Innokenty Smoktunovsky
Encyclopedia
Innokentiy Mikhailovich Smoktunovsky was a Soviet actor acclaimed as the "king of Soviet actors". He was named People's Artist of the USSR
in 1974 and the Hero of Socialist Labour in 1990.
Smoktunovsky (birth name Smoktunovich) was born in a Siberia
n village and served in the Red Army
during World War II
. In 1946, he joined a theatre in Krasnoyarsk
, later moving to Moscow
. In 1957, he was invited by Georgi Tovstonogov to join the Bolshoi Drama Theatre of Leningrad
, where he stunned the public with his dramatic interpretation of Prince Myshkin in Dostoyevsky's The Idiot
. His career in film was launched by Mikhail Romm
's movie Nine Days of One Year (1962). In 1964, he was cast in the role of Hamlet
in Grigori Kozintsev
's celebrated screen version
of Shakespeare's play, which won him praise from Laurence Olivier
as well as the Lenin Prize
. Many English critics even ranked the Hamlet of Smoktunovsky above the one played by Olivier, at a time when Olivier's was still considered definitive. Smoktunovsky created an integral heroic portrait, which blended together what seemed incompatible before: manly simplicity and exquisite aristocratism, kindness and caustic sarcasm, a derisive mindset and self-sacrifice.
Smoktunovsky became known to wider audiences as Yuri Detochkin in Eldar Ryazanov
's detective satire Beware of the Car (1966), which revealed the actor’s outstanding comic gifts. Later, he played Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky in Tchaikovsky
(1969), Uncle Vanya
in Andrei Konchalovsky
's screen version of Chekhov's play (1970), the Narrator in Andrei Tarkovsky
's The Mirror
(1975), an old man in Anatoly Efros
's On Thursday and Never Again (1977), and Salieri
in Mikhail Shveytser's Little Tragedies
(1979) based on Alexander Pushkin's plays.
In 1990, he won the Nika Award
in the category Best Actor.
One of the minor planets, Planet 4926 has been registered under the name of Smoktunovsky in the worldwide catalogue of planets.
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 citizens of the Soviet Union.- Nomenclature and significance :...
in 1974 and the Hero of Socialist Labour in 1990.
Smoktunovsky (birth name Smoktunovich) was born in a Siberia
Siberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
n village and served in 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...
during World War II
World 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...
. In 1946, he joined a theatre in Krasnoyarsk
Krasnoyarsk
Krasnoyarsk is a city and the administrative center of Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia, located on the Yenisei River. It is the third largest city in Siberia, with the population of 973,891. Krasnoyarsk is an important junction of the Trans-Siberian Railway and one of Russia's largest producers of...
, later moving 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...
. In 1957, he was invited by Georgi Tovstonogov to join the Bolshoi Drama Theatre of Leningrad
Saint 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...
, where he stunned the public with his dramatic interpretation of Prince Myshkin in Dostoyevsky's The Idiot
The Idiot (novel)
The Idiot is a novel written by 19th century Russian author Fyodor Dostoyevsky. It was first published serially in The Russian Messenger between 1868 and 1869. The Idiot is ranked beside some of Dostoyevsky's other works as one of the most brilliant literary achievements of the "Golden Age" of...
. His career in film was launched by Mikhail Romm
Mikhail Romm
Mikhail Ilych Romm was a Soviet film director.He was born in Irkutsk. His father was a social democrat of Jewish descent who had been exiled there. He graduated from gymnasium in 1917 and entered the Moscow College for Painting, Sculpture and Architecture...
's movie Nine Days of One Year (1962). In 1964, he was cast in the role of Hamlet
Hamlet
The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...
in Grigori Kozintsev
Grigori Kozintsev
Grigori Mikhaylovich Kozintsev was a Jewish Ukrainian, Soviet Russian theatre and film director. He was named People's Artist of the USSR in 1964.He studied in the Imperial Academy of Arts...
's celebrated screen version
Hamlet (1964 film)
Hamlet is a 1964 film adaptation in Russian of William Shakespeare's play of the same title, based on a translation by Boris Pasternak. It was directed by Grigori Kozintsev and Iosif Shapiro, and stars Innokenty Smoktunovsky as Prince Hamlet.-Background:...
of Shakespeare's play, which won him praise from Laurence Olivier
Laurence Olivier
Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, OM was an English actor, director, and producer. He was one of the most famous and revered actors of the 20th century. He married three times, to fellow actors Jill Esmond, Vivien Leigh, and Joan Plowright...
as well as the Lenin Prize
Lenin Prize
The Lenin Prize was one of the most prestigious awards of the USSR, presented to individuals for accomplishments relating to science, literature, arts, architecture, and technology. It was created on June 23, 1925 and was awarded until 1934. During the period from 1935 to 1956, the Lenin Prize was...
