History Creator / AkimTamiroff

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/akim_tamiroff_1.jpg]]

Akim Mikhailovich Tamiroff (born Hovakim Tamiryants[[note]]Armenian: Հովակիմ Թամիրյանց, Russian: Оваким Тамирянц[[/note]]) was one of the very first Armenian film stars in Hollywood. He was born in Tiflis, Russian Empire[[note]](present-day Tbilisi, Georgia)[[/note]] and trained at the Moscow Art Theatre drama school for nine years, before emigrating to the United States in 1927.

One of the quintessential PlaysGreatEthnics character actors of Golden Age Hollywood, Tamiroff's swarthy features and exotic accent saw him playing practically every ethnicity and nationality under the sun (except, ironically enough, Armenians). He won the first ever Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor for playing a Spanish Republican revolutionary in the 1943 film version of ''Literature/ForWhomTheBellTolls'', and was nominated for Oscars twice. He also inspired the character Boris Badenov in ''WesternAnimation/RockyAndBullwinkle''.

!!Roles (partial)

* Chairman Georgi Koz in ''Series/TheManFromUncle'' (Episode: "The Jingle Bells Affair")

Akim Mikhailovich Tamiroff (born Hovakim Tamiryants[[note]]Armenian: Հովակիմ Թամիրյանց, Russian: Оваким Тамирянц[[/note]]) was an Armenian-American actor, considered one of the very first Armenian film stars in Hollywood. He was born in Tiflis, Russian Empire[[note]](present-day Tbilisi, Georgia)[[/note]] and trained at the Moscow Art Theatre drama school for nine years, before emigrating to the United States in 1927.

* NonSpecificallyForeign: He was an ethnic Armenian, born in Russia, with an Arabic-sounding name, who spoke five different languages. If his character wasn't explicitly from a foreign country, his swarthy features and strong accent meant that he was still vaguely "foreign".

* PlaysGreatEthnics

* {{Villains}}: His characters were usually at least morally-ambiguous or compromised, if not outright evil.

*

One of the quintessential PlaysGreatEthnics character actors of Golden Age Hollywood, Tamiroff's swarthy features and exotic accent saw him playing practically every ethnicity and nationality under the sun (except, ironically enough, Armenians). He won the first ever Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor for playing a Spanish Republican revolutionary in the 1943 film version of ''Literature/ForWhomTheBellTolls'', and was nominated for Oscars twice.