Armen Dzhigarkhanyan

Personal life Dzhigarkhanyan was married three times. In the early 1960s, he secretly married Alla Vanovskaya, an actress at the Stanislavski Russian Theatre of Yerevan. Their daughter Yelena was born in 1964 and died at age 23 in 1987 of suffocation while asleep, because she left the car engine running. His second partner, Tatyana Vlasova, was also an actress at the Stanislavski Theatre in Yerevan. They never officially married, but they started living together in 1967, when they moved to Moscow together. Tatyana now resides in Dallas, Texas and works as a Russian language teacher at a university. Dzhigarkhanyan often visited her. His third wife is 43 years younger than him.

Illness and death In the last years of his life, Dzhigarkhanyan suffered from poor health. He was hospitalized in March 2016 and January 2018. In April 2018 he again was hospitalized after a heart attack and fell into a coma. Dzhigarkhanyan died in Moscow on November 14, 2020. The cause of death was cardiac arrest due to kidney failure and other chronic diseases. Presidents of Russia Vladimir Putin and Armenia Armen Sarkissian, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin issued messages of condolence.

Recognition

Dzhigarkhanyan was one of the most popular and renowned Russian actors of his generation, both in films and theatre. Novaya Gazeta, one of Russia's largest weeklies, described Dzhigarkhanyan as a "distinct brand" in Russian theatre and film and his voice as "a separate living brand". According to Peter Rollberg, Professor of Slavic Languages, Film Studies at the Elliott School of International Affairs, "Dzhigarkhanyan's characters usually are distinguished by stoicism, irony, and a quiet inner strength, irradiating a rough charm that has only grown with age."

In his birthday congratulation in 2005, Armenia's second president Robert Kocharyan stated that Dzhigarkhanyan's "great popularity" is "due to [his] talent and devoted work". Kocharyan further said that "[his] art has become a peculiar standard of mutual enrichment of Armenian and Russian cultures." In 2010, Armenia's current president Serzh Sargsyan described the artist as "one of the prominent figures of the modern cinema" who has "boundless talent and charm". Sargsyan stated that "The Armenian nation is proud of you." In 2010, Russian president Dmitry Medvedev awarded Dzhigarkhanyan with the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" and stated:

In 2012, Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin congratulated Dzhigarkhanyan on his birthday and described him as "an outstanding actor and talented director" who "over many years of service to the stage and screen made a huge contribution to the development of Russian culture."

Record A number of sources claim that Dzhigarkhanyan is included in Guinness World Records as the Russian actor with most film appearances (as of 2013), suggesting that he has played in more than 250 films (300 according to RIA Novosti). However, the Guinness World Records website does not provide such data by country. In reference to the large number of films in which he has appeared, prominent Soviet Armenian composer Aram Khachaturian once stated, "[Whenever] you turn on the iron, Dzhigarkhanyan is there!" Actor Valentin Gaft has written an epigram in a humorous reference to his large number of appearances: "There are less Armenians in the world, / Than there are films where Dzhigarkhanyan has appeared" (Гораздо меньше на земле армян, / Чем фильмов, где сыграл Джигарханян.) Order "For Merit to the Fatherland", III class (1995) Order "For Merit to the Fatherland", IV class (2005) Order of Alexander Nevsky (2006) Crystal Turandot (Хрустальная Турандот), Highest Theater Prize of Moscow (2010) Order "For Merit to the Fatherland", II class (2010)

Armenia People's Artist of the Armenian SSR (1977) State Prize of the Armenian SSR (1979) Order of St. Mesrop Mashtots (1996) Order of Honor of Armenia (2010)

Selected filmography Year Film Role Note 1966 Hello, That's Me! (Здравствуй, это я!) Artyom Manvelyan 1967 Triangle (Треугольник) Usta Mukuch 1968 The New Adventures of the Elusive Avengers (Новые приключения Неуловимых) Captain Ovechkin 1971 The Crown of the Russian Empire, or Once Again the Elusive Avengers (Корона Российской Империи, или Снова Неуловимые) Captain Ovechkin 1972 The Seagull (Чайка) Ilya Afanasievich Shamraev 1973 The Men (Мужчины) Ghazaryan 1975 Hello, I'm Your Aunt! (Здравствуйте, я ваша тётя!) Judge Criggs 1976 When September comes (Когда наступает сентябрь) Levon Pogosyan 1978 The Dog in the Manger (Собака на сене) Tristan 1979 The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed (Место встречи изменить нельзя) Hunchback 1980 Rafferty (Рафферти) Tommy Farichetti 1981 Teheran 43 (Тегеран 43) Max Richars 1982 Gikor (Гикор) Bazaz Artem 1986 The Dolphin's Cry steward 1988 The 13th Apostle David 1989 Two Arrows. Stone Age Detective (Две стрелы. Детектив каменного века) Head of the tribe 1990 Passport (Паспорт) Semyon Klein 1992 Weather Is Good on Deribasovskaya, It Rains Again on Brighton Beach (На Дерибасовской хорошая погода, или На Брайтон-Бич опять идут дожди) Katz 1992 White King, Red Queen (Белый король, красная королева) Makeev 1993 Dreams (Сны) Doctor 1995 What a Mess! (Ширли-мырли) Kozyulski 2008 The Best Movie (Самый лучший фильм) God's secretary 2008 God's Smile or The Odessa Story (Улыбка Бога, или Чисто одесская история) Filipp Olshansky 2009 O Lucky Man! (О, счастливчик!) Grandfather Ramiz 2009 Hamlet. XXI Century (Гамлет. XXI век) Gravedigger

Voice Once Upon a Dog (Жил-был пёс, 1982) — The Wolf Formula of Love (Формула любви, 1984) — Count Cagliostro (played by Nodar Mgaloblishvili) Treasure Island (Остров сокровищ, 1988) — John Silver Grey Wolf and Little Red Riding Hood (Серый Волк энд Красная Шапочка, 1990) — Grey Wolf Cars (Тачки, 2006) — Doc Hudson (Russian dub) Up (Вверх, 2009) — Carl Fredricksen (Russian dub) Alisa Knows What to Do! (Алиса знает, что делать!, 2013–2016) — Vasily Petrovich, robot teacher (first episodes)