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Andrey Myagkov, a prominent Russian actor and leading figure at the Moscow Art Theatre (MXAT), known for his role in the 1970s comedy The Irony of Fate, or Enjoy Your Bath! (1976), returned to the screen in its sequel, The Irony of Fate 2 (2007).
Born Andrey Vasilevich Myagkov on July 8, 1938, in Leningrad, USSR (now St. Petersburg, Russia), his father, Vasiliy Myagkov, was a professor at the Polytechnical Academy. As a youth, Andrey enjoyed theatre and participated in his high school drama club but initially pursued chemistry, graduating from the Leningrad Institute of Technology in 1960 as a chemical engineer. His first role was as a research engineer at the Leningrad State Institute of Plastics, while continuing to act as an amateur.
In 1961, he was accepted into the Moscow Art Theatre (MXAT) acting school in Leningrad, later relocating to Moscow to study at the MXAT Theatrical School, graduating in 1965. At that time, he married actress Anastasiya Voznesenskaya. Between 1965 and 1977, he was part of the Sovremennik Theatre troupe in Moscow, performing alongside notable actors such as Oleg Efremov, Evgeniy Evstigneev, Galina Volchek, Stanislav Lyubshin, Anatoliy Romashin, Alla Pokrovskaya, Oleg Tabakov, Oleg Dal, Igor Kvasha, and Valentin Gaft.
In 1977, Myagkov joined the Moscow Art Theatre (MXAT) troupe, debuting in the lead role of Zilov in Aleksandr Vampilov’s "Utinaya okhota" ("Duck Hunting"). He became a leading actor in numerous MXAT productions, sharing the stage with Innokentiy Smoktunovskiy, Yekaterina Vasilyeva, Tatyana Doronina, Oleg Efremov, Evgeniy Evstigneev, Oleg Tabakov, Aleksandr Kalyagin, Andrei Popov, among others. After the troupe split in 1987, he continued with the Chekhov Moscow Art Theatre (Chekhov MXAT), named after Anton Chekhov, performing with actors like Alla Pokrovskaya, Natalya Rogozhkina, Anastasiya Voznesenskaya, Irina Miroshnichenko, Iya Savvina, Stanislav Lyubshin, Vyacheslav Nevinnyy, Evgeniy Kindinov, Viktor Sergachyov, and Vladimir Kashpur.
Myagkov's film debut came in 1965 with the lead role of a dentist in Elem Klimov’s Pokhozhdeniya zubnogo vracha. He gained recognition portraying the monk Alyosha in The Brothers Karamazov (1969) and as Khlebnikov, a chess grandmaster, in Grossmeyster (1973), acting alongside Lyudmila Kasatkina, Anatoly Solonitsyn, Mikhail Kozakov, and Peter Shelokhonov. He became widely known in the Soviet Union for his role as Zhenya in Eldar Ryazanov’s The Irony of Fate, or Enjoy Your Bath! (1976). His collaboration with Ryazanov continued in Office Romance (1977), The Garage (1980), and A Cruel Romance (1984). Over his career, he appeared in more than 50 film and television roles. He declined roles in modern Russian films such as Night Watch (2004) and The Turkish Gambit (2005) but reprised his iconic role of Zhenya opposite Barbara Brylska in The Irony of Fate 2 (2007).
In 1989, Myagkov debuted as a director with the stage production of "Spokoynoy nochi, Mama" ("Good Night, Mama") at the Moscow Art Theatre. In 2002, he directed "Retro," a nostalgic play about three middle-aged women pursuing one man, which was well received by the public though met with mixed reviews from Moscow critics. His final directorial work at MXAT was the 2006 production of "Osenniy charlston" ("Autumn Charleston"), adapted from Ivan Menchell’s play "The Cemetery Club."
He received the State Prize of the USSR in 1977, the Brothers Vasiliev State Prize in 1979, was honored as a People's Artist of Russia in 1986, and earned various other prestigious awards. Beyond acting, Myagkov was a portrait painter, with works owned by figures such as Mikhail Gorbachev and Galina Volchek.
Andrey Vasilevich Myagkov passed away on February 18, 2021, in Moscow and was buried at Troekurovskoe Cemetery in Moscow, Russia.
