Aleksandr Kaydanovskiy

Aleksandr Kaydanovskiy

Born: July 23, 1946
Died: December 3, 1995
in Rostov-na-Donu, Rostovskaya oblast, RSFSR, USSR [now Russia]
Aleksandr Kaydanovskiy (23 July 1946 — 2 December 1995) was a Soviet actor and film director. His best known roles are in films such as Stalker, At Home Among Strangers, and The Bodyguard.

Prior to pursuing an acting career, Kaydanovskiy attended technical college where he trained to become a welder. In 1965 he started studying acting at The Rostov Theatre School and the Shchukin theatrical school in Moscow. Before completing the course he took his first part in the film The Mysterious Wall and upon graduation in 1969, he worked as stage actor, making his debut at the Vakhtangov Theatre in 1969. In 1971, he was invited to join the prestigious Moscow Arts Theatre, a rare privilege for a 25-year-old graduate.

He made his major film debut in At Home Among Strangers, and over the next few years appeared in some two dozen films, including the satirical comedy Diamonds for Dictatorship of the Proletariat and The Life of Beethoven. At his peak in the '70s Kaidanovsky was among the USSR’s most popular actors, and it was at this point that famed Soviet director Andrei Tarkovsky, impressed by the looks and the acting technique of Kaidanovsky in Diamonds, invited him to play the title role in his new film, Stalker. The role earned Kaydanovskiy international acclaim.

In 1985 he directed A Simple Death, which was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1987 Cannes Film Festival. In 1993 he directed Just Death, which was about the death of Leo Tolstoy.

Movies for Aleksandr Kaydanovskiy...

