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- The famous Russian actor was discovered by Andrei Tarkovsky. He was looking for an actor to play the part of Andrei Rublev for his second full-length film and accidentally found the completely unknown Solonitsyn in Chelyabinsk. He worked there as an amateur actor. After Andrei Rublev, he played main parts in many of Russia's best movies.
- Director
- Cinematographer
- Writer
Mikhail Kalatozov was born on 28 December 1903 in Tiflis, Russian Empire [now Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia]. He was a director and cinematographer, known for The Cranes Are Flying (1957), True Friends (1954) and Zagovor obrechyonnykh (1950). He died on 27 March 1973 in Moscow, RSFSR, USSR [now Russia].- Additional Crew
Joseph Stalin (a code name meaning "Man of Steel") was born Iosif (Joseph) Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili in 1878 in Gori, Georgia, the Transcaucasian part of the Russian Empire. His father was a cobbler named Vissarion Dzhugashvili, a drunkard who beat him badly and frequently and left the family when Joseph was young. His mother, Ekaterina Gheladze, supported herself and her son (her other three children died young and Jopseph was effectively an only child) by taking in washing. She managed, despite great hardship, to send Joseph to school and then on to Tiflis Orthodox Theological Seminary in Tbilisi, hoping he would become a priest. However, after three years of studies he was expelled in 1899, for not attending an exam and for propagating communist ideas and the books of Karl Marx.
Since 1898, Stalin became active in the Communist underground as the organizer of a powerful gang involved in a series of armed robberies. After robbing several banks in southern Russia, Stalin delivered the stolen money to Vladimir Lenin to finance the Communist Party. Stalin's gang was also involved in the murders of its political opponents; Stalin himself was arrested seven times, repeatedly imprisoned, and twice exiled to Siberia between 1902 and 1913. During those years he changed his name twice and became more closely identified with revolutionary Marxism. He escaped many times from prison and was shuttling money between Lenin and other communists in hiding, where his intimacy with Lenin and Bukharin grew, as did his dissatisfaction with fellow Communist leader Lev Trotskiy. In 1912 he was co-opted on to the illegal Communist Central Committee. At that time he wrote propaganda articles, and later edited the Communist paper, "Pravda" (Truth). As Lenin's apprentice he joined the Communist majority (Bolsheviks), and was responsible for the consolidation of several secret communist cells into a larger ring. Stalin's Communist ring in St. Petersburg and across Russia played the leading role in the Russian Revolution of 1917. After the revolution the Bolsheviks Communists grabbed the power, then Communists murdered the Tsar and the Russian royal family. Stalin and Lenin took over the Tsar's palaces and used the main one in Kremlin as their private residence.
Lenin appointed Stalin the People's Commissar for Nationalities in the first Soviet government and a member of the Communist Politburo, thus giving him unlimited power. Stalin led the "Reds" against anti-Communist forces known as the "Whites" and also in the war with Poland. He also organized "Red Terror" in Tsaritsin (later renamed Stalingrad). With his appointment as General Secretary to the Party Central Committee in 1922, a post he held for the next 30 years, until his death, he consolidated the power that would ensure his control of the country after Lenin's death in 1924. He also took, or gave himself, other key positions that enabled him to amass total power in the Party and Soviet government.
Stalin was known for his piercing eyes and terrifying stare, which he used to cow his opponents into submission during private discussions. In 1927 Stalin requested medical help for his insomnia, anger and severe anxiety disorder. His doctors diagnosed him as having "typical clinical paranoia" and recommended medical treatment. Instead, Stalin became angry and summoned his secret service agents. The next day the chief psychiatrist, Dr. Bekhterev, and his assistants died of poisoning. In addition, before the doctors' diagnosis about Stalin's mental condition could become known, he ordered the executions of intellectuals, resulting in the murders of hundreds of thousands of doctors, professors, writers, and others.
Stalin's policy of amassing dictatorial power under the guise of building "socialism in the country" resulted in brutal extermination of all real and perceived anti-Communist opposition. His purges of the Soviet military brought about the execution of tens of thousands of army officers, many of them experienced combat veterans of the Revolution, the Civil War, the Polish campaigns and other military operations (this decimation of the Russian officer corps would result in the Soviet Union's initial defeats at the hands of Nazi invaders at the beginning of World War II). He also isolated and disgraced his political rivals, notably Trotsky. Stalin's economic policies of strict centralized planning (i.e., the "five-year plans") resulted in the near ruination of the Soviet economy and mass famines in many areas of the Soviet Union, notably in Central Russia and the Ukraine. Popular resistance to Stalin's policies, such as nationalization of private lands and collective farming, by independent farmers ("kulaks"), brought about brutal retaliation, in which millions of kulaks were either forced off their land or executed outright. Altogether Stalin's economic and political policies resulted in the deaths of up to 10 million peasants during 1926-1934. Between 1934 and 1939 he organized and led massive purge (known as "The Great Terror") of the party, government, armed forces and intelligentsia, in which millions of so-called "enemies of the Soviet people" were imprisoned, exiled or executed. In the late 1930s, Stalin sent some Red Army forces and material to support the Spanish Republican government in its fight against the rebels led by Gen. Francisco Franco and aided by troops and material from Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy.
Stalin made the Non-Aggression Pact with Adolf Hitler in 1939, which bought the Soviet Union two years' respite from involvement in World War 2. After the German invasion in 1941, the USSR became a member of the Grand Alliance and Stalin, as war leader, assumed the title of Generalissimus. He had no formal military training and scorned the advice of his senior officers, due to suspicion and his rising paranoia, actions that resulted in horrific losses to the Russian military in both men and material (not to mention civilian losses). He rejected military plans made by such experienced officers as Marshal Georgi Zhukov, and insisted they be replaced by his own plans, which led to even more horrific losses. Towards the end of WWII he took part in the conferences of Teheran, Yalta and Potsdam with Franklin D. Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, Harry S. Truman and Clement Attlee. The agreements reached in those conferences resulted in Soviet military and political control over the liberated countries of postwar Castern and Central Europe.
From 1945 until his death Stalin resumed his repressive measures at home, resulting in censorship of the arts, literature and cinema, forced exiles of hundreds of thousands and the executions of intellectuals and other potential "enemies of the state". At that time he conducted foreign policies that contributed to the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the West. Stalin had little interest in family life, although he was married twice and had several mistresses. His first wife (Ekaterina Svanidze, married c. 1904) died three years after their marriage and left a son, Jacob (also known as Yacov), an officer in the Russian army during World War II who was captured by the Nazis and died in a POW camp (his father refused German offers to exchange him for captured German officers). His second wife (Nadezhda Alliluyeva, married 1919) attempted to moderate his politics, but she died by suicide, leaving a daughter, Svetlana Alliluyeva, and an alcoholic son, Vasili Stalin, who later died in exile. Increasingly paranoid, Stalin launched attacks on such intellectuals as Osip Mandelstam, Vsevolod Meyerhold, Anna Akhmatova, Dmitri Shostakovich, Sergei Prokofiev, Boris Pasternak, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and many other cultural luminaries. Stalin personally intervened in the fate of "counterrevolutionary" Yiddish writers and changed their sentences from exile to execution. Thirteen of them were executed by the Soviet secret police; their leader, Perets Markish, was executed in the typical KGB manner by a single gunshot to the head on August 12, 1952, in Moscow.
Stalin died suddenly on March 5, 1953, under somewhat mysterious circumstances, after announcing his intention to arrest Jewish doctors, whom he believed were plotting to kill him. The "official" cause of death was announced as brain hemorrhage. Stalin's apprentice, Georgi Malenkov, took the power, but was soon ousted by Nikita Khrushchev. Three years after death, Stalin was posthumously denounced by Nikita Khrushchev at the 20th Party Congress in 1956 for crimes against the Party and for building a "cult of personality." In 1961 Stalin's body was removed from Lenin's Mausoleum, where it had been displayed since his death, and buried near the Kremlin wall. In 1964 Leonid Brezhnev dismissed Khrushchev and brought back some of Stalin's hard-line policies. After 1986 Mikhail Gorbachev initiated a series of liberal political reforms known as "glasnost" and "perstroika", and many of Stalin's victims were posthumously rehabilitated, and the whole phenomenon of "Stalinism" was officially condemned by the Russian authorities.- Director
- Writer
- Editor
Dziga Vertov was born on 2 January 1896 in Bialystok, Grodno Governorate, Russian Empire [now Podlaskie, Poland]. He was a director and writer, known for Man with a Movie Camera (1929), Three Songs About Lenin (1934) and The Sixth Part of the World (1926). He was married to Elizaveta Svilova. He died on 12 February 1954 in Moscow, RSFSR, USSR [now Russia].- Music Department
- Composer
- Writer
Prokofiev was a multi-talented man and an innovative composer. He learned piano from his mother and chess from his father. He always had a chess set on his piano, and was able to play against the chess champions of his time. He studied music with Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, graduated with highest marks from the St. Petersburg Conservatory (1914), and was rewarded with a grand piano. He emigrated from Russia after the revolution, and made successful concert tours in Europe and the U.S. In 1918 in New York he met Spanish singer Carolina Codina (Lina Llubera), they married in Paris, in 1923, and had two sons.
Prokofiev's radiant optimism and his childlike personality shines in his popular orchestral suite "Peter and the Wolf" and in the "Classical Symphony". His humorous irony and wit is popping up in piano pieces named "Sarcasms", also in his five piano concertos, ballets and film scores, all written in his instantly identifiable musical language. He wrote film scores for The Czar Wants to Sleep (1934), Alexander Nevsky (1938), Cinderella (1961), and the two-part Ivan the Terrible, Part I (1944), directed by Sergei Eisenstein.
All of his music, that he created while outside of the Soviet Union, was sometimes criticized as cosmopolitan and anti-Soviet. Prokofiev divorced his wife in 1948. His ninth sonata, dedicated to Svyatoslav Richter, was welcomed warmly, but another official critic on his music and life started in 1948. He died in 1953, the same day of Joseph Stalin.- Actor
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Anatoliy Dmitrievich Papanov was born on October 31, 1922, in Vyasma, Smolensk region, USSR. His father, named Dmitri Filippovich Papanov, was a Russian industrial worker. His mother, named Elena Bronislavovna Roskovskaya, was of Polish ancestry. Young Papanov moved to Moscow with his parents in 1929. After graduation from a secondary school in 1939, he worked as a metal worker at the 2nd Moscow Ball-bearing Factory. There Papanov was an amateur actor at the Worker's Club Theatre-studio named "Kauchuk".
In 1941 Papanov was drafted in the Red Army and served as an Artillery Sergeant. He was severely wounded in his legs in 1942, and spent six months in hospitals. At age 21, he became permanently disabled and used a cane for the rest of his life. Papanov was admitted to the acting class of the Moscow Theatre Institute (GITIS), from which he graduated in 1946. While a student, Papanov married his classmate actress Nadezhda Karataeva. From 1946-1948 he worked on stage at the Klaipeda Drama Theatre in Latvia. In 1948 Papanov was invited to the Moscow Theatre of Satire by director Andrei Goncharov. He became permanent member of the troupe and worked on stage for almost 40 years. His regular stage partners were Andrey Mironov, Tatyana Pelttser, Spartak Mishulin, Aleksandr Shirvindt, Mikhail Derzhavin, Vladimir Kozel, Olga Aroseva, Georgi Menglet, and other renown Russian actors.
