Nikolai Dmitrievich Mordvinov

Born Feb. 2 (15), 1901, in ladrin, present-day Chuvash ASSR; died Jan. 26, 1966, in Moscow. Soviet Russian actor. People’s Artist of the USSR (1949).

In 1925, Mordvinov entered the Studio directed by lu. A. Zavadskii in Moscow, which in 1927 became the Theater-Studio. From 1936 he acted in the Rostov-on-Don M. Gorky Theater, and from 1940 at the Moscow Mossovet Theater. His first important roles were Dick Dudgeon in Shaw’s The Devil’s Disciple, Vagram in Pervomaiskii’s Vagram’s Night, Sobolevskii in, Simple Matter (based on a work by Lavrenev), and Petruchio in Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew. Mordvinov had a special affinity for tragic-heroic characters and strong personalities; his romantic and spirited manner of acting was particularly evident in his portrayal of the title roles in Shakespeare’s Othello and King Lear and General Ognev in Korneichuk’s The Front.

Mordvinov portrayed Vasilii Zabrodin in Shtok’s Leningrad Prospect with great feeling and impeccable acting style. He gave a brilliant tragicomic portrayal of Cavalier di Ripafratta in Goldoni’s The Tavern Maid. Mordvinov’s most outstanding performance was the role of Arbenin in Lermontov’s Masquerade, which he had played originally in a film (1941); for his stage performance of this role (1952, 1963), Mordvinov was awarded the Lenin Prize (1965).

Mordvinov’s film roles include the gypsy ludko in The Last Gypsy Camp (1936) and the title roles in Bogdan KhmeVnitskii (1941) and Kotovskii (1943). Mordvinov received the State Prize of the USSR in 1942, 1949, and 1951. He was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor and a number of medals.