March 09, 2019

Vladimir Etush: On Stage for Seven Decades


Vladimir Etush: On Stage for Seven Decades

Vladimir Etush, whose career spanned from 1944 and ended only this year, passed away in Moscow on March 9. At 96, he was probably Russia's oldest working actor before the Vakhtangov Theater cancelled Benefis, the show where he played a central role (which included dressing up as a woman), due to the actor's health problems.

A decorated WWII veteran, Etush recalled how he was labelled the son of an "enemy of the people," following the arrest of his father when he was a teenager. Thankfully, his father was released after a year and a half in prison. Etush began working in the Vakhtangov Theatre in 1945, where he became known for his knack for tragicomedy and the grotesque.

The actor became nationally famous after the film Kidnapping, Caucasus-Style (Кавказская пленница), where he played Comrade Saakhov, a local communist functionary who wants to marry Nina, a young tourist in the Caucasus.

Famous scene where Etush, in the role of Saakhov, argues over dowry for Nina with Nina's uncle Dzhabrail played by Frunzik Mkrtchyan.

His role in the film Ivan Vassilyevich: Back to the Future (Иван Васильевич меняет профессию) also inspired dozens of one-liners in Soviet society. He played Anton Shpak, a dentist living next to a flat that has accidentally teleported Ivan the Terrible from the 16th century to the present day.

Etush in the role of Anton Shpak, who for the entire movie tries to seek justice after burglars clear out his apartment.

Etush played over 30 movie roles, also teaching at the Shchukin Theater Institute in Moscow. His achievement on the stage was honored in 2017 when he received a prestigious Golden Mask award for his lifelong input into the art. He also was given the highest state honors both in the Soviet Union and Russia.

Vladimir Etush in his last role in Benefis, in which a retired fireman suddenly finds himself on stage in the role of an elderly family matriarch. The theater decided to stage it in order to give Etush the opportunity to continue working.
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

93 Untranslatable Russian Words

93 Untranslatable Russian Words

Every language has concepts, ideas, words and idioms that are nearly impossible to translate into another language. This book looks at nearly 100 such Russian words and offers paths to their understanding and translation by way of examples from literature and everyday life. Difficult to translate words and concepts are introduced with dictionary definitions, then elucidated with citations from literature, speech and prose, helping the student of Russian comprehend the word/concept in context.
Bears in the Caviar

Bears in the Caviar

Bears in the Caviar is a hilarious and insightful memoir by a diplomat who was “present at the creation” of US-Soviet relations. Charles Thayer headed off to Russia in 1933, calculating that if he could just learn Russian and be on the spot when the US and USSR established relations, he could make himself indispensable and start a career in the foreign service. Remarkably, he pulled it of.
Moscow and Muscovites

Moscow and Muscovites

Vladimir Gilyarovsky's classic portrait of the Russian capital is one of Russians’ most beloved books. Yet it has never before been translated into English. Until now! It is a spectactular verbal pastiche: conversation, from gutter gibberish to the drawing room; oratory, from illiterates to aristocrats; prose, from boilerplate to Tolstoy; poetry, from earthy humor to Pushkin. 
How Russia Got That Way

How Russia Got That Way

A fast-paced crash course in Russian history, from Norsemen to Navalny, that explores the ways the Kremlin uses history to achieve its ends.
Fish: A History of One Migration

Fish: A History of One Migration

This mesmerizing novel from one of Russia’s most important modern authors traces the life journey of a selfless Russian everywoman. In the wake of the Soviet breakup, inexorable forces drag Vera across the breadth of the Russian empire. Facing a relentless onslaught of human and social trials, she swims against the current of life, countering adversity and pain with compassion and hope, in many ways personifying Mother Russia’s torment and resilience amid the Soviet disintegration.
Stargorod: A Novel in Many Voices

Stargorod: A Novel in Many Voices

Stargorod is a mid-sized provincial city that exists only in Russian metaphorical space. It has its roots in Gogol, and Ilf and Petrov, and is a place far from Moscow, but close to Russian hearts. It is a place of mystery and normality, of provincial innocence and Black Earth wisdom. Strange, inexplicable things happen in Stargorod. So do good things. And bad things. A lot like life everywhere, one might say. Only with a heavy dose of vodka, longing and mystery.
White Magic

White Magic

The thirteen tales in this volume – all written by Russian émigrés, writers who fled their native country in the early twentieth century – contain a fair dose of magic and mysticism, of terror and the supernatural. There are Petersburg revenants, grief-stricken avengers, Lithuanian vampires, flying skeletons, murders and duels, and even a ghostly Edgar Allen Poe.
The Frogs Who Begged for a Tsar (bilingual)

The Frogs Who Begged for a Tsar (bilingual)

The fables of Ivan Krylov are rich fonts of Russian cultural wisdom and experience – reading and understanding them is vital to grasping the Russian worldview. This new edition of 62 of Krylov’s tales presents them side-by-side in English and Russian. The wonderfully lyrical translations by Lydia Razran Stone are accompanied by original, whimsical color illustrations by Katya Korobkina.
A Taste of Russia

A Taste of Russia

The definitive modern cookbook on Russian cuisine has been totally updated and redesigned in a 30th Anniversary Edition. Layering superbly researched recipes with informative essays on the dishes' rich historical and cultural context, A Taste of Russia includes over 200 recipes on everything from borshch to blini, from Salmon Coulibiac to Beef Stew with Rum, from Marinated Mushrooms to Walnut-honey Filled Pies. A Taste of Russia shows off the best that Russian cooking has to offer. Full of great quotes from Russian literature about Russian food and designed in a convenient wide format that stays open during use.

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955