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Alexander Burdonsky

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Alexander Burdonsky
Born
Alexander Vasilyevich Stalin[1]

(1941-10-14)October 14, 1941
DiedMay 23, 2017(2017-05-23) (aged 75)
Moscow, Russia
Alma materRussian Academy of Theatre Arts
OccupationTheatre director
Years active1972−2017
EmployerRussian Army Theatre
SpouseDalia Tamulevičiūtė
Parents
RelativesJoseph Stalin (grandfather)
AwardsPeople's Artist of Russia (1996)

Alexander Vasilyevich Burdonsky (Russian: Александр Васильевич Бурдонский; October 14, 1941 – May 23, 2017) was a Russian theater and film director and grandson of General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Joseph Stalin. He directed more than 20 plays at The Moscow Theater, and also directed films including Playing On the Keys of The Soul and This Madman Platanov. In 1996, Burdonsky was awarded the People's Artist of Russia Award for his works.

Alexander was born on October 14, 1941, in Kuybyshev (now Samara), during evacuation, to Vasily Stalin and Galina Burdonskaya. At birth, he was given the surname Stalin, but during his school and college years, he used the surname Vasiliev.[2] In adulthood, he adopted his mother's surname, Burdonsky.[3]

Four years after his birth, Burdonskaya left her husband due to his lifestyle and habits such anlcohal abuse, infidelity, and frequent scandals. After the separation, Vasily Stalin prevented Galina from seeing Alexander and his younger sister Nadezhda. The children returned to their mother only after Stalin’s death.

In 1951, at his father’s insistence, Alexander was enrolled in the Kalinin Suvorov Military School, where he studied for two years. After completing seventh grade in 1955, he entered the Theatrical Art and Technical School to study stage design, while also participating in amateur performances at the Pioneer House on Tikhvin Lane.

After graduating from the school in 1958, he worked as a props artist in various Moscow theaters. In 1966, he enrolled at GITIS (the Russian Institute of Theatre Arts) in the directing department, studying under Maria Knebel. He was also accepted into the acting studio of the Sovremennik Theatre under Oleg Nikolayevich Yefremov.

Upon graduating from GITIS in 1971, Burdonsky was invited by Anatoly Efros to play the role of Romeo in a Shakespeare production at the Malaya Bronnaya Theatre. Three months later, Maria Knebel invited him to the Central Theatre of the Soviet Army to direct the play He Who Gets Slapped by Leonid Andreyev, featuring Andrei Popov and Vladimir Zeldin. After the production premiered in 1972, the theatre’s artistic director, Andrei Alekseyevich Popov, offered Alexander Burdonsky a permanent position there.

Burdonsky died of cancer on May 23, 2017, at the age of 75.[4][5] He was predeceased in 2006 by his wife, Dalia Tamulevičiūtė [lt], a Lithuanian teacher and theatre director.[6][7]


Personal Life:

He was married to his classmate, Dalia Tamulevičiūtė (1940–2006), a theatre director, Honored Art Worker of the Lithuanian SSR, and the chief director of the Lithuanian Youth Theatre. The couple had no children. He was later widowed.

References

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  1. ^ Stalin's grandson who rejected his name dies at 75
  2. ^ "Нержавеющий Сталин". MK.ru (in Russian). 16 March 2010. Retrieved 12 June 2025.
  3. ^ "Stalin's grandson who rejected dictator's name dies at 75". BBC News. 24 May 2017. Retrieved 16 June 2025.
  4. ^ "Alexander Burdonsky, Russian Director and Stalin's Grandson, Dies at 75". The New York Times. Agence France-Presse. May 24, 2017. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved May 26, 2017.
  5. ^ "Stalin's grandson who rejected dictator's name dies". The Nation. May 25, 2017. Retrieved May 26, 2017.
  6. ^ "Dalia Tamuleviciute, Professional Theater Director Passes Away". Kultura 15. April 27, 2006. Retrieved July 26, 2018.
  7. ^ Прощание с внуком Сталина состоится в Москве 26 мая
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