102 years since the birth of Melik Dadashov — an actor who conquered both theater and cinema

Today is the birthday of People's Artist of Azerbaijan, theater and film actor Melik Dadashov.

As BAKU.WS reminds, M. Dadashov was born on June 7, 1924, in Baku.

His first education was in medicine. However, the future actor had to leave his studies and go to the Great Patriotic War. Due to a concussion sustained in 1943, he returned from the front and underwent prolonged treatment. Afterward, Melik worked as a musician in military units. In 1945, M. Dadashov was accepted as an actor at the Azerbaijan State Theater of the Young Spectator. Then in 1950, he graduated from the Theater Institute named after Mirzaagha Aliyev (now the Azerbaijan State University of Culture and Arts - ed.). After graduating, he began working at the Azerbaijan State Academic National Drama Theater.

The beginning of his career coincided with a period of rapid development of national theatrical art. At that time, Alesker Alekberov, Adil Iskenderov, and other luminaries performed on the theater stage.

The People's Artist has merits in the establishment of the Azerbaijani acting school. He appeared in approximately 35 feature films.

The actor's first role was in 1961 in the film "Leyli and Majnun" by Latif Safarov, based on a screenplay by Anvar Mamedkhanly, and his most famous role was Gamlo in the film "Axırıncı aşırım" ("The Last Pass"). His portrayals of Molla Sadyg in "Dəli Kür" ("The Untamed Kura"), Sheikh Nasrulla in "O dünyadan salam" ("Greetings from the Other World"), Nariman Narimanov in "Birisi gün gecə yarısı" ("The Day After Tomorrow at Midnight"), and Aramen Khachaturyants in "Fəryad" ("The Cry") were remembered by everyone. It should be noted that M. Dadashov played the role of the Armenian Armen Khachaturyants in 1993 — three years before his death. His family was against him taking this role, but the actor was determined to show the true nature of Armenians.

After the film was released, an interesting incident happened to the actor on the street. An elderly woman stopped the People's Artist and began shouting insults at him. Then, with tears in her eyes, she said: "Why did you appear in that film? I can't contain myself while watching it. If you were with me at that moment, I would probably kill you." Then, turning to the people around, she added: "Hey, people, he's an Armenian." Because of this, a law enforcement officer demanded the actor's documents. He was released only after M. Dadashov explained that he had merely played the role of an Armenian.

The actor's theater roles are also noteworthy. He performed in "Twelfth Night" by William Shakespeare, "The Living Corpse" by Leo Tolstoy, "Farhad and Shirin" by Samad Vurgun, "Without You" by Shikhali Gurbanov, and others. In the last years of his life, he worked at the Azerbaijan State Russian Drama Theater named after S. Vurgun.

During his tenure as director of this theater, the repertoire was significantly enriched, and new talents emerged.

In 1974, M. Dadashov was awarded the title of People's Artist of the Azerbaijan SSR.

From the 1980s, he taught acting at the Azerbaijan State University of Culture and Arts.

M. Dadashov passed away in 1996 at the age of 72.