The Arrival of a Train
Title: The Arrival of a Train
Released: October 8, 1996
Type: Movie
Almanac of five short stories commissioned by ROSKOMKINO to celebrate the 100th anniversary of cinema.
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Secrets Shared with a Stranger
Title: Secrets Shared with a Stranger
Character: Kriouchoff
Released: June 14, 1996
Type: Movie
In Russia, in 1907, a rich lenient husband of a loose unfaithful woman is brutally murdered. She and her two lovers are suspects, but what about the stranger she met just before the murder? With no friends left, she and the stranger bond.
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Magic Hunter
Title: Magic Hunter
Character: Maxim
Released: October 23, 1994
Type: Movie
A battle-scarred, has-been Hungarian cop, tormented by his memories of nearly killing an innocent woman in his custody, enters into a Faustian pact in which he trades his soul for a handful of "magic" bullets that always hit the mark. A mysterious and mythical story.
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Title: To Remember
Character: Himself - archiveFootage
Released: December 9, 1993
Type: TV
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The Devil's Breath
Title: The Devil's Breath
Character: Damian
Released: October 29, 1993
Type: Movie
A small family of travelers arrives after a long journey at a village hut, which they claim as home. The family consists of Damian, a mute but skilled hunter, his wife Priscila, and their two children, a mute son named Pablo and a beautiful daughter named Agueda. Before long, Don Rodrigo, the feudal lord of the village, sets his sights on both Priscila and Agueda.
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Tear of the Prince of Darkness
Title: Tear of the Prince of Darkness
Released: March 6, 1993
Type: Movie
Tallinn, Estonia, days before outbreak of World War II. Hotel detective and Polish writer team up to find Tear of the Prince of Darkness, a legendary ring which can bring Satan’s rule over the world.
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Parajanov: The Last Spring
Title: Parajanov: The Last Spring
Character: Himself, Tarkovsky's actor
Released: December 30, 1992
Type: Movie
Made in wartime and edited in candlelight, Vartanov's rarely-seen masterpiece tells about his friendship with the genius Parajanov who was imprisoned by KGB "at the height of his fame ". Vartanov resurrects the riveting scenes from his banned 1969 film The Color of Armenian Land, where Paradjanov concocts the chef-d'oeuvre The Color of Pomegranates - widely regarded as one of the greatest films of all time - then reveals the shocking request Parajanov sent him in unpublished 1974 letters from Ukrainian prisons. Vartanov's camera documents Parajanov's staggering last day at work in 1990 during the making of the unfinished Confession - which survives in The Last Spring - as Parajanov comments on this cherished autobiographical film. The foremost achievement of The Last Spring, emphasized by critics, is Vartanov's exquisite wordless montage that "evoked the very soul" of Parajanov and earned the praise of many of cinema's greatest masters, such as Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola.
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The Dream of a Ridiculous Man
Title: The Dream of a Ridiculous Man
Character: Narrator (voice)
Released: October 7, 1992
Type: Movie
An animated short film based on the 1877 short story written by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. It chronicles the experiences of a man who decides that there is nothing to live for in the world, and is therefore determined to commit suicide. A chance encounter with a young girl changes his mind.
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The Pass
Title: The Pass
Character: Narrator (voice)
Released: September 1, 1988
Type: Movie
A starship crashed on an uninhabited planet and its crew had to abandon it. Years later the survivors and their children try to return to the ship and send a distress signal. But for that they must go through a very dangerous mountain passage.
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New Adventures of a Yankee in King Arthur's Court
Title: New Adventures of a Yankee in King Arthur's Court
Character: Sir Lancelot
Released: June 6, 1988
Type: Movie
The plane of the American pilot Hank Morgan got lost in time. The pilot falls into temporary loop and finds himself at the era of the glorious King Arthur. Here he is destined to meet the legendary knights of the Round Table and the insidious Queen Morgana - the sister of the king, the beautiful Sandy and the wise Wizard. He will find himself in the rags of a slave and in knightly armor, to witness the greatness and death of the kingdom.
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Ten Little Indians
Title: Ten Little Indians
Character: Philip Lombard
Released: November 11, 1987
Type: Movie
A disturbing psychological thriller based on the classic novel by Agatha Christie. Ten strangers are forced to come face to face with their dark pasts after receiving an anonymous invitation to an isolated island off the coast of England.
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Мой дом - театр
Title: Мой дом - театр
Released: April 1, 1987
Type: Movie
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Contract
Title: Contract
Released: January 1, 1985
Type: Movie
Bearded contract employee goes on a "giant bouquet of flowers" planet and prefers friendship with the robot because all inhabitants are creepy psychos.
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I'm Sorry
Title: I'm Sorry
Character: Pranas
Released: December 5, 1982
Type: Movie
Pranas, now a celebrity singer, returns to his homeland from a big city. He is greeted at the airport and driven to his native village by a childhood friend Jonas, who works there as a doctor.
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Kafedra
Title: Kafedra
Character: Valentin Orlov
Released: July 6, 1982
Type: Movie
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Fact
Title: Fact
Character: Stanislav
Released: June 4, 1981
Type: Movie
Facts is a dramatization of a massacre in a Lithuanian village during World War II when Nazis rounded up over 100 men, women, and children accused of partisan activity and then torched the houses in which they were held. Using Russian interrogations of a few survivors, the testimony of villagers, and some of the Germans responsible for the killing, the film gradually reconstructs the event and its context.
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And I'm with You Again...
Title: And I'm with You Again...
Released: January 1, 1981
Type: Movie
The film illustrates individual episodes showing the life of Alexander Pushkin. The script is based on the testimonies of contemporaries, as well as on poems, drawings, and letters of the poet.
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The Rescuer
Title: The Rescuer
Released: October 27, 1980
Type: Movie
