He was born on 4 April 1938 in
Leningrad to a
Jewish family. His father, Leopold Iosifovich Izraelson (1916-1944), was a native of
Copenhagen, a
furrier. Served in
Karelia as a member of the
142nd Rifle Division. In August 1941 he was surrounded, listed as missing in action, was severely wounded at the front and died on 15 April 1944. In 1942, Ilya Reznik and his mother Genya Borisovna Izraelson (Evelson, 1914-2001) were evacuated from besieged Leningrad to
Sverdlovsk. In 1944, he returned to Leningrad. After school, he worked as a lab technician at a medical school. In 1958 he entered the
Leningrad State Institute of Theatre, Music and Cinema. Graduated in 1962. Since 1965 he has been working in the troupe of the
Komissarzhevskaya Theatre. In 1972 he retired from the theatre and engaged only in song poetry. ==References==