Roman Kartsev

Roman Andreyevich Kartsev (Russian: Рома́н Андре́евич Ка́рцев, born Roman Antshelevich Katz (Russian: Рома́н А́ншелевич Кац); 20 May 1939 – 2 October 2018) was a Russian entertainer of stage, theater and cinema.

He was Honored Artist of the RSFSR (1990), People's Artist of the Russian Federation (1999). Actor of the Moscow Theater of Miniatures under the leadership of Mikhail Zhvanetsky. For several decades he performed in a duet with Viktor Ilchenko (Kartsev and Ilchenko).

Roman Kartsev was born in Odessa to Sura-Lea (in life as Sonia) Ruvinovna Fuksman and Antshel Zelmanovich Katz. The maternal grandfather, after whom the artist was named, was a synagogue cantor. The spoken language in the family was Yiddish. Before the war, Roman lived with his parents in Tiraspol, where in 1939–1941 his father was a striker for the Tiraspol team in the second league of the USSR Football Championship. During the Great Patriotic War, together with his mother and brother was in evacuation in Omsk; the grandparents who remained in Odessa died. After the demobilization of the father in 1946, the whole family returned to Odessa.