Background
Smoktunovskii, Innokentii was born on March 18, 1925.
Smoktunovskii, Innokentii was born on March 18, 1925.
Studied at the Studio of Krasnoiarsk Pushkin Theatre. Studied at the Studio of Krasnoiarsk Pushkin Theatre.
The most celebrated Russian actor in the Soviet Union for his roles of Hamlet and adaptations of Chekhov and Dostoevskii. A soldier during World War II. After the war, turned down by a theatre due to his ‘lack of talent’. Worked in theatres in Norilsk in the Polar Circle, Makhach-Kala, Volgograd and Moscow.
Became famous for his portrayal of Prince Myshkin in a stage adaptation of Dostoevskii’s Idiot. First film role in Mikhail Rom’s The Murder in Dante Street in 1956. Became famous in An Unposted
Letter, directed by Mikhail Kalatozov and starring Tatiana Samoilova.
Films of note: Nine Days of One Year (director M. Romm, 1962), Chaikovskii (director Igor Talankin, 1970), Crime and Punishment (director Lev Kulidzhanov, 1970), Uncle Vanya (director Andron Mikhalkov-Konchalovskii, 1971), A Lovers’ Romance (director Andron MikhalkovKonchalovskii, 1975). Became internationally known as the Russian Hamlet in the film of the same title made in 1964 by the distinguished director Grigorii Kozintsev. Has worked with every director of note.
Vasiliev Brothers’ State Prize, 1971. People’s Artist of the USSR, 1974.