Igor Gorbachev

Born Oct. 20, 1927, in Leningrad. Soviet Russian actor. People’s Artist of the USSR (1972). Member of the CPSU since 1969.

Gorbachev studied in the philosophy department of the University of Leningrad. In 1959 he graduated from the Leningrad Institute of Theater. He joined the company of the Gorky Leningrad Bolshoi Drama Theater in 1952 and that of the Pushkin Drama Theater in 1954; he became the artistic director of the Pushkin Drama Theater in 1975.

Gorbachev’s roles have included Vedernikov in Arbuzov’s Years of Wandering, Ustimenko in The Cause You Serve (based on the book by German), Saint-Exupéry in Maliugin’s The Life of Saint-Exupery, and the title role in Chekhov’s Ivanov. In films Gorbachev has played such roles as Khlestakov in Gogol’s TheInspector-General and Iakushev in the television film Operation “The Trust.”

Gorbachev received the Stanislavsky State Prize of the RSFSR in 1973 and has been awarded the Order of the October Revolution and the Order of Friendship of Peoples.