Abbas Mirza Sharifzadeh
Encyclopedia
Shamakhi
Shamakhi or Shamakhy is a rayon of the Republic of Azerbaijan, and a town in the rayon. It is the historical center of the region of Shirvan.The town is west of Baku. It has more than 20,000 inhabitants, among them Azerbaijanis and Russians...
– 16 November 1938, Baku
Baku
Baku , sometimes spelled as Baki or Bakou, is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. It is located on the southern shore of the Absheron Peninsula, which projects into the Caspian Sea. The city consists of two principal...
) was an Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan , officially the Republic of Azerbaijan is the largest country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to...
i actor, film director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
and film editor, Honoured Artist of Azerbaijan SSR (1935).
Acting career
Abbas Mirza Sharifzadeh was born into a family of a teacher, who taught at Seyid Azim ShirvaniSeyid Azim Shirvani
Seyid Azim Shirvani was an Azerbaijani poet. He was born in 1835 in Shamakhi. He got his elementary education in his native city, but soon was sent to Baghdad and then to Egypt to receive religious education. After returning to Shamakhi, Shirvani started paying attention to secular sciences and...
's Usul-i Jadid school. After the 1902 Shamakhi earthquake, the family moved to Baku, where Sharifzadeh became a member of a drama club at his school. In 1908, he started acting in serious plays. But he had not gained fame until a successful portrayal of Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar in Abdurrahim bey Hagverdiyev
Abdurrahim bey Hagverdiyev
Abdurrahim bey Asad bey oglu Hagverdiyev was an Azerbaijani playwright, stage director, politician and public figure.-Early life:...
's play of the same name in 1911. Not having received any professional training in dramatic arts Sharifzadeh was remembered for his outstanding performance of primary roles in stagings of both local and Western
Western literature
Western literature refers to the literature written in the languages of Europe, including the ones belonging to the Indo-European language family as well as several geographically or historically related languages such as Basque, Hungarian, and so forth...
pieces.
Abbas Mirza Sharifzadeh first appeared on screen in the 1916 Russian movie Knyaz Temir-Bulat. In 1924, he played the role of the Khan in the Azerbaijani film Baygush ("Owl"). His other notable role was in the movie Avaz-avaza ("An eye for an eye") in 1929.
Career as a director
Abbas Mirza Sharifzadeh directed both feature films and documentaries. The former directed by him include Bismillah ("In the Name of God", 1925), Haji Gara (1929) and Mahabbat oyunu ("The Game of Love", 1935); and the latter, Azerbaijana sayahat ("A Journey to Azerbaijan", 1924) and Shakhsei-vakhsei (1929).Arrest and execution
On 4 December 1937, at the peak of the Great PurgeGreat Purge
The Great Purge was a series of campaigns of political repression and persecution in the Soviet Union orchestrated by Joseph Stalin from 1936 to 1938...
, Sharifzadeh was arrested in his own apartment on the counts of espionage
Espionage
Espionage or spying involves an individual obtaining information that is considered secret or confidential without the permission of the holder of the information. Espionage is inherently clandestine, lest the legitimate holder of the information change plans or take other countermeasures once it...
. The evidence used against him were his frequent visits to the Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
ian consulate in Ganja
Ganja, Azerbaijan
Ganja is Azerbaijan's second-largest city with a population of around 313,300. It was named Yelizavetpol in the Russian Empire period. The city regained its original name—Ganja—from 1920–1935 during the first part of its incorporation into the Soviet Union. However, its name was changed again and...
in 1932. The real reason for those visits, according to Sharifzadeh's colleagues, were friendly relations between a group of stage actors, of which Sharifzadeh was part, and the Iranian consul who admired Azerbaijani theatre and would often invite them for gettogethers. Sharifzadeh's émigré brother's active role in the formation of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic
Azerbaijan Democratic Republic
The Azerbaijan Democratic Republic was the first successful attempt to establish a democratic and secular republic in the Muslim world . The ADR was founded on May 28, 1918 after the collapse of the Russian Empire that began with the Russian Revolution of 1917 by Azerbaijani National Council in...
in 1918–1920 among all contributed to the government's will to get rid of the actor. Sharifzadeh was also accused of promoting via theatre the works of the earlier arrested poets Mikayil Mushfig
Mikayil Mushfig
Mikayil Mushfig , born Mikayil Ismayilzadeh was an Azerbaijani poet of the 1930s. During the Stalinist purges in the USSR, Mikayil Mushfig was arrested and executed by the Soviet authorities at the age of 30.-Life and poetry:Mikayil Mushfig was born in the city of Baku of Baku Governorate in 1908...
and Huseyn Javid
Huseyn Javid
Huseyn Javid , born Huseyn Abdulla oglu Rasizadeh , other spellings "," was a prominent Azerbaijani poet and playwright of the early 20th century...
(one of them would later be executed and another one would be exiled to the Russian Far East
Russian Far East
Russian Far East is a term that refers to the Russian part of the Far East, i.e., extreme east parts of Russia, between Lake Baikal in Eastern Siberia and the Pacific Ocean...
). On October 19, 1938 he was found guilty of all accusations and was executed by firing squad less than a month later. He was exonerated posthumously after Stalin's death.
Sharifzadeh was married to actress Marziyya Davudova
Marziyya Davudova
Marziyya Yusuf qizi Davudova, also spelled Marziya Davudova, was an Azerbaijani actress, People's Artist of USSR .-Life and career:...
and they were great-grandparents of Eurovision 2011 winner Eldar Gasimov
Eldar Gasimov
Eldar "Ell" Gasimov is an Azerbaijani singer who successfully represented Azerbaijan at the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 in the music duo Eldar & Nigar with Nigar Jamal.-Early life:...
.