Ossip Runitsch

Who was Ossip Runitsch?

Ossip Iliych Runitsch was a Russian silent film actor,producer and stage director.

He was one of the biggest stars of Russian silent cinema and one of the first iconic figures of Russian cinematograph. In 1915-1919 he starred in some successful silent films of that time as "Molchi, grust... molchi" and "Posledneiye tango" with other film stars as Vera Kholodnaya, Vitold Polonsky and Pyotr Chardynin.

Runitsch was a long time admirer of his co-star Kholodnaya and after her death in 1919 during Russian Civil War, he fled Russia and left for Italy where he took part in a number of films. Later, he moved to Germany where he starred together with Emil Jannings and other famous German actors.

In 1925 he married Nina Pavlishcheva, a courtier ballet dancer.

By the late 1930s, he was living in Riga, Latvia,where he played in the troupe of Russian Drama Theatre. Apparently, when he realised that the World War II was inevitable, he accepted an invitation to tour South Africa from his local Jewish friends. He stayed in South Africa and became a founder of one of the first professional theatre companies in a country. Besides, he produced operas for the State Theatre in mid-1940s.