Alexander Leonidovich Vishnevsky
Encyclopedia
Aleksandr Vishnevsky was a Russian actor
and one of the founding members of the Moscow Art Theatre
.
Vishnevsky studied at the Taganrog gymnasium
where he befriended the young Anton Chekhov
. From 1883 he took part in the performances of the Taganrog Music and Drama Society. Later he acted in the theatres of Kharkov, Ekaterinoslav, Odessa
, Saratov
where he was a jeune premier. In 1898 he joined the troupe of the Moscow Art Theatre
(MAT). On the opening night of the MAT, Vishnevsky played the part of Boris Godunov
in the play Tsar Fiodor Ioannovich
by Alexei Tolstoy
. In 1899 he played Godunov again in Tolstoy's The Death of Ivan the Terrible
. Vishnevsky was the first to play the title role in Chekhov's play Uncle Vanya
at the MAT.
In 1933 Vishnevsky became the first actor to be awarded the title of Hero of Labour. Later that honorary title was renamed Hero of Socialist Labour.
He was also awarded the title of Honored Worker of Arts of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. He died on 27 February 1943 in Tashkent
where he lived in evacuation. He is buried in Tashkent. His son is Alexander Alexandrovich Vishnevsky, who is a journalist and a senior official at the TASS
. His daughter is Natalia Alexandrovna Vishnevskaya.
):
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
and one of the founding members of the Moscow Art Theatre
Moscow Art Theatre
The Moscow Art Theatre is a theatre company in Moscow that the seminal Russian theatre practitioner Constantin Stanislavski, together with the playwright and director Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko, founded in 1898. It was conceived as a venue for naturalistic theatre, in contrast to the melodramas...
.
Vishnevsky studied at the Taganrog gymnasium
Chekhov Gymnasium
The Chekhov Gymnasium in Taganrog on Ulitsa Oktyabrskaya 9 is the oldest gymnasium in the South of Russia. Playwright and short-story writer Anton Chekhov spent 11 years in the school, which was later named after him and transformed into a literary museum...
where he befriended the young Anton Chekhov
Anton Chekhov
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov was a Russian physician, dramatist and author who is considered to be among the greatest writers of short stories in history. His career as a dramatist produced four classics and his best short stories are held in high esteem by writers and critics...
. From 1883 he took part in the performances of the Taganrog Music and Drama Society. Later he acted in the theatres of Kharkov, Ekaterinoslav, Odessa
Odessa
Odessa or Odesa is the administrative center of the Odessa Oblast located in southern Ukraine. The city is a major seaport located on the northwest shore of the Black Sea and the fourth largest city in Ukraine with a population of 1,029,000 .The predecessor of Odessa, a small Tatar settlement,...
, Saratov
Saratov
-Modern Saratov:The Saratov region is highly industrialized, due in part to the rich in natural and industrial resources of the area. The region is also one of the more important and largest cultural and scientific centres in Russia...
where he was a jeune premier. In 1898 he joined the troupe of the Moscow Art Theatre
Moscow Art Theatre
The Moscow Art Theatre is a theatre company in Moscow that the seminal Russian theatre practitioner Constantin Stanislavski, together with the playwright and director Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko, founded in 1898. It was conceived as a venue for naturalistic theatre, in contrast to the melodramas...
(MAT). On the opening night of the MAT, Vishnevsky played the part of Boris Godunov
Boris Godunov
Boris Fyodorovich Godunov was de facto regent of Russia from c. 1585 to 1598 and then the first non-Rurikid tsar from 1598 to 1605. The end of his reign saw Russia descend into the Time of Troubles.-Early years:...
in the play Tsar Fiodor Ioannovich
Tsar Fiodor Ioannovich
Tsar Fiodor Ioannovich is a 1868 historical drama by Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy. It is the second part of a trilogy that begins with The Death of Ivan the Terrible and concludes with Tsar Boris. All three plays were banned by the censor...
by Alexei Tolstoy
Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy
Count Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy, often referred to as A. K. Tolstoy , was a Russian poet, novelist and playwright, considered to be the most important nineteenth-century Russian historical dramatist...
. In 1899 he played Godunov again in Tolstoy's The Death of Ivan the Terrible
The Death of Ivan the Terrible
The Death of Ivan the Terrible is an historical drama by Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy written in 1863 and first published in the January 1866 issue of Otechestvennye zapiski magazine. It is the first part of a trilogy that is followed by Tsar Fiodor Ioannovich and concludes with Tsar Boris. All...
. Vishnevsky was the first to play the title role in Chekhov's play Uncle Vanya
Uncle Vanya
Uncle Vanya is a play by the Russian playwright Anton Chekhov. It was first published in 1897 and received its Moscow première in 1899 in a production by the Moscow Art Theatre, under the direction of Konstantin Stanislavski....
at the MAT.
In 1933 Vishnevsky became the first actor to be awarded the title of Hero of Labour. Later that honorary title was renamed Hero of Socialist Labour.
