Vsevolod Sanayev

Vsevolod Sanayev — Biography

Vsevolod Sanayev was one of the best-loved character actors of Soviet cinema and the Moscow stage from the 1950s into the 1970s. He is remembered for officer and commander roles in war films, above all Colonel Lukin in the epic Liberation and the Colonel Zorin series. In 1969 he was named People's Artist of the USSR; he also received the RSFSR Vasilyev Brothers State Prize (1967), the Order of Lenin (1971) and the Order of the October Revolution (1981). Alongside acting he taught.

Born in Tula, he worked in 1926-1930 as a bayan (button accordion) technician at the city's musical-instrument factory. After a short stint at a local theatre he was invited in 1931 to the Gorky Theatre of Drama and Comedy in Tula, then enrolled at the Russian Institute of Theatre Arts, graduated in 1937 and joined the Moscow Art Theatre troupe. He made his screen debut in 1938 in Volga-Volga with two minor roles, and in 1940 had his first success as Dobryakov in The Girl I Love. In 1943 he moved to the Mossovet Theatre and in 1952 returned to the Moscow Art Theatre.

Mass popularity came in the 1950s and 1960s: his best-known roles included Kantaurov in The Return of Vasily Bortnikov (1952), Dontsov in The First Echelon (1955), Kozlov in Five Days, Five Nights (1960) and Siply in Optimistic Tragedy (1962), followed by Professor Stepanov in Pechki-lavochki (1972) and Colonel Zorin. He died in Moscow on 27 January 1996 and is buried at Novodevichy Cemetery. His daughter Elena Sanayeva and grandson Pavel Sanayev also work in the arts.