Russian screen and theater actor Roman Madyanov, known for his roles as a military officer in the TV show “Soldaty” and as a corrupt official in the critically acclaimed 2014 drama “Leviathan,” passed away at the age of 62, media reported Wednesday.
“You’re loved by the entire nation,” Madyanov’s friend and state television host Yekaterina Strizhenova wrote on Telegram. “How hard it is to accept this news. Roma, God rest your soul!”
While the cause of death was not officially disclosed, the tabloid Moskovsky Komsomolets reported that Madyanov had been battling lung cancer. Family friends told the newspaper that the actor had refused hospitalization despite suffering from a loss of appetite and occasional loss of consciousness over the past week.
Madyanov was found dead at his home in the village of Boyarkino, in the Moscow region, shortly before noon on Wednesday.
Born in 1962, Madyanov began his career as a child actor in the early 1970s. He later graduated from the Russian Institute of Theater Arts and spent nearly his entire professional life performing at Moscow’s Mayakovsky Theater, which had canceled performances earlier in September due to his reported illness.
In 2022, Madyanov voiced support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, calling his anti-war colleagues who fled the country “traitors.”
