Boris Babochkin(1904-1975)

Boris Babochkin was internationally recognized star of Russian cinema who played the title role in the classic film Tchapaïev (1934) and later played a sharp anti-communist character on stage in Moscow, for which he was ostracized and censored by the Soviet Communist Party.

He was born Boris Andreevich Babochkin on January 18, 1904, in the city of Saratov on Volga river in Russia. In 1920 he moved to Moscow and enrolled in the Drama School of Michael Chekhov. Babochkin admired Michael Chekhov, but soon he left Chekhov's school for "Molodye Mastera" studio, directed by Illarion Pevtsov. There, with his elder brother Vitaly Babochkin, he worked his first professional season on stage in 1921. In the following six years Boris Babochkin played seasonal gigs on stage with various troupes in Moscow and Saratov, then Samarkand and Bishkek in Central Asia, and then in Voronesh, then in Mogilev in Belarus, and in Berdichev in Ukraine. From 1927 to 1940 he lived and worked in Leningrad. There he made his film debut in 1927. In 1934 he played the leading role in Tchapaïev (1934), a classic film that brought him global fame and local jealousy. He played leading roles at the Leningrad State Puskin Drama Theater and at the Bolshoi Drama Theater under directorship of his friend Aleksei Dikij. In 1937 Aleksei Dikij was arrested and imprisoned in the Gulag camps. Babochkin was hurt, but stepped in as artistic director of the Bolshoi Drama Theater (BDT) in Leningrad.

In 1940 Babochkin moved back to Moscow. During the WWII he made several trips to Leningrad, besieged by the Nazis, where he supported the defenders of the city and lifted their spirits with his performances. In 1952 Babochkin became the artistic director of the Moscow Pushkin Drama Theater. There he invited Aleksei Dikij to direct "Shadows" (a play by Saltykov-Shchedrin). In "Shadows" Babochkin played one of his best roles ever - Klaverov, a corrupt career politician, resembling of a typical Soviet bureaucrat. For that work Babochkin was viciously attacked in the main Soviet newspaper "Pravda" by none other than Ekaterina Furtseva, who was then a Mayor of Moscow and later was made Soviet Minister of Culture and eventually committed suicide. Furtseva became enraged with Babochkin's satirical portrayal of a Soviet bureaucrat with allusions to the Soviet leadership. She banned the play, and restricted the world famous actor, Babochkin, from public performances and kept him virtually unemployed for three years until he was finally forced to repent to the Communist Party. Official Soviet censorship spared no effort in taming the famous actor and manipulating his star power by limiting him to playing only positive, boring, exemplary Soviet characters. The rare exception was his last role in Begstvo mistera Mak-Kinli (1975) for which he was awarded the State Prize. From 1955 up until his death in 1975 Babochkin was permanent member of the troupe at Maly Theatre in Moscow. From 1946 - 1975 he also taught an acting class at State Film Institute (VGIK), where he became a professor in 1966. In his acting career spanning over 55 years, Babochkin played over 200 roles on stage. He played over 25 roles in movies and on television, but Tchapaïev (1934) remained the unsurpassed highlight of his film career.

Boris Babochkin was the youngest actor designated People's Artist of Russia (1935). He was three times awarded the State Prize of the USSR (1941, 1951, and 1977 posthumously). He was married to Ekaterina Mikhailovna Babochkina, and the couple had two daughters, Natalia and Tatiana. Boris Babochkin died of a heart attack while driving his "Volga" on July 17, 1975, in Moscow, and was laid to rest in Novodevichy Convent Cemetery in Moscow, Russia.