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- Director
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- Producer
Boris Sagal was born on 18 October 1923 in Yekaterinoslav, Ukrainian SSR, USSR [now Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine]. He was a director and writer, known for The Omega Man (1971), The Name of the Game (1968) and Rich Man, Poor Man (1976). He was married to Marge Champion and Sara Macon. He died on 22 May 1981 in Portland, Oregon, USA.- Director
- Special Effects
- Writer
Aleksandr Ptushko was born on 19 April 1900 in Lugansk, Lugansk uyezd, Yekaterinoslav Governorate, Russian Empire [now Luhansk, Luhansk Oblast, Ukraine]. He was a director and writer, known for The Stone Flower (1946), Sadko (1953) and Ruslan i Lyudmila (1972). He died on 6 March 1973 in Moscow, Russian SFSR, USSR [now Russia].- Music Department
- Composer
- Writer
Prokofiev was a multi-talented man and an innovative composer. He learned piano from his mother and chess from his father. He always had a chess set on his piano, and was able to play against the chess champions of his time. He studied music with Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, graduated with highest marks from the St. Petersburg Conservatory (1914), and was rewarded with a grand piano. He emigrated from Russia after the revolution, and made successful concert tours in Europe and the U.S. In 1918 in New York he met Spanish singer Carolina Codina (Lina Llubera), they married in Paris, in 1923, and had two sons.
Prokofiev's radiant optimism and his childlike personality shines in his popular orchestral suite "Peter and the Wolf" and in the "Classical Symphony". His humorous irony and wit is popping up in piano pieces named "Sarcasms", also in his five piano concertos, ballets and film scores, all written in his instantly identifiable musical language. He wrote film scores for The Czar Wants to Sleep (1934), Alexander Nevsky (1938), Cinderella (1961), and the two-part Ivan the Terrible, Part I (1944), directed by Sergei Eisenstein.
All of his music, that he created while outside of the Soviet Union, was sometimes criticized as cosmopolitan and anti-Soviet. Prokofiev divorced his wife in 1948. His ninth sonata, dedicated to Svyatoslav Richter, was welcomed warmly, but another official critic on his music and life started in 1948. He died in 1953, the same day of Joseph Stalin.- Leonid Brezhnev was a communist leader of the Soviet Union who restored a conservative, centralized state, initially raising living standards and bringing the country to its height but ultimately causing economic stagnation and disproportionate military growth. This process exhausted the Soviet economy and eventually led to collapse of the Soviet Union.
Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev was born on December 19, 1906, in Kamenskoe Russian Empire (now Dniprodzerzhynsk, Ukraine). He went to Dnepropetrovsk Industrial College. There he joined the Communist Party youth union (Komsomol) in 1923, and became a full member of the Communist Party in 1931. He had no adult memories of life under Tsar Nicholas II and was too young to have participated in the leadership feud after the death of Lenin. During the purges of the "Great Terror" under Joseph Stalin Brezhnev proved himself a loyal Stalinist, suitable for the ranks of the Communist hierarchy. In 1935 he was drafted in a tank school. There he started a career as Political Commissar; and in 1936 was transferred to Regional Government, rising to the Party Secretary of Dnepropetrovsk in 1939. On June 22, 1941, the day the Nazis invaded the Soviet Union, Brezhnev was assigned to evacuate military industries before the Nazis reached his city. During WWII Brezhnev was assigned as Political Commissar to Transcaucasian Front; then to 1st Ukrainian Front. There chief Political Commissar was Nikita Khrushchev, who patronized Brezhnev's career since 1931. He was promoted to chief Political Commissar of the 4th Ukrainian Front, rising to a Maj. General. He was in Prague on May 9, 1945 when the War ended. Brezhnev took part in the Victory Parade on June 22, 1945, on the Red Square in Moscow, and saluted to Joseph Stalin, who stood atop the mausoleum of Lenin.
