Actor. A respected performer in his native Russian Georgia, he became an unlikely Soviet movie star portraying Josef Stalin in propaganda epics of the 1940s and early 1950s. Mikhail Georgievich Gelovani was born in the Kutaisi Province, a hereditary Georgian prince of the ancient Gelovani family. In 1913 he made his debut with a local theatre troupe and after World War I was based in the capital city of Tbilisi, appearing onstage and (after 1924) in films for regional audiences. He directed four of the latter, including "The Power of Evil" (1928). A versatile thespian with a fine baritone voice, his repertory ranged from the literary classics to musical comedy. In 1937, Gelovani travelled to Moscow to appear as Stalin in Nikolai Pogodin's new play "The Man with a Gun" at the Vakhtangov Theatre. It was a risky assigment to say the least. No Soviet actor had attempted to impersonate the dictator before, and Stalin was reputed to have had several painters shot for portraits he felt were unflattering. The play was a hit and Gelovani reprised the role in its 1939 film adaptation, as well as in the film "They Wanted Peace" (1938). Stalin was so pleased with these portrayals he ordered that Gelovani was to play no one but him onscreen. It's easy to see why: the actor was tall, magnetic, and exuded command and charm, attributes the USSR leader notably lacked. Gelovani wisely made no attempt to copy his subject from life - his Stalin was idealized, all-knowing and quietly, almost mystically benevolent. His performances were key to perpetuating Stalin's personality cult for the Soviet public and the idolatry reached crazed lengths in such tendentious films as "The Fall of Berlin" (1949) and "The Unforgettable Year 1919" (1950). Among his 10 other credits in the role were "The Vyborg Side" (1939), "Lenin in 1918" (1939), "Wings of Victory" (1941), "The Defense of Tsaritsyn" (1942), "The Oath" (1946), and "The Fires of Baku" (1950). As long as he had the gig Gelovani enjoyed prestige and privilege. He received four Stalin Prizes between 1941 and 1949 and was named People's Artist of the USSR in 1950. A place was even found for him in the exclusive company of the Moscow Art Theatre (1942 to 1948), where he won note as Vaska in Gorky's drama "The Lower Depths". But when Stalin died in March 1953, Gelovani's career went with him. He was never allowed to work in cinema again, and with Khrushchev's de-Stalinization drives of the mid-1950s all the actor's scenes as Stalin were deleted from his films. He died in obscurity in Moscow, ironically on Stalin's birthday. In the early 2000s Russian film historians began restoring Gelovani's long-unavailable work.
Actor. A respected performer in his native Russian Georgia, he became an unlikely Soviet movie star portraying Josef Stalin in propaganda epics of the 1940s and early 1950s. Mikhail Georgievich Gelovani was born in the Kutaisi Province, a hereditary Georgian prince of the ancient Gelovani family. In 1913 he made his debut with a local theatre troupe and after World War I was based in the capital city of Tbilisi, appearing onstage and (after 1924) in films for regional audiences. He directed four of the latter, including "The Power of Evil" (1928). A versatile thespian with a fine baritone voice, his repertory ranged from the literary classics to musical comedy. In 1937, Gelovani travelled to Moscow to appear as Stalin in Nikolai Pogodin's new play "The Man with a Gun" at the Vakhtangov Theatre. It was a risky assigment to say the least. No Soviet actor had attempted to impersonate the dictator before, and Stalin was reputed to have had several painters shot for portraits he felt were unflattering. The play was a hit and Gelovani reprised the role in its 1939 film adaptation, as well as in the film "They Wanted Peace" (1938). Stalin was so pleased with these portrayals he ordered that Gelovani was to play no one but him onscreen. It's easy to see why: the actor was tall, magnetic, and exuded command and charm, attributes the USSR leader notably lacked. Gelovani wisely made no attempt to copy his subject from life - his Stalin was idealized, all-knowing and quietly, almost mystically benevolent. His performances were key to perpetuating Stalin's personality cult for the Soviet public and the idolatry reached crazed lengths in such tendentious films as "The Fall of Berlin" (1949) and "The Unforgettable Year 1919" (1950). Among his 10 other credits in the role were "The Vyborg Side" (1939), "Lenin in 1918" (1939), "Wings of Victory" (1941), "The Defense of Tsaritsyn" (1942), "The Oath" (1946), and "The Fires of Baku" (1950). As long as he had the gig Gelovani enjoyed prestige and privilege. He received four Stalin Prizes between 1941 and 1949 and was named People's Artist of the USSR in 1950. A place was even found for him in the exclusive company of the Moscow Art Theatre (1942 to 1948), where he won note as Vaska in Gorky's drama "The Lower Depths". But when Stalin died in March 1953, Gelovani's career went with him. He was never allowed to work in cinema again, and with Khrushchev's de-Stalinization drives of the mid-1950s all the actor's scenes as Stalin were deleted from his films. He died in obscurity in Moscow, ironically on Stalin's birthday. In the early 2000s Russian film historians began restoring Gelovani's long-unavailable work.
Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/65481618/mikhail-gelovani: accessed
), memorial page for Mikhail Gelovani (6 Jan 1893–21 Dec 1956), Find a Grave Memorial ID 65481618, citing Novodevichye Cemetery, Moscow,
Moscow Federal City,
Russia;
Maintained by Find a Grave.
Add Photos for Mikhail Gelovani
Fulfill Photo Request for Mikhail Gelovani
Photo Request Fulfilled
Thank you for fulfilling this photo request. An email has been sent to the person who requested the photo informing them that you have fulfilled their request
There is an open photo request for this memorial
Are you adding a grave photo that will fulfill this request?
Oops, some error occurred while uploading your photo(s).
Oops, something didn't work. Close this window, and upload the photo(s) again.
Make sure that the file is a photo. Photos larger than 8Mb will be reduced.
All photos uploaded successfully, click on the <b>Done button</b> to see the photos in the gallery.
General photo guidelines:
Photos larger than 8.0 MB will be optimized and reduced.
Each contributor can upload a maximum of 5 photos for a memorial.
A memorial can have a maximum of 20 photos from all contributors.
The sponsor of a memorial may add an additional 10 photos (for a total of 30 on the memorial).
Include gps location with grave photos where possible.
No animated GIFs, photos with additional graphics (borders, embellishments.)
You are only allowed to leave one flower per day for any given memorial.
Memorial Photos
This is a carousel with slides. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate, or jump to a slide with the slide dots. Use Escape keyboard button or the Close button to close the carousel.
Quickly see who the memorial is for and when they lived and died and where they are buried.
Show Map
If the memorial includes GPS coordinates, simply click 'Show Map' to view the gravesite location within the cemetery. If no GPS coordinates are available, you can contribute by adding them if you know the precise location.
Photos
For memorials with more than one photo, additional photos will appear here or on the photos tab.
Photos Tab
All photos appear on this tab and here you can update the sort order of photos on memorials you manage. To view a photo in more detail or edit captions for photos you added, click the photo to open the photo viewer.
Flowers
Flowers added to the memorial appear on the bottom of the memorial or here on the Flowers tab. To add a flower, click the Leave a Flower button.
Family Members
Family members linked to this person will appear here.
Related searches
Use the links under See more… to quickly search for other people with the same last name in the same cemetery, city, county, etc.
Sponsor This Memorial
Remove advertising from a memorial by sponsoring it for just $5. Previously sponsored memorials or famous memorials will not have this option.
Share
Share this memorial using social media sites or email.
Save to
Save to an Ancestry Tree, a virtual cemetery, your clipboard for pasting or Print.
Edit or Suggest Edit
Edit a memorial you manage or suggest changes to the memorial manager.
Have Feedback
Thanks for using Find a Grave, if you have any feedback we would love to hear from you.