Papanov made his film debut as an extra in 'Lenin v Oktyabre' (1937) by director Mikhail Romm. He played supporting roles in comedies by director Eldar Ryazanov - 'Chelovek niotkuda' (1961), where his partner was Sergey Yurskiy, and in 'Beregis avtomobilya' (1966), where his partners were Innokentiy Smoktunovskiy, Oleg Efremov, Andrey Mironov, Georgi Zhzhyonov, Donatas Banionis, Evgeniy Evstigneev, and others. Papanov became really famous after his impressive work in the role of General Sepilin in 'Zhivye i myortvye' (1963), for which he was awarded the Brothers Vasilyev State Prize in 1966.
Anatoli Papanov is best known for his roles in the comedies of director Leonid Gaidai. His satirical character - a gangster chief Lyolik in 'Brilliantovaya ruka' (The Diamond Arm, 1968) became one of the most popular characters in the Russian cinema. Papanov made an excellent acting ensemble with his film partners Andrey Mironov, Yuriy Nikulin, Nonna Mordyukova, Nina Grebeshkova, Svetlana Svetlichnaya, Leonid Kanevskiy, and other remarkable actors. 'Brilliantovaya ruka' was the all-time box-office leader with over 76,000,000 admissions in theaters of the Soviet Union. In a 1995 national poll in Russia, 'Brilliantovaya ruka' was voted the best Russian comedy ever.
Anatoli Papanov was awarded the Russian State Prize of Brothers Vasilyev (1966). He was designated People's Actor of the USSR (1973) and was awarded the USSR State Prize (1989, posthumously). Papanov died of a heart attack on August 7, 1987, at his Moscow apartment, a few days before the tragic collapse of his friend and partner Andrey Mironov. Anatoli Papanov's death caused a considerable mourning among his fans in the Soviet Union, he was laid to rest in the Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow, Russia.- Nikita Khruschev was born on April 17, 1894, into a family of peasants in the village of Kalinovka, Kursk region, Russian Empire. He was raised among agricultural and mining workers. He studied for only two years at grammar school as a child. After the Russian Revolution he joined the Red Army, then joined the Communist party in 1918 and made a career as a politician.
He was active in the Russian revolution and Civil War, when the intellectual elite was brutally killed as well as the family of Nickolas and Alexandra. The Civil War continued for decades in a form of the "Great Terror" and repressions under Joseph Stalin during the 1920s, 30s, 40s and 50s. Under orders from Moscow, Khrushchev participated in massive confiscations of food, crops, forage grains, and supplies, that left millions of peasants starving to death in famines of 1920s-30s. Some areas of Ukraine and Russia suffered so much that people later perceived WWII as liberation from the Soviet regime. In 1931 Khrushchev was promoted to Moscow, where he briefly studied at the Soviet Industrial Academy. In 1934 he became a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and in 1935 - the 1st Secretary of the Moscow City Committee. In 1938 Khrushchev was appointed the 1st Secretary of the Ukrainian Communist Party and promoted to Politburo.
During WWII Khrushchev was coordinating the defense of Ukraine, while his family was evacuated to Kuibyshev. In 1942-42 he was a political commissar during the battle of Stalingrad. There, frozen Nazi Armies were stopped and lost the battle to the Russian soldiers, who defended their land. Khrushchev was decorated and promoted in the Communist party. He was later a political commissar of the 1st Ukrainian Front, where his deputy was Leonid Brezhnev. Khrushchev patronized Brezhnev, whom he knew since 1931.
After the death of Joseph Stalin on March 5, 1953, and following the elimination of Stalin's inner circle, Khrushchev became the leader of the Communist Party on September 7, 1953. He completed the takeover after the execution of his main rival Lavrenti Beria in December 1953, with the help of the powerful Marshal Georgi Zhukov. Then Khrushchev promoted Leonid Brezhnev in hopes to have a steady ally in the coming power-struggles against the Stalinist conservatives.
In his historic speech on February 23, 1956, Khrushchev denounced Joseph Stalin for his brutal purges and massive executions of people. Khrushchev spoke behind closed doors at the 20th Congress of the Communist Party. His speech was the "new order" message to the ruling Soviet elite. Not everyone liked it, regardless of its many historic benefits. In 1957 Khrushchev with backing from Leonid Brezhnev and Marshal Georgi Zhukov defeated the Stalinist conservatives Vyacheslav Molotov, Georgi Malenkov, and Lazar Kaganovich. Then Khrushchev exiled the powerful Marshal Georgi Zhukov and became the undisputed ruler of the Soviet Union.
Khrushchev's speech was designed to liberate people from Stalin's brutal regime based on manipulative methods of control by fear. The speech was addressed to the Soviet leadership as well as to the people of Russia and other republics, however, the Soviet leadership decided to keep the speech secret from the people. At the same time Khrushchev's speech was available in the rest of the world. After reading Khrushchev's speech, Moshe Dayan said that Soviet Union may disappear in 30 years, and he was off only by 5 years. Although Khrushchev was unable to see that far, he made efforts to liberate intellectuals and to clear innocent victims of the "Great Purges" under Stalin's regime.
In the late 1950's Khrushchev initiated the "Thaw" during the Cold War. Hundreds of thousands of innocent victims of Stalin's "Great Purges" were posthumously cleared of all charges and their sentences were reversed to full rehabilitation. Many surviving intellectuals, actors, like Innokentiy Smoktunovskiy, Georgi Zhzhyonov, Vitali Golovin and others were allowed to return from imprisonment and Siberian exile. Film directors such as Sergei Parajanov, Eldar Ryazanov, Georgiy Daneliya made new kind of films. The First International Festival of Students and Youth was held in Moscow, in 1958. The First International Tchaikovsky Competition was held in Moscow, where the Texan pianist Van Cliburn became the first winner, and was praised by Khrushchev. Some performing artists, like Svyatoslav Richter and Mstislav Rostropovich were allowed to go on personal international concert tours.
Khruschev's "Thaw" liberated the Soviet life to a degree, that allowed some foreign books, movies and music, along with the other previously banned art, literature and music of Sergei Prokofiev, Dmitri Shostakovich, Aram Khachaturyan, publications of Anna Akhmatova, Mikhail Zoschenko, Yuriy Olesha, and others. The 60's generation emerged during the "Thaw" with Yevgeniy Yevtushenko, Bella Akhmadulina, Andrei Voznesensky, Bulat Okudzhava, Vasiliy Aksyonov and other writers. They played an important role in liberation of the collective consciousness after decades of repressions under Joseph Stalin and in changing of some old bans, what later made possible the publication of Mikhail A. Bulgakov. Khrushchev personally approved the 1962 publication by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn about the Stalin's "Gulag" prison-camps.
Khrushchev attacked those whom he failed to understand, like the Nobel Laureate writer Boris Pasternak, poet Andrei Voznesensky, and avant-garde artists. Khrushchev mismanaged agriculture by banning any private farming. His major mistake was forceful replacing of wheat by corn, which could not grow in Russian climate. This and other mistakes caused serious food shortages and the bloody popular uprising in Novocherkassk, in 1962. Khrushchev showed uncivilized and undiplomatic behavior at the UN conference by insulting other delegates verbally and by banging on the table with his fists and with his shoe. Khrushchev pushed the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961. He made risky political moves and was accused of losing control during the Cuban missile crisis, when the world came to the brink of a nuclear war.
Leonid Brezhnev dismissed Khrushchev on October 14, 1964, after Khrushchev's vacation at the Communist Party owned Black Sea resort. He was stripped of all privileges and lived under house arrest outside Moscow. After his death on September 11, 1971, Khrushchev was not buried officially like other Politburo members near the Kremlin. Instead, he was buried without an official ceremony at the Novodevichy Cemetery. The cold war continued. Khrushchev's historic speech denouncing Joseph Stalin was banned from publication until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. - Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin became the first man to enter deep space on April 12, 1961, when the Soviet cosmonaut made a flight that orbited Earth lasting one hour and 48 minutes in his Vostok 1 spacecraft. This accomplishment made the smiling Soviet pilot internationally famous as the first man to venture into space, the final frontier. The feat beat the Americans, who put Alan Shepherd into space in a sub-orbital flight on May 5, 1961, and did not have an astronaut orbit the earth until John Glenn accomplished the feat on February 20, 1962.
The perpetually smiling Gagarin, who was promoted from senior lieutenant to major in the Soviet Air Force and was awarded the honor Hero of the Soviet Union for his accomplishment, became an international celebrity. He made many trips to foreign lands, including three to the United Kingdom, to publicize the Soviet space program that, since its inception with Sputnik in 1957, had been more advanced than that of the United States. Thus, Gagarin was a prime pawn in the propaganda wars between the two countries at the height of the Cold War.
He was appointed a deputy to the Supreme Soviet in 1962 before he went back to the Soviet cosmonaut training facility, Star City, where the extremely bright Gargarin worked designing reusable spacecraft. He eventually was promoted to the rank of full Colonel of the Soviet Air Force. His celebrity was still so great, the Soviet government refused to let him return to space, though he eventually was chosen as one of the astronauts for the Soviet moon landing program. Though he had been trained as jet fighter pilot, his superiors limited his flight time so as not to lose one of the USSR's greatest heroes of the Cold War period.
Gagarin was chosen as the backup pilot for the Soyuz 1 flight, the first flight of a program that was intended to put a Soviet cosmonaut on the moon by 1968. The flight was made by team leader Vladimir Komarov, and the launch of Soyuz 1 was opposed by Gagarin due to safety concerns. Gararin was right: the Soyyz I capsule crashed after re-entry on April 24, 1967, making Komarov the first person to die during a space flight. After the incident, Gagarin again was banned from participating in the manned space program as an active cosmonaut. He was appointed deputy training director of Star City.
The 34-year-old Gagarin died on March 27, 1968 during a routine training flight in a MiG-15UTI. The ashes of Gagarin and co-pilot Vladimir Seryogin were entombed in the Kremlin and Star City was renamed in his honor.
Soviet space program architect Sergei P. Korolev claimed that Gagarin had a smile "that lit up the Cold War". But for the crash of Soyuz 1 (which signaled the ultimate failure of the Soviet moonshot program), Gagarin, the first man in space, might have been the first on the moon. He was honored by American astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, the first men on the moon, when they left behind a bag containing medals commemorating Gagarin and Komarov on the lunar surface. - Mikhail A. Bulgakov was a Russian writer and medical doctor known for big screen adaptations of his books, such as Beg (1971) and Master i Margarita (2006).
He was born Mikhail Afanasievich Bulgakov on May 15, 1891, in Kiev, Russia (now Kiev, Ukraine). He was the first of six children in the family of a theology professor. His family belonged to the intellectual elite of Kiev. Bulgakov with his brothers took part in the demonstration commemorating the death of Lev Tolstoy. Bulgakov graduated with honors from the Medical School of Kiev University in 1915. He married his classmate Tatiana Lippa, who became his assistant at surgeries and in his Doctor's office. He practiced medicine, specializing in venereal and other infectious diseases from 1915 to 1919.
Bulgakov wrote about his experiences as a doctor in his early works "Notes of a Young Doctor." In 1917-1919, he suffered from an infection that caused him an unbearable painful itch requiring him to take morphine; which he became addicted to, but he managed to overcome the dependency and quit. He joined the anti-communist White Army in the Russian Civil War. After the Civil War, he tried to emigrate from Russia, to reunite with his brother in Paris. But he became trapped in Soviet Russia. Several times he was almost killed by opposing forces on both sides of the Russian Civil War, but soldiers needed doctors, so Bulgakov was left alive. He provided medical help to the Chehchens, Caucasians, Cossacs, Russians, the Whites, the Reds... Bulgakov was the Doctor to all the sick people.
In 1921, Bulgakov moved to Moscow. There he became a writer and made friends with Valentin Kataev, Yuriy Olesha, Ilya Ilf, Yevgeni Petrov, and Konstantin Paustovsky. Later, he met Mikhail Zoschenko, Anna Akhmatova, Viktor Ardov, Sergey Mikhalkov, and Korney Ivanovich Chukovskiy. Bulgakov's plays at the Moscow Art Theatre were directed by Konstantin Stanislavski and Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko. "Days of the Turbins," about the demise of the White Army, was performed more than 200 times at the Moscow Art Theatre, and also at other Soviet theatres until it was banned.
