Shvarts, Anton Isaakovich

Born Jan. 24 (Feb. 5), 1896, in Moscow; died there Feb. 21, 1954. Soviet performer of estrada (the variety stage). Honored Artist of the RSFSR (1947). Master of Dramatic Reading.

Shvarts graduated from the University of Petrograd in 1922 and became a lawyer. He performed in drama theaters in Rostov-on-Don and Petrograd. Influenced by A. Ia. Zakushniak, he devoted himself to solo performances of dramatic readings, beginning in 1929. Among his best works were Pushkin’s The Queen of Spades (1936) and Rustan and Liudmila (1947) and a version of Gogol’s Dead Souls (1935).

Shvarts helped popularize Soviet poetry, notably the works of V. V. Mayakovsky, S. A. Esenin, N. N. Aseev, E. G. Bagritskii and I. L. Sel’vinskii.