Nikolai Khmelyov
| Nikolai Khmelyov | |
|---|---|
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| Born |
August 10, 1901 Sormovo, Nizhny Novgorod, Russian Empire |
| Died | November 1, 1945 (aged 44) Moscow, USSR |
| Awards | Order of the Red Banner of Labour (1937), Stalin Prize (1941, 1942, 1946) |
Nikolai Pavlovich Khmelyov Russian: Николай Павлович Хмелёв, 10 August [O.S. 28 July] 1901, — 1 November 1945) was a Soviet stage actor and theatre director, associated with the Moscow Art Theatre and later the Yermolova Theatre.
Nikolai Khmelyov was born in Sormovo, Nizhny Novgorod, to a working-class family. "A man who was highly ambitious, always dissatisfied with himself and difficult to contact with," he joined the MAT's Second Studio in 1919, soon to become "one of the most intriguing figures of the 'second generation' of MAT actors," according to the theatre historian Inna Solovyova. He excelled in the parts of Tsar Fyodor in Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich by Alexey K. Tolstoy (1935), Karenin in Anna Karenina (1937), Tuzenbach in Three Sisters by Anton Chekhov (1940), but before that as Alexey Turbin in The Days of the Turbins by Mikhail Bulgakov, which brought him critical recognition and fame in 1926.
"Khmelyov imparted his characters with extreme tension and clarity… His stage moves were both highly elaborate and unexpected, he was totally free in his choice of stylistic means and emotional colours, and he loved the sudden change of perspectives," Solovyova wrote. His Karenin and Turbin were lavishly praised by Iosif Stalin who, upon seeing MAT's Anna Karenina in 1937, instantly issued an order for Khmelyov and Alla Tarasova to be awarded the titles of the People's Artist of the USSR.
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