The play was later restored to the repertoire and at least fifteen performances of this play were attended by Joseph Stalin. Stalin liked the play and later, in his official speeches, he used some of the well-written lines that were spoken from the stage by the Bulgakov's characters. In 1941, after the Nazi invasion in Russia during the Second World War, Joseph Stalin started his first radio address to the people of the Soviet Union with Bulgakov's words from the play, "Brothers and Sisters..."
Bulgakov's political independence was expressed in his article on the death of the first Soviet dictator Vladimir Lenin, "He killed a river of people..." wrote Bulgakov in 1924.
Bugakov's own way of life and his witty criticism of the ugly realities of life in the Soviet Union caused him much trouble. In 1925 he released 'Heart of a Dog', a bitter satire about the loss of civilized values in Russia under the Soviet system. Soon after, Bulgakov was interrogated by the Soviet secret service, OGPU. After interrogations, his personal diary and several unfinished works were confiscated by the secret service.
His plays were banned in all theaters, which terminated his income. Being financially broke, he wrote to his brother in Paris about his terrible life and poverty in Moscow. Bulgakov distanced himself from the Proletariat Writer's Union because he refused to write about the peasants and proletariat. He made adaptation of the "Dead Souls" by Nikolay Gogol for the stage; it became a success but was abruptly banned.
He took a risk and wrote a letter to Joseph Stalin with an ultimatum: "Let me out of the Soviet Union, or restore my work at the theaters." On the 18th of April of 1930, Bulgakov received a telephone call from Joseph Stalin. The dictator told the writer to fill an employment application at the Moscow Art Theater. Gradually, Bulgakov's plays were back in the repertoire of the Moscow Art Theatre. But most other theatres were in fear and did not stage any of the Bulgakov's plays for many years.
Joseph Stalin, who was increasingly paranoid, ordered massive extermination of intellectuals during the repressions known as the "Great Terror" (aka.. Great Purge). Many of Bulgakov's friends and colleagues, like Vladimir Mayakovsky, Osip Mandelstam, Vsevolod Meyerhold, Anna Akhmatova, Mikhail Zoschenko and many others were censored, banned, prosecuted, exiled, imprisoned, executed, found dead, or just disappeared without a trace.
At that time Bulgakov started his masterpiece - "Master and Margarita." It was slowly evolving from the series of chapters, initially titled "The Black Magician" in 1929. That was changed to "The Prince of Darkness" in 1930. Then it was changed again to "The Great Chancellor" in 1934. Finally, the novel was titled as "Master and Margarita" in 1934 and was rewritten and updated constantly until the writer's death in 1940.
While writing the novel, Bulgakov met Elena Sergeevna Shilovskaya, who became his wife. She was, in part, the model for Margarita in the novel. Secret service agents were spying on Bulgakov and learned about his new novel. Bulgakov was interrogated again and was ordered to destroy the manuscript under the threat from the government agents. He had to be very cautious. Bulgakov split the manuscript in two parts and destroyed one half in a fire.
Soon, he restored the missing part from memory and continued writing the novel. He was writing the novel in secrecy, hiding its manuscript for many years until his death in 1940. The main character in the novel, Voland, alludes to Stalin, or Beria, or any dictator who plays a semi-god. Voland was modeled after Satan in "Faust" by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. The novel has many parallels with the Bible and the "Divine Comedy" by Dante Alighieri. The characters and events in "Master and Margarita" are alluding to Bulgakov's experiences in Moscow under the dictatorship of Joseph Stalin.
Five days before his death, Bulgakov accepted an unusual promise from his loving wife. She swore to live a humble life and wait as long as it would take for Bulgakov's masterpiece to be published. The original manuscript of "The Master and Margarita" was preserved by Bulgakov's wife, Elena Sergeevna, until its first publication in 1966. It is a Menippean satire, a cross-genre comedy, drama, and fantasy, regarded by many as the best of the 20th century Russian novels.
Mikhail Bulgakov died of a kidney failure, on March 10, 1940, in Moscow. He was laid to rest in the Novodevichy Monastery Cemetery, next to other Russian cultural luminaries. - The preeminent Russian actor, at least in Western eyes, of the first half of the twentieth century. He became interested in the theatre as a teenager and joined the Teatr Mariinskij as a stagehand in 1918. He apprenticed with various traveling companies and therein learned ballet, pantomime, and acrobatics. He studied at the St. Petersburg (Leningrad) Theater Institute and made his stage debut in 1926. The following year, he entered films and his commanding presence soon brought him leading roles and enormous acclaim, as well as the approbation of the Soviet leadership, which elected him a deputy of the Supreme Soviet. His greatest fame world-wide came with his work in the films of Sergei Eisenstein. Following the masterpieces _Aleksandr Nevsky (1938)_ and _Ivan Groznyj I (1945)_ he was named to the Order of Lenin and made People's Artist of the USSR, respectively. He died in 1966. He should not be confused with the actor Nikolay P. Cherkasov who starred in many Russian films.
- Valentin Zubkov was born on 12 May 1923 in Peschanoye, Ryazan Governorate, RSFSR, USSR [now Ryazan Oblast, Russia]. He was an actor, known for Ivan's Childhood (1962), The Cranes Are Flying (1957) and Solntse svetit vsem (1959). He died on 18 January 1979 in Moscow, RSFSR, USSR [now Russia].
- Actress
- Soundtrack
Zoya Fyodorova was born on 21 December 1907 in St. Petersburg, Russian Empire [now Russia]. She was an actress, known for Muzykalnaya istoriya (1940), The Girl from Leningrad (1941) and Zhenitba (1937). She died on 11 December 1981 in Moscow, RSFSR, USSR [now Russia].- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Pavel Kadochnikov was born on 29 July 1915 in Petrograd, Russian Empire [now St. Petersburg, Russia]. He was an actor and director, known for Secret Agent (1947), Povest o nastoyashchem cheloveke (1948) and A Big Family (1954). He was married to Rozaliya Kotovich. He died on 2 May 1988 in Leningrad, RSFSR, USSR [now St. Petersburg, Russia].- Composer
- Music Department
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Aram Khachaturyan was born in 1903, in Tiflis, Russian Empire (now Tbilisi, Georgia). He was the fourth son in a modest Armenian family. His father was a book-binder and a craftsman; he noticed the son's musical talent and got him a used piano, but he did not have money for a music teacher. Khachaturyan was self-taught until the age of 19, when he moved to Moscow to join his brother, a theater director. He studied physics and mathematics at the Moscow University for one year before entering the Gnesin School of Music in 1922. At the entrance test he saw a cello and said, "I want to learn to play this big violin." He studied cello under Mikhail Gnesin He graduated with honors from the Gnesin School in 1929 and from the Moscow Conservatory in 1934, where he studied composition under 'Nikolai Miaskovsky'. Sergei Prokofiev promoted Khachaturyan's music in Europe, and his piano trio and the First Piano Concerto (1936) has won him international acclaim.
His Ballet "Gayane" (1942), with the brilliant "Sabre Dance", became an international sensation. But his second ballet, "Spartacus", written in 1945, was not staged for 11 years. Khachaturyan was among the Soviet artists and intellectuals affected by official attacks on culture under Joseph Stalin in 1940s and 50s. His music was denounced as being 'formalistic'. Khachaturyan suffered from official attacks along with Sergei Prokofiev, Boris Pasternak, Anna Akhmatova and many other distinguished intellectuals in the Soviet Union. Only in December of 1956 "Spartacus" had it's premiere on the stage of Bolshoi Theater in Moscow, and soon it gained international success. The "Adagio" from the ballet "Spartacus" and the "Sabre Dance" from the ballet "Gayane" became the signature themes of Khachaturyan. He also wrote an acclaimed score for "Masquerade", a drama by Mikhail Lermontov. Khachaturyan was a recipient of many Soviet and International awards. As professor of composition at the Moscow Conservatory he promoted innovative and inter-cultural approach to music education. He cherished his Armenian heritage. He also included in his compositions a taste of the world music and various oriental influences. Aram Khachaturyan died in Moscow in 1978 and was buried in Armenia.- Nikita Mikhaylovsky was born on 8 April 1964. He was an actor, known for Love and Lies (1981), Vyyti zamuzh za kapitana (1986) and Zontik dlya novobrachnykh (1986). He died on 24 April 1991 in Leningrad, RSFSR, USSR [now St. Petersburg, Russia].
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Mark Bernes was born on 8 October 1911 in Nezhin, Chernigov Governorate, Russian Empire [now Nizhyn, Chernihiv Oblast, Ukraine]. He was an actor, known for Far from Moscow (1950), Two Soldiers (1943) and Istrebiteli (1939). He was married to Ludmila Bodrova. He died on 16 August 1969 in Moscow, RSFSR, USSR [now Russia].- Izolda Izvitskaya was born on 21 June 1932 in Dzerzhinsk, Nizhegorodskiy kray, RSFSR, USSR [now Nizhegorodskaya oblast, Russia]. She was an actress, known for The Forty-First (1956), Ottsy i deti (1959) and Po tonkomu ldu (1966). She was married to Eduard Bredun. She died on 1 March 1971 in Moscow, RSFSR, USSR [now Russia].
- Vladimir Savelev was born on 29 April 1899 in Moscow, Russian Empire [now Russia]. He was an actor, known for The Fall of Berlin (1950), Sekretnaya missiya (1950) and Solntse voskhodit na zapade (1933). He died on 9 April 1956 in Moscow, RSFSR, USSR [now Russia].
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Grigori Mikhailovich Kozintsev was born on March 22, 1905, in Kiev, Russian Empire (now Kiev, Ukraine). His father, named Mikhail Kozintsev, was a medical doctor. Young Kozintsev studied at the Kiev Gymnazium. There, in 1919, he organized experimental theatre "Arlekin" together with his fellow students Sergei Yutkevich and Aleksei Kapler. During 1919 and 1920 Kozintsev studied art at the Kiev School of Art under the tutelage of Alexandra Exter.
Experiments. In 1920 Kozintsev moved to Petrograd (Leningrad or St. Petersburg). There he studied art at the "VKHUTEMAS" at the Academy of Fine Arts for two years. In 1921 Kozintsev with Sergei Yutkevich, Leonid Trauberg, and Leonid Kryzhitsky organized and led the Factory of Excentric Actors (FEKS). There Kozintsev directed radically avant-garde staging of plays "Zhenitba" (Marriage 1922) by Nikolay Gogol and "Vneshtorg na Eifelevoi Bashne" (Foreign trade on Eiffel Tower 1923). They were based in the former Eliseev Mansion on Gagarinskaya street No. 1 in St. Petersburg. Kozintsev and FEKS collaborated with writer Yuri Tynyanov, cinematographer Andrey Moskvin, young actor-director Sergey Gerasimov, artist Igor Vuskovich, and young composer Dmitri Shostakovich among others. Initially FEKS was the main platform for experimental actors, directors and artists, and was strongly influenced by Vsevolod Meyerhold and Vladimir Mayakovsky.
Artistic position. In 1924 Kozintsev and Trauberg came to "SevZapKino" Studios (now Lenfilm Studios). There Kozintsev continued his FEKS experiments in his first eccentric comedy 'Pokhozhdenie Oktyabriny' (1924). Kozintsev's early films were strongly criticized by official Soviet critics. His film 'Shinel' (1926) was compared to German Expressionism and accused of distortion of the original classic story by Nikolay Gogol. Kozintsev strongly argued against such comparisons with German expressionism; he was unhappy until the end of his life about such criticism of his early experimental works. Kozintsev insisted that his cheerful experiments were essential in the city of Petrograd (St. Petersburg) after the Russian Revolution of 1917, which brought destruction, depression, crime, and degradation of culture.
