Savely Kramarov — actor (soviet legend) with roots in the USSR
Savely Kramarov was a Soviet-Russian comedian and actor born in Moscow who became the most beloved comic character actor in Soviet cinema before defecting to the United States in 1981. In Hollywood he appeared alongside Clint Eastwood in Firefox and appeared in 2010: The Year We Make Contact.
Tracing the roots — Moscow
Born in Moscow in 1934, Kramarov was one of the most recognisable faces in Soviet cinema — his bug-eyed, gap-toothed comedy making him beloved by generations of Soviet audiences. His defection was enabled by an extraordinary manoeuvre: he petitioned to emigrate to Israel on religious grounds (his grandfather was Jewish), and the Soviet authorities, embarrassed, eventually let him go.
Moscow. At the time, this region was one of the fifteen republics of the Soviet Union.