Recently in Russia the musical “Singingrain. What does he have to do with actor Nikolai Batalov? The most direct, because it tells about the actors of silent films, which work is hardly given in the "talking film". And if one of the main heroines of the American musical is a fiasco, and it is called a backup, the actor Nikolai Batalov overcame this test with honor and starred in the first Soviet sound picture. Unfortunately, only a few remember this talented artist who died early, and the overwhelming majority of viewers know nothing about his life or his work at all.
Who is Nikolai Batalov?His biography is the story of a talented person who lived and worked, while simultaneously fighting an insidious disease. He was born in Moscow in 1899. His parents were peasants from the Yaroslavl province who came to the capital in search of a better life. They sent their son to the School of Commerce for them. Alexander the First. Upon graduation, at the age of 16, Nikolay made an important decision to become an actor. To achieve this goal, he passed the exams and entered the School of Dramatic Art, which was soon transformed into the Second Studio.
In 1916, Nikolai Batalov entered the Moscow Art Theater.He immediately attracted the attention of the audience, creating a touching image of Petit the Bookbinder in the play of the play “3 Ring” by 3aina Gippius. Critics called him successful and his work on the images of Nechaev in Mladost, Taras-Bryukhan in The Tale of Ivan the Fool, and others.
Together with the studio Batalov performed touringtrips around the country, during which the inhabitants of the province could see his play in the plays “The Flood” by G. Berger and in the performance-farce “The Lawyer Patlen” by David-Augustin Brues.
At the Moscow Art Theater Nikolai Batalov met MikhailChekhov, who invited him as a partner on the scene in his famous vaudeville "Pisho and Michaud". Of the serious roles of the artist in this theater, it should be noted the image of the passionate Franz Moore in Schiller's “Robbers,” set by B. I. Vershilov.
Nikolay Batalov took an active part in"Sovietization" of the Moscow Art Theater. In particular, since 1925 he was a member of the internal control bodies of the theater. For some time he was practically in charge of the troupe. In addition, the actor participated in the first premiers of the Moscow Art Theater of the Soviet period and demanded to replace the works of the "old" ideals and build a new Art Theater with a repertoire that consonant to the Bolshevik party slogans. Despite this, he gladly took on the role of Figaro, in which the artist went on stage for the last time, before the disease chained him to bed.
In 1923, Batalov was invited to shootthe fantastic film “Aelita” based on the novel by A. Tolstov, which was filmed by director Jacob Protazanov. He got the role of the Red Army soldier Gusev, with whom he coped well, although this was his first work in film. After the film’s premiere in the press, enthusiastic articles appeared in which he was called the antipode of the “written beauties” of Western cinema and the very actor who is able to embody the image of a Soviet person on screen.
2 years after the loud premiere of "Aelita"the audience saw Nikolayev Batalov in Leonid Pudovkin’s film “Mother”, where he played Pavel Vlasov. This role confirmed the actor in the role of a hero fighting for the rights of working people.
Как уже было сказано, Баталов был одним из первых Soviet actors who spoke to the viewer from the screen. In 1931, he starred in the legendary film “Start in life”. The director of this first Soviet sound film was Nikolai Eck, who decided that the role of the head of the labor commune, who successfully rehabilitates the homeless children to “real Soviet people,” would most likely look like Nikolai Batalov. The actor perfectly coped with the task set before him, which was complicated by the fact that before that he had experience of filming only in silent films. However, the vast experience of working on the theater stage allowed Batalov to quickly restructure and stop expressing emotions through gestures, as was customary in the cinema before inventing a way to combine a picture and sound.
Shooting "Aelita", held in extremeconditions ended for Nikolai Batalov with a severe cold that caused tuberculosis. Due to the deterioration of his health, the actor even took a break in his theatrical career, and after returning to the stage he often refused roles, following the advice of doctors who forbade him to overwork. His poor state of health greatly distressed Olga Androvskaya, to whom Nikolay Batalov had been married since 1921 (a daughter was born in marriage). This talented actress, beginning in 1930, when the actor’s state of health deteriorated sharply, practically abandoned the stage and took care of him until his death in 1937.
Now you know what kind of life Nikolai Petalovich Batalov lived - one of the pioneers of the national sound film, who played several dozen interesting roles.
