This morning, January 19, 2012, died suddenly Distinguished Artist of Russia Rudolf Kuld.  He was 76; for more than half a century he had served at the theater.   Rudolf Kuld was invited to the company of the Pushkin Theater in 1959 from the Tallinn Russian Drama Theater, where he was the leading young actor.  From his very first seasons, the young and talented actor had very actively joined the repertoire and played very different roles, such as Vaionen (“The Optimistic Tragedy” by Vs. Vishnevsky, 1961), Lyalin (“The Friends and the Years” by L. Zorin, 1961), De Brizar (“Flight” by M. Bulgakov, 1962), Alber (“The Short Tragedies” by A. Pushkin, 1962), Egmont (“Before the Sunset” by G. Hauptmann, 1963), Jacob (“The Wild Captain” by Yu. Smuul, 1965), and other. In the years of his work at the Pushkin Theater, the actor had played over a hundred roles.  These included: Rembrandt (“Rembrandt” by D. Kedrin, 1977), Buslov (“Untilovsk” by L. Leonov, 1978), Belan (“A Melody for the Peacock” by O. Zagradnik, Narokov (“Talents and Admirers” by A. Ostrovsky, 1982), Khlopusha (“The Captain’s Daughter” by A. Pushkin, 1984), Barclay De Tolli (“Field Marshal Kutuzov” by V. Soloviev, 1985), Moskalev (“Uncle’s Dream” by Fedor Dostoyevsky, 1987), Le Bret (“Cyrano de Bergerac” by E. Rostand, 1987), Boreyev (“Slow Down in the Skies” by R. Solntsev, 1988),  Advisor (“Lisistrata” by Aristophanes, 1989), Wralman (“Ignoramus” by D. Fonvisin, 1990), Kirsanov (“Judas of the City of Piter” by Strugatsky Brothers, 1991), Sumarokov (“Jokers, or a Word of Appraisal on Sumarokov,” 1992), Stephan (“The Marriage” by N. Gogol, 1998), Ferapont (“The Three Sisters” by A. Chekhov, 2003), Pimen (“Boris Godunov” by A. Pushkin, 1999). In his actor’s career, he had different periods of demand.  However, in his last years, he was very actively involved in the repertoire playing in Valery Fokin’s performances (“The Double” after the Petersburg poem of Fyodor Dostoyevsky;  “The Living Corps” by L. Tolstoy;  “Hamlet” by W. Shakespeare) and Andrey Moguchy’s performance “Izotov” by M. Durnenkov, and A. Moguchy and K. Filippov’s performance “The Fortune.” In 2006, Rudolf Kuld was awarded with the medal “Order of Merit for the Country” of II Degree (Verdict of the President of the Russian Federation N 392 as of April 17, 2006).