Dmitriev, Iurii Arsenevich

Born Dec. 3 (16), 1911, in Moscow. Soviet student of the theater; historian of the circus and ofestrada (the variety stage); doctor of art studies (1951). Member of the CPSU since 1940.

Dmitriev graduated from the State Institute of Theatrical Arts (GITIS) in 1935. His literary activity began in 1929. From 1937 to 1967 he taught at GITIS (appointed professor in 1952); he has worked at the Institute for the History of the Arts since 1943 (since 1959, as chief of the Russian theater section). His main works have been devoted to questions of the Russian theater and the history and theory of the Russian and Soviet circus and estrada.