Early films. Kozintsev made twelve films together with Leonid Trauberg. Their collaboration began in 1921, in Petrograd (St. Petersburg). Their film-trilogy about Russian revolutionary hero Maxim was made from 1935-1941, when people in the Soviet Russia were terrorized under the most brutal dictatorship of Joseph Stalin. In departure from experimental youthfulness and freedom of their FEKS years, the Maxim trilogy was a trade-off blend of experiment and Soviet propaganda. It was still a powerful work and was even banned by censorship in the United States from the 1930s-1950s. For that work Kozintsev and Trauberg were awarded the Stalin's State Prize in 1941. After the Second World War Kozintsev and Trauberg made their last film together: 'Prostye Lyudi (Plain People 1946), which was censored and remained unreleased until 1958, when "Nikita Khrushchev' lifted the ban imposed by Stalin's censorship.
Highlights. Grigori Kozintsev ascended to his best works after the death of Stalin. Then Nikita Khrushchev initiated the "Thaw" which played a role in some liberation of individual creativity in the Soviet film industry. Kozintsev's adaptations of classical literature combined some experimental elements of his earlier silent films with the approach of a mature master. His Don Quixote (1957), King Lear (1969) and especially Hamlet (1963) were recognized worldwide as his highest achievements. In _Korol Lir (1969)_ Kozintsev made a brilliant decision to cast actors from the Baltic States as the Lear's family. Jüri Järvet, Regimantas Adomaitis, Donatas Banionis, Juozas Budraitis, and Elza Radzina together with Oleg Dal, Galina Volchek, Aleksey Petrenko made a powerful acting ensemble.
Hamlet and King Lear. Kozintsev first staged Shakespeare's "Hamlet" and 'King Lear" in 1941. His collaboration with Boris Pasternak began in 1940, when Pasternak was working on his Russian translation of the Shakespeare's originals. Both plays were prepared for stage under direction of Kozintsev. King Lear was staged in 1941, but further work was interrupted because of the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union. Hamlet was staged in 1954. At the same time Kozintsev continued developing the idea of filming _Gamlet (1964)_, until everything came together in his legendary film. The adaptation by Boris Pasternak, the music by Dmitri Shostakovich, the direction by Kozintsev, and the acting talent of Innokentiy Smoktunovskiy produced special creative synergy. Innokentiy Smoktunovskiy was praised as the best Hamlet by Sir Laurence Olivier.
Legacy. In the 1920s Kozintsev taught at the Leningrad School of Acting. From 1944-1964 Kozintsev led his master-class for film directors at the Soviet State Film Institute (VGIK). Among his students were many prominent Russian directors and actors such as Sergey Gerasimov and others. Kozintsev was the head of master-class for film directors at Lenfilm Studios from 1964-1971. He wrote essays on William Shakespeare, Sergei Eisenstein, Charles Chaplin, and Vsevolod Meyerhold and published theoretical works on film direction. Grigori Kozintsev lived near Lenfilm Stidios in Leningrad (St. Petersburg) for the most part of his life. His work and presence was essential to the status of Lenfilm Studios as well as to the film community in Leningrad during the political and economic domination of Moscow as the Soviet capital. From his early works of the 1920s to his masterpiece _Gamlet (1964)_, Kozintsev was faithful to creative experimental approach.
Kozintsev was designated the People's Artist of the USSR. He was awarded the State Lenin's Prize of the USSR (1965), and received other awards and nominations. He died in Leningrad (St. Petersburg) on May 11, 1973, and was laid to rest in the Necropolis of the Masters of Art in St. Aleksandr Nevsky Convent in St. Petersburg, Russia.- Lavrenti Pavlovich Beria, the head of Joseph Stalin's dreaded secret police apparatus, was born in Merkheuli, Russia, on March 29, 1899. He joined the Bolshevik wing of the Communist Party in 1917 and was active in Stalin's native Georgia during the October 1917 Revolution. Beria joined the All-Russian Extraordinary Commission for Combating Counter-Revolution and Sabotage (Cheka), the first secret police apparatus of the new Soviet Union that was tasked with liquidating counter-revolutionaries and enemies of the state. Eventually he was appointed chief of the Peoples Commissariat for Internal Affairs (NKVD) in Georgia.
Stalin summoned Beria to Moscow in 1938, during the height of the Purges, and installed him as second in command to NKVD chief Nikolai Yezhov. Soon afterwards Yezhov was arrested and Beria replaced him. Beria became the driving force behind Stalin's pre-World War II rein of terror, overseeing the purging of the armed forces. Apprioximately one-third of all officers were arrested by the NKVD, and three out of five marshals and 14 out of 16 army commanders were subsequently were executed.
Beria became a favorite of Stalin, and as commissar--and then later minister of internal affairs--he wielded great power. He was appointed to the Central Committee of the Communist Party, and in February 1941 he was named deputy prime minister. He was appointed to the Politburo in 1946, the first secret police chief to be so honored.
Stalin died on March 5, 1953, and Beria tried to succeed him as dictator. With Beria's support, Georgi Malenkov was appointed Chairman of the Council of Ministers (Premier); Malenkov then appointed Beria first deputy premier. Beria appeared on the cover of "Time" magazine on July 20, 1953, which was captioned "Enemy of the People".
As the real "power behind the throne", Beria positioned himself as an anti-Stalinist reformer. When an uprising in East Germany led to fears in the Presidium that Beria might allow the reunification of Germany on terms favorable to the West, it was time to act against the secret policeman. Beria's machinations were defeated by a group led by Nikita Khrushchev, who was named First Secretary of the Communist Party and who lead the denunciation of Beria. His ally Malenkov had earlier been forced to resign from the Presidium, and Beria was arrested in July, accused of conducting "anti-state" activities and of conspiracy. He was found guilty and shot on December 23, 1953. - Writer
Maksim Gorky is a pseudonym of Aleksei Maksimovich Peshkov, who was born into a poor Russian family in Nizhnii Novgorod on Volga river. Gorky lost his father at an early age, he was beaten by his stepfather and became an orphan at age 9, when his mother died. He was brought up by his grandmother, who helped his development as a storyteller.
He was blessed with a brilliant memory, but failed to enter a University of Kazan. At age 19 he survived a suicide attempt, because the bullet missed his heart. After that Gorky traveled on foot for 5 years all over Central Russia, worked as a sailor on a Volga steamboat, then a salesperson, a railway worker, a salt miller, and a lawyer's clerk. At that time he was arrested for his public criticism of the Tsar and social injustices in Russia. He started writing for newspapers and published his first 'Sketches and Stories' in 1890s. Later he wrote an autobiographic book "My Universities" based on impressions from his travels and jobs. Gorky wrote with sympathy about the simple folks, the outcasts, the gypsies, the hobos and dreamers in the context of social decay in the Russian Empire. He became friends with Anton Chekhov and Lev Tolstoy. His play 'The Lower Depths' (1892) was praised by Chekhov and was successfully played in Europe and the United States. His political activism resulted in cancellation of his membership in the Russian Academy. Anton Chekhov and Vladimir Korolenko left the Academy in protest and solidarity with Gorky. He went to live in Europe and America in 1906-13. In America he started his classic novel, 'The Mother', about a Russian Christian woman and her imprisoned son, who both joined revolutionaries under the illusion that revolution follows Christ's messages.
After the Russian revolution in 1917, Gorky criticized Lenin and communists for their "bloody experiments on the Russian people". He wrote, 'Lenin and Trotsky are corrupted with the dirty poison of power. They are disrespectful of human rights, freedom of speech and all other civil liberties". Soon Gorky received a handwritten warning letter from Lenin. Later his friend Nikolai Gumilev, ex-husband of Anna Akhmatova was executed by communists. In 1921 Gorky emigrated to Europe and settled in Capri. He became careful in his critique of communism. In 1932 after a series of brief visits, he returned to Soviet Russia. He was placed in a rich Moscow mansion of the former railroad tycoon Ryabushinsky. His return from the fascist Italy was a victory for Soviet propaganda. He was made the Chairman of the Soviet Writer's Union, and a figurehead of "socialist realism" . After the murder of Kirov in 1934 Gorky was under a house arrest. His son died in 1935. The following year Gorki Gorky died suddenly at the Lenin's dacha in Moscow.- Actor
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Sergey Stolyarov was born on 1 November 1911 in village Bezzubovo, Venyov uyezd, Tula Governorate, Russian Empire [now Serebryano-Prudsky District, Moscow Oblast, Russia]. He was an actor and writer, known for Far from Moscow (1950), Sadko (1953) and The Sword and the Dragon (1956). He died on 9 December 1969 in Moscow, RSFSR, USSR [now Russia].- Leonid Brezhnev was a communist leader of the Soviet Union who restored a conservative, centralized state, initially raising living standards and bringing the country to its height but ultimately causing economic stagnation and disproportionate military growth. This process exhausted the Soviet economy and eventually led to collapse of the Soviet Union.
Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev was born on December 19, 1906, in Kamenskoe Russian Empire (now Dniprodzerzhynsk, Ukraine). He went to Dnepropetrovsk Industrial College. There he joined the Communist Party youth union (Komsomol) in 1923, and became a full member of the Communist Party in 1931. He had no adult memories of life under Tsar Nicholas II and was too young to have participated in the leadership feud after the death of Lenin. During the purges of the "Great Terror" under Joseph Stalin Brezhnev proved himself a loyal Stalinist, suitable for the ranks of the Communist hierarchy. In 1935 he was drafted in a tank school. There he started a career as Political Commissar; and in 1936 was transferred to Regional Government, rising to the Party Secretary of Dnepropetrovsk in 1939. On June 22, 1941, the day the Nazis invaded the Soviet Union, Brezhnev was assigned to evacuate military industries before the Nazis reached his city. During WWII Brezhnev was assigned as Political Commissar to Transcaucasian Front; then to 1st Ukrainian Front. There chief Political Commissar was Nikita Khrushchev, who patronized Brezhnev's career since 1931. He was promoted to chief Political Commissar of the 4th Ukrainian Front, rising to a Maj. General. He was in Prague on May 9, 1945 when the War ended. Brezhnev took part in the Victory Parade on June 22, 1945, on the Red Square in Moscow, and saluted to Joseph Stalin, who stood atop the mausoleum of Lenin.
Brezhnev was promoted by Nikita Khrushchev to 1st Communist Party Secretary of Moldavia in 1950. In 1952 he was promoted to the candidate member of the Politburo, and had a meeting with Joseph Stalin in the Kremlin. "What a handsome Moldavian", said Stalin of Brezhnev. The death of Stalin on March 5, 1953, was followed by Khrushchev's takeover as the Head of the Communist Party in September, 1953. Main opponents were eliminated in a series of political executions, including that of Lavrenti Beria in December, 1953. Others were exiled, or degraded, like Marshal Georgi Zhukov. The cast of Soviet Leadership was changed. In 1953 Brezhnev was made the Chief of Political Directorate of the Army and the Navy (GPU). In 1955 he was made the 1st Communist Party Secretary of Kazakhstan. In 1956 Nikita Khrushchev denounced the dictatorship of Joseph Stalin in his Secret Speech to the 20th Congress of the Soviet Commuinst Party. In 1957 Brezhnev backed Khrushchev in a power-fight against Vyacheslav Molotov, Georgi Malenkov, and Lazar Kaganovich. In 1959 Brezhnev was promoted to Second Secretary of the Central Committee. In May 1960, he became the President of the Supreme Soviet, the nominal head of the Soviet Union.
