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Petr VesklyarovHonored Artist of the Ukrainian SSR
Date of Birth: 10.06.1911
Country:  Ukraine |
Content:
Biography of Petro Vesklarov
Petro Vesklarov, born Pinhas Vesklar in 1911, was a Ukrainian actor of theater and cinema, as well as a television presenter. He was awarded the title of Honored Artist of the Ukrainian SSR in 1973. Vesklarov was born in Talne, Kiev Governorate (now Cherkasy Oblast) in a poor Jewish family. From an early age, he performed in a local drama club.
Early Career
From 1932 to 1940, Vesklarov worked as an actor in the Cherkasy Workers and Peasants Theater. He also served as the head of a club and artistic director in the village of Grebenka. During the Great Patriotic War, he was captured and escaped from the camp to occupied Kiev. There, he found work on the railway and organized a drama group, which performed until the city was liberated in 1943. After the liberation, Vesklarov was forced to leave Kiev and became an actor at the T. Shevchenko Volyn Ukrainian Music Theater in Lutsk, where he worked from 1946 to 1959. It was in Lutsk that he met his future wife, Galina, who worked as a secretary at the theater. They had a son named Bogdan, who also became an actor.
Role of Ded Panas
From 1959 to 1982, Vesklarov worked at the Kyiv Film Studio named after Oleksandr Dovzhenko. His most famous role was Ded Panas, in which he read bedtime stories for children for over twenty years. He first performed this role on Ukrainian radio from 1962 to 1986 and later on television in the program "Spokoinoi Nochi, Deti" ("Goodnight, Children"). Vesklarov would often illustrate the stories himself and wrote the scripts. His traditional greeting, "Dobryi vechir vam malyatka, lyubi khlopchyky y divchatka!" ("Good evening, little ones, dear boys and girls!"), became memorable to generations of young viewers.
Legacy
Vesklarov frequently wore an embroidered shirt, which led to accusations of nationalism. However, attempts to remove him from the airwaves in the 1970s were unsuccessful. Children would address their letters specifically to him as "Grandpa Panas" and the television studio would receive piles of mail addressed to him. Vesklarov's performances were known for his improvisation and adding interesting details to the approved scripts. He became a beloved figure for children throughout Ukraine. Despite an incident involving a controversial phrase that was attributed to him, which caused some controversy, Vesklarov's contributions to Ukrainian children's television remain highly regarded.
It is worth noting that around the same time that Ded Panas disappeared from the screens, another iconic figure of children's television, the puppet Katrusya and her "partner" Ekaterina Lozovenko, also disappeared.
