The article is an analysis of the actor’s work creating the verbal portrait of a famous historical figure (L. Lemke playing L. Trotsky), focusing on the communicative language means’ function in his speech. The comparison with the genuine archive audio recordings of Trotsky’s speeches is made. The article shows that the selection of communicative units in an actor’s speech serves two purposes – ensuring the recognition of the image of the famous orator and adding to his character certain features that are dictated by the film director’s interpretation of the role.