Pavel Kadochnikov
Pavel Petrovich Kadochnikov was a Soviet and Russian actor, film director, screenwriter and pedagogue. He was named People's Artist of the USSR in 1979 and Hero of Socialist Labour in 1985.
Biography
Pavel Kadochnikov was born in Petrograd in 1915. In 1927, he entered a children's artistic studio, dreaming to become a professional artist, but, because of the severe illness of his father, Pavel, as the elder in the family, was forced to become the apprentice to a metal craftsman. However, he continued to study in the studio. In 1929, he entered the actor's department of theatrical school of TYuZ. In 1935, he graduated from Leningrad Theatrical Institute and until 1944 was an actor in Leningrad's New TYuZ.He began to act in the cinema in 1935. His first role was Mikhas in the film Maturity. Kadochnikov was not pleased the way he looked on the screen in his early roles, and he decided to never play in the cinema again. He did not stand by this decision. In 1937, he accepted Sergei Yutkevich's invitation and appeared in a minor role in the film The Man with the Gun. In many plays he performed several roles; in one of them he performed at once eight roles. In 1940, he played the roles of worker Lenka Sukhov and writer Maxim Gorky in the film Yakov Sverdlov directed by Sergei Yutkevich. In Ivan the Terrible by Sergei Eisenstein he not only conducted the tragic line of the pretender Vladimir of Staritsa, but also played two small roles.
His actor's range can be seen in his lyric roles and in the role of Major Fedotov in the Secret Agent by Boris Barnet. The role of Major Fedotov was a cult character of Soviet cinema which mixed the pathetics, manly charm and irony. For the roles he took in the patriotic movies he won the Stalin Prize. Time and again actor appeared in the role of Maxim Gorky. From the 1960s onwards, he began to move away from patriotic roles.
In 1965 Kadochnikov directed his first film Musicians of One Regiment together with Gennadi Kazansky. This film is about the Civil War. It showed his interest in folklore heroes. In 1968 he filmed the fairy tale of Alexander Ostrovsky, titled The Snow Maiden. In 1970-1980s, he did roles from the classical repertoire: Triletsky in the An Unfinished Piece for Mechanical Piano, Prince Kuchumov in Easy Money, and the picturesque figures of "Russian old men". In Lenin in Paris he plays Paul Lafargue. In later years he played in the character roles ; staged films I Shall Never Forget and Silver Strings.
He is the grandfather of the Danish actress, singer, songwriter and model Nina Bergman and the uncle of the Russian actor Gennady Nilov.