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Mykola Yakovchenko

Acting Born May 3, 1900 Pryluky, USSR 24 credits

Biography

Mykola Fedorovych Yakovchenko (April 20 (May 3), 1900, Pryluky — September 11, 1974, Kyiv) was an outstanding Soviet Ukrainian theater and film actor who played character roles. He was named a People's Artist of the Ukrainian SSR in 1970.

He was born in Pryluky (now Chernihiv Oblast, Ukraine, then Poltava Governorate, Russian Empire) into the family of an assistant manager of the Astrakhan fishing industry. His mother had four other children besides him. His family had its origins in the Don Cossacks — the family moved to the Poltava province from Rostov-on-Don and had a patriarchal structure, where a penchant for art was not particularly encouraged.

In 1912, he enrolled in the Second Prilutsk Higher Primary School named after Kislov. In 1916, he enrolled in the city Jewish gymnasium, where he became interested in amateur art, performing his first roles in the gymnasium theater. At the same time, he thoroughly studied the Greek language.

During the revolutionary events, he went to the front. His grandson, Mykola Bohonko-Yakovchenko, said, "It is not known for certain on whose side he fought — for the Reds or the Whites. According to documents, he spent the entire war on a Red Army medical train. However, over time, he became enthusiastic about talking about General Shkuro's cavalry; he once obtained two well-hidden St. George's Crosses."

In 1918, he made his debut on the amateur stage in Pryluky. From the amateur group, he moved to the troupe of Pylyp Khmara's theater, which was Russian at the time, and from 1919 — Ukrainian, then Soviet. At this time, he played in plays by Leonid Andreyev — Tyukha in Savva and Second Lieutenant Grigory Mironov in Days of Our Lives. From 1920 to 1927, he worked in theaters in Lubny, Pryluky, Simferopol, Cherkasy, Chernihiv, Dnipro, and Kharkiv. From 1927, he was an actor at the Frank Ukrainian Academic Theater in Kyiv (with breaks).

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Known for

Film

Viy

as Spirid
Film

Chasing Two Hares

as Prokip Sirko

Full filmography

  • Viy (1967) as Spirid
  • Варькина земля (1970) as дед Евген
  • Chasing Two Hares (1961) as Prokip Sirko
  • Malevolent Fate (1969) as Matchmaker
  • Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka (1961) as Пацюк (озв. Яков Беленький)
  • A Dream (1964)
  • Zakhar Berkut (1972) as Tukholets
  • Carrot Head (1961)
  • Gas Station Queen (1963)
  • Lushka (1964)
  • That Very Night (1970)
  • Star of the Ballet (1965) as watchman
  • Earth (1954)
  • A Great Road Ahead (1963) as peasant on a cart
  • The Month of May (1965) as komendant obshchezhitiya
  • Years of Young (1958)
  • Maksim Perepelitsa (1955) as Kondrat Perepelitsa
  • Stolen Happiness (1952) as Reeve
  • The Grandfather of the Left Winger (1973) as Trokhym Ivanovych Besarab
  • Martyn Borulya (1953)
  • Cheerful Frogscreamers (1973) as Watchman
  • Lada from the Berendeyev Country (1971) as король
  • The First Lad (1959)
  • Adventures of Tarapunka and Shtepsel (1971)