Pyotr Mamonov, Russian rock musician and actor, dies at 70

Russian rock musician, poet and actor Pyotr Mamonov has died at the age of 70

Russia Obit Mamonov (Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

Pyotr Mamonov, a rock musician, poet and actor who was a prominent figure in Russia's cultural scene for decades, has died. He was 70.

Mamonov died Thursday at a Moscow hospital after two weeks in an artificial coma on a ventilator after testing positive for the coronavirus.

After founding the rock group Zvuki Mu (Sounds of Mu) in 1982, Mamonov became an underground cult figure in Moscow. He gained wider recognition after Soviet restrictions on rock music and alternative culture were lifted in the late 1980s as part of then-leader Mikhail Gorbachev s reforms.

Mamonov further expanded his fame through acting. He performed in numerous films and theater productions in the 1990s.

After becoming deeply religious, he moved to a distant village and left the the cultural scene behind in the late 1990s. But he made a triumphant comeback as an actor, starring as a devout Russian Orthodox monk in Pavel Lungin's 2006 movie “Island” and as Russian Czar Ivan the Terrible in Lungin's 2009 film “Tsar.”

Mamonov suffered a heart attack and underwent a surgery in 2019.

In a condolence letter to Mamonov's family. Russian Culture Minister Olga Lyubimova hailed him as “bright, charismatic and strong."

Funeral arrangements were not immediately announced.