Merited Soviet Armenian actor, director, screenwriter and People’s Artist of Armenia Yervand Manaryan celebrates his 95th birthday on Saturday, 10 August.
Manaryan was born in 1924, in Arak, Iran. He attended the Haykazian School, later the American and Persian Colleges in Tehran. In 1946, his family repatriated to Soviet Armenia along with thousands of other Iranian Armenians. He graduated from the directing department of Yerevan State Institute of Theatre and Fine Arts in 1952.
He worked as an actor and a director at Hakob Paronyan Musical Comedy Theatre and Gabriel Sundukyan State Academic Theatre. From 1957 to 1959, he served as the general director of Yerevan State Puppet Theatre after Hovhannes Tumanyan. Manaryan became the artistic director of Argus Puppet Theatre in 1988. He also served as one of the chief directors of Yerevan State Puppet Theatre.
Manaryan wrote the script for “Tzhvzhik” (‘Fried Liver’), a famous Soviet Armenian short film. He is best known for his roles in such films as “Karine”, “Morgan’s Relative” and “A Bride from the North”.