Mihai Volontir

Mihai Volontir (9 March 1934 – 15 September 2015) was a Soviet and Moldovan actor. People's Artist of the USSR.

Biography Volontir was born on 9 March 1934 in the village of Glinjeni, Moldova. He attended the Pedagogical Institution in Orhei from 1952 to 1955.

After over a decade of working in theatre, Volontir began appearing in films made at the Moldova-Film studio in 1967. He became famous in the late 1970s after his roles in In the Zone of Special Attention and The Gypsy film series. The films were so popular that he is still strongly associated with his character, Budulai, a wise lone gypsy. His performance resulted in increased tolerance towards gypsy communities in the Soviet Union. The film series was revived fifteen years later with a new production as well as a TV series.

Volontir worked at the Vasile Alecsandri Theatre in Bălţi, where he was employed as an actor from 1957 until his death in 2015.

He was also a supporter of the Romanian identity.

17 September 2015, the day of his funeral, was declared a day of National Mourning in Moldova.

Filmography Year Title Role Notes1968 Se cauta un paznic Ivan Turbinca 1968 Eto mgnovenie Mihai Adam 1972 That Sweet Word: Liberty! Carlos Caro 1973 Dmitriy Kantemir Dmitri Kantemir 1973 Chetvyortyy 1974 Muzhchiny sedeyut rano Andrey Rezlog 1975 Tütak säsi Cabrayil 1977 Koren zhizni Lukyan Batyr 1978 In the Zone of Special Attention Praporshchik Volentir 1978 Agent sekretnoy sluzhby 1979 Centaurs Evaristo 1979 Bezotvetnaya lyubov Passerby 1981 Ot Buga do Visly Vershigora, commander of guerrilla connection 1981 Hit Back Praporshchik Volentir 1982 Olenya okhota Golovin 1982 Incident at Map Grid 36-80 Skiba 1982 Eta muzhskaya druzhba Anton Greku 1983 Bud schastliva, Yuliya Radu 1984 Obvineniye 1985 Ya za tebya otvechayu 1986 Vilkolakio pedsakai 1989 Vernymi ostanemsya 1990 Stuk v dver 1992 Vinovata li ya... (final film role)

Awards Order of the Republic (Moldova) Vasilyev Brothers State Prize of the RSFSR (1980) People's Artist of the USSR (1984)