David Melkumovich Malian

Born Apr. 4 (17), 1904, in Zakataly; died July 17, 1976, in Yerevan. Soviet Armenian actor. People’s Artist of the USSR (1974). Member of the CPSU since 1942.

Malian graduated from the Aiartun Drama Studio in Tbilisi in 1924 and joined the company of the G. Sundukian Armenian Academic Theater in the same year. His roles on the stage included Neschastlivtsev in Ostrovskii’s The Forest, Chepurnoi in Gorky’s Children of the Sun, Sumbat in Shirvanzade’s Chaos, Pavel in Drutse’s Birds of Our Youth, and Iago and Claudius in Shakespeare’s Othello and Hamlet, respectively. He also appeared in such films as Pepo, David-Bek, Personally Known, and The Hunter From Lalvar.

A deputy to the second convocation of the Supreme Soviet of the Armenian SSR, Malian received the State Prize of the USSR in 1950 and 1952 and was awarded two orders and various medals.