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{{short description|Russian–American actor and comedian}}
{{Infobox person
{{Infobox person
|name = Savely Kramarov
| name = Savely Kramarov
|image = Savely_Kramarov.jpg
| image = Savely_Kramarov.jpg
|caption =
| caption =
| native_name = Савелий Крамаров
⚫
|birth_date = {{Birth date|1934|10|13|df=yes}}
| native_name_lang = ru
⚫
|birth_place = [[Moscow]], [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic|Russian SFSR]], [[Soviet Union]]
|death_date = {{Death date and age|1995|06|06|1934|10|13|df=yes}}
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1934|10|13|df=yes}}
⚫
| birth_place = [[Moscow]], [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic|Russian SFSR]], [[Soviet Union]]
⚫
|death_place = [[San Francisco]], [[California]], U.S.
⚫
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1995|06|06|1934|10|13|df=yes}}
⚫
| death_place = [[San Francisco]], [[California]], U.S.
}}
}}
'''Savely Viktorovich Kramarov''' ({{lang-ru|Саве́лий Ви́кторович Кра́маров}}; 13 October 1934 – 6 June 1995) was a Soviet, Russian and American actor. He acted in at least 42 Soviet films, and later appeared in several more after his immigration to the United States.
'''Savely Viktorovich Kramarov''' ({{langx|ru|Саве́лий Ви́кторович Кра́маров}}; 13 October 1934 – 6 June 1995) was a Russian–American actor and comedian. He acted in at least 42 Soviet films, and later appeared in several more after his immigration to the United States.


== Early life ==
== Early life ==
Savely Kramarov was born 13 October 1934 to [[Jews|Jewish]] parents: father Viktor Savelyevich Kramarov (Виктор Савельевич Крамаров), a prominent Moscow attorney, and mother Benedikta Solomonovna "Basya" Kramarova (née Volchek) (Бенедиктa Соломоновнa "Бася" Крамарова (Волчек)). When young Savely was only three years old, the elder Kramarov represented some defendants in a widely publicized [[NKVD|Soviet secret police]] case. Within a year Kramarov's's father was himself the victim of a [[Great Purge|"Stalinist purge"]]<ref name="New York Times obituaries">{{cite web | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/06/08/obituaries/savely-kramarov-comedian-revered-in-russia-dies-at-60.html | title=Savely Kramarov, Comedian Revered in Russia, Dies at 60 | author=ROBERT McG. THOMAS Jr |date=June 8, 1995|work=[[The New York Times]]| accessdate=February 26, 2013}}</ref><ref name="Russia-ic.com">{{cite web | url=http://www.russia-ic.com/people/culture_art/k/338/ | title=Saveli Kramarov. Born: 13 October 1934. Deceased: 6 June 1995. Popular comic actor| accessdate=February 26, 2013}}</ref><ref name="Люди peoples.ru">{{cite web | url=http://www.peoples.ru/art/cinema/actor/kramarov/ | title=Савелий Крамаров (биография) | accessdate=February 26, 2013}}</ref>—his crime, representing his clients too vigorously.<ref name="Люди peoples.ru"/> Arrested and tortured to confess, Kramarov's father was sentenced to a term of eight years in the Soviet [[Gulag]]. Savely's mother was forced to divorce his convict father, and mother and son lived for a time in a communal apartment. Before Viktor Kramarov's prison term was up, young Savely's mother died, leaving him effectively an orphan. By a stroke of luck, she had managed to register him as Russian, not Jewish, on his domestic Soviet passport.<ref name="New York Times obituaries"/> Savely was once allowed to see his father prior to the elder Kramarov's exile in [[Biysk]]. During this meeting, his father, practically a stranger to him, told Savely that his Jewish faith that had sustained him in prison. In the 1950s, the once prominent attorney died in exile.<ref name="New York Times obituaries"/> Kramarov spent the remainder of his childhood in poverty, living with relatives, mainly his maternal uncles. During this time, he was diagnosed with tuberculosis; a Jewish physician helped him back to health.<ref name="Люди peoples.ru"/>
Savely Kramarov was born 13 October 1934 to [[Jews|Jewish]] parents: father Viktor Savelyevich Kramarov (Виктор Савельевич Крамаров), a prominent Moscow attorney, and mother Benedikta Solomonovna "Basya" Kramarova (née Volchek) (Бенедиктa Соломоновнa "Бася" Крамарова (Волчек)). When young Savely was only three years old, the elder Kramarov represented some defendants in a widely publicized [[NKVD|Soviet secret police]] case. Within a year Kramarov's's father was himself the victim of a [[Great Purge|"Stalinist purge"]]<ref name="New York Times obituaries">{{cite web | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/06/08/obituaries/savely-kramarov-comedian-revered-in-russia-dies-at-60.html | title=Savely Kramarov, Comedian Revered in Russia, Dies at 60 | author=ROBERT McG. THOMAS Jr |date=June 8, 1995|work=[[The New York Times]]| accessdate=February 26, 2013}}</ref><ref name="Russia-ic.com">{{cite web | url=http://www.russia-ic.com/people/culture_art/k/338/ | title=Saveli Kramarov. Born: 13 October 1934. Deceased: 6 June 1995. Popular comic actor| accessdate=February 26, 2013}}</ref><ref name="Люди peoples.ru">{{cite web | url=http://www.peoples.ru/art/cinema/actor/kramarov/ | title=Савелий Крамаров (биография) | accessdate=February 26, 2013}}</ref>—his crime, representing his clients too vigorously.<ref name="Люди peoples.ru"/> Arrested and tortured to confess, Kramarov's father was sentenced to a term of eight years in the Soviet [[Gulag]]. Savely's mother was forced to divorce his convict father, and mother and son lived for a time in a communal apartment. Before Viktor Kramarov's prison term was up, young Savely's mother died, leaving him effectively an orphan. By a stroke of luck, she had managed to register him as Russian, not Jewish, on his domestic Soviet passport.<ref name="New York Times obituaries"/> Savely was once allowed to see his father prior to the elder Kramarov's exile in [[Biysk]]. During this meeting, his father, practically a stranger to him, told Savely of his Jewish faith that had sustained him in prison. In the 1950s, the once prominent attorney died in exile.<ref name="New York Times obituaries"/> Kramarov spent the remainder of his childhood in poverty, living with relatives, mainly his maternal uncles. During this time, he was diagnosed with tuberculosis; a Jewish physician helped him back to health.<ref name="Люди peoples.ru"/>


