Nikolai Plotnikov

Biography

Nikolai Plotnikov was a Russian actor and director at Vakhtangov Theatre in Moscow. He was born Nikolai Sergeyevich Plotnikov on November 5, 1897, in Vyazma, Smolensk province, Russian Empire (now Vyazma, Russia). His father, Sergei Plotnikov, was a barber, his mother was a homemaker. In 1910, when Plotnikov was 12, his mother died and he was sent to him uncle in St. Petersburg. There he studied art at the Stieglitz School of Art, and also worked at the Schwartz printing company in St. Petersburg, Russia. From 1916 to 1918 he served in the Imperial Tsar's Army during the First World War, then returned to Moscow. From 1918 - 1920 he studied acting at the studio of Michael Chekhov where his classmates were Boris Babochkin and his brother, then worked with a touring troupe all over Russia for two years. From 1922 - 1934 he was member of the Moscow Art Theatre (MKhAT) in Moscow, then was member of the Central Theatre of the Red Army. From 1938 to 1979 Nikolai Plotnikov was a permanent member of the troupe at Vakhtangov Theatre in Moscow. There his stage partners were such actors as Mikhail Ulyanov, Ruben Simonov, Boris Zakhava, Mikhail Astangov, Vladimir Etush, Varvara Popova, Irina Kupchenko, Natalya Tenyakova, Yuliya Borisova, Lyudmila Maksakova, Lyudmila Tselikovskaya, Marianna Vertinskaya, Nina Ruslanova, Nikolai Gritsenko, Vasiliy Lanovoy, Yuriy Yakovlev, Vyacheslav Shalevich, Andrei Abrikosov, Grigori Abrikosov, Boris Babochkin, Nikolai Timofeyev, Aleksandr Grave, and Evgeniy Karelskikh, among others. His most memorable stage performances were such roles as Polonius opposite Mikhail Astangov_ in the Shakespeare's "Hamlet" (1958), as Doctor in "Zhivoy trup" (aka.. The Living Corpse) after the eponymous novel by Lev Tolstoy. Nikolai Plotnikov was designated People's Actor of the USSR (1964), and was awarded the State Prize of the USSR (1951). He also taught acting at Mosfilm Studio School, at Moscow State Institue of Theatrical Art (GITIS), and at Soviet State Institute of Cinema (VGIK). Nikolai Plotnikov died of a heart failure on February 3, 1979, in Moscow, Russia, Soviet Union, and was laid to rest in the Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow, Russia.