Gaft Valentin

Gaft Valentin Iosifovich
Born on September 2, 1935 in Moscow. Father - Gaft Joseph Romanovich (1907-1969). Mother - Gaft Gita Davydovna (1908-1993). Wife - Olga Mikhailovna Ostroumova, People's Artist of Russia.
Before the war, the Gaft family lived in Moscow, in a five-story building on Matrosskaya Tishina Street.
Gaft's relatives were not at all theatrical. Father, Joseph Romanovich, was an amazingly modest, but strong and proud man, with a sense of self-esteem. He was a lawyer by profession, went through almost the entire war and ended it as a major. Valya learned to be organized from his mother; she instilled in him a love of order and cleanliness.
His very first impression of the theater came in the 4th grade while watching Sergei Mikhalkov’s play “Special Assignment” in the children’s theater. He believed everything that happened on stage. But, by his own admission, there was no desire to become an actor then.
During his school years, he studied in a drama club and after graduating from school he entered the Moscow Art Theater School, where he studied on the course of V.O. Toporkov - together with Oleg Tabakov, Evgeniy Urbansky, Maya Menglet.
Valentin Gaft made his film debut in his third year, playing a cameo role in Mikhail Romm’s film “Murder on Dante Street,” which was released across the country in June 1956 .
Since 1957, the actor has worked in various Moscow theaters.
In 1967 , at the Satire Theater, V. Gaft played one of his best roles - Count Almaviva in The Marriage of Figaro in a duet with A. Mironov.
He came to Sovremennik at the invitation of O.N. Efremov in 1969 .
Valentin Gaft began actively filming films in the second half of the 1960s , and among the notable films with his participation are the films “Moscow, my love!” Alexander Mitta, “Centaurs” by Vytautas Žalakyavičius, the fairy tale “The Black Hen, or the Underground Inhabitants,” television films “Tanya” by Anatoly Efros, “Hello, I am your aunt!” Viktor Titov, “Seventeen Moments of Spring” by Tatyana Lioznova.
In 1979, Valentin Gaft met on the set of the film with director Eldar Ryazanov, and as a result of their creative collaboration, new facets of acting talent were revealed, as evidenced by the roles of Colonel Pokrovsky in the drama “Put a Word About the Poor Hussar”, Sidorin in the satirical comedy “Garage”. Ryazanov's Gaft also starred in the films “Forgotten Melody for Flute” and “Promised Heaven.” It is also worth noting the interesting negative roles played by the actor - Sataneev in the fantastic television film by Konstantin Bromberg “Sorcerers” (based on the story by the Strugatsky brothers “Monday begins on Saturday”); the recidivist Dedushkin, nicknamed Baton, in the detective story “Vertical Races” by Alexander I. Muratov, based on the novel by the Weiner brothers; thief Arthur in Yuri Kara’s film “Thieves in Law.” The same Kara Gaft played Woland in the film adaptation of Bulgakov’s “The Master and Maragrita”, but the film has not yet been released. Among the latest works of Valentin Gaft, it is worth noting the drama by Pyotr Todorovsky “Anchor, more anchor!”, Staged in 1997 by Vladimir Mashkov, the New Year’s comedy “The Orphan of Kazan”, in which the main roles were also played by Lev Durov and Oleg Tabakov.
Valentin Gaft is the author of several books, including “Verse and Epigram” (1989) , “Valentin Gaft” ( 1996 , together with the artist N. Safronov), “I am gradually learning” (1997) , “Life is a theater” ( 1998 , co-authored with Leonid Filatov), “The Garden of Forgotten Memories” (1999) , “Poems, memories, epigrams" (2000) .
Valentin Iosifovich Gaft - People's Artist of the Russian Federation (1984) , is a member of the Union of Cinematographers, a member of the Union of Theater Workers, and a member of the Moscow organization of the Writers' Union.

When compiling the dossier, information from the oZone website was used.

Telephone numbers of the Moscow Sovremennik Theater:
Chief administrator - 921-17-90 (daily from 12 to 21 hours)
Directorate - 921-25-43 (on weekdays from 12 to 19 hours).