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Efim Zakharovich Kopelian (Yefim Kopelyan) was born on April 12, 1912, in Rechitsa, Gomel province, Russian Empire (now Rechytsa, Gomel province, Belarus). He initially studied architecture at the Academy of Arts in Leningrad (St. Petersburg) but left after one year to join the Bolshoi Drama Theatre (BDT) as a stunt performer. In 1935, he graduated from the BDT Acting Studio and became a permanent member of its main troupe. In 1941, Kopelyan married actress Lyudmila Makarova.
For 43 years, Kopelyan was a leading actor at the Bolshoi Drama Theatre in Leningrad. He began his career under directors Aleksei Dikij and Boris Babochkin, achieving notable success under Georgi Tovstonogov’s leadership. Kopelyan shared the stage with a distinguished troupe, including prominent film stars such as Lyudmila Makarova, Oleg Basilashvili, Tatyana Doronina, Valentina Kovel, Svetlana Kryuchkova, Zinaida Sharko, Kirill Lavrov, Innokentiy Smoktunovskiy, Sergey Yurskiy, Vladislav Strzhelchik, Oleg Borisov, Evgeniy Lebedev, Vsevolod Kuznetsov, Nikolay Trofimov, Pavel Luspekayev, and many other notable Russian actors.
Kopelyan gained widespread fame in the Soviet Union through his iconic narration in the 1973 TV series Seventeen Moments of Spring. His distinctive and enigmatic voice in this role made him widely popular and the subject of many jokes. As a talented film actor, he played significant roles in the trilogy Neulovimye Mstiteli (1966–1971), Opasnye gastroli (1969), Povest o chelovecheskom serdtse (1976), and other well-known Russian films. Kopelyan regarded his role as Ataman in the epic film Dauriya (1972) as his finest cinematic performance.
Yefim Kopelyan was honored with the title People's Artist of the USSR. He passed away from heart failure on March 6, 1975, and was buried in the Necropolis of The Masters of Art "Literatorskie mostki" at Volkovskoe Cemetery in St. Petersburg, Russia.
