Archil Mikhaylovich Gomiashvili (, ka, არჩილ მიხეილის ძე გომიაშვილი; March 23, 1926 – May 31, 2005) was a Soviet Georgian

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a Stage (theatre), stage. The performe ...

and

film A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...

actor An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

(People's Artist of Georgia, 1966) best known for his part of

Ostap Bender Ostap Bender () is a fictional confidence trick, con man and the central antiheroic protagonist in the novels ''The Twelve Chairs'' (1928) and ''The Little Golden Calf'' (1931) written by Soviet authors Ilya Ilf Ilf and Petrov, and Yevgeny Petrov ...

Leonid Gaidai Leonid Iovich Gaidai (30 January 192319 November 1993) was a Soviet comedy film director, screenwriter and actor who enjoyed immense popularity and broad public recognition in the former Soviet Union. His films broke theatre attendance records a ...

's 1971

adaptation In biology, adaptation has three related meanings. Firstly, it is the dynamic evolutionary process of natural selection that fits organisms to their environment, enhancing their evolutionary fitness. Secondly, it is a state reached by the p ...

Ilf and Petrov Ilya Ilf (Ilya Arnoldovich Feinsilberg or , 1897–1937) and Yevgeny Petrov (Yevgeniy Petrovich Katayev or , 1902–1942) were two Soviet prose authors of the 1920s and 1930s. They did much of their writing together, and are almost alway ...

's ''

The Twelve Chairs ''The Twelve Chairs'' () is a Russian classic satirical picaresque novel by the Soviet authors Ilf and Petrov, published in 1928. Its plot follows characters attempting to obtain jewelry hidden in a chair. A sequel was published in 1931. The ...

''. In the late 1980s Gomiashvili quit the stage to become a businessman, the Ostap Bender Club owner, and philanthropist.

Biography

Archil Gomiashvili was born on March 23, 1926, in Chiatura, Soviet Georgia. His father, an

Institute of Red Professors The Institute of Red Professors of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) () was an institute of graduate-level education in the Marxist social sciences located in the Orthodox Convent of the Passion, Moscow. History It was founded in February 1 ...

graduate, was the

Donbas The Donbas (, ; ) or Donbass ( ) is a historical, cultural, and economic region in eastern Ukraine. The majority of the Donbas is occupied by Russia as a result of the Russo-Ukrainian War. The word ''Donbas'' is a portmanteau formed fr ...

miners A miner is a person who extracts ore, coal, chalk, clay, or other minerals from the earth through mining. There are two senses in which the term is used. In its narrowest sense, a miner is someone who works at the rock face (mining), face; cutt ...

trade-union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

leader, when in the years of the

Great Purge The Great Purge, or the Great Terror (), also known as the Year of '37 () and the Yezhovshchina ( , ), was a political purge in the Soviet Union that took place from 1936 to 1938. After the Assassination of Sergei Kirov, assassination of ...

he was arrested, to be freed only in 1944. Having spent two years in the Tbilisi Academy of Arts' school, Archil Gomiashvili joined the

Moscow Art Theatre The Moscow Art Theatre (or MAT; , ''Moskovskiy Hudojestvenny Akademicheskiy Teatr'' (МHАТ) was a theatre company in Moscow. It was founded in by the seminal Russian theatre practitioner Konstantin Stanislavski, together with the playwright ...

's college-studio but had to leave Moscow in 1948 after an incident involving a fistfight. In 1958 he moved to

Poti Poti ( ka, ფოთი ; Mingrelian language, Mingrelian: ფუთი; Laz language, Laz: ჶაში/Faşi or ფაში/Paşi) is a port city in Georgia (country), Georgia, located on the eastern Black Sea coast in the mkhare, region of ...

to join the Eristavi Theatre's troupe, then returned to

Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი, ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), ( ka, ტფილისი, tr ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), largest city of Georgia ( ...

as a member of the Russian Griboyedov Theatre. Gomiashvili debuted on the big screen in 1957, playing Mantasherov in ''Personally Known'', the first film of the Kamo trilogy. In 1961 he appeared in ''Cossacks'' after

Leo Tolstoy Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy Tolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; ,Throughout Tolstoy's whole life, his name was written as using Reforms of Russian orthography#The post-revolution re ...

's novelet. 1965 saw him cast in the ''Special Task'', the second installment of the Kamo trilogy, as Mantasherov again, and Mikhail Chiaureli-directed musical comedy ''These Are New Times''. Gomiashvili's involvement with

's satire started in 1958 when, assisted by

Yuri Lyubimov Yuri Petrovich Lyubimov (; 5 October 2014) was a Soviet and Russian stage actor and director associated with the internationally renowned Taganka Theatre, which he founded in 1964. He was one of the leading names in the Russian theatre world. ...

, he produced the musical called ''The Adventures of Ostap Bender'' (based on ''

The Little Golden Calf ''The Little Golden Calf'' (, ''Zolotoy telyonok'') is a satirical picaresque novel by Soviet authors Ilf and Petrov, published in 1931. Its main character, Ostap Bender, also appears in a previous novel by the authors called ''The Twelve Chairs ...

'' novel) where he played all the roles, including that of Zosya Sinitsina. In 1971

, looking for the lead for his adaptation of ''The Twelve Chairs'', rehearsed 22 well-known actors (including

Vladimir Vysotsky Vladimir Semyonovich Vysotsky (25 January 193825 July 1980) was a Soviet singer-songwriter, poet, and actor who had an immense and enduring effect on Soviet culture. He became widely known for his unique singing style and for his lyrics, which ...

, Andrey Mironov, and

Yevgeny Yevstigneev Yevgeny Aleksandrovich Yevstigneyev (; 9 October 1926 — 4 March 1992) was a prominent Soviet and Russian stage and film actor, theatre pedagogue, one of the founders of the Moscow Sovremennik Theatre. He was named People's Artist of the USSR in ...

