People’s Artist Rafael Kotanjyan has died. The Public TV Company of Armenia reported.

Rafael Artyom Kotanjyan was born in 1942 in Tbilisi. In 1946 he moved to Yerevan.

From 1960 to 1964 he studied at the Faculty of Acting of the Yerevan Institute of Fine Arts and Theater.

In 1964-1966 he worked as an actor-director at the Shirvanzade Theater in Zangezur.

In 1966-1968 he was an actor of “Arshaluys” youth theater.

In 1968-1970 he attended higher courses in television directing in Moscow.

In 1970-1993 he worked at the Hrachya Ghaplanyan Drama Theater in Yerevan as an actor-director.

He has starred in many local and foreign films.

In 2003 he was awarded the title of People’s Artist of the Republic of Armenia, the Gold Medal of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Armenia and the Movses Khorenatsi Medal of the Republic of Armenia.