Popular Russian Actor Nikolai Karachentsov Dies At 73

Nikolai Karachentsov in St. Petersburg in 2011

Popular Russian actor Nikolai Karachentsov has died at the age of 73.

Russian media quote his son Andrei as saying that the actor died in a Moscow clinic on October 26, one day before his 74th birthday.

Karachentsov was well-known across the former Soviet Union for his roles in dozens of popular movies.

Karachentsov's popularity among the youth in Russia and former Soviet republics reached its peak in the late 1970s and early 1980s after he starred in two rock operas.

Karachentsov also played in a number of plays and theater productions, including Optimistic Tragedy, Dictatorship Of Conscience, School For Emigrants, Sorry, Czech Photo and City Of Millionaires.

Karachentsov had been severely disabled after sustaining a brain injury in a traffic accident in 2005.

Based on reporting by TASS and Interfax