Boris Babochkin
Encyclopedia
Boris Andreyevich Babochkin was a well-known Soviet film
and theatre
actor
and director
. Boris Babochkin was one of the first internationally recognized stars of the Soviet-Russian cinema. He rose to fame with the title role in the classic film Chapaev
(1934) and later, in the 1950s, he played a sharp anti-communist character on stage in Moscow, for which he was censored by the Soviet Communist Party.
on the Volga river in Russia
. His father, Andrei Babochkin, came from a family of Russian merchants and traders. The father had owned a successful trade business in the city of Saratov on Volga, then sold his business and worked for a railroad. The Babochkins lived in Krasny Kut, a small station near Saratov. His mother, a school teacher, was fond of Russian classical literature, and young Babochkin was brought up in an intellectually stimulating environment. Young Boris Babochkin and his brother were fond of acting and were involved in amateur theatre productions in Saratov. At age 14 Boris joined the Red Army
and served for one year in the same front on Volga and the Urals with the legendary commander Chapayev, whom he would later portray, although they never met.
in Saratov, but he soon dropped out and moved to Moscow
to pursue an acting career. At first he enrolled in the well-known drama school of Michael Chekhov
affiliated with the Moscow Art Theatre
. There Babochkin studied with Michael Chekhov for a few months. He admired Chekhov, but eventually their personalities clashed. In 1921, he left Chekhov's school to join "Molodye Mastera" studio, under Illarion Pevtsov, a well-connected figure in Soviet film and theatre. There, with his elder brother Vitaly Babochkin, Boris worked his first professional season on stage. In the following six years he played seasonal gigs on stage with various troupes in Moscow and Saratov, then in Samarkand
and Bishkek in Central Asia
, and then in Voronezh
, Mogilev
in Belarus
, and Berdichev in Ukraine
.
. He married a young ballerina, Ekaterina Georgieva, and they became involved in the city's cultural life. Babochkin continued his studies of theatre and film, and made his film acting debut at Lenfilm
Studio in 1927. In 1934 he played the leading role in Chapaev, a classic film that brought him global fame and local jealousy. During the 1930s he played leading roles at the Leningrad State Puskin Drama Theater and at the Bolshoi Drama Theater under director Aleksei Dikiy
. In 1937, when Dikiy was arrested and imprisoned in the Gulag camps, Babochkin was hurt and suffered an emotional crisis. However, he survived the first wave of Stalin's
Great Purge
. In 1937 Babochkin stepped in as artistic director of the Bolshoi Drama Theater (BDT) in Leningrad and worked in that position until 1940.
he made several trips to Leningrad, besieged by the Nazis
, where he supported the defenders of Leningrad under the Siege
and helped lift their spirits with his performances, while they were struggling to survive. After the war he started a teaching career at the Moscow State Film Institute (VGIK). In 1952 Babochkin became artistic director of the Moscow Drama Theater named after Pushkin. There he invited his old director Aleksei Dikiy to direct Shadows, a play by Saltykov-Shchedrin. In Shadows Babochkin played one of his best roles ever — Klaverov, a corrupt career politician, resembling a typical Soviet bureaucrat. For this role Babochkin was viciously attacked in the main Soviet newspaper Pravda
. His critic was none other than Ekaterina Furtseva
, who was then Mayor of Moscow and later was made Minister of Culture of the Soviet Union and who eventually committed suicide.
. Official Soviet censorship, which was under the control of Furtseva, spared no effort in taming the famous actor and manipulating his star power. After that, Babochkin's acting career was restricted to playing only positive, boring, exemplary Soviet characters.
in Moscow. From 1946 to 1975 he also taught an acting class at State Film Institute (VGIK), where he became a professor in 1966. In his acting career spanning over 55 years, Babochkin played over 200 roles on stage and 25 roles in movies and on television, but his role as Chapayev in the eponymous 1934 film remained the unsurpassed highlight of his film career.
(1935). He was awarded the Stalin Prize (twice: in 1941 and 1951) and State Prize of USSR (1977, posthumously). He also received numerous awards and decorations in recognition of his best known film role as Chapaev.
Boris Babochkin died of a heart attack while driving his Volga
on 17 July 1975, in Moscow, and was interred in Novodevichy Cemetery
.
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
and theatre
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
and director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
. Boris Babochkin was one of the first internationally recognized stars of the Soviet-Russian cinema. He rose to fame with the title role in the classic film Chapaev
Chapaev (film)
Chapaev is a 1934 Soviet film. It was directed by the Vasilyev brothers on Lenfilm. It is a story about Vasily Ivanovich Chapaev , a legendary Red Army commander who became a hero of the Russian Civil War...
(1934) and later, in the 1950s, he played a sharp anti-communist character on stage in Moscow, for which he was censored by the Soviet Communist Party.
