Davitashvili, Georgii

Born Feb. 15 (27), 1893, in Baku; died July 4, 1966, in Tblilisi. Soviet Georgian actor; People’s Artist of the Georgian SSR (1934).

Davitashvili studied at the St. Petersburg School of Dramatic Art from 1913 to 1915 under the leadership of A. P. Petrovskii. From 1915 to 1920 he performed in the theaters of Tanganrog, Vladikavkaz, Baku, Batumi, and other cities. In 1920 he appeared in the dramatic theater company in Tbilisi (the present-day Sh. Rustaveli Georgian Theater). His best roles include Frondoso in The Sheep Well by Lope de Vega, Hamlet in Shakespeare’s tragedy, Christy Mahon in The Playboy of the Western World by Synge, Franze Moor in The Robbers by Schiller, von Stube in The Breakup by Lavrenev. Platon Krechet and Bogdan Khmel’nitskii in Korneichuk’s plays of the same name, Godunov in The Grand Lord by Solov’ev, and Zakhar Bardin in Enemies by Gorky. He appeared in films. Davitashvili received the State Prize of the USSR in 1946. He was awarded the Order of Lenin and two other orders, as well as several medals.