Background
Georgy Zhonov was born on 22 March in 1915 in Saint Petersburg City, Russian Federation.
President Vladimir Putin, himself a former KGB spy, decorating Georgiy Zhzhonov for his artistic portrayals of Soviet secret agents.
Georgiy Zhzhonov as Teryoshka in the film Chapayev. 1934.
Georgy Zhonov was born on 22 March in 1915 in Saint Petersburg City, Russian Federation.
Having matriculated from the Leningrad Circus Tekhnikum in 1932, he appeared in several movies, including the legendary Chapaev (1934). Georgy graduated from the film division of the Leningrad Institute of Performing Arts (1935, workshop of S.A. Gerasimov).
In 1939, Zhzhonov was repressed and spent 15 years in the Siberian GULAG labour camps (particularly, as an inmate lorry driver in remote areas). When released in 1955, he started his film career anew and rose to become a People's Artist of the USSR in 1980. In a curious twist of fate, Zhzhonov was frequently cast in the roles of policemen and KGB agents. This Gulag victim was even awarded a special KGB prize for the screen versions of three novels by Yulian Semyonov. Zhzhonov was also invited to play Stierlitz, but declined for personal reasons.
During the Perestroika, Zhzhonov started publishing his own fiction. In the 1990s, he received many awards, including the Nika Award for lifelong career. A monument to him was opened in Chelyabinsk in 2000.
Zhzhonov spent his 90th birthday acting in the Soviet Army Theatre. Later that day, he was invited to the Kremlin to be invested with the highest civilian decoration of Russia. During a conversation that followed, President Putin admitted that Zhzhonov's roles had prompted him to become an intelligence officer.
Among the roles: Palchikov ("Evening Bell" Alexei Arbuzov), Panayev ("Black Midshipman" Alexander Shtein), Colonel Lawson ("The Nuremberg Trial" Abby Mann), Norman Thayer ("On the Golden Lake" Ernst Thompson) and others. In 1969 Georgy worked at the Voronezh Drama Theater, he played the part of Gleb Nikolayevich in the play "The Other" by Samuil Alyoshin. Performed on tour in Voronezh (1971).