Oleg Yankovsky

Oleg Ivanovich Yankovsky (; 23 February 1944 – 20 May 2009) was a Soviet and Russian actor who excelled in psychologically sophisticated roles of modern intellectuals. In 1991, he became, together with Sofia Pilyavskaya, the last person to be named a People's Artist of the USSR. Biography Early life Oleg Ivanovich Yankovsky was born on 23 February 1944 in Jezkazgan, Kazakh SSR (now Kazakhstan). His family was of noble Russian, Belarusian and Polish ancestry. His father, Ivan Pavlovich, was Life-Guards Semenovsky regiment's Stabskapitän. Yankovsky's father was arrested during the purges in the Red Army after the Tukhachevsky case and was deported with his family to Kazakhstan, where he died in the camps of the Gulag system.