Iurovskii, Iurii Ilich

(real surname, Sarukhanov). Born Apr. 21 (May 3), 1894, in Tbilisi; died Dec. 30, 1959, in Riga. Soviet Russian actor and stage director. People’s Artist of the USSR (1956). Member of the CPSU from 1953.

Iurovskii began his stage career in 1914 and worked in theaters in various cities of Russia. He was a member of the company of the Riga Theater of Russian Drama off and on from 1924 and also performed at the Riga Workers’ Theater until 1934. His roles included Chatskii in Griboedov’s Woe From Wit, Tevye in Tevye the Milkman, based on the work by Sholem Aleichem, and Lear in Shakespeare’s King Lear. He staged about 100 productions, including Korneichuk’s Platon Krechet (1937) and Blaumanis’ In the Fire (1955). Iurovskii also appeared in films, for example, as Dietrich in Meeting at the Elbe (1949) and in the title role of Zhukovskii (1950).

Iurovskii received the State Prize of the USSR in 1950 and 1951. He was awarded two orders and several medals.