Pyotr (Peter, Petr) Chardynin was a prolific silent film director who
made over 100 silent films in Russia, France, Germany, and Soviet
Union.
He was born Pyotr Ivanovich Krasavtsev, on 28 January 1972, in
Simbirsk, Russian Empire (now Ulyanovsk, Russia). His father was a
small business owner, his mother was a homemaker. Young Chardynin was
fond of theatre, and had a dream of becoming an actor, albeit his
parents objected, so he left them and dropped out of Simbirsk Gymnasium
at age 16. He moved to Moscow and worked lowly jobs to achieve his
dream. In 1890 he was admitted to the class of
Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko
at the Drama School of Moscow Philharmonic Society. There his
classmates were such actors as A. Kosheverov, and Maria Tarasova among
others. He also attended classes of
Konstantin Stanislavski,
Aleksandr Yushin, and Alexander Nevsky, graduating in 1893 as an actor.
During the 1890s he was an actor and director in several cities of
Central Russia, such as Belgorod, Orekhovo-Zuevo, Uralsk, and Vologda.
In 1901 he played the title role in the Shakespeare's Hamlet in
Vologda, then moved to Moscow. From 1908 - 1910 he was member of the
troupe at Vvedensky Narodny Dom in Moscow. There Chardynin met
Aleksandr Khanzhonkov who invited
him to work in movies. Chardynin replaced French directors and
cinematographers, becoming the principal director for Khanzhonkov. He
also brought in several fellow stage actors, such as
Ivan Mozzhukhin and
Nathalie Lissenko, and made them
leading stars of Russian silent film.
Chardynin directed over 30 films for Khanzhonkov. He also appeared as
actor in several silent films. His theatrical experience was a plus,
however, in his later years his face was affected by a skin disease,
that was misdiagnosed and mistreated, leaving permanent scars. As
director, Chardynin did not survive serious competition from
Yevgeny Bauer, and left the Khanzhonkov's
film company. In 1916 Chardynin with
Vera Kholodnaya and several other
leading actors joined the D Kharitonov studio of
Dmitrij Kharitonov in Odessa. There
Chardynin made several successful films starring
Vera Kholodnaya. After the death of
Kholodnaya in 1919, he tried to work for the new Soviet Communist
regime, albeit the Soviet propaganda was not exactly his style.
In 1920 Chardynin accepted invitation to work for
Dmitrij Kharitonov in Rome, Italy.
Then he had a brief stint at "Gomon" studio in Paris, then worked for
stage projects in Berlin, Germany. From 1921 - 1923 Chardynin lived and
worked in Riga, Latvia. There he directed four silent films. In 1923 he
was visited by a special envoy from Odessa and was invited to work at
Odessa Film Studio. There he directed several costume dramas and epics
about the history of Ukraine, such as 'Taras Shevchenko' (1926) and
'Cherevichki' (1928), among his other films. In 1930 Chardynin was
censored by the Soviet authorities and was banned from working in
films. He suffered from a serious emotional breakdown, and eventually
developed a liver cancer. He died on August 14, 1934, in Odessa,
Ukraine, Soviet Union (now Odesa, Ukraine), and was laid to rest in
Odessa.
