Mikhail Aleksandrovich Chekhov (russian: Михаил Александрович Чехов; 29 August 1891 – 30 September 1955), known as Michael Chekhov, was an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), lit ...

, director,

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

and theatre practitioner. He was a nephew of the playwright Anton Chekhov and a student of Konstantin Stanislavski. Stanislavski referred to him as his most brilliant student. Although mainly a stage actor, he made a few notable appearances on film, perhaps most memorably as the Freudian analyst in Alfred Hitchcock's '' Spellbound'' (1945), for which he received his only

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nomination.

Life

He was born in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

, the son of

Alexander Chekhov Alexander Pavlovich Chekhov (russian: Алекса́ндр Па́влович Че́хов; August 22, 1855 – May 29, 1913), was a Russian novelist, short story writer, essayist and memoirist, and the elder brother of Anton Chekhov. Alexand ...

(the elder brother of Anton Chekhov) and his wife Natalya Aleksandrovna Golden. It was his father's second marriage. His mother, a Russian Jew, had been the governess to the children from his father's first marriage. He was raised in a middle-class family; his father was in the Imperial Customs Service and was a moderately successful writer. Chekhov's first wife was actress

Olga Chekhova Olga Konstantinovna Chekhova (; russian: Ольга Константиновна Чехова; 14 April 1897 – 9 March 1980), known in Germany as Olga Tschechowa, was a Russian-German actress. Her film roles include the female lead in Alfred ...

, whom he met at the Moscow Art Theatre First Studio. Olga Chekhova was a daughter of Konstantin Knipper and was the niece of

Olga Knipper Olga Leonardovna Knipper-Chekhova (russian: Ольга Леонардовна Книппер-Чехова, link=no; – 22 March 1959) was a Russian and Soviet stage actress. She was married to Anton Chekhov. Knipper was among the 39 ori ...

, Anton Chekhov's wife, after whom she was named. Their daughter, also baptized Olga, was born in 1916 and became a German actress under the name

Ada Tschechowa Ada Tschechowa (russian: Ада Михайловна Чехова, 9 September 1916 – 28 January 1966) was a Russo-German actress and music manager. Life Ada Mikhailovna Chekhova was born to esteemed actors Olga and Michael Chekhov on 9 Sept ...

. His second wife was Xenia Karlovna Ziller, of German origins. Chekhov studied under the Russian theatre practitioner Konstantin Stanislavski at the First Studio, where he acted, directed, and studied Stanislavski's 'system'. He was also influenced in his creative development as an actor by Yevgeny Vakhtangov and Leopold Sulerzhitsky."Michael Chekhov." ''International Dictionary of Theatre''. Chicago: St. James Press, 1992. Vol. 3. Updated version by Gale, 1996. Retrieved via ''Biography in Context'' database, 2018-06-26. In 1922, after the death of

Vakhtangov Yevgeny Bagrationovich Vakhtangov (also spelled Evgeny or Eugene; russian: Евге́ний Багратио́нович Вахта́нгов; 13 February 1883 – 29 May 1922) was a Russian-Armenian actor and theatre director who founded the ...

, Chekhov became director of the First Studio, which was subsequently renamed Moscow Art Theatre II. Stanislavski considered Chekhov to be one of his brightest students. When Chekhov experimented with affective memory and had a nervous breakdown, this aided Stanislavski in seeing the limitations of his early concepts of emotional memory. After the

October Revolution The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was a key mom ...

, Chekhov split with Stanislavski and toured with his own company. He thought that Stanislavski's techniques led too readily to a naturalistic style of performance. He demonstrated his own theories acting in parts such as Senator Ableukhov in the stage version of Andrei Bely's '' Petersburg''. With the beginning of Stalinism in 1927, Chekov came into conflict with the Communist regime and was threatened to be arrested, especially for his spiritualist interests. In the late 1920s, Chekhov emigrated to

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

and set up his own studio, teaching a physical and imagination-based system of actor training. He developed the use of the "Psychological Gesture", a concept derived from the Symbolist theories of Bely. In this technique, the actor physicalizes a character's need or internal dynamic in the form of an external gesture. Subsequently, the outward gesture is suppressed and incorporated internally, allowing the physical memory to inform the performance on an unconscious level. Between 1930 and 1935 he worked in Kaunas State Drama Theatre in Lithuania. Between 1936 and 1939 Chekhov established The Chekhov Theatre School at

Dartington Hall Dartington Hall in Dartington, near Totnes, Devon, England, is an historic house and country estate of dating from medieval times. The group of late 14th century buildings are Grade I listed; described in Pevsner's Buildings of England as "on ...

