5th of Esfand is the anniversary of the death of Parviz Fannizadeh, one of the most famous actors in the history of Iranian cinema and the actor of the films “Storm”, “Deers”, ” My Uncle Napoleon” and “Tangsir”.
1979 was a time when most pre-revolutionary cinema actors and actresses were uncertain about their future and their career and the cinema industry had an unclear fate. In such circumstances, the Iranian art community lost a man whose death was marginalized at the height of the news of the revolution. If he had not played the role of Mash Qasem in “My Uncle Napoleon,” even the short news would not have been reflected in the media at the time.
Fannizadeh was born on January 25, 1938, in Tehran. Before his acting career, he was typist and editor of the Etelaat daily newspaper. In 1958, he went to drama classes, and with a group of his friends, he formed the “Golsorkh Theater” group. In 1961, he became a member of the “Pazargad Theater” group. He continued his activities as a professional theater actor, leaving his job in the newspaper and performing roles on stage and television. In 1966, he was hired by the Department of Dramatic Arts, “Department of Theater Programs.”
Some of the plays were: in the war zone, Tenant, François, Parvabandan, woes to the defeated, one servant and two bosses, Hasan the bald, Blessed the tolerant, the unburied and buried dead, the glass zoo, exception and rule, the story of a miser, the bragging soldier, the informant, transformation, hand over hand, Ay ba kolah and ay bi kolah, a stick in a handgun, a post office, Jafar Khan is back from the West, Post office, a scarecrow in the night, a Santiago express train, passengers, wolves, and six characters in search of the author.
His talent and flexibility in playing his roles open his way into the cinema. Playing the role of a talkative and an opposing intellectual in the play “Clay and mirror” (1965), by Ebrahim Golestan was his first appearance in front of a movie camera. After another small role in the movie “Cow” (Mehrjouie 1969), he played a role in the film Ragbar (Beizai 1971) and then Tangsir (Amir Naderi 1973). His performances in Mr. Hekmati (Storm) and Ismail (Tangsir) showed one of his outstanding features. He then starred in Deers (Kimiayi 1975) and The Blind Owl (Derambakhsh 1975).
Fannizadeh also proved his talent in the role of “Mash Qasem” in “My Uncle Napoleon” (Taqavi 1975), and in the role of Malijak in “Sultan Saheb Qaran” (Hatami 1976).
He has played in other movies such as Stranger (Shapoor Gharib 1972), Sham-e Akhar (Shahyar Ghanbari 1976), Friday(Kamran Qadakchian 1977), Indians (Gholam Hossein Lotfi 1978), Bagh-e Bloor (Nasser Mohammadi 1978) forbiddance (Davood Nejad 1978) and “Sentenced to Death” by Mohammad Bagher Khosravi 1981). While shooting this film he died and Reza Karam Rezai took over his role.
In his acting career, he played in 15 movies, 27 plays, and two memorable TV series. Fannizadeh passed away at the age of 42. A famous phrase of his dialogue of My uncle Napoleon is carved on his gravestone: “Just 4 steps left to the grave”. His daughter, Donya Fannizadeh, inherited her father’s art in acting in the cinema, and theatre and TV, and got famous by her work in the movie “Kolah ghermezi (red hat)”. Donya Fannizadeh died at the age of 49.
Khor Izad Day, in the month of Dey, according to the current Iranian calendar, is the anniversary of the death of Ashu Zarathushtra Spitama, the great messenger with whom, as friends and foes agree, the history of monotheism in the world begins, with its teachings and perceptions.
Khor or Hoor, meaning the sun, is the eleventh day of each month in the Zoroastrian calendar. In the Gathas khowankhor means the sun, in Avesta it is written as hor, and in the ancient Persian it is hor or khorshid. Horakhshita is mentioned next to Khowarashta in the Gathas without ashta. Khorasan is also one of the ancient names and the name of the eastern lands. It was also called Khor-asan meaning “rising” (of the same sun).
