Iaunushan, Alfred Ignatovich

(Alfrēds Jaunušans). Born Mar. 24, 1919, in Riga. Soviet Latvian actor and stage director. People’s Artist of the USSR (1973). Member of the CPSU since 1965.

Iaunushan studied in the department of philology of the Latvian University from 1938 to 1941. He graduated from the drama studio of the Latvian Drama Theater in 1948 and from the Higher Directing Courses of the State Institute of Theatrical Arts in 1963. He became an actor in 1947, a stage director in 1963, and principal stage director at the Upit Latvian Drama Theater in 1966.

An actor of great versatility, Iaunushan has appeared in such varied tragic and comic roles as Rüdis in Blaumanis’ Tailors in Silmacos, the title role in Schiller’s Don Carlos, Karandyshev in Ostrovsky’s The Girl Without a Dowry, and Marmeladov in a dramatization of Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment. He has staged Liutovskii’s A Family Affair (1955), De Filippo’s Filumena Marturano (1958), Arbuzov’s Irkutsk Story (1960), Rainis’ Blow, Little Breeze! (1968), Latsis’ The Wingless Birds (1970), Gorky’s Summer People (1972), and Vampilov’s The Duck Hunt (1976).

Since 1954, Iaunushan has taught in the department of theater of the Latvian Conservatory. He has been awarded the Order of the October Revolution and the Order of the Red Banner of Labor.