Arkady Isaakovich Raikin (; – 17 December 1987) was a Soviet stand-up comedian, stage and film actor, theater director, screenwriter and satirist. He led the school of Soviet and Russian humorists for about half a century. He is the father of Konstantin Raikin.

Biography

Raikin was born into a

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family in

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, in the Governorate of Livonia of the

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(present-day

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). He graduated from the Leningrad Theatrical Technicum in 1935 and worked in both state theatres and variety shows. In 1939, he founded his own theatre in

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, where he used sketches and impersonations to ridicule the inefficiency of communist

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and the Soviet way of life. After graduating in 1935, he joined the troupe of the Workers' Youth Theatre. He made his debut in cinema and won the 1st contest of entertainers in the whole

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. He also appeared in several comedies during and after the

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. Raikin created an array of popular satirical characters, some of which were featured in the TV serial ''People and Mannequins''. He launched careers of several other prominent stand-up comedians, such as Mikhail Zhvanetsky and Roman Kartsev. Raikin is often compared with

Charlie Chaplin Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin (16 April 188925 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp, and is considered o ...

. His fame in the Soviet Union, and throughout Central and Eastern Europe, was such that he was invited to participate in the opening night of

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television in 1964, although the broadcast had to be postponed for one day due to a power failure. His trip to London for the BBC broadcast—during which he was reunited with his British cousin, distinguished pianist Bruno Raikin—marked the first of only two times when the Soviet government permitted him to perform in the West. Arkady Raikin also maintained good working relationships with Marcel Marceau and some other foreign actors. Three years before his death, Raikin finally moved to

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, where he opened the Satyricon Theatre, now run by his son Konstantin Raikin, also an acclaimed actor. His wife, Roma, played a major role in guiding his career, and his daughter, Ekaterina, also had a successful career as a Moscow actress. For a month during the summer of 1987, Raikin hosted his American cousin, Washington D.C. attorney Steven Raikin, as a guest in his Moscow flat.Elizabeth Kastor (5 September 1987) Love / Glasnost; An East-West Romance With Comic Relief. ''

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

''. p. C1. In September 1987 the Soviet Ministry of Culture finally permitted Raikin to visit the United States, where, with his son and daughter, he gave emotional farewell performances in several cities to adoring audiences of Russian émigrés.

Awards

* Honored Artist of the RSFSR (1947) * People's Artist of the RSFSR (1957) * Two Orders of the Red Banner of Labour (1967, 1971) * People's Artist of the USSR (1968) * Lenin Prize (1980) * Order of Lenin (1981) *

Hero of Socialist Labour The Hero of Socialist Labour () was an Title of honor, honorific title in the Soviet Union and other Warsaw Pact countries from 1938 to 1991. It represented the highest degree of distinction in the USSR and was awarded for exceptional achievem ...

(1981) * Order of Friendship of Peoples A minor planet 4518 Raikin discovered on 1 April 1976, is named after him.

Filmography

;ActorАркадий Райкин
(akter.kulichki.net) * '' Tractor Drivers'' (1939) – dancing tractor driver * '' Doctor Kalyuzhnyy'' (1939) – Emmanuil 'Monya' Shapiro * '' Valery Chkalov'' (1941) – American journalist * '' Did We Meet Somewhere Before'' (1954) – Gennady Vladimirovich Maksimov ; Director and screenplay * ''People and Mannequins'' (1974) * ''Peace to Your Home'' (1987)

References

Sources

External links

*
Entry on Raikin in the 2004 Britannica
*
Arkadi Rajkin: Able to Make People Laugh in Non-Laughable Times
*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Raikin, Arkady 1911 births 1987 deaths 20th-century comedians 20th-century Russian male actors Male actors from Riga Theatre people from Riga People from Riga county Russian State Institute of Performing Arts alumni Heroes of Socialist Labour Honored Artists of the RSFSR People's Artists of the RSFSR People's Artists of the USSR Recipients of the Lenin Prize Recipients of the Order of Friendship of Peoples Recipients of the Order of Lenin Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour Jewish Russian comedians Latvian Jews Russian humorists Russian male comedians Russian male film actors Russian male stage actors Russian male voice actors Russian parodists Russian satirists Russian theatre directors Soviet male film actors Soviet male stage actors Soviet male voice actors Soviet theatre directors Burials at Novodevichy Cemetery