Background
Raikin, Arkadii was born on October 24, 1911 in Riga, Latvia.
popular comedian Variety entertainer
Raikin, Arkadii was born on October 24, 1911 in Riga, Latvia.
Graduated from the Leningrad Theatrical School in 1935.
Enormously popular entertainer. Actor at the Leningrad TRAM and Lenin Komsomol Theatre. In 1939, won the All-Union Estrada Competition in Moscow.
Actor, later artistic director of the Leningrad Theatre of Variety and Miniature. The highest point of his career was during the 1960s when television made him a household name. Travelled all over the Soviet Union.
Shows in Moscow and Leningrad drew huge crowds. His satirical criticism of Soviet bureaucracy became folklore.