Brezhnev was promoted by Nikita Khrushchev to 1st Communist Party Secretary of Moldavia in 1950. In 1952 he was promoted to the candidate member of the Politburo, and had a meeting with Joseph Stalin in the Kremlin. "What a handsome Moldavian", said Stalin of Brezhnev. The death of Stalin on March 5, 1953, was followed by Khrushchev's takeover as the Head of the Communist Party in September, 1953. Main opponents were eliminated in a series of political executions, including that of Lavrenti Beria in December, 1953. Others were exiled, or degraded, like Marshal Georgi Zhukov. The cast of Soviet Leadership was changed. In 1953 Brezhnev was made the Chief of Political Directorate of the Army and the Navy (GPU). In 1955 he was made the 1st Communist Party Secretary of Kazakhstan. In 1956 Nikita Khrushchev denounced the dictatorship of Joseph Stalin in his Secret Speech to the 20th Congress of the Soviet Commuinst Party. In 1957 Brezhnev backed Khrushchev in a power-fight against Vyacheslav Molotov, Georgi Malenkov, and Lazar Kaganovich. In 1959 Brezhnev was promoted to Second Secretary of the Central Committee. In May 1960, he became the President of the Supreme Soviet, the nominal head of the Soviet Union.
Brezhnev, like many Soviet leaders, enjoyed many privileges, such as free villas and beach houses, valuable gifts, hunting and drinking parties. He was also using his secretaries and nurses for sex. But Brezhnev's adultery and alcoholism backfired in his own family - his daughter, Galina Brezhneva, modeled her personal life after her father and turned her life into an endless series of drinking parties and compromising love affairs. In 1961, while being married to a circus acrobat, Galina Brezhneva, then 32, met the 18-year-old actor Igor Kio, so she urgently divorced her husband and, using her name, eloped with the boy to a southern resort of Sochi. Her honeymoon lasted only 9 days. Enraged Soviet leader sent KGB to destroy her new family. Igor Kio was interrogated and pushed away from the Brezhnev's daughter, but she became revengeful and continued the affair with Kio for another three years, and later added more problems to her father's life.
In the late 50s and early 60s, the Soviet Union was undergoing liberalization, called "The Thaw" initiated by Nikita Khrushchev, who also initiated reforms in the Soviet government. While some people supported Khrushchev's reforms, many ranking communists were unhappy with the changes. Khrushchev's Thaw culminated in 1961 with the removal of Joseph Stalin's body from the Lenin's mausoleum on the Red Square, which further angered the hardliners. But at the same time, Khrushchev approved the construction of the Berlin Wall and caused many scandals while visiting foreign nations, which complicated international relations, culminating in Cuban Missile Crisis. Internal situation in the Soviet Union was rapidly deteriorating, because Khrushchev's agricultural reform failed, causing disastrous situation with food supplies, massive food lines triggered public unrest and Khrushchev thoughtlessly ordered the hungry people to be killed by the Red Army forces. Brezhnev used Khrushchev's mistakes to gain support for himself: he plotted a coup against Khrushchev and gathered several top-ranking communists to conspire against Nikita Khrushchev in order to stop his efforts to reform the Soviet Union.
On October 14, 1964, Brezhnev with co-conspirators Aleksey Kosygin and Nikolay Podgorny dismissed Nikita Khrushchev from office and denounced him. Khrushchev was forced into retirement under a house arrest on a small farm outside of Moscow. Brezhnev reversed liberalization, ended the "Khrushchev Thaw", and enforced censorship and total control over information, cultural life and education. In his May 1965 speech commemorating the 20th anniversary of Victory in WWII, Brezhnev mentioned Stalin positively. The onset of the "Cold war" caused 'freezing' of the Soviet economy. Entrepreneurial people went underground creating a parallel black market. The official economy relied on cheap labor and subsidies from oil and gas exports. The Soviet Military-Industrial Complex was somewhat efficient due to higher wages and ruthless control by the KGB and Soviet Army. Decay was still creeping into those bastions of communism. The arms race became unaffordable by the mid 1960's. 30% of the Soviet economy was directly or indirectly working for the arms race. Stockpiling of costly weapons undermined living standards that led to a fall in the birth rate, a shortage of labor, and an economic degradation. The country was pushed into a dead end.