==Education==
==Education==
Line 19: Line 22:
Kramarov's first serious acting work was on stage in the late 1950s, in the lead role of [[Vasily Shukshin]]’s ''Vanka, How are You Here''.<ref name="Люди peoples.ru"/> Soon Kramarov was invited to act in Soviet cinema. His first film role was as Soldier Petkin in ''They Were Nineteen'' (''Im bilo devyatnadtsat'') (1960).<ref name="Russia-ic.com"/> By his second film ''[[My Friend, Kolka!]]'', Kramarov was well on his way to Soviet stardom. His goofy persona (in part a natural result of his being cross-eyed) delighted audiences. And he was a director's dream, dependably turning his lead roles into film-making gold. At the end of his life, Kramarov was asked to identify his favorite films he made; he named ''[[My Friend, Kolka!]]'', ''[[The Elusive Avengers]]'', ''[[The Twelve Chairs (1971 film)|The Twelve Chairs]]'', ''[[Gentlemen of Fortune]]'', ''[[It Can't Be!]]'', and ''[[Big School-Break]]''.<ref name="Люди peoples.ru"/>
Kramarov's first serious acting work was on stage in the late 1950s, in the lead role of [[Vasily Shukshin]]’s ''Vanka, How are You Here''.<ref name="Люди peoples.ru"/> Soon Kramarov was invited to act in Soviet cinema. His first film role was as Soldier Petkin in ''They Were Nineteen'' (''Im bilo devyatnadtsat'') (1960).<ref name="Russia-ic.com"/> By his second film ''[[My Friend, Kolka!]]'', Kramarov was well on his way to Soviet stardom. His goofy persona (in part a natural result of his being cross-eyed) delighted audiences. And he was a director's dream, dependably turning his lead roles into film-making gold. At the end of his life, Kramarov was asked to identify his favorite films he made; he named ''[[My Friend, Kolka!]]'', ''[[The Elusive Avengers]]'', ''[[The Twelve Chairs (1971 film)|The Twelve Chairs]]'', ''[[Gentlemen of Fortune]]'', ''[[It Can't Be!]]'', and ''[[Big School-Break]]''.<ref name="Люди peoples.ru"/>


