Georgi Zhzhyonov (March 22, 1915 – December 8, 2005) was a revered Soviet and Russian actor whose powerful and dignified screen presence was forged through immense personal hardship, having survived 15 years as a political prisoner in the Gulag.
Zhzhyonov’s promising early career was brutally interrupted in 1938 when he was falsely accused of espionage and sentenced to the notorious Kolyma labor camps. He was not released until 1953. After his rehabilitation, he returned to the screen and became one of his country’s most respected actors, bringing a profound sense of gravity and lived experience to every role.
He is best known to international audiences for his role as the stoic and heroic pilot, Andrei Timchenko, in the groundbreaking Soviet disaster film Air Crew (1980), which was a massive box-office success. He’s also known for playing the spy Mikhail Tulyev in The Secret Agent’s Blunder (1968) For his incredible contributions to cinema, he was awarded the title of People’s Artist of the USSR.