Brezhnev played the script of Stalin which led the Soviet Union on a collision course with the world, and eventually to self-destruction. Control by fear and intimidation was back again. People were living hopeless lives having no choice. Workers of collective farms lived without identification documents up until 1970's. Undocumented citizens at collective farms were disposable. Migrants were used as industrial slaves, for symbolic pay. Wages were set by the state and did not depend on productivity or quality. The economy was governed by the state 5-year plan. This mostly ignored the world and domestic market signals; and lacked the incentives for innovation and efficiency. Teachers were forced to indoctrinate children of all ages from kindergartens through schools and universities. Total control and manipulation was demonstrated twice a year at annual May Day parades and Great Revolution parades on November 7. Military parades were accompanied by marching masses of industrial workers and managers, doctors and scientists, as well as teachers and students from all schools and universities. Exemplary obedient people were rewarded with better food and perks. Taming millions to obedience by fear and hunger led to a massive degradation of human rights, poor spirituality, lack of initiative and creativity, and decay of public health and vitality. The country of almost three hundred million people became stuck in stagnation, inefficiency, and apathy. Brighter students were taken into the military-industrial system, brainwashed and locked there for life with little choices. Opponents were locked in labor camps, mostly in Siberia. There, millions were working various hard labor jobs in grand-scale economic projects; like the Baikal-Amur railroad (BAM). Other dissidents were labeled as mentally ill and forcibly confined to mental hospitals. Since the Communist Revolution of 1917, people had been continually stripped of their land and property. Under Khrushchev and Brezhnev the destruction of independent farming was finalized. By the 1960's poverty and anxiety pushed masses to migrate to cities. Mass-construction of cheap panel buildings was lagging behind. Millions of families shared poor housing, hostels, and dorms in cities. Villages were deserted. Collective farms decayed. Agricultural output fell below the levels of the Tsar's age. Seven thousand churches were destroyed across the Soviet Union. Spiritual life was dominated by ugly propaganda. People were blinded by fear and pushed to wrong values. Meaningful human virtues were replaced with fake ideals of ruthless communism. Propaganda idolized members of the Soviet Politburo, their portraits were decorating every school and factory along with countless portraits and statues of Vladimir Lenin.
Political manipulations and brainwashing of millions led to devaluation of life itself. Immoral behavior became a massive problem. In 1966 Brezhnev was asked not to rehabilitate Joseph Stalin, in a letter signed by 25 distinguished intellectuals, including Andrei Sakharov, Igor Tamm, Pyotr Kapitsa, Korney Ivanovich Chukovskiy, Valentin Kataev, Viktor Nekrasov, Petr Korin, Maya Plisetskaya, Oleg Efremov, Innokentiy Smoktunovskiy, Georgi Tovstonogov, Mikhail Romm, Marlen Khutsiev, Boris Slutsky, Konstantin Paustovsky, Vladimir Tendryakov, Dmitri Shostakovich, and other Soviet luminaries. But Brezhnev's government retaliated with massive censorship. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn was interrogated and intimidated. His writings were also banned. Trials of intellectuals like Andrey Sinyavskiy, Yuri Daniel, Joseph Brodsky, and others was only the tip of the iceberg. The head of KGB, Vladimir Semichastny, wrote a note on "Anti-Soviet activity of creative intellectuals". It listed the films '33' by director 'Georgi Danelia' and 'Na odnoi planet' by director Ilya Olshvanger. The KGB was angry at actors: "Today they play Lenin, tomorrow a merchant, after tomorrow a drunkard." Neo-Stalinist course was enforced by the leaders who were raised under Stalin and did not learn anything better than to abuse the enslaved people. Blinded leaders only tried to slow the movement to a dead end. Restrictions on travel and studies abroad blocked the learning of the achievements of other nations of the world. Information technology and computers made by Soviet Military Industries were incompatible and obsolete. Total control by the KGB led to stagnation and inefficiency. The brightest people defected and fled the Soviet gloom, causing the "Brain drain" in science and culture. In the 1970s the flow of Jewish emigration was initiated by reuniting families. The KGB caused financial and political obstacles to every emigrating person; but people were leaving at any cost. Aggressive foreign policy manifested in support for revolutionary regimes and spreading the Soviet political and military presence in Third World countries. National resources were wasted on controversial military operations at the expense of growing domestic problems including poverty and frustration of the people.
Brezhnev's regime crushed the Prague Spring of 1968, fought the Chinese Army over a border dispute in 1969, sent Soviet Tanks and Air Force to Egypt and Syria against Israel in the 1970's, as well as in North Vietnam against the French and Americans. The invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 undermined international credibility of the Soviet Union. Andrei Sakharov wrote an open letter to Brezhnev calling for a stop to the war. 50 nations boycotted the 1980 Olympics in Moscow. Crackdown on intellectual freedom and human rights included the use of psychiatric terror, arrests, and the exile of dissidents. The head of the KGB, Yuri Andropov, declared Andrei Sakharov the "enemy No.1." Sakharov was forcefully exiled from Moscow to the militarized 'closed' city of Gorky. He was placed under tight surveillance and restricted from any contacts. His wife Yelena Bonner was also under tight surveillance.
