Trivia

His friend Orson Welles frequently called him the greatest of all screen actors.

He was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1634 Vine Street in Hollywood, California on February 8, 1960.

Spoke English, French, Italian and Russian.

Had appeared in five Oscar Best Picture nominees: Les Trois Lanciers du Bengale (1935), La fugue de Mariette (1935), La vie de Louis Pasteur (1936), Anthony Adverse (1936) and Pour qui sonne le glas (1943).

Same birth town as the legendary Sergei Parajanov.

Considered the first Armenian-American film star.

The film Monsieur Lecoq (1967) was unfinished and abandoned.

Brother-in-law of Konstantin Shayne.

In 1944, Tamiroff was the first Golden Globe Award winner for Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture for his work in For Whom the Bell Tolls.

Akim Tamiroff was an Armenian-American actor of film, stage, and television.

He arrived in the U.S. for the first time in January 1923 on a three-month tour with the revue and starred in a repertory of Russian plays directed by Stanislavski. He returned in November and stayed until 1924. His final trip with them was in October 1927 when he decided to stay permanently. He joined the Theatre Guild in New York City, where he met his wife Tamara Shayne. Both were later naturalized as United States citizens.

Though ethnically Armenian, his many character roles included such ethnicities as Russian, Mexican, Chinese, Italian, French, German, Greek, Egyptian, Polish, Turkish, Malayan, Tartar, Romani, and Jewish.

He trained at the Moscow Art Theatre drama school for nine years from the age of 19, where he was a pupil of Konstantin Stanislavski. During that time, he changed his name to the russified moniker Akim Mikhailovich Tamiroff.

During his time at the Moscow Art Theatre, he became acquainted with fellow Armenian Nikita Balieff. Following the Russian Revolution, Tamiroff and several other émigrés joined Balieff in Paris to form the La Chauve-Souris touring revue.

Tamiroff developed a prolific career despite his thick accent, appearing in at least 80 motion pictures over a span of 37 years.