Akim Tamiroff was born in Georgia, but he was of Armenian descent. At the age of 19, he decided to pursue a career in acting and was chosen from among 500 applicants to attend the Moscow Art Theater School, where he studied under the great Konstantin Stanislavski.
Tamiroff launched his stage career, which included road company productions. In 1920, he came to New York City, which he liked so much that he decided to stay. He worked steadily with the Theatre Guild from the mid-1920s to the early 1930s.
Tamiroff was a short, stout man with a guttural baritone voice and a thick, generic Russian accent. He came west to Hollywood in 1932 to break into the movie business. He first appeared on screen in a bit part in "Okay America!" (1932). Until 1934, his appearances were usually uncredited, but he managed to stand out in several films.
Tamiroff's voice became his principal asset. He was much in demand, appearing in 12 films in 1934 and 15 films in 1935. He signed with Paramount in 1936 and was often loaned out to other studios. He went to Warner Bros. for one of his earliest big supporting characters, the sly Cuban mercantile agent Carlo Cibo in "Anthony Adverse" (1936).
Tamiroff was getting starring roles in "B" pictures, allowing him to show his range by playing everything from amiable rogues to thoroughly evil villains. Two of his roles from that time exemplify what a versatile actor he was. As French trapper and scout Dan Duroc in "North West Mounted Police" (1940),he was something of a rascal but with a sense of humor and dignity. However, as the vile Colonna in "The Corsican Brothers" (1941),he is irredeemably wicked, and deservedly dies in the longest sword duel on film.
For his role as the self-serving guerrilla Pablo in "For Whom the Bell Tolls" (1943),Tamiroff received his second Oscar nomination. He continued through the decade with more fine work, and in 1949 he joined the cast of "Black Magic" and met Orson Welles, who played late 18th-century charlatan Cagliostro. The two became friends and associates in Welles' later film projects.
Tamiroff's time was fairly divided between T.V. productions and films earlier in the decade and a surprising number of episodic TV and more films later. His three films with Welles were: "Confidential Report" (1955),"Touch of Evil" (1958),and "The Trial" (1962).
In "Touch of Evil", Tamiroff's Tijuana boss Uncle Joe Grandi - outlandishly bug-eyed alternately with fear or mercurial anger intensified by Welles' wild camera angles - stood out as a most intriguing character. He took a last fling at Broadway in 1959. For the 1960s Tamiroff continued to sample American T.V. but was still very active in American, French and Italian movies.
His voice and talent were still a draw in films like "Topkapi" (1964) and "Alphaville" (1965). In addition, he remained on call for Welles' meandering/unfinished "Don Quixote" (1992) as Sancho Panza for nearly twenty years.
One of the great character actors of film history, Akim Tamiroff appeared in over 150 screen projects.
