Russia was in mourning yesterday after the death of the world’s oldest working actor.
Vladimir Zeldin was a member of the Red Army Theatre troupe in Moscow for more than 70 years and continued to appear on stage until weeks before his death.
He was a celebrated public figure whose performances were attended by high-ranking government officials and was also cherished by the public.
Zeldin made his name in 1941 when he starred in The Swineherd and the Shepherd, a comedy film directed by Ivan Pyryev that may have saved his life. When the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union began that year, filming ground to a halt because the cast was called up. “Pyryev went to the front as a volunteer and I