Life on the Volga
Babochkin was born on 18 January 1904, in SaratovSaratov
-Modern Saratov:The Saratov region is highly industrialized, due in part to the rich in natural and industrial resources of the area. The region is also one of the more important and largest cultural and scientific centres in Russia...
on the Volga river in Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
. His father, Andrei Babochkin, came from a family of Russian merchants and traders. The father had owned a successful trade business in the city of Saratov on Volga, then sold his business and worked for a railroad. The Babochkins lived in Krasny Kut, a small station near Saratov. His mother, a school teacher, was fond of Russian classical literature, and young Babochkin was brought up in an intellectually stimulating environment. Young Boris Babochkin and his brother were fond of acting and were involved in amateur theatre productions in Saratov. At age 14 Boris joined the Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
and served for one year in the same front on Volga and the Urals with the legendary commander Chapayev, whom he would later portray, although they never met.
Early career
In 1920 Babochkin entered a local drama schoolDrama school
A drama school or theatre school is an undergraduate and/or graduate school or department at a college or university; or a free-standing institution ; which specialises in the pre-professional training in drama and theatre arts, such as acting, design and technical theatre, arts administration, and...
in Saratov, but he soon dropped out and moved to Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
to pursue an acting career. At first he enrolled in the well-known drama school of Michael Chekhov
Michael Chekhov
Michael Chekhov was a Russian-American actor, director, author, and theatre practitioner. His acting technique has been used by actors such as Clint Eastwood, Marilyn Monroe, Yul Brynner, and Robert Stack. Constantin Stanislavski referred to him as his most brilliant student...
affiliated with the Moscow Art Theatre
Moscow Art Theatre
The Moscow Art Theatre is a theatre company in Moscow that the seminal Russian theatre practitioner Constantin Stanislavski, together with the playwright and director Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko, founded in 1898. It was conceived as a venue for naturalistic theatre, in contrast to the melodramas...
. There Babochkin studied with Michael Chekhov for a few months. He admired Chekhov, but eventually their personalities clashed. In 1921, he left Chekhov's school to join "Molodye Mastera" studio, under Illarion Pevtsov, a well-connected figure in Soviet film and theatre. There, with his elder brother Vitaly Babochkin, Boris worked his first professional season on stage. In the following six years he played seasonal gigs on stage with various troupes in Moscow and Saratov, then in Samarkand
Samarkand
Although a Persian-speaking region, it was not united politically with Iran most of the times between the disintegration of the Seleucid Empire and the Arab conquest . In the 6th century it was within the domain of the Turkic kingdom of the Göktürks.At the start of the 8th century Samarkand came...
and Bishkek in Central Asia
Central Asia
Central Asia is a core region of the Asian continent from the Caspian Sea in the west, China in the east, Afghanistan in the south, and Russia in the north...
, and then in Voronezh
Voronezh
Voronezh is a city in southwestern Russia, the administrative center of Voronezh Oblast. It is located on both sides of the Voronezh River, away from where it flows into the Don. It is an operating center of the Southeastern Railway , as well as the center of the Don Highway...
, Mogilev
Mogilev
Mogilev is a city in eastern Belarus, about 76 km from the border with Russia's Smolensk Oblast and 105 km from the border with Russia's Bryansk Oblast. It has more than 367,788 inhabitants...
in Belarus
Belarus
Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...
, and Berdichev in Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
.
Leningrad
From 1927 to 1940 Babochkin lived and worked in LeningradSaint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
. He married a young ballerina, Ekaterina Georgieva, and they became involved in the city's cultural life. Babochkin continued his studies of theatre and film, and made his film acting debut at Lenfilm
Lenfilm
Kinostudiya "Lenfilm" is a production unit of the Russian film industry, with its own film studio, located in Saint Petersburg, Russia, formerly Leningrad, R.S.F.S.R. Today OAO "Kinostudiya Lenfilm" is a corporation with its stakes shared between private owners, and several private film studios,...
Studio in 1927. In 1934 he played the leading role in Chapaev, a classic film that brought him global fame and local jealousy. During the 1930s he played leading roles at the Leningrad State Puskin Drama Theater and at the Bolshoi Drama Theater under director Aleksei Dikiy
Aleksei Dikiy
-Ukraine:He was born Aleksei Denisovich Dikiy on February 24, 1889, inEkaterinoslav, Russian Empire, now Dnepropetrivsk, Ukraine. At youngage he moved to Kharkov, where his sister, named Maria Sukhodolska - Dikova, was a popular actress, and she helped...
. In 1937, when Dikiy was arrested and imprisoned in the Gulag camps, Babochkin was hurt and suffered an emotional crisis. However, he survived the first wave of Stalin's
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
Great Purge
Great Purge
The Great Purge was a series of campaigns of political repression and persecution in the Soviet Union orchestrated by Joseph Stalin from 1936 to 1938...
