Name Nikolay Simonov Role Film actor | Parents Konstantin Simonov | |
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Died April 20, 1973, Saint Petersburg, Russia Children Nikolai Nikolaevich Simonov Movies Amphibian Man, Chapaev, The Gadfly, The Battle of Stalingrad, Pyotr pervyy Similar People Anatoliy Smiranin, Vladimir Petrov, Sergei Vasilyev, Aleksandr Zarkhi, Iosif Kheifits | ||
Nikolay Simonov (December 4, 1901 – April 20, 1973) was a Soviet film and stage actor.
Contents
- Early life and education
- Career
- Marriage and children
- Death and afterward
- Filmography
- Awards and honors
- References
Early life and education
Nikolay Konstantionovich Simonov was born on December 4, 1901, in Samara, Russia. From 1917–1919 he studied art at Samara School of Art and Design. From 1919–1923 he studied art at the Imperial Academy of Arts. From 1922–1924 he studied acting at the Saint Petersburg State Theatre Arts Academy, from which he graduated with honors in 1924.
Career
From 1924–1973, Nikolay Simonov was a permanent member with the company of Pushkin Drama Theatre in St. Petersburg. During the 1950s and 1960s he was the theatre's artistic director.
Simonov made his film debut in 1924 and played supporting roles in five Russian silent films. He shot to fame after his role of Commander Zhikharev in the classic film Chapaev (1934) by the Vasilyev brothers.
Simonov's portrayal of Peter the Great in The Conquests of Peter the Great (1937 and 1938) brought him international fame and numerous awards. This portrayal was the one used to define Peter the Great for American audiences in Frank Capra's 1943 propaganda film The Battle of Russia, which used brief clips from the Soviet films.
Simonov was considered to be a patriarch of the St. Petersburg school of acting. Simonov's stage performances were legendary; several of his stage works were filmed for a historic record. His leading role in The Living Corpse, an adaptation of the book by Leo Tolstoy, is remembered as one of the highest achievements in stage acting in Russian theatre. Simonov's portrayal of Antonio Salieri in Mozart and Salieri from The Little Tragedies by Alexander Pushkin won him a Stanislavski State Prize award in 1962. Simonov regarded acting on stage as superior to acting in film; he supported the similar position of Constantin Stanislavski and Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko.
Marriage and children
Simonov was also the father of a remarkable family. His wife was an actress and his son, Nikolay Nikolaevich Simonov, was a famous surgeon in Russia.
Death and afterward
Nikolay Simonov died on April 20, 1973, in St. Petersburg and was laid to rest in the Necropolis of Masters of Arts at Alexander Nevsky Lavra.