On January 13, 2025, the 101st anniversary of the birth of one of the most beloved Bulgarian actors – Georgi Kaloyanchev.
Georgi Todorov Kaloyanchev (Kalata) was born in Burgas on January 13, 1925. After completing his military service, he enrolled in the former theater school in Sofia. Among his fellow students in Professor Sarchadzhiev's class were also Katya Zehireva, Kosta Tsonev and Katya Dineva.
Among the unforgettable characters he played are: the weightlifter in “Specialist in Everything“ (1962), Kondov in “The Wolf“, the inspector in “The Inspector and the Night“, the magician in “The Longest Night“ (1969), the Rickshaw in “The Tethered Balloon“ (1969), Giordano Bruno in the Italian production Galileo Galilei“ (1969), Aesop in “Aesop“ (1971), “An Unexpected Vacation“ (1981), “The Night Vigils of Pop Vecherko“ (1981), “Good luck, Inspector!“ (1984), “Where are you going?“ (1986) “The Big Games“ (1999) and “Rhapsody in White“ (2002). He has acted in over 50 films.
In 1990, director Ivan Nichev, based on a script, filmed “Bai Ganyo is leaving for Europe“ with Georgi Kaloyanchev in the role of the famous Bulgarian. It turned out that this was one of the most watched films in the first half of the 1990s.
In 2006, a kind of sequel “Ganyo Balkanski has returned from Europe“ was released. In the same year, after many other awards and distinctions, Kaloyanchev also received the Union of Artists Award for Lifetime Achievement.
The greatest award for him remains the title of People's Artist – in the truest sense of an actor, a national favorite for a period of nearly half a century.
He is the author of the autobiographical book “I am alive, I am yours!“ (1998; 2000 – 2nd edition).
He died on December 18, 2012 in Sofia, at the age of 87. He was buried in the Central Sofia Cemetery. A street in the “Dragalevtsi“ quarter in Sofia is named after Georgi Kaloyanchev.