Aleksey Batalov Explained

Aleksey Batalov
Native Name:Алексей Баталов
Native Name Lang:ru
Birth Name:Aleksey Vladimirovich Batalov
Birth Date:20 November 1928
Birth Place:Vladimir, RSFSR, Soviet Union
Death Place:Moscow, Russia
Occupation:Actor, film director, screenwriter, pedagogue

Aleksey Vladimirovich Batalov (Russian: link=no|Алексе́й Влади́мирович Бата́лов; 20 November 1928 – 15 June 2017[1]) was a Soviet and Russian stage and film actor, film director, screenwriter, and pedagogue acclaimed for his portrayal of noble and positive characters.[2] He was named a People's Artist of the USSR in 1976 and a Hero of Socialist Labour in 1989.

Life and career

Batalov was born on 20 November 1928 in Vladimir, into a family associated with the theatre. His uncle Nikolai Batalov starred in Vsevolod Pudovkin's classic Mother (1926). The Modernist poet Anna Akhmatova was a family friend, and he painted a well-known portrait of her in 1952. Batalov joined the Moscow Art Theatre in 1953 but left three years later to concentrate on his career in film. During the Khrushchev Thaw he was one of the most recognizable actors in the Soviet Union. The Cranes Are Flying (1957) is his best-regarded film of the period, and the one which won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. He also starred in Mikhail Romm's Nine Days of One Year (1962). In 1967 he was a member of the jury of the 5th Moscow International Film Festival.[3] In 1973 he was a member of the jury at the 8th Moscow International Film Festival.[4]

During the 1960s and 1970s, Batalov became known for his fastidious approach towards choosing roles for himself. He appeared mostly in film adaptations of Russian classics, including Anton Chekhov's The Lady with the Dog (1960) and Bulgakov's The Flight (1970). He also directed screen versions of Gogol's The Overcoat (1960) and Yuri Olesha's Three Fat Men (1966). In the 1970s he concentrated on a professorship at the Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography.

In 1979, Batalov was invited to play Gosha, a mill machinist, in the melodrama Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears. After much hesitation, Batalov agreed to play his part in the movie, for which he won the USSR State Prize. The role was central to the film's Soviet message. As one character says in the picnic scene: "Seventy percent of my doctorate was due to Gosha's mechanical genius". After that, he effectively retired from acting and devoted his time to coaching new generations of film actors. Boris Yeltsin presented the Lifetime Achievement Nika Award to him in 2002. Batalov was awarded the State Prize of the Russian Federation (2005).

In 2007, he received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 29th Moscow International Film Festival.[5]

In March 2014, he signed a letter in support of the position of the President of Russia Vladimir Putin on Russia's military intervention in Ukraine.[6] [7]

Batalov died on 15 June 2017 in Moscow from complications of a fall, which resulted in a hip fracture, at the age of 88.[8]

Honours and awards

Awards of Russia and the USSR:
Foreign awards:
Community Awards:

Filmography

Actor

Director

Voice

Notes and References

  1. http://kinoacademy.ru/page/list-members Cписок членов Национальной Академии кинематографических искусств и наук России
  2. Book: Historical Dictionary of Russian and Soviet Cinema. Peter Rollberg. Rowman & Littlefield. 2016. US. 978-1442268425. 91–92.
  3. Web site: 5th Moscow International Film Festival (1967) . 9 December 2012 . MIFF . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20130116194759/http://www.moscowfilmfestival.ru/miff34/eng/archives/?year=1967 . 16 January 2013 .
  4. Web site: 8th Moscow International Film Festival (1973) . 25 December 2012 . MIFF . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20130116194922/http://www.moscowfilmfestival.ru/miff34/eng/archives/?year=1973 . 16 January 2013 .
  5. Web site: 29th Moscow International Film Festival (2007) . 30 May 2013 . MIFF . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20130421051129/http://www.moscowfilmfestival.ru/miff34/eng/archives/?year=2007 . 21 April 2013 .
  6. http://m.glavcom.ua/news/170894-rossijskie-artisty-podderzhali-agressiju-putina-protiv-ukrainy-spisok.html Russian artists supported Putin's aggression against Ukraine (LIST)
  7. Web site: Деятели культуры России — в поддержку позиции Президента по Украине и Крыму. Ministry for Culture of Russian Federation. dead. https://archive.today/20140311194202/http://mkrf.ru/press-tsentr/novosti/ministerstvo/deyateli-kultury-rossii-v-podderzhku-pozitsii-prezidenta-po-ukraine-i-krymu. 11 March 2014.
  8. Web site: В Москве скончался знаменитый актер Алексей Баталов. Altapress.ru. 15 June 2017. 15 June 2017.