Russian star and The Irony of Fate actor Andrei Myagkov dies at 82
- In a career spanning several decades, Myagkov played more than 50 roles on screen and on stage
- The 1976 romantic comedy is still traditionally watched by millions of Russians during the winter holidays
Andrei Myagkov, a Russian actor whose box office hits including New Year’s Eve favourite The Irony of Fate became iconic across the Soviet Union, has died in Moscow aged 82.
The press service of the Moscow Art Theatre (MKhAT), where Myagkov worked for decades, said that the “great artist who was loved by the people” passed away in the early hours of Thursday morning.
The statement did not specify the cause of death.
Myagkov was born in Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg) in 1938, as a child surviving the prolonged siege of the city during second world war.
At the start of his acting career Myagkov joined the troupe of the freethinking Sovremennik Theatre in Moscow that was founded by young actors in the years of the “thaw” following the death of Joseph Stalin.