During the 1970s Brezhnev's health declined dramatically as he became increasingly dependent on alcohol and drugs; but on his 70th birthday he made himself a Generalissimus Marshal of the Soviet Union, similar to that of Joseph Stalin. Brezhnev accepted over 200 decorations and awards, including awards from all pro-Soviet governments, except China. Brezhnev accepted countless expensive gifts and amassed a collection of vintage cars and other bribes. His personal vanity and behavior was replicated at all levels of the Communist Party and led to massive corruption. The old Brezhnev lost his acting abilities and couldn't even read the script. People were joking. The ugly reality was reflected in its leader. The youngest Politburo Member Mikhail Gorbachev was contemplating reforms. Brezhnev suffered a stroke in May 1982. He died of a heart attack on November 10, 1982; and was buried by the Kremlin Wall. He was succeeded by Yuri Andropov, who died just 16 months later. He was replaced by Konstantin Chernenko, who died in just 13 months. Then came Mikhail Gorbachev, but the country was already locked in a dying mode.
Brezhnev's daughter, Galina, was married four times and was regarded as a wild-child by the Soviet authorities. Her wild drinking parties often ended in escapades with younger men. In 1982, she was seen wearing jewels previously reported as stolen, she was also connected to jewel smugglers, so she was tried for stealing jewels from a celebrity, but was acquitted, while her powerful father was still the leader of the Soviet Union. Her third husband was convicted of bribery and corruption and sentenced to twelve years correction term in a hard-labor camp. In the 1990s, a British TV filmed a visit to the home of Galina Brezhneva, where she was interviewed while being drunk and demonstrating disgraceful behavior. At that time she was living with a mechanic who was 29 years younger. She remained impossible to deal with, so after numerous complaints from her neighbors and upon request of her own daughter, Galina Brezhneva was placed in a Moscow psychiatric hospital where she died in 1998. She was laid to rest in the prestigious Novodevichy cemetery in Moscow, Russia. Brezhnev's grandson, Andrei Brezhnev, joined the Communist Party of Russia in 2005. Brezhnev's granddaughter, Victoria, was robbed several times and is now divorced and unemployed. - Nikolai Gritsenko was a notable Russian actor known for the role as Kareni in Anna Karenina (1967) by director Aleksandr Zarkhi, and as Nazi General in TV series 'Semnadtsat mgnovenii vesny' by director Tatyana Lioznova.
He was born Nikolai Olimpiyevich Gritsenko on July 24, 1912, in Yasinovataya, Donetsk province, Russian Empire (now Donetsk, Ukraine). In 1934 he graduated from Makeevka School of musical drama, then studied acting in Kiev. From 1937 - 1940 he studied acting at Shchukin Theatrical School of the Vakhtangov Theatre in Moscow, graduating in 1940 as an actor.
From 1940 to 1979 Nikolai Gritsenko was a permanent member of the troupe at Vakhtangov Theatre in Moscow. There his stage partners were such actors as Mikhail Ulyanov, Ruben Simonov, Boris Zakhava, Mikhail Astangov, Vladimir Etush, Varvara Popova, Irina Kupchenko, Natalya Tenyakova, Yuliya Borisova, Lyudmila Maksakova, Lyudmila Tselikovskaya, Marianna Vertinskaya, Nina Ruslanova, Nikolai Plotnikov, Vasiliy Lanovoy, Yuriy Yakovlev, Vyacheslav Shalevich, Andrei Abrikosov, Grigori Abrikosov, Boris Babochkin, Nikolai Timofeyev, Aleksandr Grave, and Evgeniy Karelskikh, among others. His most memorable stage performances were such roles as Fedor Protasov in "Zhivoy Trup" (1962) (aka.. The Living Corpse) after the eponymous novel by Lev Tolstoy, and the title role as Prince Myshkin in Dostoyevsky's "Idiot" (1958). Gritsenko created the role as Tartalya in 'Princess Turandot' (1963), and delivered many acclaimed performances in the legendary Vakhtangov's production of Carlo Gozzi's comedy.
