Urmas Ott

Urmas Ott (April 23, 1955 – October 17, 2008) was an Estonian television and radio journalist, and famous talk show host in Soviet Union, Estonia^[1] and Russia.^[2]

Urmas Ott
Born	23 April 1955 Otepää, Valga County, Estonia
Died	17 October 2008(2008-10-17) (aged 53) Tartu, Estonia
Awards

Ott was born in Otepää^[3] and first appeared on the Soviet Channel One in 1986 as host of Television Acquaintance (Russian: Телевизионное знакомство)^[4] show. He later worked on Russian Channel One and Estonian ETV, hosting "Urmas Ott and Others" on the latter channel.

Career

On television he interviewed well-known people, including Anatoly Karpov, Boris Spassky, Irina Rodnina, Ilya Glazunov, Chuck Norris^[5] and Alla Pugacheva.^[6] His style was intimate, usually facing the interviewee rather than the audience.^[7] He explained humorously that he appealed to Russian viewers because "I'm not one of them and I'm not foreign."^[7]

Personal life

He lived in Tallinn^[7] and died on 17 October 2008 in Tartu^[8] from a heart attack after a bone marrow transplantation undertaken to remedy leukemia.

Books

• Playback (1994)
• Carte Blanche (1995)
• Encore! Neeme Järvi (2001)
• Isikuraamat Erika Salumäest "Surplace" (2002)
• Isikuraamat Vardo Rumessenist "En face" (2002)
• Asmerid. Topeltpeeglis (2007)