Pyotr Masokha

Biography

Petr Emelyanovich Masokha (native Ukrainian: Petro Omelianovych Masokha; 3 (16) September, 1904, in the village of Khreshchatyk, Kyiv Governorate, Russian Empire [now Khreshchatyk, Cherkasy Oblast, Ukraine] in a peasant family. Ukrainian Soviet theater and film actor. Graduated from the Kyiv Institute of Music and Drama named after N. V. Lysenko (workshop of Les Kurbas) in 1923. In 1923-1928 - actor of theater "Berezil" in Kyiv and Kharkov. From 1928 worked in films. In 1928-1943 - an actor of various theaters in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Poltava, Zhytomyr, Drohobych, etc. In cinema since 1927, played in the films of A.P. Dovzhenko (Arsenal, Earth, Ivan, Shchors). During World War Two, he was in the territory occupied by the Germans. In 1941-1943 he played in the theaters of Zhytomyr and Drohobych. Deported in 1943 to Germany. Released in 1945 by the Red Army. He participated with his wife in concerts in Berlin for the liberating soldiers. After returning from Germany, the actor was forbidden to play in cinema and metropolitan theaters. In 1946-1953 - an actor of the Dnipropetrovsk Music and Drama Theater, then - reciter of the Kyiv Philharmonic, where he gave concerts, built on the texts of literary classics. He was able to return to film work in 1956.