Director, Actor. A leading figure in Soviet-era Russian theatre and occasionally onscreen. He is probably best known to Western audiences for his performance in Eisenstein's "Alexander Nevsky" (1938), as Vasily Buslai, the goofy "comic relief" character involved in the film's romantic subplot. Nikolai Pavlovich Okhlopkov was born in Irkutsk, Siberia, where he began his theatrical career. In 1923 he joined the Meyerhold Theatre in Moscow and later took to directing with touring stock companies. He also directed three silent films that are now considered lost, two of them (1927's "Mitya" and 1929's "The Sold Appetite") with scripts by playwright Nikolai Erdman. Okhlopkov's most innovative work was as artistic director of Moscow's Realistic Theatre (1930 to 1938). Wishing to bring greater intimacy to the theatregoing experience, he did away with the curtain, seated spectators on the stage, and had the actors perform throughout the auditorium. Party-line critics found these experiments self-indulgent and the Realistic Theatre was shut down in 1938; luckily for Okhlopkov, his work as an actor in the popular films "Lenin in October" (1937), "Lenin in 1918" (1939) and "Alexander Nevsky" helped keep him out of harm's way during Stalin's concurrent political purges. Following five years as a member of the Vakhtangov Theatre, he became artistic director of the Mayakovsky Theatre in 1943 and remained there the rest of his life. Okhlopkov was named People's Artist of the USSR in 1948 and received six Stalin Prizes between 1941 and 1951. From 1955 to 1957 he served as USSR Deputy Minister of Culture.
Director, Actor. A leading figure in Soviet-era Russian theatre and occasionally onscreen. He is probably best known to Western audiences for his performance in Eisenstein's "Alexander Nevsky" (1938), as Vasily Buslai, the goofy "comic relief" character involved in the film's romantic subplot. Nikolai Pavlovich Okhlopkov was born in Irkutsk, Siberia, where he began his theatrical career. In 1923 he joined the Meyerhold Theatre in Moscow and later took to directing with touring stock companies. He also directed three silent films that are now considered lost, two of them (1927's "Mitya" and 1929's "The Sold Appetite") with scripts by playwright Nikolai Erdman. Okhlopkov's most innovative work was as artistic director of Moscow's Realistic Theatre (1930 to 1938). Wishing to bring greater intimacy to the theatregoing experience, he did away with the curtain, seated spectators on the stage, and had the actors perform throughout the auditorium. Party-line critics found these experiments self-indulgent and the Realistic Theatre was shut down in 1938; luckily for Okhlopkov, his work as an actor in the popular films "Lenin in October" (1937), "Lenin in 1918" (1939) and "Alexander Nevsky" helped keep him out of harm's way during Stalin's concurrent political purges. Following five years as a member of the Vakhtangov Theatre, he became artistic director of the Mayakovsky Theatre in 1943 and remained there the rest of his life. Okhlopkov was named People's Artist of the USSR in 1948 and received six Stalin Prizes between 1941 and 1951. From 1955 to 1957 he served as USSR Deputy Minister of Culture.
Bio by: Bobb Edwards
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