Nikolai Petrovich Batalov (; 6 December 1899 in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

– 10 November 1937 in MoscowКиноПоиск. Николай Баталов
/ref>) was a Soviet and Russian stage and film actor. He performed in a number of notable films between 1924 and 1931. He was awarded the title Merited Artist of the Russian Federation in 1933. He married

People's Artist of the USSR People's Artist of the USSR, also sometimes translated as National Artist of the USSR, was an honorary title granted to artists of the Soviet Union. The term is confusingly used to translate two Russian language titles: Народный арти ...

in 1921. He was actor Aleksei Batalov's uncle.

Life and career

Batalov joined the Second Studio of the

Moscow Art Theater The Moscow Art Theatre (or MAT; , ''Moskovskiy Hudojestvenny Akademicheskiy Teatr'' (МHАТ) was a theatre company in Moscow. It was founded in by the seminal Russian theatre practitioner Konstantin Stanislavski, together with the playwright ...

in 1916 and became a member of the theater’s main troupe in 1924. Batalov’s film debut was the supporting role of Red Army private Gusev in Yakov Protazanov’s science fiction film ''

Aelita ''Aelita'' (, ), also known as ''Aelita: Queen of Mars'', is a 1924 Soviet silent science fiction film directed by Yakov Protazanov and produced at the Mezhrabpom-Rus film studio. It was based on Alexei Tolstoy's 1923 novel of the same name ...

'' (1924). Batalov gained international recognition as the heroic worker Pavel Vlasov in Vsevolod Pudovkin’s ''

Mother A mother is the female parent of a child. A woman may be considered a mother by virtue of having given birth, by raising a child who may or may not be her biological offspring, or by supplying her ovum for fertilisation in the case of ges ...

'' (1926). In Abram Room’s controversial social drama ''

Bed and Sofa ''Bed and Sofa'' () is the English name of a 1927 Soviet Union, Soviet silent film originally released in the Soviet Union as ''Tretya meshchanskaya'', and is sometimes referred to as ''The Third Meschanskaya''. In addition to the title, ''Bed ...

'' (1927) played a more humorous character. The film was a fictionalized account of the relationship of the Russian poet

Vladimir Mayakovsky Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky ( – 14 April 1930) was a Russian poet, playwright, artist, and actor. During his early, Russian Revolution, pre-Revolution period leading into 1917, Mayakovsky became renowned as a prominent figure of the Ru ...

who lived with

Lilya Brik Lilya Yuryevna Brik (alternatively spelled ''Lili'' or ''Lily''; ; née Kagan; – August 4, 1978) was a Russian author and socialite, connected to many leading figures in the Russian avant-garde between 1914 and 1930. She was the lover and mus ...

and her husband

Osip Brik Osip Maksimovich Brik (; – 22 February 1945) was a Russian avant garde writer and literary critic, who was one of the most important members of the Russian formalist school, though he also identified himself as one of the Futurists. Life ...

for some years. Batalov became one of the most in demand Soviet silent film actors. He transitioned to sound film successfully with the first Soviet sound feature, Nikolai Ekk’s '' Road to Life'' (1931), in which he portrayed Communist educator Nikolai Sergeev who wins the trust of homeless juvenile delinquents and converts them to Soviet ideals. Lev Kuleshov cast Batalov in the title role of Jewish watchmaker Leo Horizon in ''

Horizon The horizon is the apparent curve that separates the surface of a celestial body from its sky when viewed from the perspective of an observer on or near the surface of the relevant body. This curve divides all viewing directions based on whethe ...

'' (1932), the second Soviet sound film, released in early 1933. Batalov also starred in a number of historical and adventure films such as ''The Shepherd and the Tsar'' (1935). Semen Timoshenko’s comedy '' Three Comrades'' (1935), in which Batalov played efficient manager Latsis, was also a success. He died in 1937 after a lengthy illness of severe tuberculosis.

Selected filmography

References

External links

* 1899 births 1937 deaths 20th-century Russian male actors Male actors from Moscow Honored Artists of the RSFSR Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour Russian male film actors Russian male silent film actors {{Russia-actor-stub Russian male stage actors Soviet male film actors Soviet male silent film actors Soviet male stage actors Tuberculosis deaths in the Soviet Union Burials at Novodevichy Cemetery 20th-century deaths from tuberculosis