Zinovy Gerdt

Zinovy Gerdt (Зиновий Гердт, which is a pseudonym, his real name being Zalman Efraimovich Khrapinovich (За́лман Афро́имович Храпино́вич); 21 September 1916 in Sebezh, Russian Empire – 18 November 1996) was a Soviet/Russian theatre and cinema actor, recognized with the title People's Artist of the USSR.

Biography
At 15, Gerdt graduated from a vocational school affiliated with the Valerian Kuybyshev Electrical Plant. He started working for Metrostroy as a metalworker-electrician. As a hobby, he was an actor the factory's "TRAM" club. In 1937 he began acting at the Puppet Theatre of Moscow House of Pioneers.

Gerdt volunteered to the front when Second World War began. He was enlisted as a senior lieutenant of a field engineering division and suffered a serious leg wound near Belgorod in February 1943. In 1945-82 worked at the Obraztsov Central Puppet Theatre in Moscow. In cinematography, he was primarily a voice actor/narrator and was behind the scenes for a long time. From 1983 onward, he worked as an actor at Ermolova Theatre (Театр Ермоловой). A sculpture picturing Panikovsky, a character of The Little Golden Calf, as played by Gerdt, stands in Kiev.

Gerdt's third wife, Tatiana Pravdina condemned the Knight of Conscience book about Gerdt (published in 2010, by Zebra E, AST) as a composition of unduly attributed and inaccurate texts.

Honours and awards

 * Honoured Artist of the RSFSR (1959)
 * People's Artist of RSFSR (1969)
 * Order of the Red Star
 * People's Artist of the USSR (1990)
 * Award Kinotavr in nomination "The Prize of the Presidential Council for the creative career" (1996)
 * Order of Merit for the Fatherland, 3rd class (1996)

Filmography

 * 1960 - Vingt Mille Lieues sur la Terre
 * 1962 - The Story of a Crime as narrator (voice)
 * 1962 - Nine Days in One Year as narrator (voice)
 * 1968 - The Little Golden Calf as Mikhail Panikovsky
 * 1971 - Dauria as Tsarist General Semenov
 * 1972 - Taming of the Fire
 * 1972 - We rode the tram Ilf and Petrov as Captain Mazuchcho, animal trainer
 * 1979 - The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed
 * 1980 - Adventures of Captain Vrungel as Captain Christopher Bonifatievich Vrungel
 * 1981 - Say a Word for the Poor Hussar as Lev Pertsovsky, dealer parrots
 * 1983 - Mary Poppins, Goodbye as Admiral Boom
 * 1989 - Intergirl as Boris Semyonovich
 * 1985 - The Fabulous Journey of Mr. Bilbo Baggins the Hobbit as Professor (John R. R. Tolkien).
 * 1993 - Me Ivan, You Abraham as Zalman
 * 1994 - Life and Extraordinary Adventures of Private Ivan Chonkin as Moisei Stalin
 * 1997 - Voyna okonchena. Zabudte...