Evgeniy Lebedev

Evgeniy Alekseevich Lebedev (Yevgeni Lebedev) was born on January 15, 1917, in Balakovo, Saratov province, Russia. His father, named Aleksei Lebedev, was a priest of the Russian Orthodox Church, he was humiliated and beaten by an agitated mob of communists in 1937, under dictatorship of Joseph Stalin. Young Lebedev joined the league of young communists and worked at the Worker's Theatre in Samara from the age of 16. He studied acting at the State Institute of Theatrical Art (GITIS) in Moscow, then at the Moscow Chamber Theatre School under Aleksandr Tairov and Vladimir Gotovtsev, and graduated in 1940, as an actor. From 1940-1949 he worked at the Russian Theatre for Young Audience in Tbilisi. There Lebedev met director Georgi Tovstonogov and they developed a lifelong friendship. Both also taught at the Georgian Theatrical Institute. In 1949 Lebedev was invited by Tovstonogov to Leningrad and they worked together at the Lenkom Theatre for six years. From 1956 to 1997 Lebedev was an act