Coward, Fool, and Pro

{{Short description|Soviet comedy trio of bumbling bad guys}}

File:Трус, Балбес и Бывалый памятник Erevan.jpg peoples, Yerevan, Armenia. Left to right: Nikulin, Morgunov, Vitsin]]

Coward, Fool, and Pro ({{langx|ru|Трус, Балбес и Бывалый}}, Trus, Balbes, and 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 Gayday'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).Lev Layner (Лайнер Л. Д.), Весёлая троица — Вицин, Моргунов, Никулин, Moscow, Центрполиграф, 2000Rollberg, Peter (2010) The A to Z of Russian and Soviet Cinema, The Scarecrow Press, Inc., {{ISBN|978-0-8108-7619-4}}, pp. 235–8

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.

In Moscow there is the {{ill|Three Actors' Museum|ru|Музей трёх актёров}} dedicated to them.[http://www.museum.ru/N21217 Музей трех актеров][https://www.kp.ru/daily/23882.3/65536/ ТРУС, БАЛБЕС, БЫВАЛЫЙ: Кто развалил великолепную троицу], kp.ru, April 4, 2007