Nikolay Konstantinovich Cherkasov , was a Soviet

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

 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 a People's Artist of the Soviet Union.

Career

He was born in Saint Petersburg

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...

 (later Leningrad; it reverted to Saint Petersburg after his death). From 1919 he was a mime artist

Mime artist

A mime artist is someone who uses mime as a theatrical medium or as a performance art, involving miming, or the acting out a story through body motions, without use of speech. In earlier times, in English, such a performer was referred to as a mummer...

 in Petrograd

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...

's Maryinsky Theatre, the Bolshoi Theatre

Bolshoi Theatre

The Bolshoi Theatre is a historic theatre in Moscow, Russia, designed by architect Joseph Bové, which holds performances of ballet and opera. The Bolshoi Ballet and Bolshoi Opera are amongst the oldest and most renowned ballet and opera companies in the world...

, 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

Young Spectator's Theatre 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...

 in 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...

.

Cherkasov was one of Stalin

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...

's favorite actors and played title roles in Sergei Eisenstein

Sergei Eisenstein

Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein , né Eizenshtein, was a pioneering Soviet Russian film director and film theorist, often considered to be the "Father of Montage"...

's monumental sound films Alexander Nevsky

Alexander Nevsky (film)

Alexander Nevsky is a 1938 historical drama film directed by Sergei Eisenstein, in association with Dmitri Vasilyev and a script co-written with Pyotr Pavlenko, who were assigned to ensure Eisenstein did not stray into "formalism" and to facilitate shooting on a reasonable timetable...

(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

Jacques Paganel

Jacques Eliacin François Marie Paganel is one of the main characters in Jules Verne's novel In Search of the Castaways...

 in the memorable 1936 adaptation of Jules Verne

Jules Verne

Jules Gabriel Verne was a French author who pioneered the science fiction genre. He is best known for his novels Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea , A Journey to the Center of the Earth , and Around the World in Eighty Days...

's The Children of Captain Grant

In Search of the Castaways

In Search of the Castaways is a novel by the French writer Jules Verne, published in 1867–1868. The original edition, published by Hetzel, contains a number of illustrations by Édouard Riou. In 1876 it was republished by George Routledge & Sons as a three volume set titled "A Voyage Round The World"...

. In the 1947 comedy

Comedy

Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...

 Springtime Cherkasov appeared alongside other icons of Stalinist cinema, Lyubov Orlova

Lyubov Orlova

Lyubov Petrovna Orlova, was the first recognized star of Soviet cinema, famous theatre actress and a gifted singer.She was born to a middle class family in Zvenigorod near Moscow and grew up in Yaroslavl...

 and Faina Ranevskaya

Faina Ranevskaya

Faina Georgievna Ranevskaya is recognized as one of the greatest Soviet Russian actors in both tragedy and comedy. She was also famous for her aphorisms....

. For the role of Alexander Popov

Alexander Stepanovich Popov

Alexander Stepanovich Popov was a Russian physicist who was the first person to demonstrate the practical application of electromagnetic waves....

 in the film Alexander Popov

Alexander Popov (film)

Alexander Popov is a 1949 biographical film about the life and work of Alexander Stepanovich Popov, who was the notable physicist and electrical engineer, inventor of radio communication....

in 1951 he received a Stalin Prize

USSR State Prize

The USSR State Prize was the Soviet Union's state honour. It was established on September 9, 1966. After the breakup of the Soviet Union, the prize was followed up by the State Prize of the Russian Federation....

 of the second degree. In 1957 Cherkasov portrayed Don Quixote in director 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 screen adaptation

Don Quixote (1957 film)

Don Quixote is a 1957 Soviet drama film directed by Grigori Kozintsev. It is based on Miguel de Cervantes's classic novel of the same name. It was entered into the 1957 Cannes Film Festival. It opened in the United States in 1961, beginning its U.S. run on January 20, the same day that President...

 of that novel.

In 1941, Cherkasov was awarded the Stalin Prize; in 1947, he was named a People's Artist of the Soviet Union. He wrote his memoirs, "Notes of a Soviet Actor" in 1951. He died in Leningrad in 1966 and was buried in the Cemetery of Masters at that city's Alexander Nevsky Lavra

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 St. Petersburg supposing that that was the site of the Neva Battle in 1240 when Alexander Nevsky, a prince, defeated the Swedes; however, the battle...

.

Selected filmography

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1936	Girl Friends Girl Friends (1936 film) Girl Friends is a 1936 Soviet film directed by Lev Arnshtam. The film tells story of the friendship between three girls from Petrograd who grow up together and become nurses during the Russian Civil War...	White army Officer
1938	Friends Friends (1938 film) Friends is a 1938 Soviet film directed by Lev Arnshtam.-Plot:The film is based on the life of Sergey Kirov. During the Russian Civil War, the Communist Party of the Soviet Union sends Aleksey to Caucasus Mountains to help organize an armed uprising....	Beta the Ossesian
1938	Alexander Nevsky Alexander Nevsky (film) Alexander Nevsky is a 1938 historical drama film directed by Sergei Eisenstein, in association with Dmitri Vasilyev and a script co-written with Pyotr Pavlenko, who were assigned to ensure Eisenstein did not stray into "formalism" and to facilitate shooting on a reasonable timetable...	Alexander Nevsky
1939	Lenin in 1918 Lenin in 1918 Lenin in 1918 is a 130-minute long Soviet revolution film released in 1939. It gives the background of the Russian Civil War after the October Revolution.The film was directed by Mikhail Romm with E. Aron and I. Simkov as co-directors...	Maxim Gorky Maxim Gorky Alexei Maximovich Peshkov , primarily known as Maxim Gorky , was a Russian and Soviet author, a founder of the Socialist Realism literary method and a political activist.-Early years:...
1944	Ivan the Terrible Ivan the Terrible (film) Ivan the Terrible is a two-part historical epic film about Ivan IV of Russia made by Russian director Sergei Eisenstein. Part 1 was released in 1944 but Part 2 was not released until 1958 due to political censorship...	Ivan the Terrible
1947	Pirogov Pirogov (film) Pirogov is a 1947 Soviet film directed by Grigori Kozintsev, based on the life of Russian scientist and doctor Nikolay Ivanovich Pirogov .-Cast:* Konstantin Skorobogatov - Pirogov* Vladimir Chestnokov - Ipatov* Sergei Yarov - Skulachenko...
1949	Alexander Popov Alexander Popov (film) Alexander Popov is a 1949 biographical film about the life and work of Alexander Stepanovich Popov, who was the notable physicist and electrical engineer, inventor of radio communication....	Alexander Popov Alexander Popov Alexander Popov may refer to:*Alexander Ivanovich Popov , Soviet physicist and inventor*Aleksandr Sergeyevich Popov , Russian footballer*Alexander Stepanovich Popov , Russian physicist...
1957	Don Quixote Don Quixote (1957 film) Don Quixote is a 1957 Soviet drama film directed by Grigori Kozintsev. It is based on Miguel de Cervantes's classic novel of the same name. It was entered into the 1957 Cannes Film Festival. It opened in the United States in 1961, beginning its U.S. run on January 20, the same day that President...	Don Quixote

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