Rostislav Yanovich Plyatt (russian: Ростислав Янович Плятт; — 30 June 1989) was a Soviet and Russian stage and film actor. He was named
People's Artist of the USSR in 1961 and awarded the
USSR State Prize
The USSR State Prize (russian: links=no, Государственная премия СССР, Gosudarstvennaya premiya SSSR) was the Soviet Union's state honor. It was established on 9 September 1966. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, t ...
in 1982.
Biography
Born in Rostov-on-Don (modern-day
Rostov Oblast of
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...
) as Rostislav Ivanovich Plyat, the future actor was so obsessed with theatre that he decided to "correct" his name at the passport office to make it more euphonious and memorable. His father, Ivan Iosifovich Plyat, was a lawyer of
Polish
Polish may refer to:
* Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe
* Polish language
* Poles
Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...
descent, "although a very
russified
Russification (russian: русификация, rusifikatsiya), or Russianization, is a form of cultural assimilation in which non-Russians, whether involuntarily or voluntarily, give up their culture and language in favor of the Russian cultur ...
one". His
Ukrainian mother Zinaida Pavlovna Zakamennaya came from
Poltava and died eight years later from
tuberculosis
Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, i ...
. Ivan Plyat then moved to Moscow where he married Anna Nikolaevna Volikovskaya who raised Rostislav as her own son. He was baptized in
Russian Orthodoxy and only spoke the Russian language.
[''Rostislav Plyatt (1991)''. Without an Epilogue. — Moscow: Iskusstvo, pp. 7—96 (Memoirs) ]
Plyatt studied in the Moscow secondary school where he visited drama classes led by a popular
Maly Theatre The Maly Theatre, or Mali Theatre, may refer to one of several different theatres:
* The Maly Theatre (Moscow), also known as The State Academic Maly Theatre of Russia, in Moscow (founded in 1756 and given its own building in 1824)
* The Maly Thea ...
actor Vladimir Lebedev and then — by a
Moscow Art Theatre actress Varvara Sokolova-Zalesskaya who introduced him to the basics of the
Stanislavski's system. After that he decided to become a professional actor and in 1926 unsuccessfully tried to join the Moscow Art Theatre troupe.
He then entered the Theatre-Studio led by
Yuri Zavadsky where he spent the next 11 years, performing in mostly comedy roles, although with years he established himself as a serious drama actor. Among his lifetime roles was
George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence simply as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from ...
whom he portrayed in 1933 in ''
The Devil's Disciple'' and then reprised in 1963 in both ''
Caesar and Cleopatra'' (where he also played Caesar) and
Jerome Kilty
Jerome Timothy Kilty (June 24, 1922 in Baltimore, Maryland – September 6, 2012) was an American actor and playwright. He wrote ''Dear Liar: A Comedy of Letters.'' He worked extensively on the stage, both in the United States and abroad.
Career
K ...
's ''Dear Liar: A Comedy of Letters''.
From 1938 to 1943 Plyatt served at the
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 ...
. Since 1939 he also started appearing in movies. His very first role of a goofy bachelor from the family comedy ''
The Foundling'' gained him fame and became one of his most memorable performances.
, gave theatre performances and worked as a radio host, regularly crossing the city during heavy bombings. In 1943 he moved to the
where he had served for the rest of his life. He was known for his long-lasting friendship with
, and they regularly performed together in both plays and movies. They appeared in two leading roles in the popular ''The Rest Is Silence'' play, the Mossovet stage adaptation of ''
'' where Ranevskaya performed till the end of her career; Plyatt's Barkley Cooper is universally praised as the peak of his acting skills.
'' mini-series (1973).
He also worked a lot as a voice actor, narrating films and cartoons, dubbing foreign movies and performing in radio plays. Among those was the popular post-war children's radio play ''The Club of Famous Captains'' where he performed for 40 years straight.
Rostislav Plyatt died on 30 June 1989 and was buried at the
in Moscow.
Plyatt was married twice. His first wife Nina Vladimirovna Butova also performed at the
. After her death in 1978 he married Ludmila Semyonovna Maratova, an educator at
. Plyatt left no children.