He was also awarded the title of Honored Worker of Arts of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. He died on 27 February 1943 in Tashkent
Tashkent
Tashkent is the capital of Uzbekistan and of the Tashkent Province. The officially registered population of the city in 2008 was about 2.2 million. Unofficial sources estimate the actual population may be as much as 4.45 million.-Early Islamic History:...
where he lived in evacuation. He is buried in Tashkent. His son is Alexander Alexandrovich Vishnevsky, who is a journalist and a senior official at the TASS
TASS
TASS or Tass may refer to:* Telluride Association Sophomore Seminar, a six-week educational opportunity for minority high school students* Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union, TASS is the transliteration of the Russian abbreviation for it...
. His daughter is Natalia Alexandrovna Vishnevskaya.
Theatre roles
(at the Moscow Art TheatreMoscow Art Theatre
The Moscow Art Theatre is a theatre company in Moscow that the seminal Russian theatre practitioner Constantin Stanislavski, together with the playwright and director Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko, founded in 1898. It was conceived as a venue for naturalistic theatre, in contrast to the melodramas...
):
- 1898 – Tsar Fiodor IoannovichTsar Fiodor IoannovichTsar Fiodor Ioannovich is a 1868 historical drama by Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy. It is the second part of a trilogy that begins with The Death of Ivan the Terrible and concludes with Tsar Boris. All three plays were banned by the censor...
by Alexei TolstoyAleksey Konstantinovich TolstoyCount Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy, often referred to as A. K. Tolstoy , was a Russian poet, novelist and playwright, considered to be the most important nineteenth-century Russian historical dramatist...
– Boris Godunov - 1898 – The Merchant of VeniceThe Merchant of VeniceThe Merchant of Venice is a tragic comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1596 and 1598. Though classified as a comedy in the First Folio and sharing certain aspects with Shakespeare's other romantic comedies, the play is perhaps most remembered for its dramatic...
by William ShakespeareWilliam ShakespeareWilliam Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
– Antonio - 1899 – The Death of Ivan the TerribleThe Death of Ivan the TerribleThe Death of Ivan the Terrible is an historical drama by Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy written in 1863 and first published in the January 1866 issue of Otechestvennye zapiski magazine. It is the first part of a trilogy that is followed by Tsar Fiodor Ioannovich and concludes with Tsar Boris. All...
by Alexei TolstoyAleksey Konstantinovich TolstoyCount Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy, often referred to as A. K. Tolstoy , was a Russian poet, novelist and playwright, considered to be the most important nineteenth-century Russian historical dramatist...
– Boris Godunov - 1900 – An Enemy of the PeopleAn Enemy of the PeopleAn Enemy of the People is an 1882 play by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. Ibsen wrote it in response to the public outcry against his play Ghosts, which at that time was considered scandalous...
by Henrik IbsenHenrik IbsenHenrik Ibsen was a major 19th-century Norwegian playwright, theatre director, and poet. He is often referred to as "the father of prose drama" and is one of the founders of Modernism in the theatre...
– Hovstad - 1902 – The Lower DepthsThe Lower DepthsThe Lower Depths is perhaps Maxim Gorky's best-known play. It was written during the winter of 1901 and the spring of 1902. Subtitled "Scenes from Russian Life," it depicted a group of impoverished Russians living in a shelter near the Volga. Produced by the Moscow Arts Theatre on December 18,...
by Maxim GorkyMaxim GorkyAlexei Maximovich Peshkov , primarily known as Maxim Gorky , was a Russian and Soviet author, a founder of the Socialist Realism literary method and a political activist.-Early years:...
– Tatar - 1903 – Julius CaesarJulius Caesar (play)The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, also known simply as Julius Caesar, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1599. It portrays the 44 BC conspiracy against...
by William ShakespeareWilliam ShakespeareWilliam Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
– Mark Antonius - 1906 – Woe from WitWoe from WitWoe from Wit is Alexander Griboyedov's comedy in verse, satirizing the society of post-Napoleonic Moscow, or, as a high official in the play styled it, "a pasquinade on Moscow."The play, written in 1823 in the countryside and in Tiflis, was not passed by the censorship for the stage, and...
by Alexandr GriboyedovAlexandr GriboyedovAleksander Sergeyevich Griboyedov was a Russian diplomat, playwright, poet, and composer. He is recognized as homo unius libri, a writer of one book, whose fame rests on the brilliant verse comedy Woe from Wit , still one of the most often staged plays in Russia...
– Count Tugoukhovsky - 1907 – Boris GodunovBoris GodunovBoris Fyodorovich Godunov was de facto regent of Russia from c. 1585 to 1598 and then the first non-Rurikid tsar from 1598 to 1605. The end of his reign saw Russia descend into the Time of Troubles.-Early years:...
by Alexandr Pushkin – Boris Godunov
Filmography
- 1918 – Cagliostro (“The False Masons”), Russia, Rus, black-and-white
- 1927 – Woman's Victory aka Pobeda zhenschiny (“Boyar Nikit Yurievich”), USSR, Mezhrabpomrus, black-and-white, 62 min.
Acknowledgement and awards
- Hero of Socialist Labour (1933)
- Honored Worker of Arts of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic