Cherkasov N.K., (1903-1966), actor

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CHERKASOV Nikolay Konstantinovich (1903, St. Petersburg - 1966, Leningrad), actor, People's Artist of the USSR (1947). Graduated from the Leningrad Dramatics School in 1926. In 1919-21, worked as a mime at the Petrograd Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre, and in 1922-25, an artist at the Petrograd Studio of Young Ballet (among his parts is Don Quixote in L.F. Minkus's ballet of the same name). Caught the public's attention in productions by the Dramatics School as a brilliant character actor and dynamically expressive comedy actor mainly inclined toward eccentric transformation (Sir Andrew in W. Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, Rabourdin in The heirs of Rabourdin by E. Zola, Pat in the mock dance Pat, Patachon and Charlie Chaplin, which he performed for many years on various stages, and which was filmed). The same qualities characterised Cherkasov's work at the Leningrad Young Spectators' Theatre (1926-29; Don Quixote in A.Y. Brustein and B.V. Zon's play of the same name; father Moor in The Robbers by F. Schiller; Zvezdintsev in The Fruits of Culture by N. Tolstoy), at the travelling Kosmoglaz Theatre of New Operetta (1927-28), throughout Leningrad and Moscow music-halls, circuses in the Moscow and Volga region (1929-30), and as part of the Leningrad Travelling Comedy Theatre (1931-33). In 1934-65, he acted at the Leningrad Academic Drama Theatre (see Alexandrinsky Theatre), where he brilliantly created the comic characters of Varlaam in Alexander Pushkin's Boris Godunov (1934 and 1949), Osip in The Inspector General by N.V. Gogol (1936 and 1952), and Bulanov in The Forest by A.N. Ostrovsky (1936). Other significant roles included Peter the Great in A.N. Tolstoy's play Peter I (1938), Don Quixote in Don Quixote (1941) and Khludov in Flight (1958) by M.A. Bulgakov, Ivan the Terrible in Great Prince by V.A. Solovyev (1945), and Baron in The Miserly Knight by Alexander Pushkin (1962). Found success as a clown, abandoned this specialisation, and began rotating between characters of "historical" and "socially heroic" natures (Dronov in Everything Remains for the People by S.I. Aleshin; for the theatre in 1959, on film in 1963). He began appearing in films in 1927, playing over 40 parts, including Kolka Loshak in Hectic Days (1935), Paganel in Captain Grant's Children (1936), Professor Polezhaev in Baltic Deputy and Prince Alexey in Peter the First (1937), Alexander Nevsky in Alexander Nevsky (1938), Ivan the Terrible in Ivan the Terrible (1945), and Don Quixote in Don Quixote (1957). From 1948, and for the rest of his life, he was the chairman of the Leningrad Department of the All-Union Theatre Society. A major part of Cherkasov's works and recollections about him are collected in the book Nikolay Cherkasov (Moscow, 1976). He won the Stalin Prize (1941, 1946, 1950, and 1951), the Lenin Prize (1964), a prize at the Moscow Film Festival in Stratford, Canada (1958), and the Grand Prix of the International Exhibition in Paris (1937). He lived at 27 Kronverkskaya Street (memorial plaque installed) from 1944 until 1966. Buried at Necropolis of Artists. A new street in the Vyborgsky District was named after Cherkasov in 1970.

Reference: Герасимов Ю. К., Скверчинская Ж. Г. Черкасов. М., 1976.

A. A. Kirillov. Aleshin Samuil Iosifovich
Brustein Alexandra Yakovlevna
Bulgakov Mikhail Afanasievich
Cherkasov Nikolay Konstantinovich
Gogol Nikolay Vasilievich
Minkus Ludwig Fedorovich (Aloisius Ludwig)
Ostrovsky Alexander Nikolaevich
Pushkin Alexander Sergeevich
Schiller Friedrich
Shakespeare William
Solovyev Vladimir Alexandrovich
Tolstoy Alexey Nikolaevich
Tolstoy Lev Nikolaevich, Count
Zola Emile
Zon Boris Wulfovich
Cherkasova St./Saint Petersburg, city
Kronverkskaya St./Saint Petersburg, city, house 27
Герасимов Ю. К., Скверчинская Ж. Г. Черкасов. М., 1976 Mariinsky Theatre
Music Hall
Alexandrinsky Theatre
Necropolis of Artists
Young People's Theatre