To see him people would go to the same performances ten or twenty times… And even when a cruel tragedy was performed the audience would rise in applause at each of his appearances on the stage.

Those who have seen  "Keto and Kote" will never forget him singing "Dzmebo Rotsa Movkvdebi" ("My Friends, When I Die"); or the phrases he said - "She even spoke ‘Nemetsuri’ (German) " and "Davakortsinet Maaash" ("We married them indeed"); or when he danced "Kintouri" (The dance of  Kinto, a fruit seller in old Tbilisi)…

Veriko Andjaparidze wrote of him: "He had a  marvellously flexible and beautiful body that looked like a statue carved by a great master. Even today you can hear legends told of Giorgi Shavgulidze’s incredible appearance and manly charm.

People say that Kote Marjanishvili discovered him on the White Bridge in Kutaisi, where a man’s bravery and valour was judged by how well he jumped from the railings of the bridge into the waves of the Rioni river. The producer brought Giorgi Shavgulidze to Kutaisi theatre in 1928. He was eighteen at the time. From that time Kote Marjanishvili acted as his protector, first in Kutaisi and then in Tbilisi. Giorgi Shavgulidze performed his first serious part in 1931, in the play "Hop, We Are Alive". He replaced Ushangi Chkheidze in the role of Karl Thomas. And to play parts after Ushangi Chkeidze was very risky, not only for beginners but for experienced actors too. The producer’s experiment was successful, but their relationship did not continue for that long, in 1933 Kote Marjanishvili was summoned to Moscow and never returned.

Around that time Liza Vachnadze, a young and charming actress at the Rustaveli Theatre moved to the Marjanishvili Theatre. It was there that Gultamze’s and Erasti’s love on the stage began, in the play "Kvarkvare Tutaberi". There were also curious incidents in the wings, behind the scenes and finally a great love affair in real life. Giorgi Shavgulidze and Liza Vachnadze got married in 1934. A year later, twin boys were born. They lived on Tsulukidze Street, in a small, dark room without windows. One child died as a result of the harsh living conditions.

Time went by but Giorgi never demanded anything either from the theatre or his life. As people later said, he did not show his claws as much as an actor really needs to; he never fought for desirable parts or got involved in intrigue. He went beyond what anyone thought was possible in his parts. His characters - each of them better and more memorable than the one before - were created very carefully. He was recognised in the street, acclaimed by critics and adored by the public…
Giorgi Shavgulidze did not have a theatrical education but he had amazing flair and intuition. He changed considerably after getting a new part. He was often seen walking in the empty halls of the Theatre, alone and thoughtful. He was aware of no-one at that moment. He always brought something new, something personal to each rehearsal. He created the image of his hero gradually, a complete original, a hero that could only be imagined by Giorgi Shavgulidze. These things may seem of minor importance, but people spoke of his roles with great delight for a long time after he performed them: Hastings’ laugh before the death sentence in "Richard III" or Kokhta’s driver, prostrate under the sofa. Polikarpe Kakabadze who was known for being strongly against the changing of his texts included Shavgulidze’s improvisations in the final publication of one of his plays.

Giorgi Shavgulidze’s theatrical roles have been preserved only in photos and the memories of those people who saw him on the stage. While looking through the photos you can look vainly for similarities between Chkondideli ("David Agmashenebeli" - King David the Builder, 1946) and Sayatnova ("Mepe Erekle" - King Erekle, 1941). These two characters are completely different from each other, like Kharitoni ("Kolmeurnis Kortsineba" - Farmer’s Marriage, 1938) and Datiko Shevardnadze ("Dachrili Artsivi" - Wounded Eagle, 1941); or Octavius Caesar ("Antony and Cleopatra", 1951) and Lord Hastings ("Richard III", 1957); or the differences that exist between David and Niko in the films "David Guramishvili" and "Keto and Kote". They say that the above characters were nothing like the Giorgi Shavgulidze known by family and friends, or the one who walked in the streets.

Giorgi Shavgulidze put his make-up on himself. He built a make-up studio in the wings himself. "He used to come to performances two hours early and lock himself in the studio. We would wait for him to open the door. We knew that one of his characters would come through the door: Caesar, Khariton, Sayatnova or Khorchi-Khan. His appearance was always amazing. Only Giorgi Shavgulidze - a master of make-up who paid attention to all the details - could sculpt plastic like that in the Georgian theatre; and he was so good at tailoring clothes to fit his body, a true magician in matching" – recalls Sesilia Takaishvili.

