Mikhail Iosifovich Tumanishvili was a renowned Russian director and actor, celebrated for his work on films such as "The Detached Mission" (1986) and "Avariya - doch menta" (1990).
Born on June 19, 1935, in Moscow, Russia, Soviet Union, Tumanishvili grew up in a privileged intellectual atmosphere, with his father, Iosif Tumanishvili, a stage director at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, who later directed the ceremonies of opening and closing of the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow.
Tumanishvili studied acting at the Shchukin Theatrical College from 1952 to 1957, graduating as an actor in 1957. He then worked as a stage actor with various companies in Moscow before pursuing his passion for direction at the Soviet State Theatrical Institute in Moscow, graduating as a director in 1963.
From 1963 to 1966, Tumanishvili served as a staff director at the Kremlin Palace of Congresses, the central meeting place for the Soviet Communist Party in the Moscow Kremlin. His breakthrough in film came as a second unit director for "Tchaikovsky" (1970) directed by Igor Talankin, but it took him another decade to make his directorial debut with "Otvetnyy khod" (1981).
During the 1980s, Tumanishvili worked as a staff director at the Mosfilm Studios in Moscow. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, he went on to direct several mini-series for Russian television and collaborated with visiting actors from Georgia at the Barbican Theatre in London in 1994.
Throughout his illustrious career, Tumanishvili was designated an Honored Artist of Russia. He lived in Moscow, Russia, until his passing on December 23, 2010, due to heart failure. He was laid to rest in Vagankovskoe cemetery in Moscow, Russia.
