Famed Georgian Actor Dies After Contracting COVID-19

TBILISI — Popular Georgian actor Kakhi Kavsadze, who was well-known in the former Soviet Union, has died at the age of 85 of complications caused by COVID-19.

Media reports cited Kavsadze’s friends as saying that the actor died on April 27 at the First University Hospital in Tbilisi.

Kavsadze was initially hospitalized with the coronavirus in late November and released in December after his health improved.

But in February, he was hospitalized again with pneumonia symptoms and had been treated in hospital since then.

Kavsadze was a leading actor at Tbilisi’s Shota Rustaveli Theater. He had played roles in many theater performances and more than 80 films since 1957.

He gained prominence across the Soviet Union after he played the role of Black Abdulla in the extremely popular movie “White Sun of the Desert” in 1970.

His other most-noted work included roles in movies such as Melodies Of Vera Quarter, The Wishing Tree, Repentance, Lives of Don Quixote and Sancho, and A Chef in Love.