Boris Babochkin was internationally recognized star of Russian cinema
who played the title role in the classic film Tschapajew (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 Tschapajew (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 Tschapajew (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.
