Irakly Andronikov

Biography Irakly Andronikov came from a Georgian noble family of Andronikashvili (Andronikov) and was born in Saint Petersburg. His father Luarsab Nikolaevich Andronikov was a lawyer whom the Russian Provisional Government appointed Senate Criminal Department Secretary in 1917. Irakly's mother Yekaterina Gurevich came from an artistic Gurevich-Ilyin family. Irakly's maternal grandfather Yakov Gurevich was the founder of Bestuzhev Courses, the first Russian tertiary school for women. Irakly's grandmother Lyubov Gurevich (née Ilyina) was a daughter of architect Ivan Ivanovich Ilyin (one of the builders of the Grand Kremlin Palace) and an aunt of philosopher Ivan Ilyin. Irakly's younger brother Elephter Andronikashvili was a notable physicist.

Andronikov started to perform public lectures in a writers club in 1935 and soon became enormously popular. In 1954 he started to perform on television (show Andronikov Tells (Андроников Рассказывает). In a number of documentaries there, he tells his stories: «Загадка Н. Ф. И.», «Страницы большого искусства», «Портреты неизвестных», «Слово Андроникова» were published.

He died in Moscow in 1990.