Boris Klyuyev


Boris Vladimirovich Klyuyev was a Soviet and Russian actor and drama teacher. He served as one of the lead actors of the Maly Theatre from 1969 to 2020 and taught acting technique in Shchepkin Higher Theatre School. He was named a People's Artist of Russia in 2002. He died on 1 September 2020 at the age of 76 from lung cancer.

Biography

Boris Klyuyev was born in Moscow. He spent his childhood in the area of the Patriarch Ponds. When Boris was four years old, his father Vladimir Klyuyev died from a heart attack at the age of 36. Due to the difficult financial situation in the family, Boris had to unload wagons since he was 13. He started working at a construction site at the age of 16.
After graduating from school Klyuyev entered Shchepkin Higher Theatre School. In a year he joined the Soviet Army and served for three years. During his army service, he took part in the extras on the set of Sergei Bondarchuk's War and Peace. Klyuyev returned to the theatre school after demobilization and served as the school's Komsomol secretary. He graduated from Shchepkin Higher Theatre School in 1969. After that he was offered to join the troupe of the Maly Theatre.
During his fourth year at the theatre school, Klyuyev started his film career. His first significant role was Vasily Shulgin in The Fall of the Empire. Klyuyev became famous across the country for portraying Comte de Rochefort in Georgi Yungvald-Khilkevich's D'Artagnan and Three Musketeers and Mycroft Holmes in Igor Maslennikov's The [Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson |The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson].
Since 1990s Klyuyev took part in Russian dubbing of foreign movies. He mostly voiced characters played by Alan Rickman, Christopher Lee and Geoffrey Rush. Klyuyev's most famous role in 2010s was a grumpy and mocking retiree Nikolai Petrovich Voronin in sitcom Voronin's Family, a Russian adaptation of Everybody Loves Raymond.
Klyuev was diagnosed with lung cancer in May 2018. He died on September 1, 2020, in Moscow and was buried at the Troyekurovskoye Cemetery.

Selected filmography