Nikolai Gritsenko was designated People's Actor of the USSR (1964). He was awarded the State Prize of Russia for his stage work, and was awarded the State Prize of the USSR (1951) for his role in the film Dream of a Cossack (1951). He died of a heart failure on December 8, 1979, in Moscow, Russia, Soviet Union, and was laid to rest in the Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow, Russia. - Daniil Sagal was born on 27 October 1909 in Yekaterinoslav, Russian Empire [now Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine]. He was an actor, known for Blokada: Luzhskiy rubezh, Pulkovskiy meredian (1974), Meksikanets (1956) and Blokada: Leningradskiy metronom, Operatsiya Iskra (1977). He died on 18 July 2002 in Moscow, Russia.
- Aleksandr Khvylya was born on 15 July 1905 in Aleksandro-Shultino, Yekaterinoslav Governorate, Russian Empire [now Kostiantynivka Raion, Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine]. He was an actor, known for The Secret Brigade (1949), The Night Before Christmas (1961) and Frosty (1965). He died on 14 October 1976 in Moscow, RSFSR, USSR [now Russia].
- Emmanuil Geller was born on 8 August 1898 in Yekaterinoslav, Russian Empire [now Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine]. He was an actor, known for Kidnapping, Caucasian Style (1967), Kashchei the Immortal (1945) and Operation 'Y' & Other Shurik's Adventures (1965). He died on 6 May 1990 in Moscow, USSR [now Russia].
- Writer
- Producer
Sam Spewack was born on 16 September 1899 in Bakhmut, Yekaterinoslav Governorate, Russian Empire. Sam was a writer and producer, known for My Favorite Wife (1940), Move Over, Darling (1963) and Week-End at the Waldorf (1945). Sam was married to Bella Spewack. Sam died on 14 October 1971 in New York City, New York, USA.- Actor
- Director
Viktor Stanitsyn was a legendary actor and director of the Moscow Art Theatre, best known for his role as Prince Ilya Rostov in the Academy Award-winning film War and Peace (1965) by director Sergey Bondarchuk.
He was born Viktor Yakovlevich Gyoze (later changed name to Stanitsyn) on May 2, 1897, in Yekaterinoslav, Russian Empire (now Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine). From 1918 - 1924 he studied acting under Michael Chekhov, following the system of Konstantin Stanislavski at 2nd Studio of Moscow Art Theatre (MKhAT), graduating in 1924 as an actor.
From 1924 - 1976 Viktor Stanitsyn was a permanent member of the troupe at Moscow Art Theatre (MKhAT). There his stage partners were such renown Russian actors as Konstantin Stanislavski, Olga Knipper-Chekhova, Ivan Moskvin, Alla Tarasova, Anatoli Ktorov, Olga Androvskaya, Angelina Stepanova, Nikolay Khmelyov, Mikhail Yanshin, Aleksey Gribov, Boris Livanov, Mikhail Kedrov, Mark Prudkin, Anastasiya Georgievskaya, Vasili Toporkov, Mikhail Bolduman, Pavel Massalsky, and the next generation of MKhAT actors - Oleg Efremov, Innokentiy Smoktunovskiy, Kira Golovko, Iya Savvina, Anastasiya Voznesenskaya, Irina Miroshnichenko, Oleg Tabakov, Andrey Myagkov, Vladimir Kashpur, Viktor Sergachyov, Vyacheslav Nevinnyy, Sergey Sazontev, Avangard Leontev, Igor Vasilev, and others. Stanitsyn's acting career spanned over 50 years, and he was a member of the board at Moscow Art Theatre (MKhAT). His most important stage works were such roles as Molchalin in "Gore ot Uma" (aka.. Woe from Wit), a play by Aleksandr Griboyedov, and Mister Pickwick in a popular stage adaptation of the Dickens's novel.
