Veteran Actor Asadzadeh Honored at Eivan-e-Shams

Veteran actor Dariush Asadzadeh, 93, was honored at a ceremony at Eivan-e-Shams Hall in Tehran (affiliated to the Art and cultural Organization of Tehran Municipality) on May 15, for 75 years of artistic endeavors in theater, cinema and TV.

The documentary ‘Life and Nothing Else’, directed by Ebrahim Shafiei, on the life and works of Asadzadeh was shown for the first time to the public in Iran at the event in the presence of a large number of actors and fans, ISNA reported.

It was previously screened at festivals in Canada and Chile. Veteran actors Ali Nassirian, Mohammad Ali Keshavarz, Akbar Abdi, Hasan Pourshirazi, Mohammad Kasbi, Alireza Khamseh, well-known traditional singer Aminollah Rashidi and a number of other actors speak about their experience with Asadzadeh in the documentary.

Before watching it, Asadzadeh briefly said, “Do not get upset seeing the film. Whenever I watch it, I cry.”

Veteran actress Pouri Banayi, film director Ali Shah-Hatami and documentarian Shafiei were among the speakers at the ceremony.

Born in Kermanshah, Asadzadeh graduated from the Tehran Acting Academy and began his career at the age of 18 on the Tehran Theater stage where he continued to work for many years.

At the age of 33, the National Arts Center sent him to Paris to participate in the theater festival there. Upon his return, he began directing plays.

Later he traveled to the US to perform in the film ‘It happened in America.’ There he began his acting career as well as script writing. He returned to Iran in 1986 and started making films and taking on television projects.

Asadzadeh has appeared in over 80 films, 50 series and 10 plays. He is the author of the book ‘A Journey through the History of Theater in Iran’ which is a comprehensive source of theater from the pre-Islamic time in Iran up to the Islamic Revolution in 1979.