Gavrilov was born in
Sofia in 1926. He was born in the
Ivan Vazov National Theatre. His father was a stage worker there, and as Gavrilov lived in a small apartment with three siblings and his parents, he often preferred to study and sleep at the theatre. He often watched rehearsals. In 1944, he enlisted as a German construction laborer to earn money, which marked him as a German soldier. Because of this, he was sent to
the Bogdanovdol forced labor camp later that year after the
Red Army entered Bulgaria. In 1946, Gavrilov began ballet at the unusually late age of twenty years old. The
National Opera and Ballet of Bulgaria made use of the National Theater after theirs burned down, and Gavrilov became very fond of one of the ballerinas he watched rehearsing. In hopes of catching her attention, he went to the ballet master, , and asked to enroll in his school. Petrov found him naturally talented and accepted him as a student. Gavrilov was most renowned for his role as Phoebe in
La Esmeralda. He received the
Order of Saints Cyril and Methodius, 1st class, in 1959, and the award of
People's Artist in 1965 for his contributions to Bulgarian culture. He died on 21 May 2006. ==References==