But for all his fame and wealth, Kramarov recalled, his life was not whole. His religious identity learned from his family, which he had to hide in the Soviet Union, weighed on him.<ref name="San Francisco Chronicle SF Gate">{{cite web | url=http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/OBITUARY-Savely-Kramarov-3030869.php | title=OBITUARY -- Savely Kramarov | author= |date=June 8, 1995 | accessdate=February 26, 2013}}</ref> In 1979, he became a practicing [[Orthodox Judaism|Orthodox Jew]]; and he actively practiced his faith the rest of his life.<ref name="New York Times obituaries"/>
But for all his fame and wealth, Kramarov recalled, his life was not whole. His religious identity learned from his family, which he had to hide in the Soviet Union, weighed on him.<ref name="San Francisco Chronicle SF Gate">{{cite news | url=http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/OBITUARY-Savely-Kramarov-3030869.php | title=OBITUARY -- Savely Kramarov | author= | newspaper=Sfgate |date=June 8, 1995 | accessdate=February 26, 2013}}</ref> In 1979, he became a practicing [[Orthodox Judaism|Orthodox Jew]]; and he actively practiced his faith the rest of his life.<ref name="New York Times obituaries"/>


== Emigration application and end of his Soviet career ==
== Emigration application and end of his Soviet career ==
It was at the height of his Soviet fame and fortune when Kramarov, in 1979, startled the Soviet authorities with his application for emigration. By this time he had made 42 films and was one of the Soviet Union's most popular film stars.<ref name="San Francisco Chronicle SF Gate"/><ref name="MSN Entertainment">{{cite web | url=http://movies.msn.com/celebrities/celebrity-biography/savely-kramarov/ | archive-url=https://archive.today/20130411105915/http://movies.msn.com/celebrities/celebrity-biography/savely-kramarov/ | url-status=dead | archive-date=April 11, 2013 | title=Savely Kramarov: Biography | author=Sandra Brennan, Rovi | date= | accessdate=February 26, 2013 }}</ref> His application rejected, Kramarov's films were suppressed nationwide; his film career was dead. He found his only outlet to continue acting was a theatre of refuseniks, where the passports of prospective audience members were checked on arrival at a performance.<ref name="Люди peoples.ru"/>
It was at the height of his Soviet fame and fortune when Kramarov, in 1979, startled the Soviet authorities with his application for emigration. By this time he had made 42 films and was one of the Soviet Union's most popular film stars.<ref name="San Francisco Chronicle SF Gate"/><ref name="MSN Entertainment">{{cite web | url=http://movies.msn.com/celebrities/celebrity-biography/savely-kramarov/ | archive-url=https://archive.today/20130411105915/http://movies.msn.com/celebrities/celebrity-biography/savely-kramarov/ | url-status=dead | archive-date=April 11, 2013 | title=Savely Kramarov: Biography | author=Sandra Brennan, Rovi | date= | accessdate=February 26, 2013 }}</ref> His application rejected, Kramarov's films were suppressed nationwide; his film career was dead. He found his only outlet to continue acting was a theatre of [[refusenik]]s, where the passports of prospective audience members were checked on arrival at a performance.<ref name="Люди peoples.ru"/>


Not giving up hope, Kramarov next took up a campaign in Western news media to secure his coveted exit visa, going so far as to write to then-U.S. President [[Ronald Reagan]], as from "one actor to another." The Reagan letter was read multiple times on [[Voice of America]] radio.<ref name="Russia-ic.com"/><ref name="Люди peoples.ru"/>
Not giving up hope, Kramarov next took up a campaign in Western news media to secure his coveted exit visa, going so far as to write to then-U.S. President [[Ronald Reagan]], as from "one actor to another." The Reagan letter was read multiple times on [[Voice of America]] radio.<ref name="Russia-ic.com"/><ref name="Люди peoples.ru"/>