Viktor Stanitsyn received the Stalin's Prize five times (1944, 1947, 1949, 1951, and 1952), was designated People's Actor of the USSR (1948), and was awarded the Stanislavsky State Prize of Russia (1974). He was married to actress Elena Ponsova and the couple had one daughter, Olga Stanitsina. Stanitsyn died of a heart failure on December 26, 1976, in Moscow, and was laid to rest in Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow, Russia.- Actor
- Director
Igor Vladimirov was born on 1 January 1919 in Yekaterinoslav [now Dnipropetrovsk], Ukraine. He was an actor and director, known for Lishniy bilet (1983), Ori okeanis saidumloeba (1957) and Ukroshcheniye stroptivoy (1973). He died on 21 March 1999 in St. Petersburg, Russia.- Actress
- Director
Tatyana Pavlova was born on 10 December 1890 in Yekaterinoslav, Russian Empire [now Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine]. She was an actress and director, known for Creature della notte (1934), Black Magic (1949) and Everybody's Woman (1934). She died on 7 November 1975 in Grottaferrata, Lazio, Italy.- Actress
- Writer
Natasha Lytess was born on 16 May 1911 in Ekaterinoslav, Yekaterinoslav Governorate, Russian Empire [now Dnipro, Ukraine]. She was an actress and writer, known for Once Upon a Honeymoon (1942), Comrade X (1940) and The House on Telegraph Hill (1951). She died on 12 May 1963 in Zurich, Switzerland.- Writer
- Director
- Sound Department
Lev Arnshtam was born on 15 January 1905 in Yekaterinoslav, Yekaterinoslav uyezd, Yekaterinoslav Governorate, Russian Empire [now Dnipropetrovsk, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, Ukraine]. He was a writer and director, known for The Great Glinka (1946), Romeo & Juliet (1955) and Zoya (1944). He died on 26 December 1979 in Moscow, RSFSR, USSR [now Russia].- Actor
- Director
Boris Zakhava was notable Russian actor and director best known for his portrayal of General Kutuzov in epic film War and Peace (1965) by director Sergey Bondarchuk.
He was born Boris Evgenyevich Zakhava on May 12, 1896, in Pavlograd, Russian Empire. His father, named Evgeni Zakhava, was a graduate of the Moscow Imperial Cadett School and served as an officer at the Russian Imperial Army. Young Boris Zakhava followed his father's steps; from 1910 - 1913 he served at the 3rd Moscow Imperial Cadett School, graduating as Imperial Army officer in 1913. While being a Cadett, Zakhava engaged in amateur acting and was involved in the Centennial Celebration of the Victory over Napoleon in 1912, in Moscow.
From 1913-1916 Zakhava studied at the acting class of Vsevolod Meyerhold and also took acting at the Moscow Vakhtangov studio under the legendary actor-director Yevgeni Vakhtangov. In 1916 Zakhava was hired as an actor by Vakhtangov and worked with the Vakhtangov Theatre for the rest of his life. In 1925, he became teaching director at the acting studio, and also took position of the leading director at the Vakhtangov Theatre Company. In 1932 Zakhava produced and directed the acclaimed drama 'Egor Bulychev i drugie' (Yegor Bulychev and Others) by Maxim Gorky. From 1939 Zakhava became director of the Shchukin Theatrical School (formerly Vakhtangov's acting studio). He promoted student actors and directors to the main stage, resulting in successful 1939 production of 'Solomennaya shlyapka' (aka.. Straw hat) by young director Andrey Tutyshkin. In 1958 Zakhava himself directed the production of Shakespeare's Hamlet starring Mikhail Astangov in the title role.
From 1916 - 1976 Boris Zakhava was member of the Vakhtangov Theatre in Moscow. From 1924 - 1966 he was chairman of the Artistic Soviet at Vakhtangov Theatre, a position created specially for Zakhava to help him mitigate some tensions between members of the troupe and management. Zakahava proved himself as a skilled problem solver who protected his actors from the Soviet political pressures. Zakhava worked with such actors as Mikhail Ulyanov, Ruben Simonov, Boris Zakhava, Mikhail Astangov, Varvara Popova, Yuliya Borisova, Lyudmila Maksakova, Lyudmila Tselikovskaya, Marianna Vertinskaya, Nina Ruslanova, Irina Kupchenko, Natalya Tenyakova, Nikolai Plotnikov, Yuriy Yakovlev, Vladimir Etush, Vyacheslav Shalevich, Andrei Abrikosov, Grigori Abrikosov, Boris Babochkin, Nikolai Gritsenko, Nikolai Timofeyev, Vladimir Osenev and Vasiliy Lanovoy, and other notable Russian actors.
