag Univer
Released: June 6, 1976
Type: Movie
A student and chess lover Andrey Popov, while getting sick the night before a chess game with a chess world champion Karpov, falls asleep and is having a dream. In this dream, he finds himself in a kingdom ruled by chess figures and playing cards. Chess figures (who are in power) are in a state of sadness due to a misterious disease that struck their young prince. While Andrey attempts to help them, the cards are preparing a coup...
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The Blue Bird
Title: The Blue Bird
Character: Clown
Released: April 5, 1976
Type: Movie
A pair of peasant children, Mytyl and her brother Tyltyl, are led on a magical quest for the fabulous Blue Bird of Happiness by the Fairy Berylune. On their journey, they are accompanied by the humanized presences of a Dog, a Cat, Light, Fire, Bread, and other entities.
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Title: 30 millions d'amis
Character: Self
Released: January 6, 1976
Type: TV
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Весёлое сновидение, или Смех сквозь слёзы
Title: Весёлое сновидение, или Смех сквозь слёзы
Character: astrologer Mag Univer
Released: January 1, 1976
Type: Movie
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The performance begins!
Title: The performance begins!
Released: September 18, 1970
Type: Movie
“The performance begins!” - a circus show with the participation of the star of the Soviet circus Oleg Popov, Leonid Filatov, Magomed Magomedov and others.
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New Year's Abduction
Title: New Year's Abduction
Released: January 13, 1970
Type: Movie
The fire department is preparing for the New Year. Three activists of amateur performances decide to kidnap professional artists for a New Year's concert. A police captain investigates the kidnapping and listens to complaints from the “unkidnapped” artists.
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Half A Hour For Miracles
Title: Half A Hour For Miracles
Character: The Wall Painter
Released: January 1, 1968
Type: Movie
The boy Fedya met mysterious The Wall Painter, who gave him his magic brush, with which anybody could do good deeds. But only for a half of hour. The agents of the evil king - The Gray and Abricadabr - hunt for boy. They want to destroy the magic brush and cancel all good deeds in the world
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The Last Crook
Title: The Last Crook
Released: November 26, 1966
Type: Movie
After leaving prison, a crook Peter Dachnikov, immediately returned to his former craft. But finding the cancellation of money and the lack of banks in the city, he drew attention to the girl Katya and fell in love with her…
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Armourless Knight
Title: Armourless Knight
Character: Priyatel
Released: February 14, 1966
Type: Movie
Impersonating a knight is one of the favorite games of nine-year-old protagonist. Now as Don Quixote, now as D'Artagnan he is fighting evil, he is searching for justice and defending the weak. Together with his friends, packed in cardboard armor, they play all day long. As he is playing, however, he unwittingly witnesses the relation between his parents and gradually comes to understand that the world of the adults is far removed from the canons of knightly honor. His parents love him, but never seem to find the time to listen to his concerns. The deceit, corruption and lack of respect in his own family alienate the small boy. The only adult, whom the boy trusts, is his uncle to whom he is attached by a genuine, equal, man-to-man friendship. He takes him to the cinema and theater performances and talks to him like with his peer. Will this sensitive kid ever succeed in building an internal armor against selfishness and rudeness?
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Новогодняя ярмарка
Title: Новогодняя ярмарка
Released: January 1, 1965
Type: Movie
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The Lost Photography
Title: The Lost Photography
Released: May 12, 1960
Type: Movie
A young boy from Prague is trying to find a Soviet soldier from the old 1945 picture.
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Clumsy Friend
Title: Clumsy Friend
Character: Zhenya
Released: January 1, 1959
Type: Movie
Story of animal trainers at a circus.
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Title: Was bin ich?
Character: self
Released: January 2, 1955
Type: TV
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Daring Circus Youth
Title: Daring Circus Youth
Released: July 4, 1953
Type: Movie
A circus performance with the participation of the best young masters of the Soviet circus.