You may not upload any more photos to this memorial
"Unsupported file type"
Uploading...
Waiting...
Success
Failed
This photo was not uploaded because this memorial already has photos
This photo was not uploaded because you have already uploaded photos to this memorial
This photo was not uploaded because this memorial already has photos
This photo was not uploaded because you have already uploaded photos to this memorial
Invalid File Type
Uploading 1 Photo
Uploading 2 Photos
1 Photo Uploaded
2 Photos Uploaded
Added by
GREAT NEWS! There is 1 volunteer for this cemetery.
Sorry! There are no volunteers for this cemetery. Continuing with this request will add an alert to the cemetery page and any new volunteers will have the opportunity to fulfill your request.
Enter numeric value
Enter memorial Id
Year should not be greater than current year
Invalid memorial
Duplicate entry for memorial
You have chosen this person to be their own family member.
Reported!
This relationship is not possible based on lifespan dates.
0% Complete
Saved
Sign in or Register
Sign in to Find a Grave
Sign-in to link to existing account
There is a problem with your email/password.
There is a problem with your email/password.
There is a problem with your email/password.
We encountered an unknown problem. Please wait a few minutes and try again. If the problem persists contact Find a Grave.
We’ve updated the security on the site. Please reset your password.
Your account has been locked for 30 minutes due to too many failed sign in attempts. Please contact Find a Grave at [email protected] if you need help resetting your password.
This account has been disabled. If you have questions, please contact [email protected]
This account has been disabled. If you have questions, please contact [email protected]
Email not found
Please complete the captcha to let us know you are a real person.
Sign in to your existing Find a Grave account. You’ll only have to do this once—after your accounts are connected, you can sign in using your Ancestry sign in or your Find a Grave sign in.
We found an existing Find a Grave account associated with your email address. Sign in below with your Find a Grave credentials to link your Ancestry account. After your accounts are connected you can sign in using either account.
Please enter your email to sign in.
Please enter your password to sign in.
Please enter your email and password to sign in.
There is a problem with your email/password.
A system error has occurred. Please try again later.
A password reset email has been sent to EmailID. If you don't see an email, please check your spam folder.
We encountered an unknown problem. Please wait a few minutes and try again. If the problem persists contact Find a Grave.
Password Reset
Please enter your email address and we will send you an email with a reset password code.
Registration Options
Welcome to Find a Grave
Create your free account by choosing an option below.
or
Ancestry account link
To create your account, Ancestry will share your name and email address with Find a Grave. To continue choose an option below.
or
If you already have a Find a Grave account, please sign in to link to Ancestry®.
New Member Registration
Email is mandatory
Email and Password are mandatory
This account already exists, but the email address still needs to be confirmed. Resend Activation Email
Your password is not strong enough
Invalid Email
You must agree to Terms and Conditions
Account already exists
Please check the I'm not a robot checkbox
Internal Server error occurred
If you want to be a Photo Volunteer you must enter a ZIP Code or select your location on the map
You must select an email preference
We have sent you an activation email
Your new password must contain one or more uppercase and lowercase letters, and one or more numbers or special characters.
We just emailed an activation code to
Please check your email and click on the link to activate your account.
cemeteries found in will be saved to your photo volunteer list.
cemeteries found within miles of your location will be saved to your photo volunteer list.
cemeteries found within kilometers of your location will be saved to your photo volunteer list.
Within 5 miles of your location.
Within 5 kilometers of your location.
0 cemeteries found in .
0 cemeteries found.
Add a cemetery to fulfill photo requests
You can customize the cemeteries you volunteer for by selecting or deselecting below.
Search above to list available cemeteries.
Getting location…
Loading...
Loading...
No cemeteries found
Find a Grave Video Tutorials
Default Language
Translation on Find a Grave is an ongoing project. If you notice a problem with the translation, please send a message to [email protected] and include a link to the page and details about the problem. Thanks for your help!
Preferred Language
We have set your language to based on information from your browser.