Popov, Andrei Alekseevich

Born Apr. 12, 1918, in Kostroma. Soviet Russian actor and director. People’s Artist of the USSR (1965).

From 1936 to 1940, Popov studied in the studio of the Red Army Theater (now the Central Theater of the Soviet Army). Joining the theater as an actor in 1940, he was its principal stage director from 1963 to 1973. Since 1974 he has been acting with the Moscow Art Theater.

A student and follower of his father, A. D. Popov, Popov is an outstanding representative of the school of experiencing, embodying its principles in roles that vary in genre and stylistic features. His roles have included the Clerk of the Military Decorations Section in Chepurin’s Stalingraders, Sil’ven in Labiche’s Pots of Money (La Cagnotte), Khlestakov in Gogol’s The Inspector-General, and Petruccio in Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew. His interpretations of Bogomolov in Gorky’s Iakov Bogomolov and Platonov in Shtein’s The Ocean are marked by profound psychological insight. His characterization of I. S. Turgenev in Pavlovskii’s Elegy is imbued with an inner drama, while that of Ivan the Terrible in A. K. Tolstoy’s The Death of Ivan the Terrible is marked by tragic overtones. Popov has staged Garinei Givannina’s Rinaldo Goes to Battle (1969) and Rybakov’s The Unknown Soldier (1971).

Popov’s film roles include Diukovskii in The Swedish Match (1954), Iago in Othello (1956), Nazanskii in The Duel(1957), the Usurer in The Gentle One (1960), and Solomatin in The Voice Teacher (1973). He has acted in television films and presentations, including Different People. In 1968 he began teaching at the State Institute of Theatrical Arts, where he has been a professor since 1973.

Popov was awarded the State Prize of the USSR in 1950.