Our first opinion poll showed that the most popular male actor among the Magtians is Zurab Kipshidze.

SEA, LOVE AND
LUXURY OF DON JUAN

In the happy time of "Almonds in Bloom" I was at school and the boys in our class used to imitate Zura Kipshidze in the way they spoke, dressed - and in a word, they tried hard to be Kipshidze. The sixteen of them would wear short boucle coats with collars up. The resemblance was so close that in the end it was hard to tell whether we were in love with our classmates or Kipshidze himself. The fact is that we hardly knew anything about him then, however now we know almost everything: we know for instance that he was born on August 10, 1953 at a Maternity hospital No 2 on Plekhanov avenue…yeah, that is where it all started.  He entered secondary school No1, but was expelled (we do not really know why)! He was transferred to school No47, life seemed to be interesting enough there as well - so anyway in the end he finished school No 39, where he passed his secondary education certificate exams without attending classes. You will agree, this is the way life starts there is more to come!

Had Kipshidze taken into consideration his sad school story he would not have bothered with entering Moscow Institute of International Relations - the best thing for him would be to enter Tbilisi Theatre Institute right away, from which, (surprise, surprise) he has been twice expelled. The problems followed him to Russia as well. But as he returned to Georgia, Kipshidze was lucky enough to get to Mikheil Tumanishvili's studio and his life took at turn for the better…He now has a wonderful wife and kids. He reads the Bible in the evenings and, listens to Mozart and Wagner, he likes marginal weather, Leonardo da Vinci, Van Gogh and is "fascinated by sea, sun, love and luxury…"

It rarely happens that an actor is handsome, gifted and young at a time. The stars have been generous to Kipshidze: he has the looks, the talent and the voice… The funny thing is that no matter how negative the character Kipshidze plays you always tend to support him - when he is bad, you become bad with him.

When one first sees Kipshdze on the screen or on stage he is immediately attracted by his unique voice and wonderful fingers. Gestures do not spoil his artistic manner; on the contrary, he uses them as an additional tool to leave the audience spellbound. And the audience, in turn, is ready to do anything Kipshidze's character does, just because he is so strikingly handsome.

Kipshidze played Don Juan at the Tumanishvili Movie Actors Theatre. This role brought him world success - so crazy and fatally beautiful he was…

Kipshidze belongs to the category of actors for whom the exclusive plays are written and staged. In my opinion he has only played 3 serious roles so far: "Almonds in Bloom" in cinema, "Don Juan " in theatre and a recent work in Chkheidze's "Father" - which fully revealed his brilliant professionalism.

When 82 year old Jean Marais was asked how long does he exercise to perform all his stunts, he answered that he hates exercise at all. Yes, his muscles were naturally developed. In "Father" Kipshidze wears his uniform with such a grace, that one would think he has been doing this all his life. The feelings that he has to show during the play are drastically different; they range from jealousy to craziness. This contrastive manner indicates that the actor's inner world is immense. It is true that Kipshidze had other roles as well, but these three roles are enough to call him a great actor.

It has been mentioned above that the nature was generous to Kipshidze. One thing it spared for him is grey hair. He is in a wonderful form. It sometimes happens that someone is so trendy, the audience gets used to him and soon…forgets. This has not happened to Kipshidze. On the contrary he is a true star, though a really simple, sociable and humane person.

The time has shown that some almonds bloom for a long time…

Tamar Belkania