Archil Gomiashvili

Archil Mikhaylovich Gomiashvili
Born	არჩილ მიხეილის ძე გომიაშვილი (1926-03-23)March 23, 1926 Chiatura, Georgia, USSR
Died	May 31, 2005(2005-05-31) (aged 79) Moscow, Russian Federation
Occupation	actor
Years active	1938-1988
Awards	People’s Artist of Georgia (1966)

Archil Mikhaylovich Gomiashvili (Russian: Арчи́л Миха́йлович Гомиашви́ли, Georgian: არჩილ მიხეილის ძე გომიაშვილი, March 23, 1926, Chiatura, Georgia, USSR, - May 31, 2005, Moscow, Russian Federation) was a Soviet Georgian theatre and film actor (People's Artist of Georgia, 1966) best known for his part of Ostap Bender in Leonid Gaidai's 1971 adaptation of Ilf and Petrov's The Twelve Chairs. In the late 1980s Gomiashvili quit the stage to become a successful Russian businessman, prestigious Ostap Bender Club owner, and philanthropist.^[1]

Biography

Archil Gomiashvili was born on March 23, 1926 in Chiatura, Soviet Georgia. His father, an Institute of Red Professors graduate, was the Donbass miners' trade-union leader, when in the course of the Stalinist purges he was arrested in the late 1930s, to be freed only in 1944.^[2]

Having spent two years in the Tbilisi Academy of Arts' school, Archil Gomiashvili joined the Moscow Art Theatre's college-studio but had to leave Moscow in 1948 after some incident involving fistfight that's got him expelled. In 1958 he moved to Poti to become the member of the Eristavi Theatre's troupe, then returned to Tbilisi as a member of the Russian Griboyedov Theatre.^[2]

Gomiashvili debuted on the big screen in 1957, playing Mantasherov in Personally Known, the first film of the Kamo trilogy. In 1961 he appeared in Cossacks after Leo Tolstoy's novelet. 1965 saw him cast in the Special Task (the 2nd installment of the Kamo trilogy, as Mantasherov again) and Mikhail Chiaureli-directed musical comedy These Are New Times.^[2]

Gomiashvili's involvement with Ilf and Petrov's satire started in 1958 when, assisted by Yuri Lyubimov, he produced the musical called The Adventures of Ostap Bender (based on The Little Golden Calf novel) in which he took upon himself all the roles, including that of Zosya Sinitsina. In 1971 Leonid Gaidai, looking for the lead for his adaptation of The Twelve Chairs, rehearsed 22 well-known actors (including Vladimir Vysotsky, Andrey Mironov, and Yevgeny Yevstigneev) to no avail. He found Gomiashvili with his musical in Gorky and signed the man, not without some altercations, though. The actor's relationships with the director were strained throughout. According to Gomiashvili, Gaidai was trying to dumb down the Bender character whom the actor saw as being much more than just a brilliant crook. "The director wouldn't let me show the warmer side of my hero. As I saw the film I didn't like it at all," Gomiashvili was saying later.^[2]

Yet, it was The Twelve Chairs that made him the star of the early 1970s Soviet cinema. He entered the list of Top 10 most popular actors of 1971, was invited to the Soviet Council of Ministers's party and received by way of appreciation a luxurious flat (formerly that of Svetlana Alliluyeva) in the legendary House on the Embankment. In 1973 Gomiashvily joined the troupe of the Moscow Lenkom Theatre. In 1980-1988 he worked at the Moscow Pushkin Theatre. Yet, his 1971 triumph on the big screen has never been repeated.^[2]

At the age of 62 Archil Gomiashvili quit the stage to became a successful Russian businessman, prestigious Ostap Bender Club owner, and philanthropist. He continued to appear in films occasionally and in 1985-1994 played Yosif Stalin five times. In the early 2000s he said in an interview:

Thirty years are the whole life and I’ve lived this life as/with Ostap. He made me famous, got me a Moscow flat and this restaurant of his name... And you know, I find we have a lot in common. We both are actors in need of an audience. Without an audience I need neither chairs nor the money.^[2]

In 2004 Archil Gomiashvili was diagnosed with lung cancer. He died on June 3, 2005, in Moscow and was buried at the Troyekurovskoye Cemetery.^[2]

Selected filmography

• Personally Known (Litchno izvesten, 1957, Mantasherov)
• The Mole (Krot, 1962, Zurab)
• The Special Task (Tchrezvychaynoye porucheniye, 1965, Mantasherov)
• These Are Different Times (Inyie nynche vremena, 1965, Kakhta)
• The Twelve Chairs (Dvenadtsat stulyev, 1971, Ostap Bender)
• Mimino (1977, Nugzar Papishvili)
• The Caucasian Tale (Kavkazskaya povest, 1978, Yeroshka)
• My Love, My Sorrow (Lyubov moya, petchal moya, 1978, Ashraf)
• The Comedy of Days Long Gone (Komediya davno minuvshikh dney, 1980)
• The Golden Fleece (Zolotoye runo, 1981, Yakov)
• Early, Early Morning (Ranneye, Ranneya utro, 1983, Gordey Lukich)
• The Copper Angel (Medny Angel, 1984, Valdez, the gangster)
• Skapen’s Pranks (Prodelki Skapena, 1985, Skapen)
• The State Border. 1941 (Gosudarstvennaya granitsa, 1985, Yosif Stalin)
• My Favourite Clown (Moi lyubimyi kloun, 1986, Pasha Fokin)
• Stalingrad (1989, Yosif Stalin)
• The War on the Western Front (Voina na zapadnom napravlenii, 1990, Yosif Stalin)
• The Waiter With a Golden Tray (Ofitsiant s zolotym podnosom, 1992, Shota Chanturiya)
• Angels of Death (Angely smerti, 1993, Yosif Stalin)
• The Tragedy of the Century (Tragediya veka, 1994, Yosif Stalin)

References