The Biography

Heino Mandri (September 11, 1922 – December 3, 1990) was an Estonian film and stage actor, designated People's Artist of the Estonian SSR (1986). Heino Mandri was born in the independent Republic of Estonia. He studied acting at Tallinn State Conservatory (now, the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre) and graduated in 1946, when post-war Estonia was part of the Soviet Union. At that time Heino Mandri was accused of anti-Soviet activities and sentenced to imprisonment and hard labor in Gulag. From 1948 to 1954 he served the sentence in the Viatlag prison camp, Lesnoy, Kirov Oblast in Northern Russia. In 1954, Heino Mandri returned from the Viatlag prison camp to Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic. At that time he underwent Soviet censorship procedures before he was permitted to resume his acting career under the Soviet administration.