There is a profound cut in Latvian culture, in the Latvian theater, where Miervaldis Ozoliņš has worked actively. The actor was born in 1922, but it is still not entirely clear whether March 17 is really Miervalsz Ozolins’ date of birth.
“This is a controversial issue because he lived with the foster parents he came to, because as an infant he was found in very tight clothes at the door of the house. He went to the police. I even have copies of those police documents. And it ‘s not clear why. This is probably the date when he was recorded in the papers that he was found, but 17 is such a magical number, because his first daughter was also born on March 17, says Kārlis Ozoliņš, the actor’s son, in the Latvian Radio program “Kultūras rondo”.
Miervaldis Ozoliņš after returning from deportation
Photo: Archive of Eduards Smiļģis Museum
–
–
Miervaldis Ozolins has been given a good education. He studied violin at the Riga People’s Conservatory, drawing and acting in the studio of the Latvian Drama Ensemble. Kārlis Ozoliņš’s first memories of his father as an actor are still very vivid, and it seemed to him that his father knew all the plays by heart:
“There was a situation where he was called on the phone and asked, ‘Peace, don’t you remember what the second line was in there?'” And he replied, so be it.
That’s what I remember my father. Theater was like a wonderful world to me at the time. He also really wanted me to be in that company, to be an actor. “
Kārlis Ozoliņš is very proud of his father, and also highlights his skills in drawing. The actor’s talent has also given his son the opportunity to help. Until 1951, Miervaldis Ozoliņš lived on Laipu Street, where there was a rich library, and it is still unclear how it developed.
“The library is so big that I haven’t mastered it yet, but Dad was able to pull out any book and ask what’s inside, and he could answer. There were books that were really old, from about 1700, still written in Gothic writing.
The father’s foster father was a janitor, the foster mother was a simple seamstress, and the question arose as to where the rich library came from. That is why the unprovable myth about Rainis’ son arose, “the son Kārlis tells about the legendary Miervals Ozolins library.
Miervaldis Ozolins
Photo: Archive of Eduards Smiļģis Museum
–
–
Daile Theater actor Juris Kalniņš first met Miervaldis Ozoliņš during his studies. Miervaldis Ozoliņš has been a teacher of make-up art and acting at the Daile Theater Actors’ Studio, Riga Choreography High School and other educational institutions.
“At first we were brought up extremely strictly. We were practically not allowed to come into contact with the old generation. Peace, as we all called him, was, of course, Miervaldis Ozoliņš at that time.
We had a full semester with his makeup in the first year. These were conversations, not just lectures.
You see the makeup box for the first time, put your finger inside and smear it on your cheek, and see what’s going on there. Its relationship was so human. It was the first ice to break when the relationship between students and teachers was broken, “recalls actor Juris Kalnins.
Miervaldis Ozolins in the play “Ingenious Nanny” (1974)
Photo: Archive of Eduards Smiļģis Museum
–
–
But it was not the only time they met, because Miervaldis Ozoliņš has played in Juris Kalniņš’s diploma work “Stepchildren of the Moon”. And, as Juris Kalniņš says, Miervaldis Ozoliņš has even come to those attempts when he didn’t have to be: “He was in the hall and gave quite a lot of valuable advice on how to do it or not. I was a” green cucumber “, but it was easy with Miervaldi because there was no barrier, apparently it was left over from his studies.
His inner intelligence. And on the stage, no matter how much nonsense or humor he did, it all had an added intelligence value. “
For the actor’s son Kārlis Ozoliņš, the performance “Mothers of the Moon’s Fate” also gave an unprecedented impression of his father’s abilities: “It was such an inner shock, a surprise to me. came out of the show and said – today we and Gunta cried out during the show that it is absolutely impossible. “
Miervaldis Ozoliņš in the Daile Theater performance “A Short Guide to Love” (1980)
Photo: Archive of Eduards Smiļģis Museum
–
–
There is also a difficult period in the biography of Miervalsz Ozolins, when in 1951 he was arrested and deported for working in the so-called “French group”. The French group was a designation given by the security institutions of the Soviet Union to a group of dissidents in the Latvian intelligentsia who were accused in 1950 and 1951 by members of the Latvian SSR People’s Security Commissariat of bourgeois nationalism and participation in anti-Soviet meetings. Miervaldis Ozoliņš returned to Latvia in 1956.
“It was a horror, it was an event. He taught me a lot,” he said.
You can just read the book and you can be taken hold. But in spite of everything, he was also very active during the Awakening, “says Kārlis Ozoliņš.
Juris Kalniņš says that Miervaldis Ozoliņš has not told anything about the “French group” at the Daile Theater, but it is still clear from the stories that it is a “forbidden fruit” that cannot be talked about.
“So they expanded their spiritual horizons. But the regime is the regime, and there’s nothing you can do about it. But we didn’t talk about it in the theater.
If there was an official event in the theater where the top leaders of the party appeared, then I noticed that Miervaldis was internally tense, “concludes Juris Kalniņš.
Kārlis Ozoliņš adds that “probably it was still fear, fear of family, and probably he carried it – if he made a mistake somewhere, if he did something, that he could do something again. Therefore, he was extremely careful.
Because he had to walk on a minefield. And it seems to me that he never forgot any text, not to say in the wrong intonation. “
Miervaldis Ozolins
Photo: Archive of Eduards Smiļģis Museum
–
–
After returning from custody, Miervaldis Ozoliņš continued working at the Daile Theater, participating in the production of Puppet Theater performances, as well as using his drawing skills to create covers for several books, such as a selection of stories by the writer Edgar Alan Po. He was also Santa Claus, but remarkably never in a red, always blue coat. Actor Miervaldis Ozoliņš, whose list of roles does not contain many main characters, has left a significant imprint on the history of the theater.
–
