Iurii Lavrov

Born Mar. 1 (14), 1905, in St. Petersburg. Soviet Russian actor. People’s Artist of the USSR (1960).

Lavrov worked at the Meyerhold Theater, the Leningrad Krasnyi Theater, and the A. S. Pushkin Leningrad Theater of Drama (1929–34). He joined the Lesia Ukrainka Russian Drama Theater in Kiev in 1938. A keen character actor, Lavrov balances psychological insight with vivid external characterization. His roles included Don Juan and Godvinson in Lesia Ukrainka’s Stone Master and In the Desert, Muratov and Kolomiitsev in Gorky’s The Zykovs and The Last Ones, Fedor Talanov in Leonov’s The Invasion, Abrezkov in Tolstoy’s The Living Corpse, and Berezhnoi in Mikitenko’s The Flute Solo.

Lavrov’s motion-picture roles included Lieutenant Grishin (Volochaevsk Days, 1937), Kuz’min (A Great Life, 1940), and Pecheritsa (Restless Youth, 1955). He was awarded the Order of Lenin, the Order of the Badge of Honor, and several medals.