Gennady Dudnik

Gennady Mikhailovich (Girsh Moiseevich) Dudnik (1924–1993) - Soviet actor, entertainer, parodist; Honored Artist of the RSFSR (1984). Gennady Dudnik was born in Moscow on June 8, 1924. Original name and patronymic - Girsh Moiseevich. He participated in the Great Patriotic War. He graduated from the acting department of GITIS (1945–1949, teacher N. Plotnikov), after which he entered the Moscow Drama Theater of Oilmen, headed by MF Astangov (later, the Moscow Touring Comedy Theater). Here he played the role of Teletiev (“The Mad Money” by A. N. Ostrovsky, 1951), and put on the “Scarlet Flower” by S. T. Aksakov (1954). Working in the theater, he performed on stage with the parody number “Artists at the Zoo”, where he portrayed many well-known Mkhatovsky actors. Parody, by his own admission, began to get involved in the institute - the characters of the roles played by them spoke in the voices of famous actors, which gave one of the teachers a reason to say: “What are you all“ for someone ”and“ for someone ”? A "under Dudnik" will ever be? ". The attention of Nikolai Smirnov-Sokolsky, who invited him to the newly opened Moscow variety theater (1954), attracted attention. In the first performance, “His Birthday” (1954), he performed the parody “Artists at the Stadium” and the number “The Dandy”. Yuri Levitan recalled that when (during Stalin's life) he fell ill with a heart attack, Dudnik read for him on the radio the text of the new Central Committee Resolution so that it seemed to the announcer that he heard “his own voice”: “There is no doubt - it’s me . All is mine. And timbre, and intonation, and pause, and even my breath ... " For some time Dudnik performed together with Evgeny Vesnik, later he created his own team. The first performance (“Husband, Wife and Entertainer” in miniatures by Polish writer Stephanie Grodzenskaya) was staged by director A. Vovsi. Later, Dudnik performed together with his wife Elena Arnoldova, performing satirical scenes. In the 1980s, their son Anatoly joined them. Three of them played a play based on A. Trushkin’s play “Believe it or Not,” which the author wrote specifically for them. Gennady Dudnik died on March 1, 1993 in Moscow. He was buried at Vostryakovskoye cemetery (44th station).