Kamil Maharramov

Kamil Maharramov is remembered as one of the Azerbaijani cinema actors who left a mark through his supporting roles. The character most people first think of when his name comes up is Gambar in the film Dervish Blows Up Paris (1976). The dispute between Hatamkhan agha's servant and the French botanist Monsieur Jordan over the names of plants is one of the film's most memorable scenes. The Pasha he played in An Incident on the Road, the Hojat he played in I Compose Songs, the Huseyn he played in I Want to Get Married, as well as the comic characters he created in the satirical newsreel Mozalan, have not been forgotten by audiences to this day — each is watched, loved, and loved again. Many lines spoken by these characters have become a kind of proverb among film lovers. In total the actor's filmography includes more than 40 screen works. Kamil Maharramov was born on 6 May 1941 in Shamakhi. There were three children in the family — two brothers and a sister. Their father was a tailor. The family later moved to Baku, and while at secondary school Kamil enrolled in the drama club. People's Artist Haji Ismayilov remembers Kamil Maharramov this way: "I first saw Kamil in Lutfi Mammadbayov's drama club. Even then he had a great interest in the craft. Every day after school he would come to the club and watch even the rehearsals of plays he wasn't performing in. Lutfi muallim greatly admired his talent. But one day we heard that Kamil had enrolled in the Power Engineering College. Fate had it that, because of his immense love for the craft, he had to choose acting again. He was gentle and a very warm-hearted person by nature. Whether during our time at the club or afterwards, our relationship was always good. To this day I have never heard any of our fellow artists say they were ever offended by Kamil." Honoured Artist Shamil Suleymanov, who worked alongside Kamil Maharramov for a long time at the satirical newsreel Mozalan, also remembers him fondly: "When Kamil Maharramov's name comes up, I see a smile on people's faces, but also a certain sorrow. Because his life was not at all easy. From childhood he had to deal with his mother's illness and the family's hardship, and later he himself lived with difficulty. As far as I know, no one else in his family was involved in the arts. It was his great love for the craft that brought him to it. After graduating from the Institute of Arts he was assigned to the Sumgait theatre. He was one of the most cheerful people in the Mozalan collective. Our collective had a tradition: when someone had a birthday or a happy occasion, no separate invitations were sent — we simply put up a notice on the office door: 'On such and such a day it is so-and-so's wedding or birthday. You are all invited.' Even after he left the collective, whenever he heard about such occasions he would attend. He used to say, 'So what if I've left the job — I know you still put up the general invitation on the door.' He was very loyal in friendship." We tried calling the Sumgait Musical Drama Theatre, where the actor once worked, to find his family's address, but could not obtain exact information. We only learned that his wife, Mahira khanum, is a teacher at one of the educational institutions. Looking through the archives, we found her recollections of her husband in one of her interviews: "In Baku, their apartment window looked out onto the yard of our school. Every day, as soon as the bell rang, I would look up and there Kamil would be, standing in front of me. He was such a cheerful, wonderful person that I fell for him quickly. We got married, and after he finished the institute and was sent to Sumgait, I was overjoyed, because Sumgait was a quiet city. He had good roles in the theatre and was also cast in films. We had two children. Soon we were even given an apartment in Sumgait." Unfortunately, Kamil Maharramov passed away early. Had he not died so young, one can only imagine how many fascinating characters his talent would have created. In cinema he played small but distinctive roles. Not every actor is capable of conveying character through a small role — it takes a special talent to say with mimicry and gesture what words sometimes cannot, as he did with Huseyn in I Want to Get Married. The actor passed away in October 1993. The theatre bus had dropped everyone else off at home, but Kamil Maharramov had fallen asleep on the bus and the driver could not wake him. So the driver left the bus door open so that when he woke up he could get out and go home. In the morning they found that he had passed away right there in his seat.