Mikhail Ivanovich Pugovkin ( July 13, 1923, Rameshki, Chukhloma

Chukhloma

Chukhloma is a town and the administrative center of Chukhlomsky District of Kostroma Oblast, Russia, located on Chukhloma Lake, from the railway node Galich and northeast of Kostroma. Population:...

 District of Kostroma Oblast

Kostroma Oblast

Kostroma Oblast is a federal subject of Russia . Its administrative center is the city of Kostroma.Major historic towns include Kostroma, Sharya, Nerekhta, Galich, Soligalich, and Makaryev. Textile industries have been developed there since the early 18th century...

 - July 25, 2008, Moscow

Moscow

Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...

) was a Soviet/Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

n comic actor named a People's Artist of the USSR

People's Artist of the USSR

People's Artist of the USSR, also sometimes translated as National Artist of the USSR, was an honorary title granted to citizens of the Soviet Union.- Nomenclature and significance :...

 in 1988.

He studied in the Moscow Art Theatre

Moscow Art Theatre

The Moscow Art Theatre is a theatre company in Moscow that the seminal Russian theatre practitioner Constantin Stanislavski, together with the playwright and director Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko, founded in 1898. It was conceived as a venue for naturalistic theatre, in contrast to the melodramas...

 school under Ivan Moskvin

Ivan Moskvin

Ivan Mikhailovich Moskvin , 1874, Moscow – February 16, 1946, Moscow) was a Russian actor and People's Artist of the USSR. He became director of the Moscow Art Theatre in 1943. He was a student in the Moscow Philharmonic Society from 1893 to 1896. He also performed in the Yaroslavl company...

, took part in World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 and, following demobilisation, was featured in the 1944 all-star cast adaptation of Anton Chekhov

Anton Chekhov

Anton Pavlovich Chekhov was a Russian physician, dramatist and author who is considered to be among the greatest writers of short stories in history. His career as a dramatist produced four classics and his best short stories are held in high esteem by writers and critics...

's The Wedding. Another step to stardom was the 1967 comedy

Comedy film

Comedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. They are designed to elicit laughter from the audience. Comedies are mostly light-hearted dramas and are made to amuse and entertain the audiences...

 Wedding in Malinovka

Wedding in Malinovka

Wedding in Malinovka is a 1967 Soviet comedy film directed by Andrei Tutyshkin based on a operetta by Boris Aleksandrov adapted by Leonid Yukhvid. Produced by Semyon Malkin . Runtime - 95 min....

.

Pugovkin went on to appear in more than 100 films. His roles in Leonid Gaidai

Leonid Gaidai

Leonid Iovich Gaidai was one of the most popular Soviet comedy directors, enjoying immense popularity and broad public recognition in the former USSR & modern Russia...

's comedies, such as Operation Y and Other Shurik's Adventures

Operation Y and Other Shurik's Adventures

Operation Y and Other Shurik's Adventures is a 1965 Soviet slapstick comedy film directed by Leonid Gaidai, starring Aleksandr Demyanenko, Natalya Seleznyova, Yuri Nikulin, Georgy Vitsin and Yevgeny Morgunov. The film consists of three independent parts: "Workmate" , "Déjà vu" and "Operation Y"...

(1965), Twelve Chairs (1971) and Ivan Vasilievich: Back to the Future

Ivan Vasilievich: Back to the Future

Ivan Vasilievich Changes Profession is a Soviet comedy film produced by Mosfilm in 1973. In the United States the film has sometimes been sold under the title Ivan Vasilievich: Back to the Future....

(1973), made him one of the most popular comedians of the former Soviet Union

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

.

Pugovkin lived in Yalta

Yalta

Yalta is a city in Crimea, southern Ukraine, on the north coast of the Black Sea.The city is located on the site of an ancient Greek colony, said to have been founded by Greek sailors who were looking for a safe shore on which to land. It is situated on a deep bay facing south towards the Black...

, Crimea

Crimea

Crimea , or the Autonomous Republic of Crimea , is a sub-national unit, an autonomous republic, of Ukraine. It is located on the northern coast of the Black Sea, occupying a peninsula of the same name...

 before moving to Moscow in 1999. A statue of Father Fyodor from The Twelve Chairs portrayed by Pugovkin was unveiled in Kharkiv

Kharkiv

Kharkiv or Kharkov is the second-largest city in Ukraine.The city was founded in 1654 and was a major centre of Ukrainian culture in the Russian Empire. Kharkiv became the first city in Ukraine where the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic was proclaimed in December 1917 and Soviet government was...

, Ukraine

Ukraine

Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...

 in 2005.http://lenta.ru/articles/2008/07/25/pugovkin/

Pugovkin died on July 25, 2008 in his house in Moscow. He was buried on July 29 at Vagankovo Cemetery

Vagankovo Cemetery

Vagan'kovskoye Cemetery , established in 1771, is located in the Krasnaya Presnya district of Moscow...

.

External links

• Official website