Kuanyshpaev, Kalibek

Kuanyshpaev, Kalibek


Born Apr. 25, 1893, in Sarytau, in present-day Karkaralinsk Raion, Karaganda Oblast; died June 7, 1968, in Alma-Ata. Soviet Kazakh actor, People’s Artist of the USSR (1959). Member of the CPSU from 1943.

Kuanyshpaev performed at national festivals and fairs as a folk comedian and wit. In 1925 he helped organize in Kzyl-Orda the first professional Kazakh theater (the present-day M. O. Auezov Kazakh Drama Theater in Alma-Ata), in which he worked until the end of his life. His best roles include the title role in Auezov and Sobolev’s Abai, Baluan in Musrepov’s Akhan-Sere and Aktokty, Kunanbai in Auezov’s Abai (for which he was awarded the State Prize of the USSR in 1952), the Mayor in Gogol’s The Inspector-General, General Panfilov in Auezov and Abishev’s Guard of Honor, and Baptista in Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew. In 1937 he began acting in films. Kuanyshpaev was a deputy to the second, third, and fourth convocations of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. He was awarded the Order of Lenin, two other orders, and various medals.


Olidor, O. Kalibek Kuanyshpaev. Moscow, 1950.

L. I. BOGATENKOVA [13–157O–4]

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