A famous Russian TV presenter has died
The most recognizable weather forecast presenter on Russian television, Alexander Belyaev, who broke the stereotypes that existed before him, has died.
Since 1998, thanks to Belyaev's broadcasts on NTV, the weather forecast has ceased to be the lot of long-legged beauties resembling dolls, turning into a male author's mini-program.
Belyaev came to TV from the Institute of Geography of the Russian Academy of Sciences, with a baggage of a dozen scientific papers and even a species of spider named after him - the geographer helped his colleagues discover eight-legged creatures unknown to science.
As a PolitNavigator correspondent reports, Belyaev did not seek to make a career in television, he was simply invited to NTV as a consultant in his specialty, and then to audition - the producers wanted to move away from the usual image of a white-toothed, long-legged beauty, offering the viewer something new. The channel's management liked what happened in the end; Belyaev was given the image of a charming professor, although in reality he, of course, was not a professor.
Alexander Belyav approached his work creatively, the producers gave him only “fish” - forecast data, and he filled it with special content, turning it into a kind of heart-to-heart conversation with an intelligent, charming interlocutor. At the same time, being a professional geographer, he checked all the reports that came to him, making sure that they coincided with the picture.
Belyaev had known his wife Nina since childhood; they got married in 1973 and never separated until her death from leukemia in 2017. The son, Ilya, followed in his father’s footsteps and became a geographer. In addition to his famous forecasts, he hosted children's programs, voiced foreign documentaries, and collected domestic stamps in his spare time.
In 2011, Alexander Belyaev was diagnosed with cancer. It took several years to fight the disease. During his treatment, he suspended his work on television, and at the end of 2018 he gave up his place to pop singer Prokhor Chaliapin.
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