Boris Zakhava was awarded the State Prize of the USSR in 1952. He was decorated by the Soviet government for his achievements on stage and in film. Zakhava was honored with the title of the People's Artist of the USSR in 1967. He was best known for his portrayal of Kutuzov in the epic War and Peace (1965), directed by Sergey Bondarchuk. Boris Zakhava was also a legendary acting coach. He taught several generations of Russian actors, such as, Mikhail Ulyanov, Yuriy Yakovlev, Vasiliy Lanovoy, Lyudmila Maksakova, Nikolai Gritsenko, Nikolai Timofeyev, Rolan Bykov, Andrey Mironov, Aleksandr Kalyagin, Leonid Filatov, Vyacheslav Shalevich, Leonid Kanevskiy, Mikhail Derzhavin, Aleksandr Shirvindt, Aleksandr Zbruev, and many other renown actors.
Boris Zakhava was among the leading actors and director of the 20th century acting school in Russia. He was professor of Soviet State Institute of Cinema (VGIK), chair of directing at Moscow State Theatrrical Institute (GITIS), and Doctor of Art History. He was designated People's Actor of the USSR. Boris Zakhava died of a heart failure on November 25, 1976, in Moscow, and was laid to rest in the Novodevichi Convent Cemetery in Moscow, Russia.- Véra Korène was born on 17 July 1901 in Bakhmut, Yekaterinoslav Governorate, Russian Empire [now Artemivsk, Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine]. She was an actress, known for Café de Paris (1938), Sept hommes, une femme (1936) and La danseuse rouge (1937). She died on 20 November 1996 in Louveciennes, Yvelines, France.
- Actor
- Director
- Music Department
Boris Chirkov was arguably the most popular film celebrity in the 1930s and 1940s Soviet Union, since he starred in the leading role as Maxim in the acclaimed film-trilogy by director Grigoriy Kozintsev.
He was born Boris Petrovich Chirkov, on August 13, 1901, in Losovaya-Pavlovka, Ekaterinoslav province, Russian Empire (now Losovaya, Ukraine). He was the older of two children in the family, his younger sister was named Galina. His mother, named Olga Ignatevna (nee Nebogatikova), was the niece of the Soviet Leader Vyacheslav Molotov. Young Boris Chirkov was brought up in the home of his mother in the town of Nolinsk, Vyatka province, in Nothern Russia. There he started acting at Nolinsk Town Theatre. He was also brought up as a religious Christian, and with his good voice and vocal talent, he was a regular singer with the Boys Choir at Nolinsk Church.
In 1919 he graduated from junior college in the town of Nolinsk, then worked as a teacher at Nolinsk secondary school. 1921 he moved to St. Petersburg (then Leningrad). From 1921-1922, he studied engineering at Leningrad Polytechnical Institute for a year, then switched to acting at Institute for Theatrical Arts, graduating as an actor in 1926. His classmates were Nikolay Cherkasov, Glikeriya Bogdanova-Chesnokova, Aleksandr Borisov, Nikolai Simonov, and other notable Russian actors. Chirkov began his professional acting career at the Leningrad Theatre for Young Audience. There his first role was as Sancho Panza opposite Nikolay Cherkasov who played the tallest Don Quixote ever in Russia. Chirkov was very short, and Cherkasov was extremely tall, and both were very talented, so the pair looked hilarious. During the 1920s Chirkov performed in a popular stand-up comic trio with Nikolay Cherkasov and Vladimir Berezov. Comedy and humorous view of life was Chirkov's nature; humor was also his best and the only shield from the grim reality of the controlled life in the Soviet Union under communists.
In 1927 Chirkov made his film debut as an actor in a silent film 'Moi syn', then played supporting role as Orsky in a silent film Luna sleva (1929). He had a scene opposite Boris Babochkin in the legendary film Chapaev (1934). Chirkov shot to fame with the leading role as revolutionary leader, Maxim, in the popular film-trilogy by director Grigoriy Kozintsev, made at Lenfilm Studios in Leningrad, during the 1930s. Everything came together in the film; acting by Boris Chirkov, directing by Kozintsev and Leonid Trauberg and the music by Dmitri Shostakovich. Chirkov's fame as "Maxim" was so big that people from all over Russia would write letters addressed to "Maxim, Leningrad", and he would answer all, because he came from a peasant family and was aware how hard was the life for all simple people in Russia. At that time he was awarded the Stalin's Prize, hardly a match to his tremendous fame and status as a national celebrity. In 1940, during the dictatorship of Joseph Stalin, Chirkov was ordered to leave Leningrad and to move to Moscow, as one of the most popular Russian actors who was turned into a propaganda figure and a "role model" for the Soviet people. He was awarded the second Stalin's Prize for his brilliant performance as composer Mikhail Glinka in the eponymous film. From 1950 - 1965 he was a permanent member of the troupe at Pushkin Drama Theatre in Moscow. There his stage partners were such actors as Faina Ranevskaya, Olga Viklandt, Boris Smirnov, Nikolai Petrov, Mikhail Nazvanov, Marina Kuznetsova and other notable Russian actors. From 1966 - 1982 he was a permanent member of the troupe at Gogol Drama Theatre in Moscow. There he shared stage with Viktor Khokhryakov, Emiliya Milton, Aleksei Krasnopolsky, Vladimir Samoylov, and other notable Russian actors. Chirkov was awarded the Order of Lenin three times, more than any political leader in the Soviet Union with the exception of Leonid Brezhnev. His autobiographical book titled "Azorskie ostrova" was dedicated to his mother.
