Boris Vladimirovich Klyuyev (; 13 July 1944 — 1 September 2020) was a Soviet and Russian actor and theatre 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 (1971). Klyuyev became famous across the country for portraying Comte de Rochefort in Georgi Yungvald-Khilkevich's D'Artagnan and Three Musketeers (1978) and Mycroft Holmes in Igor Maslennikov's The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson (1980).
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 grumpy and mocking pensioner Nikolai Petrovich Voronin in sitcom Voronin's Family.
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
1967: War and Peace (Война и мир) as a French soldier
1968: Punisher (Каратель) as the prowler guard
1969: The Red Tent (Красная палатка) as the reporter
1971: The Fall of the Empire (Крушение империи) as Vasily Shulgin
1978: D'Artagnan and Three Musketeers (д'Артаньян и три мушкетера) as Comte de Rochefort 1979: Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson (Шерлок Холмс и доктор Ватсон) as Mycroft Holmes (uncredited) 1980: Squadron of Flying Hussars (Эскадрон гусар летучих) as French officer 1980: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson (Приключения Шерлока Холмса и доктора Ватсона) as Mycroft Holmes 1982: La vie de Berlioz (Жизнь Берлиоза) as Richard Wagner 1982: Niccolò Paganini (Никколо Паганини) as Ferdinando Paer 1984 / 1986: Mikhailo Lomonosov (Михайло Ломоносов) as Grigory Orlov 1984: TASS Is Authorized to Declare... (ТАСС уполномочен заявить ... ) as Sergey Dubov (Agent 'Trianon') 1986: The Twentieth Century Approaches (Приключения Шерлока Холмса и доктора Ватсона. Двадцатый век начинается) as Mycroft Holmes 1986: Ballad of an Old Gun (Баллада о старом оружии) as SS officer 1987: The End of Eternity (Конец Вечности) as Sociologist Voin 1987: Moonzund (Моонзунд) as Von Grapf 1989: The Criminal Quartet (Криминальный квартет) as the factory chief engineer 1990: His Nickname Is Beast (…По прозвищу «Зверь») as the taciturn prisoner 1991: Genius (Гений) as Aleksandr Arkhipov 1991: Socrates (Сократ) as Critias 1992: Dreams of Russia (Сны о России) as Russian naval officer 1993: The Alaska Kid as Cameron Brody 1993: Split (Раскол) as Grand Duke Sergei 1996: Queen Margot (Королева Марго) as Duc de Guise 1997: Schizophrenia (Шизофрения) as Lozovsky the banker 2007: The Funeral Party (Весёлые похороны) as Lyova Gottlieb 2009 / 2019: Voronin's Family (Воронины) as Nikolai Petrovich Voronin 2012: The Ballad of Uhlans (Уланская баллада) as Count Aleksey Arakcheyev 2013 / 2015: Streets of Broken Lights (Улицы разбитых фонарей) as General Merzlyakin 2018: Godunov (Годунов) as Dionysius, Metropolitan of Moscow