Upon finally being allowed to leave on 31 October 1981,<ref name="Russia-ic.com"/> Kramarov became persona non grata in the Soviet Union, like all celebrities considered traitors or enemies of the state. His name was removed from credits of all the films that he made so successful.<ref name="The New York Times Movies and TV">{{cite web | url=https://movies.nytimes.com/person/39278/Savely-Kramarov/biography | archive-url=https://archive.today/20130411143943/http://movies.nytimes.com/person/39278/Savely-Kramarov/biography | url-status=dead | archive-date=April 11, 2013 | title=Savely Kramarov -- Full Biography |year=2010 | department=Movies & TV Dept. | work=[[The New York Times]] | author=Sandra Brennan | accessdate=February 26, 2013}}</ref> Recalling a newly Kramarov-less Soviet Union, [[Oleg Vidov]], another Russian actor who emigrated after Kramarov, noted: "The government took all of his posters down from the walls. They didn't want to have to explain why he left; it was easier just to forget."<ref name="Los Angeles Times">{{cite web | url=http://articles.latimes.com/1985-09-02/entertainment/ca-23079_1_film-actors | title=Oleg Vidov--coming To The Mountain At Last | author=DEBORAH CAULFIELD | website=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=September 2, 1985 | accessdate=February 26, 2013}}</ref>
Upon finally being allowed to leave on 31 October 1981,<ref name="Russia-ic.com"/> Kramarov became persona non grata in the Soviet Union, like all celebrities considered traitors or enemies of the state. His name was removed from credits of all the films that he made so successful.<ref name="The New York Times Movies and TV">{{cite web | url=https://movies.nytimes.com/person/39278/Savely-Kramarov/biography | archive-url=https://archive.today/20130411143943/http://movies.nytimes.com/person/39278/Savely-Kramarov/biography | url-status=dead | archive-date=April 11, 2013 | title=Savely Kramarov -- Full Biography |year=2010 | department=Movies & TV Dept. | work=[[The New York Times]] | author=Sandra Brennan | accessdate=February 26, 2013}}</ref> Recalling a newly Kramarov-less Soviet Union, [[Oleg Vidov]], another Russian actor who emigrated after Kramarov, noted: "The government took all of his posters down from the walls. They didn't want to have to explain why he left; it was easier just to forget."<ref name="Los Angeles Times">{{cite web | url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-09-02-ca-23079-story.html | title=Oleg Vidov--coming To The Mountain At Last | author=DEBORAH CAULFIELD | website=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=September 2, 1985 | access-date=February 26, 2013}}</ref>


== American film career and later life ==
== American film career and later life ==
Kramarov achieved only moderate success in American cinema, playing small Russian roles. Americans know him best, probably, for his role as a Soviet [[KGB]] handler in [[Paul Mazursky]]'s ''[[Moscow on the Hudson]]'', starring [[Robin Williams]]. Kramarov returned to his motherland only once, in 1992, following the break-up of the Soviet Union, as the guest of honor at a Russian film festival.<ref name="Russia-ic.com"/> After moving to Los Angeles in 1992, Kramarov missed the forests surrounding his native Moscow. He bought a home in a wooded area in [[Forest Knolls, Marin County, California|Forest Knolls]], [[Marin County]], north of [[San Francisco]].<ref name="San Francisco Chronicle SF Gate"/> In early 1995, Kramarov's American career took off and he landed a lead role in a new film.<ref name="Russia-ic.com"/>
Kramarov achieved only moderate success in American cinema, playing small Russian roles. Americans know him best, probably, for his role as a Soviet [[KGB]] handler in [[Paul Mazursky]]'s ''[[Moscow on the Hudson]]'', starring [[Robin Williams]]. Kramarov returned to his motherland only once, in 1992, following the break-up of the Soviet Union, as the guest of honor at a Russian film festival.<ref name="Russia-ic.com"/> After moving to Los Angeles in 1992, Kramarov missed the forests surrounding his native Moscow. He bought a home in a wooded area in [[Forest Knolls, Marin County, California|Forest Knolls]], [[Marin County]], north of [[San Francisco]].<ref name="San Francisco Chronicle SF Gate"/> In early 1995, Kramarov's American career took off and he landed a lead role in a new film.<ref name="Russia-ic.com"/> {{Dubious|Talk Final film|date=September 2022}}


