Nikolay Konstantinovich Cherkasov (russian: Никола́й Константи́нович Черка́сов; 14 September 1966) was a

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...

and

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...

. People's Artist of the USSR (1947).

Career

He was born in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

(later Petrograd in 1914, and Leningrad from 1924 to 1991) into the family of a railway clerk. From 1919 he was a

mime artist A mime artist, or simply mime (from Greek , , "imitator, actor"), is a person who uses ''mime'' (also called ''pantomime'' outside of Britain), the acting out of a story through body motions without the use of speech, as a theatrical medium ...

in Petrograd's Maryinsky Theatre, the Bolshoi Theatre, and elsewhere. After graduating from the Institute of Stage Arts in 1926, he began acting in the

Young Spectator's Theatre Young Spectator's Theatre (Театр Юного Зрителя, ТЮЗ) was a standard name of a theatre for children and youth in many cities of the Soviet Union, usually referred to by this abbreviation: тюз, TYuZ (sometimes translated as "T ...

in Leningrad. Cherkasov debuted in film with the supporting part of hairdresser Charles in Vladimir Gardin’s Pushkin biopic ''

The Poet and the Tsar ''The Poet and the Tsar'' (russian: Поэт и царь, Poet i tsar) is a 1927 Soviet silent biopic film directed by Vladimir Gardin and Yevgeni Chervyakov.Christie & Taylor p.432 Plot Tsar Nikolai I is infatuated with Natalia Goncharova, wi ...

'' (1927). Cherkasov was one of

Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secretar ...

's favorite actors and played title roles in

Sergei Eisenstein Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein (russian: Сергей Михайлович Эйзенштейн, p=sʲɪrˈɡʲej mʲɪˈxajləvʲɪtɕ ɪjzʲɪnˈʂtʲejn, 2=Sergey Mikhaylovich Eyzenshteyn; 11 February 1948) was a Soviet film director, scree ...

's monumental

sound films A sound film is a motion picture with synchronized sound, or sound technologically coupled to image, as opposed to a silent film. The first known public exhibition of projected sound films took place in Paris in 1900, but decades passed befor ...

'' Alexander Nevsky'' (1938) and Parts I & II of '' Ivan the Terrible'' (1945 & 1946; though Part II was not officially released until 1958 for political reasons). He also played Jacques Paganel in the memorable 1936 adaptation of Jules Verne's '' The Children of Captain Grant''. In the 1947

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

''Springtime'' Cherkasov appeared alongside other icons of Stalinist cinema,

Lyubov Orlova Lyubov Petrovna Orlova (russian: link=no, Любовь Петровна Орлова ; – 26 January 1975) was a Soviet and Russian actress, singer, dancer and People's Artist of the USSR (1950). Life and career She was born to a family o ...

and

Faina Ranevskaya Faina Georgievna Ranevskaya (russian: Фаина Георгиевна Раневская, born Faina Girschevna Feldman, — 19 July 1984), is recognized as one of the greatest Soviet actresses in both tragedy and comedy. She was also famous for ...

. For the role of Alexander Popov in the film '' Alexander Popov'' in 1951, he received a

Stalin Prize Stalin Prize may refer to: * The State Stalin Prize in science and engineering and in arts, awarded 1941 to 1954, later known as the USSR State Prize The USSR State Prize (russian: links=no, Государственная премия СССР, ...

of the second degree. In 1957, Cherkasov portrayed

Don Quixote is a Spanish epic novel by Miguel de Cervantes. Originally published in two parts, in 1605 and 1615, its full title is ''The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha'' or, in Spanish, (changing in Part 2 to ). A founding work of West ...

in director Grigori Kozintsev's screen adaptation of the novel. In 1941, Cherkasov was awarded the

; in 1947, he was named a People's Artist of the USSR. He wrote his memoirs, "Notes of a Soviet Actor" in 1951. He died in Leningrad in 1966 and was buried in

Tikhvin Cemetery Tikhvin Cemetery (russian: Тихвинское кладбище) is a historic cemetery in the centre of Saint Petersburg. It is part of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, and is one of four cemeteries in the complex. Since 1932 it has been part of the ...

, the "Necropolis of the Masters of Art", at the

Alexander Nevsky Lavra Saint Alexander Nevsky Lavra or Saint Alexander Nevsky Monastery was founded by Peter I of Russia in 1710 at the eastern end of the Nevsky Prospekt in Saint Petersburg, in the belief that this was the site of the Neva Battle in 1240 when Alex ...

. The image of Cherkasov in the role of Alexander Nevsky is on the Soviet

Order of Alexander Nevsky The Order of Alexander Nevsky ( ''orden Alexandra Nevskogo'') is an order of merit of the Russian Federation named in honour of saint Alexander Nevsky (1220–1263) and bestowed to civil servants for twenty years or more of highly meritorious ser ...

, because there are no known lifetime portraits of Nevsky."Житие благоверного супермена"
lenta.ru. 21 October 2013

Filmography

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cherkasov, Nikolay 1903 births 1966 deaths 20th-century Russian male actors Male actors from Saint Petersburg People from Sankt-Peterburgsky Uyezd Russian State Institute of Performing Arts alumni Third convocation members of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union Fourth convocation members of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union Honored Artists of the RSFSR People's Artists of the RSFSR People's Artists of the USSR Stalin Prize winners Lenin Prize winners Recipients of the Order of Lenin Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour Russian male actors Russian male film actors Russian male silent film actors Russian male stage actors Soviet male actors Soviet male film actors Soviet male silent film actors Soviet male stage actors Burials at Tikhvin Cemetery Residents of the Benois House