Vsevolod Sanayev

Vsevolod Vasilyevich Sanayev (Все′волод Васи′льевич Сана′ев, 25 [12, o.s.] February 1912, Tula, Russian Empire, — 27 January 1996, Moscow, Russian Federation) was a Soviet film and stage actor popular in the 1960s–1970s. Sanayev, a Moscow Art Theatre (and later Mossovet Theatre) actor, was honoured in 1969 with the People's Artist of the USSR title; among his other accolades are the Order of Lenin (1971) and the Order of the October Revolution (1981).

Vsevolod Sanayev was born on 25 February 1912 in Tula. In 1926 — 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 Academy 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 (where he had two minor roles), 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 (1952), Dontsov in The First Echelon (1955), Kozlov in Five Days, Five Nights (1960), Siply (Husky) in Optimistic Tragedy (1962); later Colonel Lukin in the war epic Liberation (1968), Professor Stepanov in Pechki-lavochki (1972), and Colonel Zorin (The Return of St. Luca, 1970; The Black Prince, 1973, and The Version of Colonel Zorin, 1978). A staunch Communist, Sanayev for many years was the head of the Mosfilm Communist Party committee (partkom).

Vsevolod Sanayev died on 27 January 1996 in Moscow. He is interred in Novodevichye Cemetery.

Vsevolod Sanayev was married to Lidya Sanayeva (1918–1995). 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 Pokhoronite menya pod plintusom (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.