17 Facts About Vyacheslav Kotyonochkin

Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Kotyonochkin was a Soviet and Russian animation director, animator and artist.

Vyacheslav Kotyonochkin was named People's Artist of the RSFSR in 1987.

Vyacheslav Kotyonochkin was born in Moscow into a Russian family of Mikhail Mikhailovich Kotyonochkin, an accountant and a native Muscovite who died from tuberculosis shortly before the Great Patriotic War, and Eugenia Andreevna Kotyonochkina, a housewife whose family moved to Moscow from Kimry, Tver Governorate.

Vyacheslav Kotyonochkin's earliest known paternal ancestor lived under a Koshkin surname and owned a restaurant and a confectionery store in Moscow, but his twin sons were nicknamed "kittens" which transformed into a rare Kotyonochkin surname with time.

Vyacheslav Kotyonochkin was so impressed that he started taking drawing courses at a Pioneers Palace.

In 1942 Vyacheslav Kotyonochkin finished seven classes of the middle school and entered an artillery special school, then he was sent to the Penza anti-tank artillery school where he studied until the war's end.

Vyacheslav Kotyonochkin learned to play cornet in a military band.

Vyacheslav Kotyonochkin became closely associated with the Fitil satirical almanac by Sergey Mikhalkov and created 17 animated shorts for it during the next 25 years.

Vyacheslav Kotyonochkin picked the project after he accidentally stumbled across the screenwriters Felix Kamov, Arkadi Khait and Aleksandr Kurlyandsky who were wandering around Soyuzmultfilm trying to sell it to the leading directors without any success.

Vyacheslav Kotyonochkin was the only one who loved the idea and immediately drew the Hare character.

Vyacheslav Kotyonochkin spent a lot of time developing Wolf though and ended up with a protagonist reminiscent of himself.

From 1969 to 1986 Vyacheslav Kotyonochkin directed a total of 16 episodes, and each of them turned an instant hit.

Vyacheslav Kotyonochkin managed to create several independent shorts in-between, including another popular comedy The Kitten from Lizyukov Street.

Vyacheslav Kotyonochkin dreamed of directing an animated adaptation of Alexander Pushkin's epic poem Ruslan and Ludmila.

Vyacheslav Kotyonochkin was awarded the Order of Friendship on May 2,1996.

Vyacheslav Kotyonochkin died on 20 November, 2000 in a Moscow hospital after several years of illness: he suffered from diabetes which led to a gangrene and a stroke.

Vyacheslav Kotyonochkin was buried in the family tomb at the Vagankovo Cemetery.