14 Facts About Vladimir Zeldin

Vladimir Mikhailovich Zeldin was a Soviet and Russian stage and film actor.

Vladimir Zeldin's mother Anna Nikolayevna Zeldina was a native Russian teacher turned a housewife.

Vladimir Zeldin himself was raised in the Russian Orthodox traditions and associated himself with Russian culture.

Vladimir Zeldin learned to play trumpet, piano and violin, and at the age of 12 tried to enter The Bolshoi Theatre Ballet School.

For several years Vladimir Zeldin played trumpet in the military band under the Joint State Political Directorate led by his father's friend Feodor Nikolaevsky.

In 1938 Vladimir Zeldin moved to the Moscow Transport Theatre where he performed as Antipholus of Syracuse in The Comedy of Errors and Ferdinand in Intrigue and Love, among other roles.

Vladimir Zeldin became an all-Union celebrity in 1941 starring in the leading role in the musical comedy They Met in Moscow by Ivan Pyryev.

From 1945 to his death Vladimir Zeldin performed in the Russian Army Theatre.

In February 2005 Vladimir Zeldin celebrated his 90th birthday by performing in the new musical Man of La Mancha where he starred both as Don Quixote and Miguel de Cervantes.

Vladimir Zeldin celebrated his 101st birthday on stage by performing the leading role in the play Dance with the Master and written specially for him.

Vladimir Zeldin was, as of 2014, the oldest living People's Artist of the USSR.

However, a number of signatories, including Vladimir Zeldin, denied their involvement.

Vladimir Zeldin died on 31 October 2016 and was buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow.

Vladimir Zeldin was survived by his third wife Ivetta Evgenievna Kapralova-Zeldina who died just two months after her husband and was buried near him.