Vladimir (Lado) Alexi-Meskhishvili, Lado Meskhishivili, or Alekseev-Meskhiev ( ka, ვლადიმერ ��ადოალექსი-მესხიშვილი) (February 16, 1857 — November 24, 1920), was a Georgian theater actor and director. He is buried at the

Didube Pantheon The Didube Pantheon ( ka, დიდუბის მწერალთა და საზოგადო მოღვაწეთა პანთეონი) is a cemetery in Tbilisi, Georgia, where some of the most prominent writers, artists, sc ...

in Tbilisi. His son was Shalva Aleksi-Meskhishvili, a Georgian jurist and politician.

Life and career

Born in

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 ( ...

, Lado Aleksi-Meskhishvili studied medicine at the

University of Moscow Moscow State University (MSU), officially M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University,. is a public research university in Moscow, Russia. The university includes 15 research institutes, 43 faculties, more than 300 departments, and six branches. Al ...

. Illness forced him to abandon studies and return to Georgia, where he worked as a teacher in

Telavi Telavi (; ) is the main city and administrative center of the eastern Georgian province of Kakheti. As of the 2017 Census, its population was 19,751. The city is located on the foothills of the Tsiv-Gombori Range at above sea level. History Th ...

. After medical studies and amateur acting, he joined the Tbilisi Georgian-language troupe in 1881, running it from 1890 to 1896 and from 1910 to 1914, and the

Kutaisi Kutaisi ( ; ka, ქუთაისი ) is a city in the Imereti region of the Georgia (country), Republic of Georgia. One of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, it is the List o ...

Theater from 1897 to 1906 and again from 1914 to 1915. He also played in Russian troupes from 1887 to 1990 and from 1906 to 1910, including 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 ...

(1906–1907).Senelick, Laurence (2007), ''Historical Dictionary of Russian Theater,'' p. 11. Scarecrow Press, In 1916-1918, during a stay in Russia, he played in the films: ''Fathers and Children'', ''Lost Necklace'', ''The Shame of the Orlovs'', and ''Three Thieves'', amongst others.

Works

A flamboyantly heroic actor, Aleksi-Meskhishvili used his performances to promote revolutionary ideas, and even engaged in barricade fighting during the

Russian Revolution of 1905 The Russian Revolution of 1905, also known as the First Russian Revolution, was a revolution in the Russian Empire which began on 22 January 1905 and led to the establishment of a constitutional monarchy under the Russian Constitution of 1906, t ...

. He staged more than one hundred plays and translated many dramatic writings. His success, particularly in the musical comedies of his youth, is thought to be thanks to his ear for music and an exceptional voice. An example of how much he was loved and respected is the case of his 1903 illness when public awareness of the fact resulted in Georgian society gathering together the funds to send him to Vienna for medical treatment. In 1930, Aleksi-Meskhishvili was posthumously granted the title of

People's Artist People's Artist is an honorary title in the Soviet Union, Union republics, in some other Eastern bloc states (and communist states in general), as well as in a number of post-Soviet states, modeled after the title of the People's Artist of the U ...

Soviet Georgia The Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic, also known as Soviet Georgia, the Georgian SSR, or simply Georgia, was one of the republics of the Soviet Union from its second occupation (by the Red Army) in 1921 to its independence in 1991. Cotermin ...

. Aleksi-Meskhishvili's name was given to the Kutaisi Drama Theatre in 1940.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aleksi-Meskhishvili, Lado 1857 births 1920 deaths Burials at Didube Pantheon Male stage actors from Georgia (country) Theatre directors from Georgia (country) Theatre people from Tbilisi Male actors from the Russian Empire

Life and career

Works

See also

References