Yury Lyubimov

Yury Lyubimov was born in 1917 in Yaroslavl

Lyubimov was born in Yaroslavl in 1917. His grandfather was a kulak who lost his land during collectivization. The family moved to Moscow in 1922, where his parents were arrested.

He first studied engineering, then turned to acting. He joined the Second Moscow Art Theatre in 1934 and later finished his studies at the Shchukin theatre school in 1939. During World War II he served in the Red Army and performed in a song and dance ensemble.

In 1946 he joined the Vakhtangov Theatre, and in 1952 he received the Stalin Prize. His 1963 staging of Brecht's The Good Person of Szechwan with drama students led to the founding of the Taganka Theatre in 1964, which he directed. His productions there included Hamlet in 1971 and The Master and Margarita in 1977.

After the death of Vladimir Vysotsky in 1980, the authorities banned several of his productions. In 1984 he lost his Soviet citizenship and worked abroad, including in Israel, where he received citizenship in 1987 and lived in Jerusalem. He returned to the Taganka in 1989, when his citizenship was restored.

He left the Taganka in 2011 after a dispute with its actors. In 2013 he staged Prince Igor at the Bolshoi Theatre. He died in Moscow on October 5, 2014.