. Many English critics even ranked the Hamlet of Smoktunovsky above the one played by Olivier, at a time when Olivier's was still considered definitive. Smoktunovsky created an integral heroic portrait, which blended together what seemed incompatible before: manly simplicity and exquisite aristocratism, kindness and caustic sarcasm, a derisive mindset and self-sacrifice.
Smoktunovsky became known to wider audiences as Yuri Detochkin in Eldar Ryazanov
Eldar Ryazanov
Eldar Aleksandrovich Ryazanov is a Soviet/Russian film director whose comedies, satirizing the daily life of the country, are very famous throughout the former Soviet Union....
's detective satire Beware of the Car (1966), which revealed the actor’s outstanding comic gifts. Later, he played Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky in Tchaikovsky
Tchaikovsky (film)
Tchaikovsky is a 1969 Soviet film directed by Igor Talankin. It featured Innokenty Smoktunovsky in the role of the famous Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky...
(1969), Uncle Vanya
Uncle Vanya
Uncle Vanya is a play by the Russian playwright Anton Chekhov. It was first published in 1897 and received its Moscow première in 1899 in a production by the Moscow Art Theatre, under the direction of Konstantin Stanislavski....
in Andrei Konchalovsky
Andrei Konchalovsky
Andrei Mikhalkov-Konchalovsky is a Soviet-American and Russian film director, film producer and screenwriter....
's screen version of Chekhov's play (1970), the Narrator in Andrei Tarkovsky
Andrei Tarkovsky
Andrei Arsenyevich Tarkovsky was a Soviet and Russian filmmaker, writer, film editor, film theorist, theatre and opera director, widely regarded as one of the finest filmmakers of the 20th century....
's The Mirror
The Mirror (1975 film)
The Mirror is a 1975 Russian film directed by Andrei Tarkovsky. It is loosely autobiographical, blending childhood memories, newsreel footage and poems by his father Arseny Tarkovsky...
(1975), an old man in Anatoly Efros
Anatoly Efros
-Children's Theatre and the Lenkom:Efros was born in Kharkov. In 1954, he was appointed to run the Central Theatre for Children in Moscow and managed to transform it from a conservative backwater into one of the most fashionable Soviet theatres....
's On Thursday and Never Again (1977), and Salieri
Antonio Salieri
Antonio Salieri was a Venetian classical composer, conductor and teacher born in Legnago, south of Verona, in the Republic of Venice, but who spent his adult life and career as a faithful subject of the Habsburg monarchy....
in Mikhail Shveytser's Little Tragedies
Little Tragedies (film)
Little Tragedies is a 1987 Soviet television miniseries directed by Mikhail Shveytser, based on works by Alexander Pushkin.-Cast:* Aleksandr Trofimov * Vladimir Vysotsky - Don Juan* Georgi Taratorkin - Charsky* Sergei Yursky - Improvisator...
(1979) based on Alexander Pushkin's plays.
In 1990, he won the Nika Award
Nika Award
The Nika Award is a prestigious annual ceremony held by the Russian Academy of Cinema Arts and Sciences which was established in 1987 in Moscow, Russia by Yuli Gusman, and ostensibly modelled on the Academy Awards . Russian Academy Award takes its name from Nike, the goddess of victory...
in the category Best Actor.
One of the minor planets, Planet 4926 has been registered under the name of Smoktunovsky in the worldwide catalogue of planets.
Filmography
- 1956 Soldiers
- 1957 Storm
- 1959 The Unsent LetterThe Unsent LetterThe Unsent Letter is a 1959 Soviet drama film directed by Mikhail Kalatozov. It was entered into the 1960 Cannes Film Festival.-Cast:* Tatyana Samojlova - Tanya* Innokenti Smoktunovsky - Sabinine* Galina Kozhakina - Vera* Vasili Livanov - Andrei...
- 1961 Nine Days in One YearNine Days in One YearNine Days in One Year is a 1962 Soviet black-and-white drama film directed by Mikhail Romm about nuclear particle physics, Soviet scientists and their relationship.The film won the Crystal Globe Award in 1962.-Plot summary:...
