Ivan Vasylyovych Mykolaichuk (; 15 June 1941 – 3 August 1987) was a Ukrainian

actor An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

, producer, and screen writer. He is best known for playing the

Hutsul The Hutsuls (Rusyn language, Hutsul/; ; ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group spanning parts of western Ukraine and northern Romania (i.e. parts of Bukovina and Maramureș). In Ukraine, they have often been officially and administra ...

Ivan in '' Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors'' (1964), based on Mykhailo Kotsyubynsky's book of the same name. He received the Komsomol prize of Ukraine in 1967, and the title of '' Meritorious Artist of the

Ukrainian SSR The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, abbreviated as the Ukrainian SSR, UkrSSR, and also known as Soviet Ukraine or just Ukraine, was one of the Republics of the Soviet Union, constituent republics of the Soviet Union from 1922 until 1991. ...

'' in 1968. He posthumously received the Shevchenko National Prize.

Biography

Ivan Vasylovych Mykolaichuk was born in a village of Chortoryia ( Kitsman Raion) in Western Ukraine during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

in a family of peasants. Mykolaichuk graduated from a high school of the neighboring village of Brusnytsia ( Kitsman Raion). In 1957, he finished the Chernivtsi Music College and in 1961 he graduated from the theater-studio of the Chernivtsi Music-Drama Theater of Kobylyanska. On 29 August 1962, Mykolaichuk married an actress of the theater (later the People's Artist of Ukraine) Maria Karpiuk. In 1963–1965 he studied in the Karpenko-Karyi Memorial Kyiv Institute of Theatrical Arts (instructed by Viktor Ivchenko). During those years, Ivan debuted in the Leonid Osyka's movie ''Dvoye'' (The two). His films were often controversial and suppressed by the

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

authorities; sometimes his films were banned from being screened by the

KGB The Committee for State Security (, ), abbreviated as KGB (, ; ) was the main security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 to 1991. It was the direct successor of preceding Soviet secret police agencies including the Cheka, Joint State Polit ...

. Due to incidents with the Parajanov's film '' Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors'' Mykolaichuk was banned from film industry for some five years by the party authorities being recognized as ''too nationalistic'' and a ''person of hostile ideology''. ''Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors'', which received the Gold Prize of the 7th

Moscow International Film Festival The Moscow International Film Festival (, Transliteration, translit. ''Moskóvskiy myezhdunaródniy kinofyestivál''; abbreviated as MIFF) is a film festival first held in Moscow in 1935 and became regular since 1959. From its inception to ...

in 1971, was perceived almost as a hostile attack by nationalistic forces. In 1979 with the help of Vladimir Ivashko, who worked as the secretary of ideological work in the Kharkiv Regional Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine, Mykolaichuk was given permission to direct the film '' Babylon XX'', his directorial debut. Mykolaichuk died in August 1987 at the age of 46. His house in Chortoryia has since been turned into a museum. He left a lasting legacy on Ukrainian film. Many consider him to be the greatest actor in the history of Ukrainian film. He also inspired other Ukrainian artists, actors, singers and writers who were searching for their Ukrainian identity in the Soviet era.

Filmography

Source:List of films

Accolades

Lenin Komsomol Prize Lenin Komsomol Prize () was a Soviet Union, Soviet annual award for the best works in science, engineering, literature or art carried out by young authors of age not exceeding 33 years. Komsomol was the abbreviated name of The Communist Union of ...

of the

(1967) * Distinguished Artist of the

(1968) * Shevchenko State Prize of the Ukrainian SSR (1988 ''posthumously'') for performance of roles of Taras Shevchenko, Ivan Paliychuk, Davyd Motuzka, Hryhoriy Hromov, Petro Dzvonar, Fabian, and Hryhoriy Korchak in films "Dream", "Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors", "Weed", "Commissars", "White Bird with Black Mark", "Babylon-XX", and "Such late, such warm Autumn"

References

External links

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Biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mykolaichuk, Ivan 1941 births 1987 deaths Entertainers from Chernivtsi Oblast Ukrainian male film actors Recipients of the Shevchenko National Prize Kyiv National I. K. Karpenko-Kary Theatre, Cinema and Television University alumni Soviet male film actors Burials at Baikove Cemetery Dovzhenko Film Studios actors