Boris Zakhava

Born May 12 (24), 1896, in Pavlograd. Soviet director, actor, and teacher. People’s Artist of the USSR (1967). Doctor of the Arts (1964). Became a member of the CPSU in 1943.

In 1913, Zakhava entered the student studio directed by E. B. Vakhtangov, which in 1926 was renamed the Vakhtangov Theater. His roles have included the Doctor in Maeterlinck’s Miracle of St. Anthony, Tamerlane in Gozzi’s Princess Turandot, and Dudukin in Ostrovskii’s Guilty Though Guiltless. In 1923, he directed his first independent work, Ostrovskii’s Truth Is Good, But Happiness Is Better. Zakhava’s greatest creative achievement as a director was his staging of Gorky \\EgorBulychov and the Others in 1932. His other significant productions have included Leonov’s The Badgers (1927), Pogodin’s Aristocrats (1935), Gogol’s The Inspector-General (1939), Solov’ev’s The Great Sovereign (1945), Fadeev’s The Young Guard (1947), Fedin’s First Joys(1950), and Shakespeare’s Hamlet (1958). Zakhava has written theoretical books and articles on acting, directing, and theatrical teaching. Zakhava began teaching in 1917 and in 1925 took over the directorship of the school at the Vakhtangov Theater (in 1939 renamed the B. V. Shchukin Theatrical School). He became a professor in 1939 and headed the directorial department of the State Institute of Theatrical Arts from 1944 to 1949. Zakhava received the State Prize of the USSR in 1952. He was also awarded three orders and various medals.