MOSCOW, October 22 (RIA Novosti) - Legendary Russian actor Vladimir Zeldin will celebrate his 100th birthday in February, 2015, making him de facto the oldest active professional actor in the world, Actual News reports.
The reception for his birthday will take place long before the big day, on October, 22, at the Moscow International House of Music. The reception is named "I love you ..." and will be the first in a series of birthday celebrations for him. During the reception, various scenes from plays, poems and songs will be performed by Vladimir Zeldin and fragments of his movies will be shown.
99-year old Vladimir Zeldin told reporters that he is still actively taking part in regular concerts and tours across Russia, its regions and abroad. "A few days ago, I returned from Holland, and I was in Paris and Rome before that,” the actor said.
"Vladimir is a unique person. He still performs 4 times a month, said Ivan Chursin, director of the Central Academic Theater of the Russian Army. We have been working together for decades, and he has never cancelled any play in all of that time. He is a great actor who has been involved with the theatre for almost the entire twentieth century; he has been working in the Theatre of the Russian Army for nearly 70 years. Vladimir has always liked traveling and meeting military personnel; he was in Afghanistan, Chernobyl and in some of the most remote garrisons. Zeldin is an example of a person bearing extraordinary responsibility for his work, a man devoted to art, and especially to our theater."
Vladimir Zeldin became famous in 1941 after the release of the film "They Met in Moscow". In 1945, he was invited to act at the Theatre of the Russian Army (previously the Central Theater of the Red Army), where he has worked until this very day.
As many experts note, 99-year old Vladimir Zeldin should be placed in the “Guinness World Records” as the oldest active professional theatre actor. Currently, this status is being held by a Romanian theatre actor Radu Beligan, aged 95.
