Oleg Pavlovich Tabakov (Russian: Олег Павлович Табаков; 17 August 1935 – 12 March 2018) was a Soviet and Russian actor and the artistic director of the Moscow Art Theatre.

Theatre career

Tabakov studied at the Moscow Art Theatre School. Upon graduating, he became one of the founding fathers of the Sovremennik Theatre. He administrated the Sovremennik until 1982, when he moved to the Moscow Art Theatre, where he has played Molière and Salieri for over 20 years. In 1986, Tabakov persuaded his students to form the Tabakov Studio attached to the Moscow Art Theatre. Several notable Russian actors, including Yevgeny Mironov, Sergey Bezrukov, Vladimir Mashkov, Andrey Smolyakov and Alexandre Marine, studied at the studio. Tabakov also worked in numerous foreign countries, spreading his theatre's ideals abroad.

Film career

Tabakov's movie career paralleled the theatrical. He was featured in Grigori Chukhrai's Clear Skies (1961), Sergei Bondarchuk's War and Peace (1966–67), TV series Seventeen Instants of Spring (1973) and D'Artagnan and Three Musketeers (1978), the Academy Award-winning Moscow Does Not Believe In Tears (1980), Nikita Mikhalkov's Oblomov (1981) and Dark Eyes (1986), and the mock ostern A Man from the Boulevard des Capuchines (1987), among others.

Voice-over work

Tabakov has lent his distinctive, purr-like voice to a number of animated characters, including the talking cat Matroskin in Three from Prostokvashino and its sequels. After the Matroskin role he dubbed the character of Garfield into Russian in the feature film Garfield.

Political activism

During the 2012 Russian presidential election Oleg Tabakov was registered as a "Trusted Representative" (Доверенное Лицо) of Vladimir Putin

In March 2014, he signed a letter in support of the position of the President of Russia Vladimir Putin on Russia's military intervention in Ukraine. In September 2014, Tabakov claimed that Crimea has no relation to Ukraine and upbraided Ukrainians for discussing it: "But all happened fairly. If our Ukrainian brothers were smarter, they would not discuss that topic. They had to say: "Forgive us for God's sake! We had encroached the gravy train." Because Crimea has no relation to dependent, nor independent Ukraine." Crimea is since March 2014 under dispute by Russia and Ukraine.

Honours and awards

• USSR State Prize (1967)
• State Prize of the Russian Federation (1997)
• Order of Merit for the Fatherland;
  • 1st class (17 August 2010) - for outstanding contributions to the development of domestic theatrical art and many years of creative activity
  • 2nd class (17 August 2005) - for outstanding contribution to the development of theatrical art, and many years of creative activity
  • 3rd class (23 October 1998) - for many years of fruitful work in the field of theatrical art, and in connection with the 100th anniversary of the Moscow Art Theatre
  • 4th class (29 June 2015)
• Order of Friendship of Peoples (10 November 1993) - for his great personal contribution to the development of theatrical art, and training qualified personnel for theatre and film
• Order of the Red Banner of Labour (1982)
• Order of the Badge of Honour (1967)
• People's Artist of the RSFSR (1977)
• People's Artist of the USSR (1988)
• Honorary Member of the Russian Academy of Arts (8 October 2008)
• Golden Mask Award (1995)
• Seagull Theatre Prize
• Crystal Turandot award
• Presidential Award for Literature and the Arts (2003)
• Moscow Komsomol Prize (1967)
• Moscow Mayor's Award for Literature and the Arts (1997)
• Diploma of the Moscow City Duma (2008)
• Medal "For Valiant Labour" (Tatarstan)
• Honorary Citizen of the Saratov Oblast
• Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana, 3rd class (2005)

Selected filmography

• Sasha Enters His Life (Sasha vstupayet v zhizn') (1956) as Sasha
• Delo Pyostrykh (1958) as Igor Peresvetov
• The Buzzy Day (Shumnyy den') (1960) as Oleg
• Clear Skies (1961) as Seryozhka
• The Alive and the Dead (1964)
• War and Peace (1966–67) as Nikolai Rostov
• Shine, Shine, My Star (Gori, gori, moya zvezda) (1969) as Iskremas/Cuckoo
• The Secret of the Iron Door (1970)
• The Property of the Republic (1971)
• Seventeen Instants of Spring (TV series) (1973) as Walter Schellenberg
• Mark Twain Says No (Mark Tven-protiv) (TV movie) (1975) as Mark Twain
• An Unfinished Piece for Mechanical Piano(1975) as Shcherbuk
• Lone Wolf (1977)
• D'Artagnan and Three Musketeers (1978) as King Louis XIII
• Three from Prostokvashino (1978) as Matroskin the Cat (voice)
• Moscow Does Not Believe In Tears (1980) as Vladimir, Katerina's lover
• Oblomov (1981) as Ilya Ilyich Oblomov
• Good Bye, Mary Poppins (TV movie) (1983) as Miss Andrew
• Dark Eyes (1986)
• A Man from the Boulevard des Capuchines (1987) as Harry
• Three Stories (1997)
• Yesenin (TV series) (2005) as General Simagin
• The State Counsellor (2005) as Prince Dolgoroukoy
• Relatives (2006)
• Ilya Muromets i Solovey Razboynik (2007) as Vasilevs (voice)
• Melody for a Street Organ (2009)