== Death ==
== Death ==
In March 1995, Kramarov underwent what is normally routine surgery to remove a bowel tumor. As unexpected complications, he suffered debilitating [[stroke]]s and eventually [[endocarditis]]. Kramarov died at Pacific Medical Center Hospital in San Francisco on 6 June 1995, age 60.<ref name="Russia-ic.com"/> He was survived by his wife Natalia Siradze, as well as his daughter from a previous marriage, Basya (Бася) Kramarov.<ref name="San Francisco Chronicle SF Gate"/>
In March 1995, Kramarov underwent what is normally routine surgery to remove a bowel tumor. As unexpected complications, he suffered debilitating [[stroke]]s and eventually [[endocarditis]]. Kramarov died at Pacific Medical Center Hospital in San Francisco on 6 June 1995, age 60.<ref name="Russia-ic.com"/> He was survived by his wife Natalia Siradze, as well as his daughter from a previous marriage, Basya (Бася) Kramarov.<ref name="San Francisco Chronicle SF Gate"/>


Thanks to the personal contributions of fellow former Soviet exiles of Kramarov's including artist [[Mihail Chemiakin]], a unique gravestone containing "casts of [Kramarov's] comedy masks, scripts, [and] make-up brushes," and his framed photograph was placed at the [[Jewish cemetery]], [[Hills of Eternity Memorial Park]] in [[Colma, California]], in 1997.<ref name="Russia-ic.com"/><ref name="J Weekly">{{cite web | url=http://www.jweekly.com/article/full/6825/gravestone-a-fitting-monument-to-comic-actor-s-life/ | title=Gravestone a fitting monument to comic actor's life | author=SARAH COLEMAN |date=October 17, 1997 | accessdate=February 26, 2013}}</ref> Of Kramarov, his rabbi, Joseph Langer, said, "He was a sincerely believing person, humble and kind"<ref name="Люди peoples.ru"/> and "[He] was a holy goofball."<ref name="J Weekly"/>
Thanks to the personal contributions of fellow former Soviet exiles of Kramarov's including artist [[Mihail Chemiakin]], a unique gravestone containing "casts of [Kramarov's] comedy masks, scripts, [and] make-up brushes," and his framed photograph was placed at the [[Jewish cemetery]], [[Hills of Eternity Memorial Park]] in [[Colma, California]], in 1997.<ref name="Russia-ic.com"/><ref name="J Weekly">{{cite news | url=http://www.jweekly.com/article/full/6825/gravestone-a-fitting-monument-to-comic-actor-s-life/ | title=Gravestone a fitting monument to comic actor's life | author=SARAH COLEMAN | newspaper=J |date=October 17, 1997 | accessdate=February 26, 2013}}</ref> Of Kramarov, his rabbi, Joseph Langer, said, "He was a sincerely believing person, humble and kind"<ref name="Люди peoples.ru"/> and "[He] was a holy goofball."<ref name="J Weekly"/>


== Legacy ==
== Legacy ==
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[[Category:1995 deaths]]
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[[Category:20th-century Russian male actors]]
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[[Category:American people of Russian-Jewish descent]]
[[Category:Baalei teshuva]]
[[Category:Male actors from Moscow]]
[[Category:Deaths from endocarditis]]
[[Category:Russian Academy of Theatre Arts alumni]]
[[Category:Honored Artists of the RSFSR]]
[[Category:Honored Artists of the RSFSR]]
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[[Category:Jewish American male actors]]
[[Category:Jewish Russian comedians]]
[[Category:Jewish Russian comedians]]
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[[Category:Male actors from Moscow]]
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[[Category:Jewish American comedians]]
[[Category:Jewish male comedians]]
[[Category:Jewish Russian actors]]
[[Category:Jewish Russian actors]]
[[Category:20th-century American Jews]]
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[[Category:Burials at Hills of Eternity Memorial Park]]
[[Category:Burials at Hills of Eternity Memorial Park]]
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[[Category:Comedians from Moscow]]
[[Category:20th-century American male actors]]
[[Category:20th-century Russian Jews]]
[[Category:American male comedians]]

Latest revision as of 07:16, 30 October 2024

Savely Kramarov
Савелий Крамаров
Born(1934-10-13)13 October 1934
Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Died6 June 1995(1995-06-06) (aged 60)
San Francisco, California, U.S.