Brezhnev, like many Soviet leaders, enjoyed many privileges, such as free villas and beach houses, valuable gifts, hunting and drinking parties. He was also using his secretaries and nurses for sex. But Brezhnev's adultery and alcoholism backfired in his own family - his daughter, Galina Brezhneva, modeled her personal life after her father and turned her life into an endless series of drinking parties and compromising love affairs. In 1961, while being married to a circus acrobat, Galina Brezhneva, then 32, met the 18-year-old actor Igor Kio, so she urgently divorced her husband and, using her name, eloped with the boy to a southern resort of Sochi. Her honeymoon lasted only 9 days. Enraged Soviet leader sent KGB to destroy her new family. Igor Kio was interrogated and pushed away from the Brezhnev's daughter, but she became revengeful and continued the affair with Kio for another three years, and later added more problems to her father's life.
In the late 50s and early 60s, the Soviet Union was undergoing liberalization, called "The Thaw" initiated by Nikita Khrushchev, who also initiated reforms in the Soviet government. While some people supported Khrushchev's reforms, many ranking communists were unhappy with the changes. Khrushchev's Thaw culminated in 1961 with the removal of Joseph Stalin's body from the Lenin's mausoleum on the Red Square, which further angered the hardliners. But at the same time, Khrushchev approved the construction of the Berlin Wall and caused many scandals while visiting foreign nations, which complicated international relations, culminating in Cuban Missile Crisis. Internal situation in the Soviet Union was rapidly deteriorating, because Khrushchev's agricultural reform failed, causing disastrous situation with food supplies, massive food lines triggered public unrest and Khrushchev thoughtlessly ordered the hungry people to be killed by the Red Army forces. Brezhnev used Khrushchev's mistakes to gain support for himself: he plotted a coup against Khrushchev and gathered several top-ranking communists to conspire against Nikita Khrushchev in order to stop his efforts to reform the Soviet Union.
On October 14, 1964, Brezhnev with co-conspirators Aleksey Kosygin and Nikolay Podgorny dismissed Nikita Khrushchev from office and denounced him. Khrushchev was forced into retirement under a house arrest on a small farm outside of Moscow. Brezhnev reversed liberalization, ended the "Khrushchev Thaw", and enforced censorship and total control over information, cultural life and education. In his May 1965 speech commemorating the 20th anniversary of Victory in WWII, Brezhnev mentioned Stalin positively. The onset of the "Cold war" caused 'freezing' of the Soviet economy. Entrepreneurial people went underground creating a parallel black market. The official economy relied on cheap labor and subsidies from oil and gas exports. The Soviet Military-Industrial Complex was somewhat efficient due to higher wages and ruthless control by the KGB and Soviet Army. Decay was still creeping into those bastions of communism. The arms race became unaffordable by the mid 1960's. 30% of the Soviet economy was directly or indirectly working for the arms race. Stockpiling of costly weapons undermined living standards that led to a fall in the birth rate, a shortage of labor, and an economic degradation. The country was pushed into a dead end.
Brezhnev played the script of Stalin which led the Soviet Union on a collision course with the world, and eventually to self-destruction. Control by fear and intimidation was back again. People were living hopeless lives having no choice. Workers of collective farms lived without identification documents up until 1970's. Undocumented citizens at collective farms were disposable. Migrants were used as industrial slaves, for symbolic pay. Wages were set by the state and did not depend on productivity or quality. The economy was governed by the state 5-year plan. This mostly ignored the world and domestic market signals; and lacked the incentives for innovation and efficiency. Teachers were forced to indoctrinate children of all ages from kindergartens through schools and universities. Total control and manipulation was demonstrated twice a year at annual May Day parades and Great Revolution parades on November 7. Military parades were accompanied by marching masses of industrial workers and managers, doctors and scientists, as well as teachers and students from all schools and universities. Exemplary obedient people were rewarded with better food and perks. Taming millions to obedience by fear and hunger led to a massive degradation of human rights, poor spirituality, lack of initiative and creativity, and decay of public health and vitality. The country of almost three hundred million people became stuck in stagnation, inefficiency, and apathy. Brighter students were taken into the military-industrial system, brainwashed and locked there for life with little choices. Opponents were locked in labor camps, mostly in Siberia. There, millions were working various hard labor jobs in grand-scale economic projects; like the Baikal-Amur railroad (BAM). Other dissidents were labeled as mentally ill and forcibly confined to mental hospitals. Since the Communist Revolution of 1917, people had been continually stripped of their land and property. Under Khrushchev and Brezhnev the destruction of independent farming was finalized. By the 1960's poverty and anxiety pushed masses to migrate to cities. Mass-construction of cheap panel buildings was lagging behind. Millions of families shared poor housing, hostels, and dorms in cities. Villages were deserted. Collective farms decayed. Agricultural output fell below the levels of the Tsar's age. Seven thousand churches were destroyed across the Soviet Union. Spiritual life was dominated by ugly propaganda. People were blinded by fear and pushed to wrong values. Meaningful human virtues were replaced with fake ideals of ruthless communism. Propaganda idolized members of the Soviet Politburo, their portraits were decorating every school and factory along with countless portraits and statues of Vladimir Lenin.
Political manipulations and brainwashing of millions led to devaluation of life itself. Immoral behavior became a massive problem. In 1966 Brezhnev was asked not to rehabilitate Joseph Stalin, in a letter signed by 25 distinguished intellectuals, including Andrei Sakharov, Igor Tamm, Pyotr Kapitsa, Korney Ivanovich Chukovskiy, Valentin Kataev, Viktor Nekrasov, Petr Korin, Maya Plisetskaya, Oleg Efremov, Innokentiy Smoktunovskiy, Georgi Tovstonogov, Mikhail Romm, Marlen Khutsiev, Boris Slutsky, Konstantin Paustovsky, Vladimir Tendryakov, Dmitri Shostakovich, and other Soviet luminaries. But Brezhnev's government retaliated with massive censorship. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn was interrogated and intimidated. His writings were also banned. Trials of intellectuals like Andrey Sinyavskiy, Yuri Daniel, Joseph Brodsky, and others was only the tip of the iceberg. The head of KGB, Vladimir Semichastny, wrote a note on "Anti-Soviet activity of creative intellectuals". It listed the films '33' by director 'Georgi Danelia' and 'Na odnoi planet' by director Ilya Olshvanger. The KGB was angry at actors: "Today they play Lenin, tomorrow a merchant, after tomorrow a drunkard." Neo-Stalinist course was enforced by the leaders who were raised under Stalin and did not learn anything better than to abuse the enslaved people. Blinded leaders only tried to slow the movement to a dead end. Restrictions on travel and studies abroad blocked the learning of the achievements of other nations of the world. Information technology and computers made by Soviet Military Industries were incompatible and obsolete. Total control by the KGB led to stagnation and inefficiency. The brightest people defected and fled the Soviet gloom, causing the "Brain drain" in science and culture. In the 1970s the flow of Jewish emigration was initiated by reuniting families. The KGB caused financial and political obstacles to every emigrating person; but people were leaving at any cost. Aggressive foreign policy manifested in support for revolutionary regimes and spreading the Soviet political and military presence in Third World countries. National resources were wasted on controversial military operations at the expense of growing domestic problems including poverty and frustration of the people.
Brezhnev's regime crushed the Prague Spring of 1968, fought the Chinese Army over a border dispute in 1969, sent Soviet Tanks and Air Force to Egypt and Syria against Israel in the 1970's, as well as in North Vietnam against the French and Americans. The invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 undermined international credibility of the Soviet Union. Andrei Sakharov wrote an open letter to Brezhnev calling for a stop to the war. 50 nations boycotted the 1980 Olympics in Moscow. Crackdown on intellectual freedom and human rights included the use of psychiatric terror, arrests, and the exile of dissidents. The head of the KGB, Yuri Andropov, declared Andrei Sakharov the "enemy No.1." Sakharov was forcefully exiled from Moscow to the militarized 'closed' city of Gorky. He was placed under tight surveillance and restricted from any contacts. His wife Yelena Bonner was also under tight surveillance.
During the 1970s Brezhnev's health declined dramatically as he became increasingly dependent on alcohol and drugs; but on his 70th birthday he made himself a Generalissimus Marshal of the Soviet Union, similar to that of Joseph Stalin. Brezhnev accepted over 200 decorations and awards, including awards from all pro-Soviet governments, except China. Brezhnev accepted countless expensive gifts and amassed a collection of vintage cars and other bribes. His personal vanity and behavior was replicated at all levels of the Communist Party and led to massive corruption. The old Brezhnev lost his acting abilities and couldn't even read the script. People were joking. The ugly reality was reflected in its leader. The youngest Politburo Member Mikhail Gorbachev was contemplating reforms. Brezhnev suffered a stroke in May 1982. He died of a heart attack on November 10, 1982; and was buried by the Kremlin Wall. He was succeeded by Yuri Andropov, who died just 16 months later. He was replaced by Konstantin Chernenko, who died in just 13 months. Then came Mikhail Gorbachev, but the country was already locked in a dying mode.
Brezhnev's daughter, Galina, was married four times and was regarded as a wild-child by the Soviet authorities. Her wild drinking parties often ended in escapades with younger men. In 1982, she was seen wearing jewels previously reported as stolen, she was also connected to jewel smugglers, so she was tried for stealing jewels from a celebrity, but was acquitted, while her powerful father was still the leader of the Soviet Union. Her third husband was convicted of bribery and corruption and sentenced to twelve years correction term in a hard-labor camp. In the 1990s, a British TV filmed a visit to the home of Galina Brezhneva, where she was interviewed while being drunk and demonstrating disgraceful behavior. At that time she was living with a mechanic who was 29 years younger. She remained impossible to deal with, so after numerous complaints from her neighbors and upon request of her own daughter, Galina Brezhneva was placed in a Moscow psychiatric hospital where she died in 1998. She was laid to rest in the prestigious Novodevichy cemetery in Moscow, Russia. Brezhnev's grandson, Andrei Brezhnev, joined the Communist Party of Russia in 2005. Brezhnev's granddaughter, Victoria, was robbed several times and is now divorced and unemployed. - Actor
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Mikheil Gelovani was born on 6 January 1893 in Lasuria, Kutaisi Governorate, Russian Empire [now Tsageri Municipality, Republic of Georgia]. He was an actor and director, known for The Fall of Berlin (1950), The Vow (1946) and Fortress on the Volga (1942). He died on 21 December 1956 in Moscow, RSFSR, USSR [now Russia].- Boris Andreyev was born on 9 February 1915 in Saratov, Russian Empire [now Russia]. He was an actor, known for The Fall of Berlin (1950), A Big Family (1954) and Symphony of Life (1948). He was married to Galina Vasilievna. He died on 24 April 1982 in Moscow, RSFSR, USSR [now Russia].
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Mark Donskoy was born on 6 March 1901 in Odessa, Kherson Governorate, Russian Empire [now Ukraine]. He was a director and writer, known for Gorky 1: The Childhood of Maxim Gorky (1938), Foma Gordeev (1959) and The Taras Family (1945). He died on 21 March 1981 in Moscow, RSFSR, USSR [now Russia].- Mikhail Kuznetsov was born on 25 February 1918 in Bogorodsk, Moscow Governorate, RSFSR [now Noginsk, Moscow Oblast, Russia]. He was an actor, known for Taras Shevchenko (1951), Ivan the Terrible, Part I (1944) and Sinyaya tetrad (1964). He died on 23 August 1986 in Moscow, RSFSR, USSR [now Russia].
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Vladimir Basov was a notable Soviet actor and director best known for the leading role as Bruno in Shchit i mech (1968), which he also directed, and his numerous supporting roles, such as Floor Polisher in Ya shagayu po Moskve (1964) (aka.. Walking the Streets of Moscow (1963), among other works.
