Zinovy Gerdt was not only a wonderful actor, but for many - the embodiment of honor and dignity, wisdom and wit, truly masculine attractiveness. How could a native of the town, a fitter by training, who hid behind a puppeteer’s screen due to a severe front-line wound, and who did not have a “star” appearance, achieve artistic fame and become the subject of universal, truly national love? People of different generations and professions who have been with Gerdt for many years talk about this. And the wife and friend of Z. E. Gerdt, Tatyana Aleksandrovna Pravdina, will introduce them to the reader.