Actors - Arkady Raikin

Home > Listing Index > Actors > Arkady Raikin

	Actors - Arkady Raikin

Arkadiy Isaakovich Raikin (Russian: Аркадий Исаакович Райкин) ( – November 20, 1987, Moscow) was a Soviet stand up comedian of Jewish descent who led the school of Soviet and Russian humorists for about half a century.

Raikin was born in Riga, Latvia, which was then part of Russia. In 1939 he opened his own theatre in Leningrad where he used skits and impersonations to ridicule inefficiency of Communist bureaucracy and Soviet way of life. His fame in the Soviet Union was such that he was invited to participate in the opening night of BBC Two television in 1964, although the broadcast had to be cancelled due to a power failure. He also appeared in several comedies during the WWII and after. Three years before his death, Raikin finally moved to Moscow, where he opened the Satirikon Theatre, now run by his son Konstantin Raikin, also an acclaimed actor.

Despite his criticism of Soviet authorities, Raikin was awarded the title of People's Artist of the USSR in 1968, the Lenin Prize in 1980, and the award of Hero of Socialist Labour in 1981.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Arkady Raikin ]

This page is based on the copyrighted Wikipedia article Arkady Raikin; it is used under the GNU Free Documentation License. You may redistribute it, verbatim or modified, providing that you comply with the terms of the GFDL.

Searches on eBay