Giorgi Shavgulidze’s make-up, dress, mimicry and intonation were so good that sometimes spectators who did not speak Georgian didn’t want translation, even at performances that were not very familiar to them. Sometimes, a spectator who had sat in the hall would not recognise his favourite character in Giorgi Shavgulidze when they met him in the wings without make-up.

Much was written and said about Octavius, Khariton, Sayatnova and Chkondideli as performed by Shavgulidze. Special attention was paid to Okhtavius Caesar’s golden locks. Giorgi refused to wear a wig, saying it would increase the size of his head, so he smeared make-up deep into his own hair and it had to be washed out with kerosene after each performance. They say that he could wear a chokha (Georgian national suit), tailcoat, Roman toga, and military overcoat equally elegantly, in a way that seemed as if he had been born to wear those clothes.

In 1938 Giorgi Shavgulidze was on film for the first time and in 1942, Michael Chiaurely, the famous producer, created a role especially for him in the film "Giorgi Saakadze". In 1946, during the pilot shoot of "David Guramishvili", the script-writer did not want to believe the producers when they told him that both the young and old David were played by the same actor. "David Guramishvili" was the very first film shot in the Hermitage Museum in Leningrad. The shooting took place mainly in the white reception halls. Giorgi Shavgulidze went up and down the Winter Palace stairs several times a day. Once he pointed to a particular corner of the stairs and said to Nickoloz Sanishvili: "If you go here, the stairs are built in such a way that they take you up by themselves…"

In 1948 Vakhtang Tabliashvili filmed him in "Keto and Kote". The couplets sung by Siko and Nicko were supposed to be performed by Opera singers. However, it appears that their approach to the parts was too professional and the charm of the couplets was lost. To help the singers Vaso Godziashvili and Giorgi Shavgulidze performed the song themselves. In the end their version of the song was used in the film.

In 1958 Lado Gudiashvili’s birthday was celebrated. Giorgi Shavgulidze congratulated him on behalf of the Marjanishvili theatre. There were forty steps down to the podium which the actor came down dressed as a kinto, with a red tulip in his hand. His pause on each step reminded one of Gudiashvili’s paintings. He came on to the stage and started to dance "Kintouri". This dance had been taught to him by Lado Gudiashvili himself, especially for one of his roles…

When Giorgi Shavgulidze came to Kutaisi on tours, "Keto and Kote" was shown in the city’s movie theatres every day. The entire town talked about him and it was impossible for him to walk down the street without getting mobbed.

Otar Mamporia recalls an evening he spent with Giorgi Shavgulidze in the "Aragvi" Restaurant in Moscow -  "The door opened and Shavgulidze appeared. He was moving like a walking poplar. The musicians recognised him immediately and as a token of respect and adoration started singing Kharalashvili’s "Samshoblo" ("Motherland"). He was moving with the tune, with "Aziatski" (Georgian national footwear) stretched over his feet like gloves and wearing a black shirt with lots of buttons on it. As he came through the room people sitting round the tables - both women and men - couldn’t take their eyes off him…"

In spite of being very popular and loved by the public, a good role remained a dream for him, especially in later years. Disappointed by the Theatre he used to say to his wife "I shall move to "Goskinprom" and start working there…" He would probably never have been able to leave the Theatre. His dream was to play Don Quixote on the stage, but…

He managed to perform in more than sixty plays and around fifteen movies.

Perhaps it’s not bad for one actor, but it was certainly not too much for an actor such as Giorgi Shavgulidze.

In 1959 Giorgi Shavgulidze was 49 years old…

"On that fatal day, on Plekhanov Avenue in Tbilisi, a trolley-bus hit Giorgi Shavgulidze. His huge body prostrate on the pavement was taken up by the people. They took him in their arms, embracing their favourite actor and shedding tears on him. But they had no less mercy for the driver who was striking his head against the wall and howling.

It occurred on life’s stage, when the actor was without make-up and the spectators were without a theatre…" (Otar Mamporia).

"As elegant as a reed, handsome, childishly direct and na?ve, he sometimes seemed to me like the  twin-brother of Niko Pirosmanashvili. His soul was full of angels, like Nikala’s. He was creating frescos as enthusiastically as Nikala did. He loved drinking wine like Nikala, and then he disappeared like Nikala. He left the world unexpectedly, without any sense" – wrote Tengiz Abuladze much later. A long time after Giorgi’s death Michael Kvlividze wrote the famous poem "The Man Who Was Missed By The Town":

"We did not know him very well,
It was a dream to walk with him…"

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