He was born Vladimir Pavlovich Basov on September 17, 1923, in a small town of Urazov, Kursk province, central Russia. His father died in a tragic accident, and young Basov was raised by a single mother. During the Second World War he was wounded in the battlefield fighting the Nazis, and was decorated for his courage. From 1947 - 1951 he studied acting and directing under Mikhail Romm and Sergei Yutkevich at Soviet State Insitute of Cinema (VGIK), graduating in 1952 as film director. From 1952 to 1987 he was a film director at Mosfilm Studios in Moscow.
Basov shot to fame with the leading role as Bruno in popular Soviet war drama Shchit i mech (1968) which he also directed. At that time Basov was among the most popular Soviet filmmakers. He directed such TV movies as Opasnyy povorot (1972), and the popular series Dni Turbinykh (1976) adapted after the eponymous book by Mikhail A. Bulgakov. However, with his success came the attendant pressures, and he suffered from chronic alcoholism, depression, and had several strokes and heart attacks.
Vladimir Basov was designated People's Actor of USSR (1983), and was awarded the State Prize of Russia (1982). He died of a second heart attack on September 17, 1987, in his Moscow home, and was laid to rest in Moscow, Russia.- Writer
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Vladimir Mayakovsky was the leading Russian Futurist poet of the 20th century who created an entirely new form of Russian poetry loosely resembling such modern day rappers as Eminem and Snoop Dogg.
He was born Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky on July 19, 1893, in the town of Bagdadi, Kutaisi province in the Transcaucasian kingdom of Georgia, then part of Russian Empire (now Georgia). He was the last of three children in a Russian-Ukrainian family. His father, Vladimir Mayakovsky, was a Russian Cossack who worked for Imperial Ministry as a forest ranger. His mother, Alexandra Alekseevna, was Ukrainian. Young Mayakovsky grew up in a bilingual environment, his mother spoke Georgian while he learned Russian, and spent his childhood and boyhood attending a grammar school in Kutaisi, Georgia. In 1906, when Mayakovsky was 13, his father died of blood poisoning caused by a finger cut. Young Mayakovsky moved to Moscow with his mother and two sisters.
During his formative years Mayakovsky absorbed multi-cultural influences from Transcaucasia and Russia. From 1906 - 1908 he studied at Moscow Gymnasium, then dropped out and was involved in revolutionary movement with then underground Communist Party of Russia. Because of his association with communists, he was arrested three times, violated the prison rules, and spent over six months in Butyrskaya prison in Moscow. There he wrote his first poems while in a solitary cell in 1909. After his prison term, Mayakovsky refused to join the Communist Party, and for that Vladimir Lenin warranted his communist comrades that they should not trust Mayakovsky and should watch his activities and publications. During the 1910s Mayakovsky emerged as independent thinker and writer. He studied at Stroganov School of Art, then at Moscow Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. There he met Futurist artist David Burlyuk, and the two collaborated on several art shows and books.
In 1912, Mayakovsky moved to St. Petersburg, the capital famous for its wealth, cultural diversity, and cosmopolitan lifestyle. There he met Maxim Gorky who was instrumental with his initial steps and introductions. Mayakovsky wrote and directed his first play, a tragedy titled 'Vladimir Mayakovsky', that premiered at a St. Petersburg theatre in 1913. At that time, on a dacha in the Levashovo suburb of St. Petersburg, Mayakovsky met Lilya Brik, the woman who changed his life forever. She became his Muse, lover, and most trusted companion, while her husband, Osip Brik eventually became the publisher of Mayakovsky's most important works. In St. Petersburg Mayakovsky published his passionate poems: 'Cloud in the Trousers' (1915) and 'The Backbone Flute' (1916) alluding to his sexuality and the emerging menage à trois relationship with the Briks.
In the popular literary club "Brodyachaya Sobaka" (aka.. Wandering Dog) Mayakovsky met the aspiring poet Anna Akhmatova, her husband Nikolai Gumilev, and other important figures of the flourishing St. Petersburg cultural scene. Korney Ivanovich Chukovskiy, one of the leading writers in St. Petersburg, proclaimed Mayakovsky a genius, and promoted his poetry. However, during the 1914 - 1918, the disastrous First World War, two Russian revolutions, and the following Russian Civil War brought immense destruction, poverty, and instability. Mayakovsky was drafted and served in Petrograd Military Automobile School from 1915 to August 1917. After the Revolution of 1917, he remained in Petrograd (St. Petersburg) and was editor of Futurist paper as well as art magazines "Iskusstvo" and other projects.
In 1918 Mayakovsky made his film debut appearing in three silent films made at Neptun studio in St. Petersburg. He appeared as actor co-starring opposite Lilya Brik in Zakovannaya filmoi (1918), which he also wrote, and in Nye dlya deneg radivshisya (1918); both films were directed by Nikandr Turkin. Mayakovsky also co-starred in The Young Lady and the Hooligan (1918), which he also co-directed. At that time his stage-play 'Mystery-Bouffe' (1918) premiered at a St. Petersburg's theatre.
In mid-1919 he moved from St. Petersburg back to Moscow and shared a small room in a communal flat with his friend and lover Lilya Brik. For a while he worked as designer and poet for propaganda publications at ROSTA, the Russian Telegraph Agency. His circle in Moscow included such cultural figures as Osip Brik and Lilya Brik, as well as their friends: artists and filmmakers such as Sergei Eisenstein, and Alexander Rodchenko, writers Boris Pasternak and Viktor Shklovskiy among others. Mayakovsky and Brik published the avant-garde and leftist magazine 'LEF' together with Lev Kuleshov, Dziga Vertov and Sergei Yutkevich, where they opposed the mainstream official Soviet culture. Mayakovsky went to extremes, he called to trash all history and traditional culture, such as the 19th century writers Alexander Pushkin and Lev Tolstoy, as well as classical art. He also opposed the dull official "proletariat" propaganda and conformist Soviet mass-culture. His satirical plays 'Klop' (aka.. Bedbug) and 'Banya' (aka.. Bath) were staged by director Vsevolod Meyerhold, but soon were banned. Mayakovsky actively contributed to the emerging Russian-Soviet film industry as a writer, actor, and film director. He also co-wrote scenario for Lilya Brik's film Yevrei na zemle (1927).
During the 1920s, Mayakovsky traveled extensively in Europe and America, and amassed a significant cosmopolitan experience. In Paris he visited the studios of Pablo Picasso and Fernand Léger. In America Mayakovsky fathered a daughter, Patricia Tompson, form his relationship with Russian-American émigré Elli Jones (Elisaveta Petrovna). In Europe he had a relationship with another Russian emigrant actress. At that time he learned that most Russian writers and poets, such as Anastasiya Tsvetaeva, can not make money in the West. Back in Russia, he was so successful that he bought himself a new Renault car and hired a private chauffeur, comrade Gamazin, who was also a secret informant for Soviet Security agency.
By the late-1920s Mayakovsky emerged as a popular and influential figure in Soviet culture and politics; he was a poet, an artist, an actor, a writer, director and public speaker. His highly electrifying public performances often irritated the Soviet officials. Mayakovsky applied his untamed genius in almost every aspect of cultural and political life, and eventually became a much higher and bigger figure than the Soviet officialdom could tolerate. His non-conformist and non-Marxist position became a problem. For that reason he was under constant surveillance by the Soviet authorities.
Intellectuals regarded Mayakovsky for breaking all rules and traditions in literature, art and public life, and for exploding with his bold and highly original style of poetry. He was known for his passionate and intense public performances. He was also known for his hectic relationships with women. His personal life remained unstable for many years, as he was torn between several women in his life. On April 14, 1930, Mayakovsky was found dead, and his death was accompanied by a letter with a rather sarcastic message. The Soviet officials announced that Mayakovsky shot himself directly in his heart, because of his breakup with actress Veronika Polonskaya. Ten days after Mayakovsky's death the criminal investigator of the Mayakovsky's case was also shot dead.
Mayakovsky was buried in Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow. Lilya Brik and her husband Osip Brik inherited the writer's archive. In 1935, five years after the death of Mayakovsky, Lily Brik wrote a letter to Joseph Stalin expressing her idea to publish the collected works of Mayakovsky. Stalin approved the Brik's idea, and ordered that Soviet publishers print collections of "revolutionary" poetry by Mayakovsky. Upon Stalin's instruction, Mayakovsky's "revolutionary" poetry was included in the Soviet school curriculum and reissued in massive printings.
Vladimir Mayakovsky was depicted in the film Mayakovsky itskeboda ase... (1958) by director Konstantine Pipinashvili, based on the autobiographical book "Ya -sam" (aka.. I-myself).- Actor
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Vladimir Gajdarov was born on 25 July 1893 in Poltava, Russian Empire [now Ukraine]. He was an actor and director, known for The Victors and the Vanquished (1949), Helen of Troy (1924) and Michel Strogoff (1926). He was married to Olga Gzovskaya. He died on 17 December 1976 in Leningrad, RSFSR, USSR [now St. Petersburg, Russia].- Actor
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Aleksandr Antonov was born on 13 February 1898 in Moscow, Russian Empire [now Russia]. He was an actor, known for Battleship Potemkin (1925), Dvenadtsataya noch (1955) and The Country Bride (1938). He died on 23 November 1962 in Moscow, RSFSR, USSR [now Russia].- Director
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Richard Viktorov was born on 7 November 1929 in Tuapse, Tuapsinskiy rayon, Severo-Kavkazskiy kray, RSFSR, USSR [now Krasnodarskiy kray, Russia]. He was a director and writer, known for To the Stars by Hard Ways (1981), Kometa (1984) and Perestupi porog (1970). He was married to Nadezhda Sementsova. He died on 8 September 1983 in Moscow, RSFSR, USSR [now Russia].- Georgi Konstantinovich Zhukov was born on December 1, 1896, in the village of Strelkovka, Kaluga region, Russia. His parents were peasants. He served during the First World War in the Russian army under Tsar Nicholas II. He was awarded the Cross of St. George twice and promoted for his bravery in battle. He joined the Communist party after the Russian Revolution of 1917, and served in the Red Army during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1921, receiving his first Order of the Battle Red Banner for brutal extermination of non-Communist peasants.
Zhukov was not affected by the "Great Terror" and extermination of intellectuals by Joseph Stalin. His star rose quickly after the executions of much of the Red Army leadership by Stalin in 1937-1939. In 1939 Zhukov defeated Japan's Kwantung Army at the Battle of Halhin Gol. His victory became possible due to his detailed planning and skillful use of motorized artillery against the Japanese forces. For that achievement Zhukov was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union and promoted to full general. During the Second World War Zhukov was appointed Chief of the Red Army General Staff for six months until July 1941.
Zhukov was the only top general who had a major disagreement with Stalin on how to resist the advancing Nazi armies. He attempted to convince Stalin that the city of Kiev could not be held and all troops should be evacuated. Stalin reprimanded Zhukov and dismissed him. Zhukov's fears were proven right wen Kiev was in fact taken by the Germans and 500,000 Russian soldiers were captured and shipped off to Nazi POW camps (many never returned). Stalin was not ashamed and sent Zhukov to organize the defense of Moscow. The Germans were stopped at Moscow not brilliant tactics or planning but by reinforcements rushed in from from Siberia and by the courage of simple soldiers and selfless support from the population. Stalin then sent Zhukov to defend Leningrad. There he organized an impenetrable defense of the city of 3.5 million. Unable to overcome the city's defenses, the Germans laid siege to it in hopes of starving the defenders out. The siege lasted more than 900 days and resulted in the destruction of the German forces that tried to take it, although the city itself lost many of its residents and the soldiers defending it.
