Oleg Popov

Oleg Konstantinovich Popov Russian ???? ?????????????? ???o? 31 July 1930 2 November 2016 was a Soviet and Russian clown and circus artist Peoples Artist of the USSR 1969 Popov was born on 31 July 1930 the son of a clockrepairman At age 12 he began working as an apprentice typographer for the newspaper Pravda and he later joined Pravdas Athletic Club There in 1945 someone suggested that he apply for Moscows State College of Circus and Variety Arts better known as the Moscow Circus School He was accepted and studied acrobatics juggling and other circus skills there graduating in 1949 He made his debut at the Tbilisi Circus in the Georgian SSR Afterwards he continued his career at the Moscow Circus on Tsvetnoy Boulevard today Circus Nikulin In 1955 Popov performed abroad for the first time in Warsaw and the following year he toured with the Moscow Circus in France Belgium and England He was immediately noticed by the press which made him a circus star The Soviet regime quickly built on his success abroad and transformed him into a goodwill ambassador for the Soviet Union He appeared at the Brussels World Fair in 1958 and was broadcast from Moscow on American television in 1957 He toured the United States in 1963 and 1972 with the Moscow Circus In 1969 Popov was honored with the title of Peoples Artist of the USSR He toured extensively around the world in subsequent years with the Moscow Circus In Australia he was named King of Moomba 1971 Popov performed as a clown combining his talents as a mime a tightrope walker and a juggler At the 8th International Circus Festival of MonteCarlo in 1981 he received the coveted Gold Clown award as a tribute to his stellar career His clown character followed the tradition of the Russian folk character Ivanushka who fools other people and who is teased himself In the early 1990s after the fall of the Soviet Union he toured with a unit of the Moscow Circus in Germany for a number of years where he eventually settled He later performed extensively in Germany in circus shows on television or with his own touring show He married Gabriela Lehmann a German circus performer in 1991 She was 32 years younger In 2006 Popov was invited to perform at the 30th anniversary of the International Circus Festival of Monte Carlo Aged 75 years of age he received a standing ovation In 2015 he returned for the first time to Russia after 28 years of living in Germany it was at the First Master gala event the Russian circus equivalent of the Academy Awards ceremony at the Sochi State Circus where he was given a long standing ovation The Russian Minister of Culture Vladimir Medinsky read a welcoming message from President Vladimir Putin In December 2015 he was one of the judges at the final show of The Blue Bird contesta young talent competition on the Russia1 television channel Source Article Oleg Popov from Wikipedia in English licensed under CCBYSA 30