The title was bestowed for exceptional achievements in the performing arts in the
Soviet Union. Its recipients included many of the most-acclaimed composers, dancers, singers, film and theatre directors and actors of every Soviet republic. In all, there were 1006 recipients of the award. The title was introduced in 1936, replacing the earlier title of "People's Artist of the Republic". The first recipients of the title (6 September 1936) were
Konstantin Stanislavski,
Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko,
Ivan Moskvin,
Antonina Nezhdanova,
Boris Shchukin,
Kulyash Baiseitova and some other actors. The last persons to be honored with the title were
Sofia Pilyavskaya and
Oleg Yankovsky (21 December 1991). Originally, the title was bestowed on theatre actors, ballet dancers, and opera singers only. Gradually, it came to be bestowed upon film actors (e.g.,
Lyubov Orlova), composers (e.g.,
Arno Babajanian,
Dmitri Shostakovich), violinists (e.g.
David Oistrakh), pop singers (e.g.,
Leonid Utyosov), comedians (e.g.,
Arkady Raikin), and even circus performers such as
Natalya Durova and
Oleg Popov. Normally, a person was named the People's Artist of the USSR after 40 years of age. Exceptions were made for dancers, e.g.,
Nadezhda Pavlova, a ballet artist, received the title at the age of 28, and
Malika Kalontarova, a famous
Bukharian Jewish folk dancer from
Tajikistan, received the title at the age of 34. The youngest female persons to receive this title were Kazakh opera singers
Kulyash Baiseitova (1936) and
Halima Nosirova (1937) (at the age of 24). The youngest male person was the Azerbaijani baritone operatic and pop singer
Muslim Magomayev (1973) (at the age of 31). Among the actors, the youngest recipient was
Sergei Bondarchuk (age 32). The youngest actress to receive the title was
Yuri Andropov's daughter-in-law,
Lyudmila Chursina, at age 40.
Sofia Rotaru, for example, was named
Merited Artist of the Ukrainian SSR in 1973,
People's Artist of the Ukrainian SSR in 1976, People's Artist of the Moldavian SSR in 1983, an attained cumulation of People's Artist titles, ==Visual arts==