Savely Viktorovich Kramarov (Russian: Саве́лий Ви́кторович Кра́маров; 13 October 1934 – 6 June 1995) was a Russian–American actor and comedian. He acted in at least 42 Soviet films, and later appeared in several more after his immigration to the United States.

Early life

[edit]

Savely Kramarov was born 13 October 1934 to Jewish parents: father Viktor Savelyevich Kramarov (Виктор Савельевич Крамаров), a prominent Moscow attorney, and mother Benedikta Solomonovna "Basya" Kramarova (née Volchek) (Бенедиктa Соломоновнa "Бася" Крамарова (Волчек)). When young Savely was only three years old, the elder Kramarov represented some defendants in a widely publicized Soviet secret police case. Within a year Kramarov's's father was himself the victim of a "Stalinist purge"[1][2][3]—his crime, representing his clients too vigorously.[3] Arrested and tortured to confess, Kramarov's father was sentenced to a term of eight years in the Soviet Gulag. Savely's mother was forced to divorce his convict father, and mother and son lived for a time in a communal apartment. Before Viktor Kramarov's prison term was up, young Savely's mother died, leaving him effectively an orphan. By a stroke of luck, she had managed to register him as Russian, not Jewish, on his domestic Soviet passport.[1] Savely was once allowed to see his father prior to the elder Kramarov's exile in Biysk. During this meeting, his father, practically a stranger to him, told Savely of his Jewish faith that had sustained him in prison. In the 1950s, the once prominent attorney died in exile.[1] Kramarov spent the remainder of his childhood in poverty, living with relatives, mainly his maternal uncles. During this time, he was diagnosed with tuberculosis; a Jewish physician helped him back to health.[3]

Education

[edit]

Seeking to follow in his father's footsteps with a career in law, Kramarov quickly found that door closed for the son of an enemy of the people. Instead Kramarov accepted an offer to technical school for forestry science. It was around this time Kramarov started acting.[3] Kramarov did not attend formal acting school, at the State Theatre Art Institute,[3] until 1972, well after achieving film stardom. At the same time as his late schooling for acting, he took up yoga, which attracted negative attention from the Soviet authorities.[2]

Soviet stage and film career

[edit]

Kramarov's first serious acting work was on stage in the late 1950s, in the lead role of Vasily Shukshin’s Vanka, How are You Here.[3] Soon Kramarov was invited to act in Soviet cinema. His first film role was as Soldier Petkin in They Were Nineteen (Im bilo devyatnadtsat) (1960).[2] By his second film My Friend, Kolka!, Kramarov was well on his way to Soviet stardom. His goofy persona (in part a natural result of his being cross-eyed) delighted audiences. And he was a director's dream, dependably turning his lead roles into film-making gold. At the end of his life, Kramarov was asked to identify his favorite films he made; he named My Friend, Kolka!, The Elusive Avengers, The Twelve Chairs, Gentlemen of Fortune, It Can't Be!, and Big School-Break.[3]

But for all his fame and wealth, Kramarov recalled, his life was not whole. His religious identity learned from his family, which he had to hide in the Soviet Union, weighed on him.[4] In 1979, he became a practicing Orthodox Jew; and he actively practiced his faith the rest of his life.[1]

Emigration application and end of his Soviet career

[edit]

It was at the height of his Soviet fame and fortune when Kramarov, in 1979, startled the Soviet authorities with his application for emigration. By this time he had made 42 films and was one of the Soviet Union's most popular film stars.[4][5] His application rejected, Kramarov's films were suppressed nationwide; his film career was dead. He found his only outlet to continue acting was a theatre of refuseniks, where the passports of prospective audience members were checked on arrival at a performance.[3]

