Konstantin Zheldin, who played a taxi driver in Brother 2 and Holtoff in 17 Moments of Spring, has died.

Honored Artist of the RSFSR Konstantin Zheldin died at the age of 90. GITIS rector Grigory Zaslavsky called him “one of the oldest actors in Russia.” Mr. Zheldin served for decades at the Taganka Theater and at the theater “Near the Stanislavsky House”, played supporting roles in the films “Seventeen Moments of Spring” and “Brother-2”.

“The years took their toll, but the acting passion did not leave him. 90 years is, of course, an advanced, mature age, but when even in these years an actor has the strength and desire to go on stage and act in films, death seems unfair,” Mr. Zaslavsky wrote in Telegram.

Konstantin Zheldin was born in 1933 in Moscow, and graduated from the Shchukin School in 1961. In 1962–1963 he worked at the Theater on Malaya Bronnaya, in 1966–2000 – at the Taganka Theater, and from 2001 – at the theater “Near the Stanislavsky House”.

He played in theatrical productions of “Alice’s penultimate concert in Wonderland”, “Russian nobleman-seminarist and citizen of the civilized world”, “Three Sisters”, “Kid and K”, “Chevengur” and many others. In the serial film “Seventeen Moments of Spring” he played the role of Wilhelm Holtoff, in the series “Liquidation” – the bandit Shtehel, in the film “Brother-2” – a taxi driver. He also played in the films and TV series “His Excellency’s Adjutant” (1969), “Dead Souls” (1984), “High Security Vacation” (2009), “Quiet Don” (2015), “House Arrest” (2018), “Casanova” “(2020) and many others.

Leonid Uvarchev