. In 1937 Babochkin stepped in as artistic director of the Bolshoi Drama Theater (BDT) in Leningrad and worked in that position until 1940.
Moscow
In 1940 Babochkin was summoned by the Soviet leadership and moved back to Moscow, a move that he later described as the biggest mistake in his life. During World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
he made several trips to Leningrad, besieged by the Nazis
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
, where he supported the defenders of Leningrad under the Siege
Siege of Leningrad
The Siege of Leningrad, also known as the Leningrad Blockade was a prolonged military operation resulting from the failure of the German Army Group North to capture Leningrad, now known as Saint Petersburg, in the Eastern Front theatre of World War II. It started on 8 September 1941, when the last...
and helped lift their spirits with his performances, while they were struggling to survive. After the war he started a teaching career at the Moscow State Film Institute (VGIK). In 1952 Babochkin became artistic director of the Moscow Drama Theater named after Pushkin. There he invited his old director Aleksei Dikiy to direct Shadows, a play by Saltykov-Shchedrin. In Shadows Babochkin played one of his best roles ever — Klaverov, a corrupt career politician, resembling a typical Soviet bureaucrat. For this role Babochkin was viciously attacked in the main Soviet newspaper Pravda
Pravda
Pravda was a leading newspaper of the Soviet Union and an official organ of the Central Committee of the Communist Party between 1912 and 1991....
. His critic was none other than Ekaterina Furtseva
Ekaterina Furtseva
Yekaterina Alexeyevna Furtseva was probably the most influential woman in Soviet politics and the first woman to be admitted into Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union...
, who was then Mayor of Moscow and later was made Minister of Culture of the Soviet Union and who eventually committed suicide.
Repressions
Furtseva used all her official power to destroy Babochkin. She banned the play and restricted the world famous actor, known as Chapayev, from public performances. Furtseva personally ordered that all film studios and drama companies of the USSR should refuse him any jobs, keeping him practically unemployed for three years until he was finally forced to apologize to the Communist PartyCommunist party
A political party described as a Communist party includes those that advocate the application of the social principles of communism through a communist form of government...
. Official Soviet censorship, which was under the control of Furtseva, spared no effort in taming the famous actor and manipulating his star power. After that, Babochkin's acting career was restricted to playing only positive, boring, exemplary Soviet characters.
Later career
Babochkin's acting career was suppressed until the death of his high-ranking Communist opponent Furtseva. The rare exception was his last role in Begstvo mistera Mak-Kinli (1975) for which he was awarded the State Prize of the USSR. From 1955 until his death in 1975, Babochkin was a permanent member of the troupe at the Maly TheatreMaly Theatre (Moscow)
Maly Theatre is a drama theater in Moscow, Russia. Established in 1806 and operating on its present site on the Theatre Square since 1824, the theatre traces its history to the Moscow University drama company, established in 1756...
in Moscow. From 1946 to 1975 he also taught an acting class at State Film Institute (VGIK), where he became a professor in 1966. In his acting career spanning over 55 years, Babochkin played over 200 roles on stage and 25 roles in movies and on television, but his role as Chapayev in the eponymous 1934 film remained the unsurpassed highlight of his film career.
Recognition
Boris Babochkin was the youngest actor designated People's Artist of RussiaPeople's Artist of Russia
People's Artist of Russia, also sometimes translated as National Artist of Russia, is an honorary title granted to citizens of Russia.It succeeded both the all-Soviet union award People's Artist of the USSR , and more directly the local republic award, People's Artist of the RSFSR , after the...
(1935). He was awarded the Stalin Prize (twice: in 1941 and 1951) and State Prize of USSR (1977, posthumously). He also received numerous awards and decorations in recognition of his best known film role as Chapaev.
Personal life
Babochkin was married to Ekaterina Mikhailovna Babochkina (née Georgieva), and the couple had two daughters, Natalia and Tatiana. Outside of his acting career, Babochkin taught a class at Moscow Film School (VGIK); he also wrote numerous articles and critical works about film and theatre. In 1968 he published his autobiography In theatre and film which became a bestseller in the USSR.Boris Babochkin died of a heart attack while driving his Volga
Volga (automobile)
Volga is an automobile brand that originated in the Soviet Union to replace the venerated GAZ-M20 Pobeda in 1956. Modern in design, it became a symbol of higher status in the Soviet nomenklatura...
on 17 July 1975, in Moscow, and was interred in Novodevichy Cemetery
Novodevichy Cemetery
Novodevichy Cemetery is the most famous cemetery in Moscow, Russia. It is next to the 16th-century Novodevichy Convent, which is the city's third most popular tourist site. It should not be confused with the Novodevichy Cemetery in Saint Petersburg....
.
Sources
- Biography of Boris Babochkin in English by: Steve Shelokhonov (2007).
- Autobiography in Russian:
External links
- Boris Babochkin on Актёр Борис Бабочкин (Russian)