Not giving up hope, Kramarov next took up a campaign in Western news media to secure his coveted exit visa, going so far as to write to then-U.S. President Ronald Reagan, as from "one actor to another." The Reagan letter was read multiple times on Voice of America radio.[2][3]

Upon finally being allowed to leave on 31 October 1981,[2] Kramarov became persona non grata in the Soviet Union, like all celebrities considered traitors or enemies of the state. His name was removed from credits of all the films that he made so successful.[6] Recalling a newly Kramarov-less Soviet Union, Oleg Vidov, another Russian actor who emigrated after Kramarov, noted: "The government took all of his posters down from the walls. They didn't want to have to explain why he left; it was easier just to forget."[7]

American film career and later life

[edit]

Kramarov achieved only moderate success in American cinema, playing small Russian roles. Americans know him best, probably, for his role as a Soviet KGB handler in Paul Mazursky's Moscow on the Hudson, starring Robin Williams. Kramarov returned to his motherland only once, in 1992, following the break-up of the Soviet Union, as the guest of honor at a Russian film festival.[2] After moving to Los Angeles in 1992, Kramarov missed the forests surrounding his native Moscow. He bought a home in a wooded area in Forest Knolls, Marin County, north of San Francisco.[4] In early 1995, Kramarov's American career took off and he landed a lead role in a new film.[2] [dubious – discuss]

Death

[edit]

In March 1995, Kramarov underwent what is normally routine surgery to remove a bowel tumor. As unexpected complications, he suffered debilitating strokes and eventually endocarditis. Kramarov died at Pacific Medical Center Hospital in San Francisco on 6 June 1995, age 60.[2] He was survived by his wife Natalia Siradze, as well as his daughter from a previous marriage, Basya (Бася) Kramarov.[4]

Thanks to the personal contributions of fellow former Soviet exiles of Kramarov's including artist Mihail Chemiakin, a unique gravestone containing "casts of [Kramarov's] comedy masks, scripts, [and] make-up brushes," and his framed photograph was placed at the Jewish cemetery, Hills of Eternity Memorial Park in Colma, California, in 1997.[2][8] Of Kramarov, his rabbi, Joseph Langer, said, "He was a sincerely believing person, humble and kind"[3] and "[He] was a holy goofball."[8]

Legacy

[edit]

"Mr. Kramarov was perhaps the most beloved figure in the Soviet Union," noted his former fellow Soviet actor Oleg Vidov. Kramarov's consistently-played version of a stock "Crazy Ivan" character "provided a veneer of protection in a totalitarian society". "When you're clever, the system kills you," Vidov said. "When you're crazy, you can get away with things." "[Kramarov] touched off a chain reaction of smiles every time he walked down a Moscow street... He was our guy.", concluded Vidov.[1]

Partial filmography

[edit]

Soviet

[edit]

American

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c d e ROBERT McG. THOMAS Jr (June 8, 1995). "Savely Kramarov, Comedian Revered in Russia, Dies at 60". The New York Times. Retrieved February 26, 2013.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Saveli Kramarov. Born: 13 October 1934. Deceased: 6 June 1995. Popular comic actor". Retrieved February 26, 2013.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Савелий Крамаров (биография)". Retrieved February 26, 2013.
  4. ^ a b c d "OBITUARY -- Savely Kramarov". Sfgate. June 8, 1995. Retrieved February 26, 2013.
  5. ^ Sandra Brennan, Rovi. "Savely Kramarov: Biography". Archived from the original on April 11, 2013. Retrieved February 26, 2013.
  6. ^ Sandra Brennan (2010). "Savely Kramarov -- Full Biography". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. Archived from the original on April 11, 2013. Retrieved February 26, 2013.
  7. ^ DEBORAH CAULFIELD (September 2, 1985). "Oleg Vidov--coming To The Mountain At Last". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved February 26, 2013.
  8. ^ a b SARAH COLEMAN (October 17, 1997). "Gravestone a fitting monument to comic actor's life". J. Retrieved February 26, 2013.
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