Oleg Tabakov

Oleg Pavlovich Tabakov (Russian: Олег Павлович Табаков; 17 August 1935 – 12 March 2018) was a Soviet and Russian actor and the Artistic Director of the Moscow Art Theatre. People's Artist of the USSR (1988).[1]

Oleg Tabakov
Tabakov in 2015
Born
Oleg Pavlovich Tabakov

(1935-08-17)17 August 1935
Died12 March 2018(2018-03-12) (aged 82)
Moscow, Russia
Occupation(s)Actor, theatre director, pedagogue
Years active1956–2018
TitlePeople's Artist of the USSR (1988)
Spouses
Lyudmila Krylova
(m. 1960; div. 1994)
    (m. 1994)
    Children
    Awards
    Websitetabakov.ru

    Biography

    Tabakov was born in Saratov into a family of doctors.[2] His paternal great-grandfather, Ivan Ivanovich Utin, came from serfs and was raised in a wealthy peasant family under the Tabakov surname. His grandfather, Kondratiy Tabakov, worked as a locksmith in Saratov where he built himself a house and married a local commoner Anna Konstantinovna Matveeva. Oleg's father, Pavel Kondratievich Tabakov, worked at the State Regional Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology "Microbe" in Saratov.[3]

    His maternal grandfather, Andrei Frantzevich Piontkovsky, was a Polish nobleman who owned lands in the Podolia Governorate and married a local villager, Olga Terentievna (surname unknown) of Ukrainian origin.[4] Oleg's mother, Maria Andreevna Berezovskaya (née Piontkovskaya), was a radiologist. She had a daughter Mirra from the previous marriage to Gugo Goldstern, a high-ranking Soviet functionary and intelligence officer killed in the line of duty.[3][5]

    During the Great Patriotic War, Oleg's father volunteered for the frontline and served aboard a hospital train while his mother was evacuated to Ural along with children where she also worked in a military hospital. After the war, the parents separated.[3][6]

    Theatre career

    Tabakov studied at the Moscow Art Theatre School. Upon graduating, he became one of the founding fathers of the Sovremennik Theatre. He administrated the Sovremennik until 1982, when he moved to the Moscow Art Theatre, where he has played Molière and Salieri for over 20 years. In 1986, Tabakov persuaded his students to form the Tabakov Studio attached to the Moscow Art Theatre. Among those who studied at the studio were Russian actors Yevgeny Mironov, Sergey Bezrukov, Vladimir Mashkov, Andrey Smolyakov and Alexandre Marine, and American actor Jon Bernthal.[7]

    Film career

    Tabakov's movie career paralleled the theatrical. He was featured in Grigori Chukhrai's Clear Skies (1961), Sergei Bondarchuk's War and Peace (1966–67), TV series Seventeen Moments of Spring (1973) and D'Artagnan and Three Musketeers (1978), the Academy Award-winning Moscow Does Not Believe In Tears (1980), Nikita Mikhalkov's Oblomov (1981) and Dark Eyes (1986), and the mock red western A Man from the Boulevard des Capuchines (1987).

    Voice-over work

    Tabakov has lent his distinctive, purr-like voice to a number of animated characters, including the talking cat Matroskin in Three from Prostokvashino and its sequels. After the Matroskin role, he dubbed the character of Garfield into Russian in the feature film Garfield and its sequel.

    Political activism

    During the 2012 Russian presidential election, Tabakov was registered as a "Trusted Representative" (Доверенное Лицо) of Vladimir Putin.[8]

    In March 2014, he signed a letter in support of the position of the President of Russia Vladimir Putin on Russia's military intervention in Ukraine.[9] In September 2014, Tabakov claimed that Crimea has no relation to Ukraine and upbraided Ukrainians for discussing it: "But all happened fairly. If our Ukrainian brothers were smarter, they would not discuss that topic. They had to say: "Forgive us for God's sake! We had encroached the gravy train." Because Crimea has no relation to dependent, nor independent Ukraine."[10] Crimea is, since March 2014, under dispute by Russia and Ukraine.[11]

    Honours and awards

    A 2019 stamp of Russia featuring Tabakov and his Order of Merit for the Fatherland
    Theater of Oleg Tabakov in Malaya Sukharevskaya Square in Moscow.

    Selected filmography

    References

    1. Peter Rollberg (2009). Historical Dictionary of Russian and Soviet Cinema. US: Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 676–677. ISBN 978-0-8108-6072-8.
    2. Genzlinger, Neil (23 March 2018). "Oleg Tabakov, Revered Russian Actor and Teacher, Is Dead at 82". The New York Times. Retrieved 30 March 2018.
    3. Oleg Tabakov, Anatoly Smelyanskiy (2000). My Real Life. — Moscow: Eksmo-Press, pp. 22—48 ISBN 5-04-005401-7 (Autobiography)
    4. Солнечная система Олега Табакова
    5. Interview at Echo of Moscow, 11 September 2004 (in Russian)
    6. Stage Worker interview from the Itogy magazine №36, 6 September 2010 ISSN 1027-3964 (in Russian)
    7. "Blockbuster 'Fury' Star Jon Bernthal Learned to Act in Moscow". The Moscow Times. 22 October 2014.
    8. "Олег Табаков – о Путине, который вне конкуренции". Radio Liberty. 6 February 2012.
    9. "Деятели культуры России — в поддержку позиции Президента по Украине и Крыму". Ministry for Culture of Russian Federation. Archived from the original on 11 March 2014.
    10. Табаков ждет от «украинцев-халявщиков» извинений за Крым (in Russian). DePo. 9 September 2014
    11. Gutterman, Steve (18 March 2014). "Putin signs Crimea treaty, will not seize other Ukraine regions". Reuters. Retrieved 26 March 2014.
    12. "Олег Табаков стал офицером Ордена Почетного легиона". ТАСС (in Russian). Retrieved 15 October 2020.

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