Vsevolod Sanayev


Vsevolod Vasilyevich Sanayev was a Soviet film and stage actor popular in the 1960s–1970s. Sanayev, a Moscow Art Theatre actor, was honored in 1969 with the People's Artist of the USSR title; among his other accolades are the Order of Lenin and the Order of the October Revolution.

Biography

Vsevolod Sanayev was born in Tula. From 1926 to 1930 he worked as a bayan technician at the Tula factory of musical instruments. After a short stint at a local theatre, in 1931 he was invited to join the Tula-based Gorky Theatre of Drama and Comedy and soon enrolled in the Russian Institute of Theatre Arts. After the graduation in 1937 he joined the Moscow Art Theatre troupe. In 1938, he debuted on screen in the film Volga-Volga, and in 1940 enjoyed his first success as Dobryakov in the film The Girl I Love. In 1943, Sanayev joined the Mossovet Theatre and in 1952 moved to the Moscow Art Theatre.
The mass popularity came to Sanayev in the 1950s and 1960s; among his best known roles were Kantaurov in The Return of Vasily Bortnikov, Dontsov in The First Echelon, Kozlov in Five Days, Five Nights, Siply in Optimistic Tragedy ; later Colonel Lukin in the war epic Liberation, Professor Stepanov in Pechki-lavochki, and Colonel Zorin. A staunch communist, Sanayev for many years was the head of the Mosfilm Communist Party committee.
Vsevolod Sanayev died on 27 January 1996 in Moscow. He is interred in Novodevichy Cemetery.

Family

Vsevolod Sanayev was married to Lidya Sanayeva. Their daughter, the actress Elena Sanayeva, is a widow of the actor and director Rolan Bykov. His grandson Pavel Sanayev is an actor, scriptwriter, theatre director and playwright. His acclaimed 1995 autobiographical play Bury Me Under a Baseboard told the harrowing story of his life with a tyrannous grandmother, whom his mother left him with after her marriage.

Filmography