Early life and education Gerdt was born Zalman Afroimovich Khrapinovich on 21 September 1916 in the city of
Sebezh in the
Pskov Oblast. His father, Afroim Yakovlevich Khrapinovich, worked for some time in a fabrics shop as a clerk, and later as a salesman. His mother, Rakhil Isaakovna, was a housewife. Subsequently, TRAM was transformed into the theatrical studio of Aleksei Arbuzov and Valentin Pluchek.
Career In 1945–1982, Gerdt was in the troupe of the Central Puppet Theater under the leadership of
Sergei Obraztsov. He voiced many characters, the most famous one was the entertainer in
An Unusual Concert. He performed the role of the entertainer in different countries using the local language and was so convincing that the audiences always believed that the actor knew their language fluently: Gerdt perfectly mastered the art of
onomatopoeia. In the Central Puppet Theater under the leadership of Sergei Obraztsov, Gerdt was also busy in the plays ''Devil's Mill
, Wish Upon a Pike
, The Night Before Christmas
, Divine Comedy'', etc. He also played at the
Sovremennik Theatre in the play
The Monument by
Enn Vetemaa staged by
Valery Fokin (premiered in 1977). Since 1983, he starred in
Yermolova Theatre's version of
The Dresser by
Ronald Harwood. Zinovy Gerdt also worked in dubbing many foreign films for Soviet release. He had his cinematic debut in 1958 in an episodic role in the film
Man from Planet Earth. Gerdt is known primarily as a master of episodic, mostly comedic roles. In total, to actor's credit are more than 70 films. In the 1960s, he appeared in the films
Michel and Mishutka (1961),
Returned Music (1964),
Want-Believe, Do not Want ... (1964),
The Year As Life (1965),
Green Light (1965),
City of Masters (1965),
Avdotya Pavlovna (1966),
July Rain (1966),
At the Thirteenth Hour of the Night (1968),
Zigzag of Success (1969) and others. Recognition of the public came to the actor after the first major roles – Kukushkin in the film
Magician (1967, directed by
Pyotr Todorovsky) and Panikovsky in the film adaptation of Ilya Ilf and Yevgeny Petrov's novel
The Golden Calf (1968, directed by
Mikhail Schweitzer). In the 1970s, new films appeared with the participation of Gerdt:
Taymyr Calls You (1970),
Urban Romance (1970),
As Ilf and Petrov rode a tram (1971),
Stoves of the Shop (1972),
Carnival (1972),
The Car, the Violin and the Dog Spot (1974),
The Straw Hat (1974),
The Key without the Right to Transfer (1976),
The Draw (1976),
Walking through the Flours (1974) ),
The Twelve Chairs (1977),
The Life of Beethoven (1978),
Three Men in a Boat (1979),
The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed (1979). In the 1980s and 1990s, the actor continued to act actively in films:
Adam marries Eve (1980),
Say a Word for the Poor Hussar (1980),
Fairy tales... fairy tales... fairy tales of the old Arbat (1982), ''I'll wait for you
(1982), Boys (1983), Military field novel
(1983), Mary Poppins, Goodbye (1989), The Bindly and the King
(1989), Intergirl (1989), The Inferno and the King
(1989), Childhood Themes
(1991), Lost in Siberia (1990), I am Ivan, you are Abram
(1993), Life and Extraordinary Adventures of Private Ivan Chonkin (1994), Simple-minded
(1994), Inspector'' (1996) and others. Zinovy Gerdt also worked on television. He was the first host of one of the most popular Soviet television programs
Kinopanorama, the first season of which was aired in 1962. In the 1990s, he created and hosted the popular talk show
Tea Club. Gerdt performed as a screenwriter of the musical
I Will Not Be Any More (1975). Zinovy Gerdt died in Moscow on 18 November 1996. He was buried at the
Kuntsevo Cemetery in Moscow. ==Personal life==