Chirkov confessed to his family that he still believed in God, while being obligated to join the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. He refused to be a recipient of a state pension from the Soviet state, quietly mentioning that there were too many people who really needed more help than him. Chirkov survived four heart attacks over the course of his life, but the fifth heart attack that hit him during his high-level visit to Kremlin, in 1982, left him with only a few hours to live. Boris Chirkov had his fifth heart attack during his visit to Kremlin, Moscow, where he was invited for a high-level meeting as the member of the Committee for Lenin's Prize Awards. He was taken by an ambulance to an ER in Moscow, and died of a heart failure just a few hours later on the same day, May 28, 1982. His family had to wait for four days to get a personal permission from Leonid Brezhnev to have a State Funeral for the most decorated film star in the history of Russia; the permission was granted and Chirkov was laid to rest in Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow, Russia.- Director
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Leonid Lukov was born on 2 May 1909 in Mariupol, Yekaterinoslav Governorate, Russian Empire [now Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine]. He was a director and writer, known for Bolshaya zhizn (1939), Miners of the Don (1951) and Uz jauno krastu (1955). He died on 24 April 1963 in Leningrad, RSFSR, USSR [now St. Petersburg, Russia].- Director
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Aleksandr Faintsimmer was born on 31 December 1906 in Yekaterinoslav, Russian Empire [now Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine]. He was a director and assistant director, known for The Secret Brigade (1949), U nikh est Rodina (1950) and Schaste (1935). He died on 21 March 1982 in USSR [now Russia].- Actor
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Vladimir Strizhevsky was born in 1892 in Yekaterinoslav, Russian Empire [now Dnepr, Ukraine]. He was an actor and director, known for Le sergent X (1932), Spielereien einer Kaiserin (1930) and La carne e l'anima (1945). He died in 1970 in the USA.- Editor
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Worked as a film editor in movies and television from the 1930's through the mid-1960's. During this period he worked for Charlie Chaplin's studio, Columbia Pictures, Roy Rogers, and others. He was employed for a time by evangelist Billy Graham, whom he said was his favorite employer due to Graham's gentle management style. In contrast, much earlier in his career, Berlin left Chaplin' s studio because he disliked the way in which Charlie Chaplin mistreated his brother Sidney.- Writer
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Grigoriy Braginsky was born on 27 November 1892 in Yekaterinoslav, Russian Empire [now Dnepr, Ukraine]. Grigoriy was a writer and director, known for Almaz (1936), Tasnvetserordy (1929) and Yeni horizont (1940). Grigoriy died on 13 August 1964.- Actor
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Alexander Polonsky was born in 1860 in Taganrog, Yekaterinoslav Governorate, Russian Empire [now Rostov oblast, Russia]. He was an actor, known for Taras Bulba (1924), Knyaz Demir Bulat (1916) and Der Adjutant des Zaren (1929). He died on 16 June 1944 in Paris, France.- Actor
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Serge Nadaud was born on 14 May 1906 in Bakhmut, Yekaterinoslav Governorate, Russian Empire. He was an actor, known for Tintin et le lac aux requins (1972), Maison de poupée (1954) and The Last Turning (1939). He died on 18 July 1995 in Cannes, Alpes-Maritimes, France.- Mark Reizen was born on 3 July 1895 in Zaitsevo, Bakhmut Uyezd, Yekaterinoslav Governorate, Russian Empire [now Horlivka, Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine]. He was an actor, known for Aleko (1953), Intrigan (1935) and Khovanschina (1959). He died on 25 November 1992 in Moscow, Russia.