Zhukov was assigned by Stalin to several important engagements during the course of the war. In 1942 he was assisted, albeit indirectly, in the defense of Stalingrad by diverting part of the besieging German forces by attacking Rzhev and Vyazma. In 1943 he was fully involved in the strategic planning of the final stages of the Battle of Stalingrad. There he focused on attacking the Romanian and Hungarian units of the German forces, which were more ill-equipped than German units. Stalingrad was won after each side lost under a million people. In July 1943 Zhukov orchestrated the Battle of Kursk, which became the largest tank operation in history. After that victory he went back to besieged Leningrad. There Zhukov led the offensive Operation Bagration in January 1944, which liberated the survivors of Leningrad from long and exhausting siege.
In 1945 Zhukov led the final assault on the Nazi Germany. He was the chief strategic planner for the Battle of Berlin. Under his command the city of Berlin was captured in April 1945, leading to capitulation of the Nazi Germany. He was appointed the first commander of the Soviet occupation zone in Germany, which later became East Germany. Zhukov led the Soviet Victory Parade at the Red Square in Moscow, where he inspected the troops and saluted to Stalin. He was awarded four times the Hero of the Soviet Union. After the victory Zhukov invited the Allied Commander General Dwight D. Eisenhower and the two toured the Soviet Union together in the summer of 1945.
Stalin's jealousy led to quick removal of Zhukov from Berlin to a smaller post in Odessa. Humiliated Zhukov supported Nikita Khrushchev. After the death of Stalin, he arrested the main Khrushchev's rival Lavrenti Beria and was appointed the Defence Minister in 1955. Zhukov urged Nikita Khrushchev to send the Red Army troops to suppress the Hungarian revolution in 1956. In 1957 he again supported Khrushchev against the neo-Stalinist hard liners, and was made a full member of the Presidium (Politburo) of the Communist Party. However, when Khrushchev initiated downsizing of the Red Army, Zhukov disputed and was expelled by Khrushchev under suspicion of a planned coup.
In 1964 Khrushchev was dismissed by Leonid Brezhnev who restored Zhukov to favor, though not to power. In 1965, at the important 20th anniversary of Victory gathering in Moscow, Zhukov received a much greater acclaim than Brezhnev. During the Cold War Brezhnev made himself four times Hero of the Soviet Union in an effort to match Zhukov's medal count. Zhukov remained a highly reputable, though controversial and enigmatic figure in the Soviet Union. He died on June 18, 1974, and was buried in Moscow. - Vladimir Osipchuk was born on 17 August 1960 in Kharkov, Ukrainian SSR, USSR. He was an actor, known for Kazhdyy desyatyy (1984), Chelyuskintsy (1985) and Zaliv schastya (1987). He died on 31 October 1990 in Leningrad, RSFSR, USSR.
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Faina Ranevskaya was born Faina Georgievna Feldman in Taganrog. Her father was the head of the local synagogue. Her family eventually left the country, but Faina stayed in the Soviet Union and went on to become one of the country's most acclaimed stage and screen actresses. One of her most famous movie roles was as the stepmother in a 1947 musical adaptation of "Cinderella" (called "Zolushka" in Russian). After her death, Ranevskaya was buried in the Donskoye Cemetery. Post-Soviet Russia issued a stamp bearing her likeness. The Ranevskaya Monument was unveiled in 2008 in front of her birth house.- Boris Smirnov was a Russian actor of Moscow Art Theatre also known for his film role as Prince Vasili Kuragin in War and Peace (1965).
He was born Boris Aleksandrovich Smirnov, on October 26, 1908, in St. Petersburg, Russia. From 1925 to 1929 he studied acting at Leningrad Institute of Theatrical Arts, graduating in 1929 as actor. From 1929 to 1950 he was member of several stage companies in Leningrad, such as Theatre of Lensovet and Leningrad Theatre of Comedy. His most memorable stage performances in Leningrad were as Pavel Korchagin in 'Kak zakalyalas stal' and as Hamlet in the Shakespeare's classic play staged at the Theatre of Lensovet.
From 1955 to 1982 Boris Smirnov was a permanent member of Moscow Art Theatre (MKhAT). There his stage partners were such renown Russian actors as Alla Tarasova, Anatoli Ktorov, Mark Prudkin, Olga Androvskaya, Anastasiya Georgievskaya, Mikhail Yanshin, Aleksey Gribov, Boris Livanov, Mikhail Kedrov, Viktor Stanitsyn, Angelina Stepanova, Vasili Toporkov, Mikhail Bolduman, Pavel Massalsky, and the next generation of MKhAT actors - Kira Golovko, Iya Savvina, Alla Pokrovskaya, Anastasiya Voznesenskaya, Irina Miroshnichenko, Innokenti Smoktunovsky, Oleg Efremov, Oleg Tabakov, Andrey Myagkov, Vladimir Kashpur, Viktor Sergachyov, Vyacheslav Nevinnyy, Stanislav Lyubshin, Sergey Sazontev, Avangard Leontev, Igor Vasilev, and others.
In the course of his career spanning over 60 years, Smirnov appeared in about 30 film and television productions. During the 50s and 60s he was officially appointed to portray the Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin in four Soviet films and also in three stage plays at Moscow Art Theatre. Ironically, after his portrayals of the iconic Soviet leader, Boris Smirnov was cast as crafty manipulative crook, Prince Vasili Kuragin, in War and Peace (1965) by director Sergey Bondarchuk. He also played leading and supporting roles in stage productions of classic Russian repertoire, such as Paratov in the A. Ostrovsky's play 'Without Dowry', as Ivan Karamazov in stage adaptation of the novel by 'Fyodor Dostoevsky', and as Ivanov in the eponymous play by Anton Chekhov.
Smirnov was designated People's Actor of the USSR (1963). He was awarded Order of Lenin, Order of Revolution, and received other decorations from the Soviet and Russian state. He died on December 19, 1982, in Moscow and was laid to rest in Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow, Russia. - Yuri Kamornyj was born on 8 August 1944 in Alapayevsk, Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russian SFSR, USSR [now Russia]. He was an actor, known for 20-e dekabrya (1982), 'Poseidon' speshit na pomoshch (1978) and Sergeyev ishchet Sergeyeva (1974). He died on 27 November 1981 in Leningrad, RSFSR, USSR [now St. Petersburg, Russia].
- Nikita Podgorny was born on 16 February 1931 in Moscow, RSFSR, USSR [now Russia]. He was an actor, known for The Idiot (1958), The Brothers Karamazov (1969) and Autumn Marathon (1979). He died on 26 September 1982 in Moscow, RSFSR, USSR [now Russia].
- Ivan Koval-Samborsky was born on 16 September 1893 in Kharkov, Russian Empire [now Kharkiv, Ukraine]. He was an actor, known for The Adventures of the Three Reporters (1926), Men on Wings (1935) and The Girl with the Hat Box (1927). He died on 10 January 1962 in Moscow, RSFSR, USSR [now Russia].
- Vyacheslav Mikhaylovich Molotov (1890 - 8 November 1986) was a Russian politician and diplomat, an Old Bolshevik, and a leading figure in the Soviet government from the 1920s onward. He served as Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars from 1930 to 1941 and as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1939 to 1949 and from 1953 to 1956.
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Igor Savchenko was born on 11 October 1906 in Vinnitsa, Vinnitsa uyezd, Podolsk Governorate, Russian Empire [now Vinnytsia, Vinnytsia Oblast, Ukraine]. He was a director and writer, known for Bogdan Khmelnitskiy (1941), Taras Shevchenko (1951) and Tretiy udar (1948). He died on 14 December 1950 in Moscow, RSFSR, USSR [now Russia].- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
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Pera Atasheva was born on 18 November 1900 in Moscow, Russian Empire [now Russia]. He was an assistant director and director, known for Osvobozhdennaya Chekhoslovakiya (1945), Metall (1933) and Boyevoy kinosbornik 5 (1941). He was married to Sergei Eisenstein. He died on 23 September 1965 in Moscow, RSFSR, USSR [now Russia].- Vasili Iosifovich Stalin (b. Dzhugashvili) was born on March 21, 1921, in Moscow, Russia. His father, named Joseph Stalin, was the Secretary General of the Communist Party. After the death of Lenin in January of 1924, his father became the benevolent dictator of Russia, then called the Soviet Union. Vasili grew up in Kremlin, where he had private governess, toys, and servants. His mother, named Nadezhda Allilueva, suffered from the cruelty of his father, who bullied her into submission, until her mysterious death in 1932. Vasili inherited many of his father's traits, becoming manipulative, secretive, and brutal to people. Vasili's sister, named Svetlana Allilueva, was born in 1926.
As a teenager at school Vasili was a mediocre student and graduated with poor grades. He was 17 and wanted to go to the best pilot school in Kacinsk, where Russian Aces were raised. His grades were too low, but with the insistence of Lavrenti Beria Vasili was admitted. He initially was given a special treatment; he had a private room and privileged meals. Stalin ordered to cancel all of his privileges. A student of 19 years old Vasili married Galina Burdonskaya of the same age. He was rapidly promoted in the ranks, became a pilot and served in the Soviet Air Force, rising to a General during the Second World War. He made 27 fights and downed one Nazi airplane. He was decorated three times with the Order of the Red Banner and received other highest decorations. He became one of the youngest Generals in the entire Soviet Army. At the end of the war he loaded his plane with valuable goods, gold, and jewelery, which was looted from German homes and flown back to Moscow.
Vasili Stalin had a half brother, named Yakov Dzhugashvili (Svanidze), who was the son of Stalin's first wife, named Ekaterina Svanidze. During the Second World War his brother Yakov was captured in the battle by the Nazi special forces and was held in a concentration camp. The Nazi leadership offered to return brother Yakov to Moscow in exchange for the POW Field Marshal Friedrich Paulus, who was captured by the Soviet Red Army in the Battle of Stalingrad. Vasili Stalin was anticipating his brother back home. But Joseph Stalin refused the offer to have his son returned, saying, "I do not exchange a General for a soldier." Stalin doomed his son Jakov to death in the Nazi camp. Vasili lost his brother. Joseph Stalin showed his cruelty and strengthened his power.
Vasili was made the Air Force Commander of the Moscow Military District at age 26. However, Stalin's nepotism was mixed with paranoia and suspiciousness about the people around him and his son. Vasili's brother Jakob (Stalin's other son) died in a Nazi camp. Stalin surrounded his surviving son with special agents, but they were fearful of Stalin's son, whom they were supposed to control. With his position Vasili received a football team (soccer club), named VVS, or Military Airforce Club. Vasili became obsessed with the game. His position allowed him to get any sportsman in the nation for his team. He employed many famous athletes and organized several winning teams. Vasili also organized construction and financing of a major sports arena in Moscow; but his uncontrolled use of the government money became a huge problem. General Vasili got drunk during and after each game played by his "toy" sport-star Bobrov. Drinking parties were massive and wild, with women dancing on their dining table among bottles of vodka. Also, some people around Stalin's son were disappearing without a trace.
