Nikolai Tsereteli

Biography

Nikolai Tseretelli has a very unusual origin. The son of the Bukhara prince, the grandson of the Emir of Bukhara, at birth he received the name Said Mir Khudoyar Khan. Tseretelli is the surname of the stepfather. The future famous artist was born in Moscow. In 1912 he entered the drama courses of Alexander Adashev. At that time, the German Theater was touring in the capital, headed by director and theater figure Max Reinhardt. The master invited Tseretelli to the troupe of his theater. The actor was taken in the extras of "Oedipus Rex", and then in the pantomime "Sumurun". Tsereteli toured with the German Theater in Vienna, Munich and Paris. Then he worked at the Moscow Art Theater, and in 1916 he came to Tairov in the Chamber. He was an excellent partner of the famous artist Alisa Koonen, played the main roles in many performances: "Famira-kifared", "Adrienne Lecouvrere", "King Harlequin", "Love under the Elms", "Romeo and Juliet", "Phaedra", "Man which was Thursday, etc. Tseretelli starred in many films, took part in concert evenings as a reader. After leaving the Chamber Theater in 1929, he mainly worked as a director. He staged performances at the Operetta Theatre, the Bolshoi Theatre, the Kalinin, Mogilev, Kostroma theaters and the Leningrad Comedy Theatre. Nikolai Tseretelli spent the last years of his life in besieged Leningrad. Mortally exhausted, he was evacuated from Leningrad to Kirov (formerly Vyatka) in December 1941. The artist could not be saved. He passed away in the midst of the war, at the beginning of 1942. All his life Tseretelli collected Vyatka toys, and they buried him where his beloved collection came from.