Nikolai Sosnin

Biography

Nikolai Sosnin was a Russian actor of Moscow Art Theatre. He was born Nikolai Nikolaevich Soloviev on May 5, 1884, in Russian Empire. During the 1900s he studied to be an architect at Moscow College of Art, Sculpture and Architecture; there he caught an acting bug and dropped out to join a touring troupe. He changed his name to Sosnin and played at theatres in Kiev, Astrakhan, Voronezh, Simferopol, and other cities. In 1931 he moved to Moscow and joined the company at Korsh Theatre. From 1933 - 1960 Nikolai Sosnin was a permanent member of the troupe at Moscow Art Theatre (MKhAT). There his stage partners were such renown Russian actors as Alla Tarasova, Ivan Moskvin, Nikolay Khmelyov, Anatoli Ktorov, Olga Androvskaya, Angelina Stepanova, Anastasiya Georgievskaya, Kira Golovko, Nina Gulyaeva, Mikhail Yanshin, Aleksey Gribov, Boris Livanov, Mikhail Kedrov, Viktor Stanitsyn, Vasili Toporkov, Mark Prudkin, Mikhail Bolduman, Pavel Massalsky, and others. Sosnin gave acclaimed performances in classic plays by Anton Chekhov, such as Tuzenbakh in 'Tri sestry' (aka.. The Three Sisters), and played two roles - as Gayev and as Trofimov in 'Vishnevy sad' (aka.. The Cherry Orchard). He shone as Aleksai Turbin in 'Dni Turbinykh' (aka.. The days of the Turbins) by Mikhail A. Bulgakov. Sosnin appeared as Karenin opposite Alla Tarasova in 'Anna Karenina', the legendary adaptation of Lev Tolstoy's novel by directors Konstantin Stanislavski and Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko; it was captured on film as Anna Karenina (1953). Nikolai Sosnin was designated People's Actor of Russia (1957). He died of natural causes on November 26, 1962, in Moscow, and was laid to rest in Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow, Russia.