Russian president Dmitry Medvedev and PM Vladimir Putin congratulated the actor and decorated him with the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, 2nd grade. Dzigarkhanyan worked as an assistant cameraman at the Armenfilm
studios in 1953-1954. He began his acting career in 1955 at the Russian Stanislavsky Theater in Yerevan, and in 1967 moved to the Lenkom Theatre in Moscow.
In 1969 he joined the Mayakovsky Academic Theater. Dzhigarkhanyan was awarded the Armenian Republican State Prize in 1975 for Triangle and again in 1979 for Snow in Mourning. He appeared as a chief gangster in
the 1979 TV series The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed, playing opposite Vladimir Vysotsky's police investigator.
In 1981 he played a leading role as nazi Max Richard with an international cast (Claude Jade, Alain Delon and Curd Jurgens) in the Russian-French Movie Teheran 43. The roles of Armen Dzigarkhanyan differ so much from each other that one could say there’s no specific dramatic type for this versatile actor.
Dzigarkhanyan was given the title of People's Artist of the USSR in 1985. In 1996 he created his own drama theatre in Moscow, where his birthday will be celebrated on October 10 along with the theatre’s 15th anniversary.
Armen Dzigarkhanyan, one of the best-loved actors of Russian audiences, has appeared in more than 170 films, according to IMDb. This does not include TV series, voiceovers and uncredited appearances. Some suggest the real figure is over 200 films, and this figure gave him a place in the Guinness Book of World Records.