Stalin died on March 5, 1953, and General Vasili was arrested on April 28, 1953, after his lavish dinner party with British guests. Vasili was charged with "anti-Soviet activity, embezzlement, beating of subordinates, manipulations that caused death of people, and other serious crimes. Many of those charges were supported by factual evidence. His prosecutor, Lev Vladzimirskii and his boss Lavrenti Beria were arrested in December 1953, and executed. Vasili Stalin asked Nikita Khrushchev for clemency, but he was considered a threat to them. Vasili was judged in a behind-closed-doors trial and imprisoned under a fictitious name - Vasili Pavlovich Vasilyev. He was held in the special penitentiary, the famously rough "Vladimirsky Central" in the city of Vladimir. In January 1960 he was released and sent for a treatment from alcohol dependency for three months. Back in Moscow Vasili received a pension and a three room flat from the state. He was allowed to wear his General's uniform, but was denied of service by Kliment Voroshilov. Humiliated by the denial, Vasili went to the Chinese Consulate and applied for a medical visa on April 15, 1960. He was arrested on April 16, 1960, and exiled to the city of Kazan, where he was kept under the house arrest until he died of alcoholism on Mach 19, 1962, at age 41. Vasili Stalin was partially rehabilitated in 1999, when the political charges of Anti-Soviet activity in 1953 were lifted. His body was moved from Kazan to Moscow and re-buried there.
His sister Svetlana Allilueva defected in 1967, and later became a naturalized citizen of the United States. She published memoirs there in 1967, then returned to Soviet Union in 1984, but in 1986 she left again for good. - Sergey Filippov was born on 24 June 1912 in Saratov, Saratov uyezd, Saratov Governorate, Russian Empire [now Saratov Oblast, Russia]. He was an actor, known for Twelve Chairs (1971), Carnival Night (1956) and Dvenadtsataya noch (1955). He died on 19 April 1990 in Leningrad, RSFSR, USSR [now St. Petersburg, Russia].
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Mikhail Sholokhov was a Russian writer who received a Nobel prize for his epic novel 'Tikhiy Don'.
He was born in 1905 into a Cossack family of farmers in Kruzhilin, Veshenskaya, Rostov province in Southern Russia. His high school studies were interrupted by the Russian revolution and the Civil War, in which he fought on the side of the revolutionaries and joined the Red Army. From 1922-24 he lived in Moscow, where he attended "writers seminars" and published his early works: "A Test" and "The Birthmark". In 1924 he married Maria Gromoslavskaya in his native town, and the couple had four children.
His first book, "Donskie Rasskazy" (1925), exposed the bitter divide among the Russian people during and after the Civil War. His epic novel "And Quiet Flows the Don", published in parts during 1928-40, shows the turbulent life of Cossacks during the dramatic events of the Russian revolution and Civil War. The main character, Grigori Melekhov, was based on a historical prototype, 'Kharlampi Ermakov', a Cossack who opposed the Communists and was imprisoned and executed in 1929. Sholokhov's account of the conflict between Cossacks and Communists caused a suspension of publication in 1929, but he managed to get permission from Joseph Stalin to continue the publication. The novel had over 100 million copies in print, translated in 90+ languages worldwide.
Sholokhov was only 22 in 1928, when he delivered the massive manuscript of "Quiet Flows the Don" (book 1) to a Soviet publisher. It took him almost 14 years to complete the novel of four books in 1940. This led to a suggestion by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn that Sholokhov used the work of another Cossack writer, Fyodor Kryukov (who died in 1920), for some parts of this epic work.
Sholokhov had a lifelong political career. He was a co-chairman of the Soviet Writers Union from the 1930s to his death in 1984. He traveled in western Europe on several occasions, and also accompanied Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev to the US in 1959. He was awarded the 1965 Nobel Prize for Literature for his novels and stories about the Cossacks in Russia, becoming the first and only officially sanctioned Soviet writer to win the honor.
Sholokhov took a hardline position against dissident writers, such as Boris Pasternak, Solzhenitsyn, Sinyavsky and Daniel. In 1965 he joined the side of Leonid Brezhnev in the restoration of the political image of Joseph Stalin. Such restoration was opposed by such figures as Andrei Sakharov, Valentin Kataev, Korney Ivanovich Chukovskiy, Oleg Efremov, and Maya Plisetskaya. Sholokhov remained a hard-liner during the 60s and 70s. In late 70s he suffered from diabetes and had a stroke, and later developed a throat cancer. He was in denial of his medical condition. Shortly before his death he rejected the doctor's advise and interrupted his treatment at the Kremlin Hospital. Instead, he returned to his native village and died there on February 21, 1984.- Actor
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Georgiy Burkov was born on 31 May 1933 in Perm, RSFSR, USSR [now Russia]. He was an actor and director, known for Bashnya (1987), Boris Godunov (1986) and Steppe (1978). He died on 19 July 1990 in Moscow, RSFSR, USSR [now Russia].- Tamara Loginova was born on 2 May 1929 in Novosibirsk, RSFSR, USSR. She was an actress, known for Doroga (1955), Dikaya sobaka Dingo (1962) and Bezumnyy den (1956). She died on 17 August 1988 in Moscow, RSFSR, USSR [now Russia].
- Vera Petrovna Maretskaya was born on July 31, 1906, in Barvikha, a suburb of Moscow, Russian Empire (now Moscow, Russia). Young Maretskaya helped her father, named Petr Maretsky, who was a candy bar vendor at Moscow Circus. Maretskaya was auditioned by Vakhtangov and Zavadsky, and studied at Vakhtangov Theatre School, from which she graduated as a actress in 1924. That same year she became permanent member of Theatre-Studio led by Yuri Zavadsky. She soon married her teacher Yuri Zavadsky, and they had one son. They remained life-long friends and stage partners, even after the end of their brief marriage. In 1925 she made her film debut in 'Zakroischik is Torzhka' (Tailor of Torzhok 1925). She played roles in fifteen silent films.
In 1937 Maretskaya suffered from political execution of her two brothers, journalists Dmitri and Gregori, who were the followers of opposition politician Nikolai Bukharin. Maretskaya appealed to the Soviet government, but her appeal was ignored. Her brothers were executed by gunshots during the purges of the "Great Terror" under the dictatorship of Joseph Stalin. Soon Maretskaya lost her second husband, a young actor, named Georgi Troitsky, who was killed in action in 1941, during the Second World War. She took care of her own two children, and also adopted the children of her executed brothers. She was supported by Yuri Zavadsky.
By 1940, she was made one the faces of Soviet propaganda films. She shot to fame after the leading role in 'Chlen pravitelstva' (Member of the Government 1940) by directors Aleksandr Zarkhi and Iosif Kheifits. For that role she was awarded the Stalin's Prize. At that time the Zavadsky's Theatre-Studio merged with the Theatre of Mossoveta, and in 1940, Maretskaya became permanent member of the Mossoveta Theatre. There her stage partners were such actors as Yuri Zavadsky, Faina Ranevskaya, Lyubov Orlova, Nikolai Mordvinov, Osip Abdulov, Rostislav Plyatt, Georgi Zhzhyonov, and other notable Russian actors.
Maretskaya was famous among actors for her culinary talent, which was legendary. At her Moscow home she once hosted the French actor Jean Marais, who was a well-known connoisseur of gourmet food, and also watched his weight too. Maretskaya made the Russian-style dinner with such dishes as "Blini and caviar", "Blintzes with fish", and various choices of Vodka. Mr. Jean Marais politely stated that he must limit himself to only one small piece of "Blini and Caviar", but he could not stop eating all night long.
Vera Maretskaya suffered from breast cancer during the last ten years of her life, and was later diagnosed with brain cancer, but she continued her acting career on Moscow Radio. At that time she created popular radio shows based on her adaptations of 'Woman Without Love' and 'The Art of Living' by the French writer André Maurois. Her radio show was her last memorable acting job. In 1976 Maretskaya was designated the Hero of Socialist Labor. She was awarded the Stalin's Prize four times (1942, 1946, 1948, 1951) and was made the People's Artist of the USSR (1949). Maretskaya died on August 17, 1978, and was laid to rest in Novodevichy Convent Cemetery in Moscow, Russia. - Actor
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Boris Zakhava was notable Russian actor and director best known for his portrayal of General Kutuzov in epic film War and Peace (1965) by director Sergey Bondarchuk.
He was born Boris Evgenyevich Zakhava on May 12, 1896, in Pavlograd, Russian Empire. His father, named Evgeni Zakhava, was a graduate of the Moscow Imperial Cadett School and served as an officer at the Russian Imperial Army. Young Boris Zakhava followed his father's steps; from 1910 - 1913 he served at the 3rd Moscow Imperial Cadett School, graduating as Imperial Army officer in 1913. While being a Cadett, Zakhava engaged in amateur acting and was involved in the Centennial Celebration of the Victory over Napoleon in 1912, in Moscow.
From 1913-1916 Zakhava studied at the acting class of Vsevolod Meyerhold and also took acting at the Moscow Vakhtangov studio under the legendary actor-director Yevgeni Vakhtangov. In 1916 Zakhava was hired as an actor by Vakhtangov and worked with the Vakhtangov Theatre for the rest of his life. In 1925, he became teaching director at the acting studio, and also took position of the leading director at the Vakhtangov Theatre Company. In 1932 Zakhava produced and directed the acclaimed drama 'Egor Bulychev i drugie' (Yegor Bulychev and Others) by Maxim Gorky. From 1939 Zakhava became director of the Shchukin Theatrical School (formerly Vakhtangov's acting studio). He promoted student actors and directors to the main stage, resulting in successful 1939 production of 'Solomennaya shlyapka' (aka.. Straw hat) by young director Andrey Tutyshkin. In 1958 Zakhava himself directed the production of Shakespeare's Hamlet starring Mikhail Astangov in the title role.
From 1916 - 1976 Boris Zakhava was member of the Vakhtangov Theatre in Moscow. From 1924 - 1966 he was chairman of the Artistic Soviet at Vakhtangov Theatre, a position created specially for Zakhava to help him mitigate some tensions between members of the troupe and management. Zakahava proved himself as a skilled problem solver who protected his actors from the Soviet political pressures. Zakhava worked with such actors as Mikhail Ulyanov, Ruben Simonov, Boris Zakhava, Mikhail Astangov, Varvara Popova, Yuliya Borisova, Lyudmila Maksakova, Lyudmila Tselikovskaya, Marianna Vertinskaya, Nina Ruslanova, Irina Kupchenko, Natalya Tenyakova, Nikolai Plotnikov, Yuriy Yakovlev, Vladimir Etush, Vyacheslav Shalevich, Andrei Abrikosov, Grigori Abrikosov, Boris Babochkin, Nikolai Gritsenko, Nikolai Timofeyev, Vladimir Osenev and Vasiliy Lanovoy, and other notable Russian actors.
Boris Zakhava was awarded the State Prize of the USSR in 1952. He was decorated by the Soviet government for his achievements on stage and in film. Zakhava was honored with the title of the People's Artist of the USSR in 1967. He was best known for his portrayal of Kutuzov in the epic War and Peace (1965), directed by Sergey Bondarchuk. Boris Zakhava was also a legendary acting coach. He taught several generations of Russian actors, such as, Mikhail Ulyanov, Yuriy Yakovlev, Vasiliy Lanovoy, Lyudmila Maksakova, Nikolai Gritsenko, Nikolai Timofeyev, Rolan Bykov, Andrey Mironov, Aleksandr Kalyagin, Leonid Filatov, Vyacheslav Shalevich, Leonid Kanevskiy, Mikhail Derzhavin, Aleksandr Shirvindt, Aleksandr Zbruev, and many other renown actors.
Boris Zakhava was among the leading actors and director of the 20th century acting school in Russia. He was professor of Soviet State Institute of Cinema (VGIK), chair of directing at Moscow State Theatrrical Institute (GITIS), and Doctor of Art History. He was designated People's Actor of the USSR. Boris Zakhava died of a heart failure on November 25, 1976, in Moscow, and was laid to rest in the Novodevichi Convent Cemetery in Moscow, Russia.- Anatoliy Serenko was born on 29 April 1939. He was an actor, known for Kin-dza-dza! (1986), V strelyayushchey glushi (1986) and Gospodin Velikiy Novgorod (1985). He died on 10 December 1987 in Moscow, RSFSR, USSR [now Russia].