Gleb Plaksin

President Vladimir Putin met with Russian veterans of the allied operations in Normandy, Oleg Ozerov and Gleb Plaksin (to the left), Caen, France, 2004

Gleb Vasilyevich Plaksin (Russian: Глеб Васи́льевич Пла́ксин; 16 August 1925 – 21 November 2008) was a French-born Soviet and Russian film actor.

Biography

Plaksin was born on August 16, 1925 in Lyon, France, where his Russian family settled during the timultuous 1917 Revolution in the Russian Empire, the son of a czarist officer and a nurse.

After the Nazi invasion of France he became a member of the French Resistance. The multilingual teenager fought as a member of the American army after the Allies finally landed in France in 1944. The end of the war permitted him to return to acting and professional music.

He immigrated to the Soviet Union in 1955, becoming known for his various roles in the Soviet cinema.

Plaksin was awarded the title of Meritorious Artist of the Russian Federation in 2001. In 2003 he starred in the Russian action film White Gold.

He died in 2008, having been decorated as a Resistance member, soldier, and actor by the Soviet Union, the Russian Federation, the United States, and France; his recognition included the Croix de Guerre, the French decoration awarded for military heroism.

Selected Filmography

• The Adjutant of His Excellency (1969) as French general
• The Red Tent (1969) as reporter
• The Crown of the Russian Empire, or Once Again the Elusive Avengers (1971) as restaurant visitor
• Monologue (1972) as foreign attendant at a congress
• Charodei (1982) as member of the academic council
• Mother (1990) as judge
• The Russian Singer (1993) as general Pannyukov