Paul Butkevich

Paul Butkevich(Latvian: Pauls Butkēvičs) actor born on 8 August 1940, Riga, Republic of Latvia. Best known for taking part in ideologically unfit movies Es visu atceros, Ričard (1966, also known as Akmens un šķembas) and Elpojiet dziļi! (1967, Also known as Četri balti krekli), also in movies Rallijs (1978), Nepabeigtās vakariņas (1979), Ilgais ceļš kāpās un Mirāža (1981), Aija (1987)^[1]

Background

Education

• 1959 Graduated Riga's 11th secondary school
• 1957-1959 Doing pantomime in R. Ligers's ensemble
• 1959-1961 Studied in Daile Theater's 3rd Studio
• 1963 studied in Riga's 1st Technical school
• has studied in University of Latvia faculty of Law and also History and Philosophy
• 1964-1966 studied in Latvian Conservatory of Music in conducting department

Career

Paul Butkevich has taken part in approximately 150 movies and plays also outside the borderlines of Latvia, in his most active years it was common to travel twice a week or more to Dushanbe-Kaliningrad-Moscow-Sverdlovsk-Simferopol, he has even been awarded as an artist by Russian Federation.^[1]

Filmography

• Es visu atceros, Ričard (1966)
• Elpojiet dziļi! (1967)
• Silnye dukhom (1967)
• Daleko na zapade (1968)
• Troynaya proverka (1969)
• Vozvrashcheniye 'Svyatogo Luki' (1970) .... Keit, a foreign tourist
• Waterloo (1970/I) (uncredited) .... Officer with Wellington
• Gorod pod lipami (Epizody geroicheskoy oborony) (1971)
• Shakh koroleve brilliantov (1973)
• "Semnadtsat mgnoveniy vesny" (1973) TV mini-series .... Agent (unknown episodes)
• Yesli khochesh byt schastlivym (1974) also known as "If You Want to Be Happy" - International (English title) (informal title)
• Gnev (1974)
• Almaznaya tropa (1978)
• The Fortress (1978) (as P. Butkevich) also known as Kristman ... or "Krepost" - Soviet Union (original title)
• Agent sekretnoy sluzhby (1978)
• Akvanavty (1979) also known as Dugovsky or "The Aquanauts" - International (English title) (informal literal title)
• Milliony Ferfaksa (1980) (as P. Butkevich) also known as "Fairfax's Millions" - Europe (English title)
• Nezakonchennyy uzhin (1980) .... Backlund
• Ispanskiy variant (1980)
• Korpus generala Shubnikova (1980)
• Koltso iz Amsterdama (1981)
• "Sindikat-2" (1981) TV mini-series .... Krikman
• Oshibka Toni Vendisa (1981) (TV) .... Max
• Nezhnost k revushemu zveryu (1982) (TV) .... Sanin
• Sluchay v kvadrate 36-80 (1982) .... Terner
• Sem stikhiy (1984)
• Nabat na rassvete (1985)
• Day of Wrath (1985) also known as "Den gneva" - Soviet Union (original title)
• Bagrationi (1985)
• Sem krikov v okeane (1986)
• Krik delfina (1986)
• Ot zarplaty do zarplaty (1986)
• Perekhvat (1986)
• Bez sroka davnosti (1986)
• Za yavnym preimushchestvom (1986) .... Sumarokov
• "Naval Cadets, Charge!" (1987) TV mini-series (as P. Butkevich) .... Berger also known as "Gardemariny, vperyod!" - Soviet Union (original title)
• Priklyucheniya Kventina Dorvarda, strelka korolevskoy gvardii (1988) also known as "The Adventures of Quentin Durward, Marksman of the Royal Guard" - International (English title) (informal title)
• Sluchay v aeroportu (1988) (TV)
• Rokovaya oshibka (1988)
• Vivat, gardemariny! (1991)
• The Shroud of Alexander Nevsky (1992) also known as "Plashchanitsa Aleksandra Nevskogo" - Soviet Union (original title)
• Three Days in August (1992)
• The Hounds of Riga (1995) (as Pauls Butkevics) .... Col. Potris, also known as "Hundarna i Riga" - Sweden (original title) or "The Dogs of Riga" - International (English title)
• The Hostage (2006) .... Antons also known as "Kilnieks" - Estonia (original title) ^[2]

Other Interests

A while back actor said that to complete his life's work he wants to write a play, play in it, write a book and record a music album, and that is it.^[3] And so he has.

Writing

First Paul decided to write a book. He was still living in Jūrmala, where his neighbor journalist Vija Apinīte was very exited about making a biographical book about Paul Butkevich, so after the actor had collected his materials and thoughts about his life and roles on paper, she systematized it all and in 2001 they published a 237-page thick book Kājām pa Ugunszemi(Rīga : Sol Vita). Presentation photos are here...
While teaching musical acting course in Baltic Russian Institute he got inspired and wrote a musical play Es visur aicināts un izraidīts based on 15th to 20th century Russian poetry. Sung in Russian on the stage of Daugavpils Theatre, premiered on 13 January 2005, has been shown in several schools, recreation centers and libraries, and there has been also road-shows in Russia

Music

Pauls Butkēvičs together with the army ensemble Zvaigznīte (Little Star) performed the original soundtrack of the movie Elpojiet dziļi! (Breathe Deeply!). Surprisingly enough, even though the film itself was not shown to public till the end of 80s, its songs, written by the acclaimed Latvian composer Imants Kalniņš, became very popular among Latvian society, and later were performed by Latvian bands ‘Menuets’ and ‘Turaidas roze’. However, as, for example, Hardijs Lediņš put it: ‘I think that nobody has performed the songs by Imants Kalniņš better than Pauls Butkēvičs, - neither ‘Menuets’, nor ‘Turaidas roze’ did’^[4] The members of the ensemble ‘Zvaigznīte’ included such later well-known Latvian musicians as Uldis Stabulnieks, Gunārs Rozenbergs, Dzintars Beķeris, Valdis Eglītis, Andris Vilsons and Jūnijs Vilsons. In 2008 Paul Butkevich together with Elina Cileviča engaged in a new musical project and recorded an album Tu esi, Tu biji, Tu būsi.^[5] Butkevich dreams of recording another album in the future with the songs in Russian of his performance 'Es visur aicināts un izraidīts'.

References

1. 1 2 Latvian Music Information Centre, 'Viņš dziedās par visiem' 10.04.2008 Santa Raita, NRA.
2. ↑ Paul Butkevich, IMDB page.
3. ↑ KasJauns.lv news, Leģendārs aktieris uzvar draugiem.lv konkursā. 25.2.2010.
4. ↑ Pauls Butkēvičs un 'Zvaigznīte', Last.fm entry.
5. ↑ Pauls Butkēvičš and Elīna Cileviča, draugiem.lv music.

Pauls Butkēvičs