Mikhail Zharov


Mikhail Ivanovich Zharov was a Soviet and Russian stage and film actor and director. People's Artist of the USSR and Hero of Socialist Labour.

Career

He studied under the prominent director Theodore Komisarjevsky and debuted in Yakov Protazanov's Aelita. Later he became a Protazanov regular, appearing in The Man from the Restaurant together with Mikhail Chekhov.
In the 1930s he was a leading actor of Alexander Tairov's Chamber Theatre before moving to the Maly Theatre where, starting in 1938, he was engaged for the rest of his life and most fully unfolded his actor's gift, mainly playing classical repertoire parts
Mikhail Zharov gained wide popularity thanks to the role of Zhigan in Nikolai Ekk’s internationally known drama Road to Life. Playing the leader of a gang of thieves, the actor made use of the opportunities of the first sound film: he endowed his character with a specific accent, played the guitar, and sang songs with his peculiar charm. In 1933 he appeared in Boris Barnet's Outskirts.
The most acclaimed of his sound films were Vladimir Petrov's Peter the Great, in which he played Prince Menshikov, and Sergei Eisenstein's Ivan the Terrible, in which he played Malyuta Skuratov. His last and probably most popular role was that of Aniskin, an amusing and witty village militiaman in the television series The Village Detective, Aniskin & Fantomas and Aniskin Again.

Awards

Partial filmography

Tsar Ivan Vasilevich Groznyy – SoldierAelita – Actor in PlayHis Call Chess Fever Miss Mend Man from the Restaurant – The WaiterBelyy oryol Don Diego and Pelagia – HimselfDva-Buldi-dva Road to Life – Thomka ZhiganThe House of the Dead – Officer Dvadtsat shest komissarov – MenshevikOkraina – Krayevitch – Menchevik studentMarionettes – Head of Frontier PostThe Storm – KoudryashThree Comrades – The EngineerLyubov i nenavist – Ensign KukvaPo sledam geroya The Return of Maxim – Platon Vassilievich Dymba, billiards braggartPeter the Great – Alexander Danilovich Menshikov – Stalin Prize first degree The Bear – Grigori Mikhailovich SmirnovThe Vyborg Side – Platon Vassilievich DymbaMan in a Shell – Mikhail KovalenkoStepan Razin – Lazunka – boyar's sonEngineer Kochin's Error – LartsevBogdan Khmelnitskiy – Deacon GavriloThe Defense of Tsaritsyn – Perchikhin – Stalin Prize first degree The District Secretary – Gavril Fedorovich RusovAktrisa – Reciter in hospitalIn the Name of the Fatherland – Ivan Ivanovich GlobaThe Aerial Cabman – Ivan BaranovThe Young Fritz – FritzIvan the Terrible – Czar's Guard Malyuta SkuratovThe Call of Love – Vadim Spiridonovich YeropkinBespokoynoe khozyaystvo – SemibabFor Those Who Are at Sea – KharitonovMichurin – KhrenovHappy Flight – Driver ZachyosovVassa Zheleznova – Prokhor KhrapovThe Anna Cross – ArtynovA Girl with a Guitar – SviristinskyMlechnyy Put – Mikhail SilovichKain XVIII – Minister of WarVnimanie! V gorode volshebnik! – CookOlder Sister – UkhovVillage Detective – Aniskin