Asli Burkhanov

Born Jan. 8, 1915, in Bukhara. Soviet Tadzhik actor and director. People’s Artist of the USSR (1965). Member of the CPSU since 1945.

Burkhanov began his stage career in 1932 at the Bukhara Music and Drama Theater. In 1933 he began performing at the Lakhuti Theater in Dushanbe, where he created roles of strong, courageous people—fighters for the people’s freedom—and played a number of character roles. As an actor, Burkhanov combines stormy temperament and expressive stage mannerisms with gentle lyricism and rich comic sense. His roles include Khushvakt in Saidmuradov and Ismailov’s Slander, Salim in Ulag-zade’s The Red StickCarriers, Alisher Navoi in Uigun and Sultanov’s play of the same name, Kent and Iago in Shakespeare’s King Lear and Othello, and Khlestakov in Gogol’s The Inspector-General. Burkhanov was the first man to play V. I. Lenin in the Tadzhik theater—in Kapler and Zlatogorova’s Man With a Gun, Vishnevskii’s The Unforgettable Year of 1919, and Abdullo and Kiiamov’s Hurricane. Among the plays produced by Burkhanov are Mirshakar’s The Teacher of Love (1945), Saidmuradov and Rabiev’s Saodat (1956), Mamedkulizade’s Corpses (1963), and Shakespeare’s The Two Gentlemen of Verona (1966). He has also appeared in films. Burkhanov has been awarded the Order of Lenin and three other orders as well as a medal.