Coward, Fool, and Pro

Coward, Fool, and Pro (Russian: Трус, Балбес и Бывалый, Trus, Balbes, i Byvaly) are a trio of comical characters, petty criminals from Soviet cinema, first appeared in the films of Leonid Gaidai. They were played accordingly, "Coward": Georgy Vitsin, "Fool": Yuri Nikulin, "Pro": Yevgeny Morgunov. Initially appearing in Gaidai's satirical shorts, they gained all-Union popularity after the films Operation Y and Shurik's Other Adventures and Kidnapping, Caucasian Style, (further Shurik's New Adventures).^[1][2]

A Fool, Pro, and Coward monument, in stereotyped costumes of the Caucasus Mountains peoples, Yerevan, Armenia. Left to right: Nikulin, Morgunov, Vitsin

The exact moment of the creation of the trio is documented in the Mosfilm minutes: December 27, 1960, 17:30. At this moment the Mosfilm management approved the actors for their first common film, Dog Barbos and Unusual Cross.^[3]

In Moscow there is the Three Actors' Museum [ru] dedicated to them.^[4][3]

Filmography

• 1961: Dog Barbos and Unusual Cross
• 1961: Moonshiners
• 1965: Give Me a Book of Complaints (episodic)
• 1965: Operation Y and Shurik's Other Adventures, segment "Operation Y"
• 1966: ru:Сказки русского леса
• 1967: Kidnapping, Caucasian Style - the last film in which the trio were the main characters^[3]
• 1968: Seven Old Men and a Girl (episodic)
• 1969: The Bremen Town Musicians (animated musical) and the sequels:
  • On the Trail of the Bremen Town Musicians
  • The New Bremen Town Musicians
• 1980: ru:Комедия давно минувших дней (crossover comedy)
• 1982: ru:Происшествие в стране Мульти-Пульти (crosover animated musical)
• 1991: Kapitan Krokus [ru]; in this Ukrainian children's film the trio is played by Ukrainian actors, however it contains a cameo appearance of Yuri Nikulin, his last cinema role.^[5]
• 2014: Kidnapping, Caucasian Style!, a remake

See also

• The Three Stooges