Thursday, December 15 marks the 95th anniversary of the birth of the outstanding Latvian film and theater actor, the legend of the Fine Arts Theater Harijs Liepiņš (1927-1998).
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In honor of the jubilee memory, the Latvian archive Kinofotophonodocumentu offers to get acquainted with photographic documents dedicated to the creative activity of Harijs Liepiņš.
As theater critic and researcher Zane Radzobe writes in the book “100 outstanding actors of Latvia”: “Harijs Liepiņš is probably the most famous Latvian actor of all time. The premiere of the Dailes Theater, the embodiment of the spirit of Smilģas”. It also reveals the controversial life of the actor’s creative work: “If you ask his contemporaries – the most beautiful and talented; if you ask the next generation – the artist who refused to change.”
Harijs Liepiņš was an actor of the Daile Theater from 1947 until the end of his life, playing both romantic and tragic as well as comic and satirical characters in more than 100 roles. Many of his roles are recorded as legendary in the history of the Latvian theater: Tots Raini’s “I Play, I Dance”, which the actor performed from 1956 to 1982, the lead role in Selma Lägerlēva’s “Gesta Berlinga”, as well as Shakespeare’s Hamlet in the 1959 production. The actor also played Krustina in Rudolph Blaumanis’ ‘The Prodigal Son’, Munchausen in Martins Sievert’s ‘The Wedding of Munchausen’, Andrei Bolkonsky in Leo Tolstoy’s ‘War and Peace’ and many other roles.
The name of Harijas Liepiņš is also well known to fans of cinematic art. Since 1955, he has played about 30 roles in films of the Riga Film Studio and other film studios of the USSR.
Since 2005, a prize named after Harija Liepiņa has been awarded. It is awarded to actors for outstanding and brilliant acting work in the theater during previous seasons.
In commemoration of the actor’s anniversary, Latvian Television (LTV) will premiere the documentary “Clarity. Simplicity. Passion. Harijs Liepiņš” (2022) on January 4, 2023 at 21:20. The film was made by director Guntis Lēmanis, screenwriter Ilze Strenga.
Actor’s wife Harija Liepiņš, actress Mudīte Šneidere, Daile theater actors Olga Dreģe and Lidija Pupure, theater scholars Rita Rotkale and Rita Melnace, art scholar Edvarda Šmite (daughter of actor Louija Šmit) , translator Kārina Pētersone (daughter of director Pēter Pētersons) part in the documentary actor Kaspars Pūce (son of director Voldemārs Pūce), children of Harij Liepiņš Rolands Eimanis and Anita Dreimane, doctor Sandis Stepiņš, award winners Harija Liepiņš – actors Gundars Āboliņš, Juris Žagars, Āirts Ķesteris, Gundars Grasbergs and other personalities.