, in

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. Following developments in Germany that threatened the outbreak of war he moved to the US with the couple, and later writers,

Anne Cumming Anne Cumming (the pen name of Felicity Anne Cumming Mason, 14 December 1917 – 28 August 1993) was a British translator, public relations officer, polyamorist and writer. Early life Cumming was born in Walton-on-Thames in 1917, to parents Howa ...

and Henry Lyon Young to recreate a drama school.

Career

Following Stanislavski's approach, much of what Chekhov explored addressed the question of how to access the unconscious creative self through indirect non-analytical means. Chekhov taught a range of movement dynamics such as molding, floating, flying, and radiating that actors use to find the physical core of a

character Character or Characters may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''Character'' (novel), a 1936 Dutch novel by Ferdinand Bordewijk * ''Characters'' (Theophrastus), a classical Greek set of character sketches attributed to The ...

. Despite his seemingly external approach, Chekhov's techniques were meant to lead the actor to a rich internal life. In spite of his brilliance as an actor and his first-hand experience in the development of Stanislavski's groundbreaking work, Chekhov as a teacher was overshadowed by his American counterparts in the 1940s and 1950s and their interpretations of Stanislavski's 'system,' which became known as Method acting. Interest in Chekhov's work has grown, however, with a new generation of teachers. Chekhov's own students included

Marilyn Monroe Marilyn Monroe (; born Norma Jeane Mortenson; 1 June 1926 4 August 1962) was an American actress. Famous for playing comedic " blonde bombshell" characters, she became one of the most popular sex symbols of the 1950s and early 1960s, as wel ...

, Anthony Quinn, Clint Eastwood, Dorothy Dandridge,

Mala Powers Mary Ellen "Mala" Powers (December 20, 1931 – June 11, 2007) was an American actress. Early life Powers was born in San Francisco, California, and raised in Los Angeles. Her father was a United Press executive, while her mother was a minister. ...

, Yul Brynner, Patricia Neal, Sterling Hayden,

Jack Palance Jack Palance ( ; born Volodymyr Palahniuk ( uk, Володимир Палагню́к); February 18, 1919 – November 10, 2006) was an American actor known for playing tough guys and villains. He was nominated for three Academy Awards, all fo ...

, Elia Kazan, Robert Lewis, Paula Strasberg,

Guy Gillette Guy Mark Gillette (February 3, 1879March 3, 1973) was an American politician serving as a Democratic U.S. Representative and Senator from Iowa. In the U.S. Senate, Gillette was elected, re-elected, defeated, elected again, and defeated again. ...

, and

Lloyd Lloyd, Lloyd's, or Lloyds may refer to: People * Lloyd (name), a variation of the Welsh word ' or ', which means "grey" or "brown" ** List of people with given name Lloyd ** List of people with surname Lloyd * Lloyd (singer) (born 1986), America ...

and

Dorothy Bridges Dorothy Louise Bridges (née Simpson; September 19, 1915 – February 16, 2009) was an American actress and poet. Bridges was the matriarch of an acting family, which included her husband, Lloyd Bridges, two of their three sons, Beau Bridges ...

. In the television programme ''Inside the Actors Studio'', noted actors such as Johnny Depp and Anthony Hopkins have cited Chekhov's book as highly influential on their acting. Beatrice Straight also thanked Chekhov in her acceptance speech after winning her Oscar for her performance in ''

Network Network, networking and networked may refer to: Science and technology * Network theory, the study of graphs as a representation of relations between discrete objects * Network science, an academic field that studies complex networks Mathematic ...

'' (1976).Beatrice Straight Wins Supporting Actress: 1977 Oscars
at YouTube Chekhov's description of his acting technique, ''On the Technique of Acting'', was written in 1942. When reissued in 1991 it had additional material by Chekhov estate executor

; an abridged version appeared under the title ''To the Actor'' in 1953, with a preface by Yul Brynner, and reissued in 2002 with an additional foreword by Simon Callow and additional Russian material translated and commented on by Andrei Malaev-Babel, a notable Russian-born acting scholar and teacher. The English translation of his autobiography ''The Path of the Actor'' was edited by Andrei Kirillov and Bella Merlin and published by Routledge in 2005, marking the 50th anniversary of his death. Some of Chekhov's lectures are available on CD under the title ''On Theatre and the Art of Acting''. The documentary ''From Russia to Hollywood: the 100 Year Odyssey of Chekhov and Shdanoff'', profiles Chekhov and his fellow Russian associate George Shdanoff; released in 1998, it is narrated by

and Gregory Peck, who starred in Alfred Hitchcock's '' Spellbound'', for which Chekhov earned an Oscar nomination.

Selected filmography

Bibliography

* Чехов, Михаил. Литературное наследие: В 2 т. / Общ. науч. ред. М.О. Кнебель; сост.: И.И. Аброскина, М.С. Иванова, Н.А. Крымова; коммент. И.И. Аброскиной, М.С. Ивановой. М., 1995.

References

External links