Gai, Aleksandr Dmitrievich
Gai, Aleksandr Dmitrievich
Born July 26 (Aug. 8), 1914, in Ekaterinoslav, now Dnepropetrovsk. Soviet Ukrainian actor. People’s Artist of the USSR (1977); professor (1977). Member of the CPSU since 1939.
Gai graduated from the school of the second Moscow Art Theater in 1936 and from the A. K. Glazunov Moscow Music School in 1938. He graduated from the history department of the University of L’vov in 1958. Gai first appeared on stage in 1936. He performed at the Moscow Ermolova Theater, in ensembles, and in brigades at the front. He became a member of the troupe of the M. K. Zan’kovetskaia Ukrainian Drama Theater in L’vov in 1947.
Gai’s roles have included the title role in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Nil in Gorky’s Smug Citizens, Prokhor in Gorky’s Vassa Zheleznova, Salieri in Pushkin’s Mozart and Salieri, and Gnat in Karpenko-Karyi’s The Ill-fated One. He has portrayed Lenin in productions of Pogodin’s The Kremlin Chimes and Shtein’s Between Downpours. Gai has also appeared in motion pictures.
Gai received the Shevchenko State Prize of the Ukrainian SSR in 1971 and has been awarded the Order of the Badge of Honor and various medals.