A story about a high school student Asya and her complicated relationship with literature teacher Larikov.
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Rafferty
Title: Rafferty
Character: Эймс
Released: March 19, 1980
Type: Movie
The story of the trial of the trade union boss Jack Rafferty. With great force and astute critical insight, corruption and crime are exposed, accompanying the advancement of Western leaders to power.
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Story of an Unknown Man
Title: Story of an Unknown Man
Released: January 1, 1980
Type: Movie
Based on a short story by Anton Chekhov, this drama centers around a desire for revenge and the tragedy of a star-crossed love. After a general ruins some men under him in punishment for a rebellion, a friend of the broken men vows revenge. The friend, a naval officer, takes a job as a valet in the general's son's house. While he plots his revenge, the son has an affair with a woman whom the valet begins to love. She is discarded after becoming pregnant, and the valet has his own troubles; he has contracted tuberculosis. Sick and unable to follow through on his plans for vengeance, he leaves for France with the pregnant woman hoping to declare his love and seek a cure for his illness.
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The Return
Title: The Return
Released: January 1, 1980
Type: Movie
A Space travel comes to an end and before the landing the Cosmonaut falls asleep. He does not hear signals from the Earth. The disaster approaches. When the ship flies over the native house of the Cosmonaut, the ring of the alarm clock which the Grandfather winded up sounds and the Cosmonaut wakes up.
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Pilot Pirx's Inquest
Title: Pilot Pirx's Inquest
Character: Tom Novak
Released: May 25, 1979
Type: Movie
Pirx, an experienced pilot, is hired to go on a top-secret mission to evaluate some 'nonlinears' (an experimental model of android) for use as crewmembers on future space flights. Pirx and this intriguing crew are sent out to launch two satellites into the rings of Saturn, but he is determined to find out and identify a hostile unhuman coworker among them.
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Stalker
Title: Stalker
Character: Stalker
Released: May 25, 1979
Type: Movie
Near a gray and unnamed city is the Zone, a place guarded by barbed wire and soldiers, and where the normal laws of physics are victim to frequent anomalies. A stalker guides two men into the Zone, specifically to an area in which deep-seated desires are granted.
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The Turning Point
Title: The Turning Point
Character: doctor
Released: April 9, 1979
Type: Movie
The newlyweds return to Moscow after a wonderful sea cruise on the Black Sea. It seems that they will have a happy life ahead, their beloved job, but chance rudely cuts off all dreams: Viktor doesn't have time to slow down and knocks down an elderly woman with his Zhiguli. His desire to evade responsibility is replaced by repentance and a decision to accept the burden of guilt upon himself.
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The Bodyguard
Title: The Bodyguard
Character: Mirzo
Released: January 1, 1979
Type: Movie
The setting is Central Asia during the Russian civil war. In the post-revolutionary twenties, when the power in European Russia was (officially) "fully in the hands of the workers and peasants", but the fight against the Basmachi rebels was in full swing. When a Red Army detachment captures Sultan Mazar, the brains behind the Bazmachi contingent, a decision is made to escort urgently the prisoner to the Bukhara province. The difficult mission is entrusted to a grizzled mountain trapper and conscientious revolutionary called Mirzo. His expertise is essential to traverse the precarious paths and steep mountain ridges along the way, impossible terrain for the inexperienced. A group consisting of Mirzo, his brother Kova, the Sultan, his daughter Zaranghis and slave Saifulla set off on this journey. They are forced to fight on the mountain ridges as well as negotiate the natural dangers and harsh elements.
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Who Will go to Truskavets?
Title: Who Will go to Truskavets?
Released: May 26, 1978
Type: Movie
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Forward March, Time!
Title: Forward March, Time!
Released: May 27, 1977
Type: Movie
Soviet animation from Vladimir Tarasov.
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That Was in Kokand
Title: That Was in Kokand
Character: поручик Зайченко
Released: February 9, 1977
Type: Movie
About the formation of Soviet power in Uzbekistan, the fight against the “Kokand Autonomy” and the Basmachi.
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Golden River
Title: Golden River
Character: бывший царский офицер Кирилл Зимин
Released: January 3, 1977
Type: Movie
The continuation of the story started by adventure movie "The Lost Expedition" set in 1923.
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The Importance of Being Earnest
Title: The Importance of Being Earnest
Character: Джон Уортинг
Released: December 31, 1976
Type: Movie
When Algernon discovers that his friend, Ernest, has created a fictional brother for whenever he needs a reason to escape dull country life, Algernon poses as the brother, resulting in ever increasing confusion.
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Мое дело
Title: Мое дело
Released: August 15, 1976
Type: Movie
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Brillianty dlya diktatury proletariata
Title: Brillianty dlya diktatury proletariata
Character: Vorontsov
Released: June 21, 1976
Type: Movie
In 1921, the Cheka became aware that gold and jewelry were stolen from the treasury of Gokhran, and that a special organization was involved in transporting the stolen to Estonia. Scout Maksim Isayev is sent to this country. He establishes that the cipher of the Soviet embassy Olenetskaya works for the German resident Nolmar, with whom employees of Gokhran Kozlovskaya and an appraiser Yakov Shelekhes are associated. As a result of the provocation, Isayev was arrested. In the prison cell, he finds himself together with the famous Russian writer Nikandrov, who could not find himself in post-revolutionary Russia and went abroad. Released soon by the efforts of his comrades, Isayev continues the struggle for the fate of Nikandrov — for his return to his homeland.
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The Lost Expedition
Title: The Lost Expedition
Character: Кирилл Петрович Зимин (бывший царский офицер)
Released: December 29, 1975
Type: Movie
An expedition of a few geologists is going to Siberia in order to found a gold sources during 1918.
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Следую своим курсом
Title: Следую своим курсом
Released: June 9, 1975
Type: Movie
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Under the Roofs of Montmartre
Title: Under the Roofs of Montmartre
