Background
Nikolai Massalitinov was born on February 24, 1880 in Yelets, Lipetsk region, Russia. His father comes from the city of Nizhnedevitsk, Voronezh Province.
director pedagogue stage actor
Nikolai Massalitinov was born on February 24, 1880 in Yelets, Lipetsk region, Russia. His father comes from the city of Nizhnedevitsk, Voronezh Province.
Nikolai Massalitinov was studying at the university in Tomsk, at the faculty of Medicine and then at the mechanical department of the Technological Institute. In the year of 1907 he graduated from the Maly Theatre Drama School (now Mikhail Shchepkin Higher Theatre School) (course of A.P. Lensky, A. A. Fedotov).
In 1907 Massalitinov, a Maly Theatre Drama School graduate, was invited, personally by Stanislavski, to join the MAT troupe. In 1913, alongside Nikolai Alexandrov and Nikolai Podgorny he co-founded the private Drama School, the so-called "School of the Three Nikolais", which in 1916 was reformed to become the MAT Second Studio.
In 1919 Massalitinov, as part of the Kachalov Troupe, found himself abroad, cut off from home. Unlike the majority of the actors, he decided against returning to the Bolshevist Russia and first joined the Prague-based, Maria Germanova-led troupe, then in 1925 settled in Bulgaria to become there a respected director and pedagogue, proponent of the Stanislavski method.
In 1925-1956, Massalitinov was the theatre director and actor of the Ivan Vazov National Theatre in Sofia. Under the direction of Massalitinov, more than 100 plays were represented in the Ivan Vazov National Theatre
In 1948 he was designated as a Meritorious Artist of the People's Republic of Bulgaria, and in 1950 won the Dimitrov Prize.