Petar Petrov(1939-2012)

Petar Petrov was born on September 20, 1939 in Sofia . He studied at National Academy for Theatre and Film Art, Sofia, Bulgaria in the class of Professor Krusty Mirski and Professor Atanas Mihailov . After graduation, he played four years on the stage of Burgas Theatre . In 1964 he won first prize in the first edition of the National Festival of artistic speech, reciting the poem by Nedialko Yordanov . Since then recitals are an integral part of his stage life. His first roles were in the Youth Theatre in productions , directed by Vili Tsankov , Georgi Cherkelov and Lilyana Todorova. For the children of the 70th and 80th Petar Petrov is Piero from the "Golden Key" (1964), the Cat from "When Dolls Do not Sleep" (1968), the Narrator of "The Snow Queen" (1971), the Dog from "The Merry Musicians "(1972) or Aramis from "The three Musketeers "(1973). Older people remember him as Leonidik in "My poor Marat" by Alexei Arbuzov (1966), Drobyazgin in the "Barbarians" by Maxim Gorky (1970), Wang in "Man is man" by Bertolt Brecht (1975), Jump in "Two Gentlemen of Verona "by William Shakespeare (1978), Gremio in" The Taming of the Shrew "by Shakespeare (1980), Pantaloon in" The love for Three Oranges " by Rada Moskova (1982), Don Armada in" Labours of love " by Shakespeare ( 1985), Cardinal in "King John" by Friedrich Dürrenmatt (1988), Zhevakin in "Marriage" by Nikolay Gogol (1989), Chebutikin in "Three sisters" by Anton Chekhov (1993). In 1981 Petar Petrov began teaching "Stage Speech" at the National Academy for Theatre and Film Art. After years of working with students he became a Professor (1999). Since 2001 he taught at the Theatre College "Luben Groys". There he played his last role - in graduation show "Carnival at the Castle" by Jean Anouilh, directed by Nadezhda Seykova (2011). He played more than 100 roles in theaters in Burgas and the National Youth Theatre. He played for 35 years at the National Youth Theatre and on the eve of its 60th anniversary withdrew voluntarily. He played also in over 100 movies and TV films. In the last 20 years of his life Petar Petrov assisted television journalists in Bulgaria to improve his diction. He died on August 12, 2012 in Sofia.