Released: January 3, 1975
Type: Movie
A story of three struggling artists: a painter, a poet, and a composer, living in a bohemian Montmartre district of Paris. They help a poor flower girl, Violette, to find shelter, when she is thrown out by her landlord.
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At Home Among Strangers, a Stranger Among His Own
Title: At Home Among Strangers, a Stranger Among His Own
Character: Поручик Лемке
Released: November 11, 1974
Type: Movie
Following the Russian Civil War, a loyal Red, Shilov, must prove he is at home among strangers as he attempts to recapture a shipment of gold that he was supposed to deliver to Moscow. Needed as a means of buying food for the people, the gold Shilov was entrusted with is stolen, initially by a group of assassins and then by a group of bandits. In tracking the gold’s whereabouts, Shilov’s motives are questioned and he is suspected of treason, in part because his brother was a devoted White. In an effort to clear his name, Shilov locates the gold, but he also discovers rampant greed and corruption.
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Дети Ванюшина
Title: Дети Ванюшина
Character: Костя
Released: February 11, 1974
Type: Movie
Feature film.
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Failure of Engineer Garin
Title: Failure of Engineer Garin
Character: Вольф
Released: October 15, 1973
Type: Movie
A Russian engineer Petr Garin possesses a unique beam-shooting weapon that can destroy any target. His goal is to achieve world domination with the help of this weapon. Vasily Shelga is out to stop him and also to prevent others getting possession of this weapon.
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The Fourth
Title: The Fourth
Released: December 9, 1972
Type: Movie
American journalist gets a sensational material but is afraid to publish it...
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The Gambler
Title: The Gambler
Released: November 17, 1972
Type: Movie
This lavish Soviet/Czech co-production is based on Fyodor Dostoyevsky's famous novel, The Gambler, which tells the story of a Russian living in Germany, in a gambling resort. This film is set at the turn of the century, and was filmed in Karlovy Vary (Carlsbad), Czechoslovakia. Played by Nikolai Burlyayev, the gambler succumbs completely to his addiction, using up every resource he has (human, spiritual and financial) in his wagering, finally becoming a rootless drifter.
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The Mathematician and the Devil
Title: The Mathematician and the Devil
Character: Черт
Released: June 6, 1972
Type: Movie
A mathematician offers to sell his soul to the devil for a proof or disproof of Fermat's Last Theorem. Based on "The Devil and Simon Flagg" by Arthur Porges.
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Hound of the Baskervilles
Title: Hound of the Baskervilles
Character: Джэк Стэплтон
Released: May 31, 1971
Type: Movie
When a nobleman is threatened by a family curse on his newly inherited estate, Sherlock Holmes is hired to investigate.
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The Fifteenth Spring
Title: The Fifteenth Spring
Character: Messenger
Released: May 10, 1971
Type: Movie
Fifteen years old Sasha is dreaming about adventures, falling in love and doesn't know that WWII is approaching...
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And There Was Evening, And There Was Morning
Title: And There Was Evening, And There Was Morning
Released: March 2, 1971
Type: Movie
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Title: Investigation Held by ZnaToKi
Character: Борис Миркин
Released: February 14, 1971
Type: TV
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Drama on the Hunt
Title: Drama on the Hunt
Character: Граф Карнеев
Released: December 31, 1970
Type: Movie
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A Quiet Day at the End of the War
Title: A Quiet Day at the End of the War
Character: Sergeant
Released: April 1, 1970
Type: Movie
As WWII comes to a close, a wounded Soviet soldier and a Kazak woman seek refuge in a church. In this holy place, they take time to rest and appreciate the beauty of their surroundings, as the interior of the building is lined with ornate works of art. A group of Nazi soldiers eventually disrupts this moment of peace, as they enter the church and defile the sacred works within. Undetected, the original occupants witness this atrocity and the proud Russian feels compelled to fight in an effort to preserve his country’s history.
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A Nest of Gentry
Title: A Nest of Gentry
Released: August 25, 1969
Type: Movie
A screen adaptation of the novel of the same name by Russian writer Ivan Turgenev. The film portrays the life of Russian landed gentry in the 1840s. After a long travel in Europe, nobleman Lavretsky returns back home. Everything in his estate is so familiar and dear to his heart. On his first visit to his neighbors, the Kalitins, he meets Lisa. He forgets his wife, left in Paris, forgets all his past. He desires only one thing – to always be with Lisa who is so unlike the women he used to know.
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First Love
Title: First Love
Released: February 9, 1969
Type: Movie
First Love is based on the eponymous novella by Ivan Turgenev set in the first third of the 19th century. It follows a 16-year old boy who becomes infatuated with a next door neighbor.
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Anna Karenina
Title: Anna Karenina
Character: Jules Landeau
Released: November 6, 1967
Type: Movie
The plot of the film is the love of a married woman, Anna Karenina, and a young officer, Aleksei Vronsky. Anna leaves the family in search of happiness to her beloved person. She has to take a very serious step in her life - to part with her son. The attitude of the high society towards her is changing. All this brings a lot of pain and humiliation to the main character. The tragic story of love and betrayal, the fate of a woman, for the sake of passion who decided to change her life irrevocably.
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The Mysterious Wall
Title: The Mysterious Wall
Released: January 1, 1967
Type: Movie
The action takes place in Siberia where a mysterious wall appears from time to time. Scientists are dispatched to study it and some of them believe that the wall is produced by some sort of alien intelligence, "the Martians", as they call them. The scientists attempt to communicate with the Wall, but all they experience in return are hallucinations about their past experiences. In those visions they are faced with some unresolved issues, repressed memories, and absurd dream-like situations. They meet people – messengers – from their past who reveal to them some simple truths about their own lives, which may be hard to accept, so they dismiss those messengers as the Martians and stubbornly continue attempting to "understand" the Mysterious Wall using their rational minds.