Heino Mandri

Estonian actor

Heino Mandri

Born	(1922-09-11)11 September 1922 Kohtla-Järve, Estonia
Died	3 December 1990(1990-12-03) (aged 68) Tallinn, Estonia SSR, Soviet Union
Occupation(s)	actor theatre teacher
Years active	1941–1990
Children	1
Awards	Honored artist of the Estonian SSR (1982) People's Artist of the Estonian SSR (1986)^[1]

Heino Mandri (11 September 1922 – 3 December 1990) was an Estonian film and stage actor.

Biography

Heino Mandri was born on 11 September 1922 in Kohtla-Järve, Estonia, to August Mandril and Alice-Elfriedel. In 1924, at age two, his family moved to Tallinn where they settled. From 1930 to 1940, he attended the Jakob Westholmi Gymnasium, and in 1941 he graduated from Tallinn Secondary School No.7.^[2] In 1942, he became one of the 11 out of 269 applicants to be accepted into the short-lived Tallinn Theatre School (1942–1946) set up during the German occupation to carry on the work of the former State School of Performing Arts which had been liquidated during the Soviet occupation in 1940. During the German occupation, he and six others performed at the Narva threatre. He graduated from the school in 1946.^[3]

In 1948, Mandri was accused in anti-Soviet activities and was sentenced to seven years of forced labor by the Minister of State Security of the Estonian SSR, under the reason that he joined an anti-Soviet organization in October 1947. From 1948 to 1954, he served the sentence in the Viatlag prison camp, Lesnoy, Kirov Oblast in Northern Russia.^[3]

Mandri was released in 1954 and returned to Estonia, where the Soviet authorities forbade him to get closer than 101 km to Tallinn under the 101st kilometre rule. Mandri settled in Viljandi and worked in Ugala theatre. In 1956 Mandri wrote a personal letter to the Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet Kliment Voroshilov, after which he got his sentence retroactively shortened to five years allowing him to enter Tallinn again.

Acting career

1941–1943, 1944–1948 Estonia theatre
1943–1944 Narva theatre
1954–1958 Ugala theatre
1958–1966 and since 1972 – an actor at Kingisepp's Tallinn academic theatre.
1966–1972 – actor at Estonian SSR State Youth Theatre (now, the Tallinn City Theatre).
1975–1990 – actor at Tallinn City Theatre.^[4]

During the 1970s and 1980s, Heino Mandri casually appeared on Estonian national TV delivering his lines with impeccable command of the Estonian language.

In Soviet films, Heino Mandri was usually cast as characters who were officers of the Wehrmacht, German businessmen, or American spies.

Heino Mandri was acquitted of all political charges and fully rehabilitated in his rights only shortly before his death in 1990.

Selected filmography

Põrgupõhja uus Vanapagan (1964)
The Lark (1965)
Counter Measure (1974)
Diamonds for the Dictatorship of the Proletariat (1975)
A Time to Live and a Time to Love (1976)
Young Russia (1981 — 1982)
TASS Is Authorized to Declare... (1984)
Entrance to the Labyrinth (1989)

References

^ "Уеимн Люмдпх (Heino Mandri) - Ахнцпютхъ - Янберяйхе Юйр╦Пш - Йхмн-Реюрп.Пс". Kino-teatr.ru. Retrieved 2016-11-23.
^ "Mandri, Heino - Eesti Entsüklopeedia". etbl.teatriliit.ee. Retrieved 2023-08-14.
^ ^a ^b "Heino Mandri - Eesti Teatri- ja Muusikamuuseum". virtuaalne.ajaloomuuseum.ee. Retrieved 2023-08-14.
^ "Mandri, Heino - Eesti Entsüklopeedia". etbl.teatriliit.ee. Retrieved 31 May 2023.