Basilashvili Oleg

Basilashvili Oleg (b. September 26, 1934 Moscow) is a Russian stage and film actor. He is originally from Georgia. Basilashvili is a public figure, People's Artist of the USSR (1984).

He graduated from the acting school of the Moscow Art Theatre. He worked at Lenin's Komsomol Theatre. Since 1959, he has been the leading actor of the Tovstonogov Bolshoi Drama Theater and he has played more than 50 roles on its stage: Khlestakov (The Government Inspector by N. Gogol), Andrei Prozorov and Ivan Voynitsky (Three Sisters, Uncle Vanya by A. Chekhov), Lapchenko (An Irkutsk Story by A. Arbuzov), Serpukhov (Kholstomer by L. Tolstoy) and others.

Basilashvili has been acting in films since 1939 and has played more than 80 roles. He became famous for the roles he played in the films of director E. Ryazanov (Office Romance, Samokhvalov, 1977; Say a Word for the Poor Hussar, Merzlyaev, 1980; Station for Two, Platon Ryabinin, 1982) and in the films directed by G. Danelia (Autumn Marathon, Buzykin, 1979). Some of his other noteworthy roles include: General Yepanchin (The Idiot, directed by V. Bortko, 2003), Woland (The Master and Margarita, V. Bortko, 2005), The Old Man (Liquidation, S. Ursuliak, 2007) and others. He is very active in public work, is distinguished by a strong civic position. He was a member of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR and a People's Deputy of Russia (1990‒1993). Basilashvili is an honorary member of the Russian Academy of Arts; Academician of the Russian Academy of Cinema Arts and Science “Nika”.

Basilashvili has received various Russian theatrical, cinematographic and state awards. In 2010, he was awarded with the Presidential Order of Excellence for his contribution to the development of art. He is an honorary citizen of Tbilisi (2011).

M. Kereselidze