Ilya Zalmanovich Baskin (, ; born 11 August 1950), known professionally as Elya Baskin, is a Latvian-American character actor. He first gained attention for his role in Moscow on the Hudson (1984), as Robin Williams' character's best friend Anatoly. He is best known for playing Peter Parker's landlord, Mr. Ditkovich, in Spider-Man 2 (2004) and Spider-Man 3 (2007). He also played cosmonaut Max Brailovsky in 1984's 2010: The Year We Make Contact.
Early life Baskin was born to a Jewish family in Riga, Latvian SSR, Soviet Union, the son of Frieda and Zalman Baskin.Elya Baskin profile, filmreference.com; accessed 11 March 2015. He attended the Theatre and Variety Arts College in Moscow and won a Festival of Young Actors Award at the Moscow Comedy Theatre.
Personal life He immigrated to the United States in 1976. He is often cast as Eastern European characters.
Filmography Film Year Film Role1974 Telegram (Телеграмма) Teacher (uncredited) Not a Word About Football (Ни слова о футболе) Music teacher Three Days in Moscow (Три дня в Москве) Passerby 1977 The World's Greatest Lover Actor with Bad Breath1979 Butch and Sundance: The Early Days Book-keeper Being There Karpatov 1980 Raise the Titanic Marganin 1981 American Pop Tuba Player1984 Moscow on the Hudson Anatoly Cherkasov 2010 Maxim Brailovsky1986 The Name of the Rose Severinus Streets of Gold Klebanov Combat High Interpreter1988 Vice Versa Professor Kerschner Zits Vladimir Timoshenko1989 DeepStar Six Dr. Burciaga The Slice of Life Foreign ManBig Man on CampusTaxi Driver (uncredited) Enemies, A Love Story Yasha Kobik 1993 The Pickle Russian Cab Driver1994 Love Affair Ship Captain New York Skyride 1996 Spy Hard Professor Ukrinsky Forest Warrior Buster1997 Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery General Borschevsky Air Force One Andrei Kolchak1999 October Sky Ike Bykovsky Running Red Strelkin 2000 Thirteen Days Anatoly Dobrynin 2001 Heartbreakers Vladimir, Kremlin Waiter 2004 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover Dr. Stepniak 2004 Spider-Man 2 Mr. Ditkovich2005 Wheelmen Vladimir Confessions of a Pit Fighter Nick2006 The Elder Son Uncle Fedya Color of the Cross Caiphas2007 Spider-Man 3 Mr. Ditkovich The Dukes Murph Say It in Russian Victor 2008 God's Smile or The Odessa Story Tad, a lawyer 2009Angels & Demons Cardinal Petrov 2011Transformers: Dark of the Moon Cosmonaut Dimitri 2013Jimmy P: Psychotherapy of a Plains Indian Dr. Jokl 2014The Hive Yuri Yegorov 2015Silent Screams Andrei 2019Supervized Brian 2024Reagan B.E. Kertchman
Television Year Series Role 1972 Big School-Break (Большая перемена) Student 1986–1987 MacGyver Yuri Demetri 1989 Roseanne Foreign Man 1989–1990 True Blue Yuri1991 Northern Exposure Nikolai Appolanov Quantum Leap Major Yuri Kosenko 1993–1996 Walker, Texas Ranger Corp. Yuri Petrovsky / Misha 1995 The Larry Sanders Show Nicolae 1996 Ellen Sergei 1996–1997 Mad About You Vladimir 1999 Felicity Bela 1999–2000 Becker Alexi2001 The Invisible Man Dimitri Yevchenko Deadly Force 2 (Убойная сила-2) Makarov 2005 The West Wing Mr. Zubatov 2005 Alias Dr. Josef Vlachko2007 Criminal Minds Arseny Lysowsky Heroes Ivan Spector 2012–2013 Rizzoli & Isles Dr. Vladmir Papov 2014 Castle Sergei Vetotchkin 2016 MacGyver Alexander Orlov 2017 Madam Secretary Dito Pirosmani 2018 Homeland Viktor Makarov, Russian Ambassador2021 Chicago MedDr. Mischa Lenkov2023 The Rookie: FedsViktar Saroka
Video games
Command & Conquer: Yuri's Revenge (2001) – Additional voices SOCOM II U.S. Navy SEALs (2003) – Additional Russia VO Prey (2017) – Yuri Andronov Call of Duty: Vanguard (2021) – Boris Petrov The Lamplighters League (2023) – Fedir Volchymorda
References
External links