- 1964 HamletHamlet (1964 film)Hamlet is a 1964 film adaptation in Russian of William Shakespeare's play of the same title, based on a translation by Boris Pasternak. It was directed by Grigori Kozintsev and Iosif Shapiro, and stars Innokenty Smoktunovsky as Prince Hamlet.-Background:...
- 1966 Beware of the Car
- 1969 TchaikovskyTchaikovsky (film)Tchaikovsky is a 1969 Soviet film directed by Igor Talankin. It featured Innokenty Smoktunovsky in the role of the famous Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky...
- 1970 Crime and PunishmentCrime and Punishment (1970 film)Crime and Punishment is a 1970 Soviet film in two parts directed by Lev Kulidzhanov, based on the eponymous novel by Fyodor Dostoevsky.-Cast:* Georgi Taratorkin - Raskolnikov* Innokenty Smoktunovsky - Porfiry Petrovitch...
- 1970 Uncle VanyaUncle Vanya (1970 film)Uncle Vanya is a 1970 film adaptation of the Anton Chekhov play of the same title and directed by Andrey Konchalovskiy.- Cast :*Irina Anisimova-Wulf as Mariya Vasilievna Voinitskaya*Sergei Bondarchuk as Dr...
- 1972 Taming of the FireTaming of the FireTaming of the fire is a 1972 film, directed by Daniil Khrabrovitsky and starring Kirill Lavrov.).- Awards and recognition :The State Prize of Russia was awarded to actor Lavrov for his performance in the leading role...
- 1973 Moscow-CassiopeiaMoscow-CassiopeiaMoscow-Cassiopeia is a Soviet 1973 film directed by Richard Viktorov based on a script by Isai Kuznetsov and Avenir Zak. Followed by Otroki vo vselennoy . Runtime - 85 min.-Synopsis:...
- 1974 Teens in the UniverseTeens in the UniverseTeens in the Universe is a Soviet 1974 film directed by Richard Viktorov based on a script by Isai Kuznetsov and Avenir Zak. Preceded by Moscow-Cassiopeia...
- 1975 Trust
- 1975 They Fought for Their CountryThey Fought for Their CountryThey Fought for Their Country is a 1975 Soviet war film directed by Sergei Bondarchuk. It was entered into the 1975 Cannes Film Festival. The film is the story of a Soviet platoon fighting a rearguard action during the German drive on Stalingrad.-Cast:...
- 1979 Little TragediesLittle Tragedies (film)Little Tragedies is a 1987 Soviet television miniseries directed by Mikhail Shveytser, based on works by Alexander Pushkin.-Cast:* Aleksandr Trofimov * Vladimir Vysotsky - Don Juan* Georgi Taratorkin - Charsky* Sergei Yursky - Improvisator...
- 1979 Moscow Does Not Believe in TearsMoscow Does Not Believe In TearsMoscow Does not Believe in Tears is a 1980 Soviet film made by Mosfilm. It was written by Valentin Chernykh and directed by Vladimir Menshov. The leading roles were played by Menshov's wife Vera Alentova and by Aleksey Batalov. The film won an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in...
- 1983 Two under one umbrella
- 1984 Dead SoulsDead Souls (film)Dead Souls is a 1984 Soviet television miniseries directed by Mikhail Shveytser, based on Nikolai Gogol's novel of the same name.-Cast:* Aleksandr Trofimov – Nikolai Gogol* Aleksandr Kalyagin – Chichikov* Yuri Bogatyryov – Manilov...
- 1985 Russia at the beginning
- 1985 Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
- 1986 The Twentieth Century Approaches as Prime Minister Lord Thomas Bellinger
- 1987 Dark Eyes
- 1989 MotherMother (1989 film)Mother is a 1989 Soviet drama film directed by Gleb Panfilov. It was entered into the 1990 Cannes Film Festival.-Cast:* Inna Churikova* Viktor Rakov* Liubomiras Lauciavicius* Aleksandr Shishonok - * Dmitri Pevtsov...
- 1991 Genius
- 1993 Gold
- 1993 I wanna go to America
- 1994 Enchanted
- 1997 Dandelion WineDandelion Wine (film)Dandelion Wine is a 1997 Russian TV film based on the book of the same name by Ray Bradbury.It's the last film of Innokenti Smoktunovsky, released after his death.- Cast :* Innokenti Smoktunovsky* Andrei Novikov* Sergei Kuznetsov...