) to no avail. Then he found Gomiashvili who performed ''The Adventures of Ostap Bender'' in Gorky and signed the man. The actor's relationships with the director were strained throughout. According to Gomiashvili, Gaidai was trying to dumb down the Bender character whom the actor saw as being much more than just a brilliant crook. "The director wouldn't let me show the warmer side to my hero. As I saw the film I didn't like it at all," Gomiashvili said later. Yet, it was Gaidai's '' Twelve Chairs'' that made Gomiashvili the Soviet movie star. He made it to the Top 10 most popular Soviet actors of 1971, was invited to the

Soviet Council of Ministers The Council of Ministers of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics ( rus, Совет министров СССР, r=Sovet Ministrov SSSR, p=sɐˈvʲet mʲɪˈnʲistrəf ˌɛsˌɛsˌɛsˈɛr), sometimes abbreviated as Sovmin or referred to as the ...

's party and received by way of appreciation a luxurious flat (formerly that of

Svetlana Alliluyeva Svetlana Iosifovna Alliluyeva (née Stalina; 28 February 1926 – 22 November 2011), later known as Lana Peters, was the youngest child and only daughter of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin and his second wife Nadezhda Alliluyeva. In 1967, she bec ...

) in the legendary House on the Embankment. In 1973 Gomiashvily joined the troupe of the Moscow

Lenkom Theatre Lenkom Theatre, formerly known as Lenin’s Komsomol Moscow Theatre or Moscow Leninist Komsomol Theatre is the official name of what was once known as the Moscow State Theatre named after Komsomol, a Communist youth league set up by Vladimir Leni ...

. In 1980-1988 he worked at the Moscow

Pushkin Theatre The Moscow Pushkin Drama Theatre is a theatre company in Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russ ...

. His 1971 triumph on the big screen, though, has never been repeated. At the age of 62 Archil Gomiashvili quit the stage to become a successful businessman, the prestigious Ostap Bender Club owner, and philanthropist. He continued to appear in films occasionally and in 1985-1994 played

Yosif Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...

five times. In the early 2000s he said in an interview:

Thirty years are the whole life and I’ve lived this life as/with Ostap. He made me famous, got me a Moscow flat and this restaurant named in his honour... And you know, I think we have a lot in common. We both are actors in need of an audience. Without an audience I need neither chairs nor the money.

In 2004 Archil Gomiashvili was diagnosed with

lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma, is a malignant tumor that begins in the lung. Lung cancer is caused by genetic damage to the DNA of cells in the airways, often caused by cigarette smoking or inhaling damaging chemicals. Damaged ...

. He died on May 31, 2005, in Moscow and on June 3, 2005 he was interred in

Troyekurovskoye Cemetery The Troyekurovo Cemetery (), alternatively known as ''Novo-Kuntsevo Cemetery'' (), is a cemetery in Moscow, Russia. The cemetery is located in the former village of Troyekurovo on the western edge of Moscow, which derives its name from the Troye ...

Filmography

*''Personally Known'' (Litchno izvesten, 1957) as Mantasherov *''Andzamb tchanachum em'' (1958) (uncredited) *''The Mole'' (Krot, 1962) as Zurabi *''Rats ginakhavs, vegar nakhav'' (1965) as Kostaya *''The Special Task'' (Tchrezvychaynoye porucheniye, 1965) as Mantasherov *''Bodishi, tkven gelit sikvdili'' (1965) *''These Are Different Times'' (Inyie nynche vremena, 1965) as Kakhta *''Artakarg handznararutyun'' (1966) *''Paytyun kesgisherits heto'' (1969) *''

'' (Dvenadtsat stulyev, 1971) as Ostap Bender *'' Mimino'' (1977) as Nugzar Papishvili *''The Caucasian Tale'' (Kavkazskaya povest, 1977) as Yeroshka *''My Love, My Sorrow'' (Lyubov moya, petchal moya, 1978) as Ashraf *''The Comedy of Days Long Gone'' (Komediya davno minuvshikh dney, 1980) as Ostap Bender *''The Golden Fleece'' (Zolotoye runo, 1982) as Yakov *''Early, Early Morning'' (Ranneye, Ranneya utro, 1983, TV Mini-Series) as Gordey Lukich *''The Copper Angel'' (Medny Angel, 1984) as Valdez, the gangster *''Skapen’s Pranks'' (Prodelki Skapena, 1985) as Skapen * ''The State Border. 1941'' (Gosudarstvennaya granitsa, 1985) as Yosif Stalin *''My Favourite Clown'' (Moi lyubimyi kloun, 1987) as Pasha Fokin *''

Stalingrad Volgograd,. geographical renaming, formerly Tsaritsyn. (1589–1925) and Stalingrad. (1925–1961), is the largest city and the administrative centre of Volgograd Oblast, Russia. The city lies on the western bank of the Volga, covering an area o ...

'' (1990) as Josef Stalin *''Superment'' (1990) as Kadaev *''The War on the Western Front'' (Voina na zapadnom napravlenii, 1990, TV Mini-Series) as Yosif Stalin *''Mesto ubiytsy vakantno...'' (1991) as Militia dept. chief * ''The Waiter With a Golden Tray'' (Ofitsiant s zolotym podnosom, 1992) as Shota Chanturiya *''Angels of Death'' (Angely smerti, 1993) as Yosif Stalin * ''The Tragedy of the Century'' (Tragediya veka, 1994) as Yosif Stalin

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gomiashvili, Archil 1926 births 2005 deaths Soviet male actors People's Artists of Georgia Deaths from lung cancer in Russia Moscow Art Theatre School alumni Burials in Troyekurovskoye Cemetery People from Imereti