Vasily Ivanovich Kachalov (russian: Василий Иванович Качалов; – 30 September 1948), was one of Russia's most renowned
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 (), li ...
s. He worked closely and often with
Konstantin Stanislavski. He led the so-called Kachalov Group within the
Moscow Art Theatre. It was Kachalov who played
Hamlet
''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...
in the
Symbolist production of 1911.
His father was Ivan Shverubovich, a
Belarus
Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...
ian Orthodox priest from
Vilnius
Vilnius ( , ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The population of Vilnius's functional urb ...
. His schoolmates at
Vilnius Gymnasium
Vilnius Boys' Gymnasiums () were two secondary education institutions that existed in Vilnius while it was part of the Russian Empire. The 1st Gymnasium was opened in 1803 and closed in 1918. The 1st and 2nd gymnasiums were located in the premises ...
included
Felix Dzerzhinsky and
Konstantinas Galkauskas. In 1896, he left the law department of
Saint Petersburg University
Saint Petersburg State University (SPBU; russian: Санкт-Петербургский государственный университет) is a public research university in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Founded in 1724 by a decree of Peter the G ...
in order to pursue an acting career. After four years of touring the Russian provinces and a brief stint at the
Suvorin Theatre, Kachalov made his debut at the Moscow Art Theatre as Tsar Berendey in ''
The Snow Maiden
''The Snow Maiden'' (subtitle: A Spring Fairy Tale) ( rus, Снегурочка–весенняя сказка, Snegúrochka–vesénnyaya skázka, italic=yes ) is an opera in four acts with a prologue by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, composed ...
'' (spring 1900).
The snow maiden was played by Stanislavski's wife,
Maria Lilina, who fell in love with Kachalov; she described their affair as "a touch of private happiness".
[Maria Ignatieva. ''Stanislavsky and female actors: women in Stanislavsky's life and art''. University Press of America, 2008. . Page 39.] Another of his lovers was
Alisa Koonen.
He met his wife, actress
Nina Litovtseva
Nina Nikolayevna Levestamm (russian: Нина Николаевна Левестамм, 12 January 1878 – 8 April 1956) was a Russian and Soviet stage actress, associated with Moscow Art Theatre, known under her stage name Litovtseva (russian: ...
, when they were acting in the
Kazan Drama Theatre
Kazan ( ; rus, Казань, p=kɐˈzanʲ; tt-Cyrl, Казан, ''Qazan'', IPA: ɑzan is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Tatarstan in Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka rivers, covering an ...
, one of Russia's oldest.
Kachalov was greatly admired for his "magnetic" voice. He played
Baron Tuzenbach after
Meyerhold
Vsevolod Emilyevich Meyerhold (russian: Всеволод Эмильевич Мейерхольд, translit=Vsévolod Èmíl'evič Mejerchól'd; born german: Karl Kasimir Theodor Meyerhold; 2 February 1940) was a Russian and Soviet theatre ...
's departure from the theatre. In the original 1904 production of ''
The Cherry Orchard
''The Cherry Orchard'' (russian: Вишнёвый сад, translit=Vishnyovyi sad) is the last play by Russian playwright Anton Chekhov. Written in 1903, it was first published by '' Znaniye'' (Book Two, 1904), and came out as a separate editio ...
'' he appeared as Trofimov. He starred in Nemirovich-Danchenko's production of ''
Ivanov'' later that year. All in all, he took more than 50 roles in Stanislavski's company.
After the
Russian Revolution, the Kachalov Group went touring Central Europe and did not return until the summer of 1921, under pressure from the theatre's founders.
Kachalov was named one of the first
People's Artists of the USSR
People's Artist of the USSR ( rus, Народный артист СССР, Narodny artist SSSR), also sometimes translated as National Artist of the USSR, was an honorary title granted to artists of the Soviet Union.
Nomenclature and significan ...
after the title was instituted in 1936 and received a
Stalin Prize Stalin Prize may refer to:
* The State Stalin Prize in science and engineering and in arts, awarded 1941 to 1954, later known as the USSR State Prize
The USSR State Prize (russian: links=no, Государственная премия СССР, ...
in 1943. He was also the recipient of the two
Orders of Lenin
The Order of Lenin (russian: Орден Ленина, Orden Lenina, ), named after the leader of the Russian October Revolution, was established by the Central Executive Committee on April 6, 1930. The order was the highest civilian decoration b ...
. The Kazan State Theatre was given his name in 1948.
The Russian director and puppeteer,
Sergey Obraztsov, described seeing Kachalov on stage:
“That matchless voice of his sounded different each time. Different too was that amazing process of creating a phrase, and every visual image evoked by the word. One had the impression that Kachalov was not merely speaking but thinking aloud, and that the words one heard were only a part of what he was seeing with his inner eye. For that reason people did not merely listen to Kachalov, they watched what he was talking about.”[Obraztsov, Sergei. ''My Profession''. The Minerva Group, Inc. (2001) p. 215]
Notable performances
*1900 – ''Snow Maiden'' by Alexander Ostrovsky, directed by Stanislavski
*1900 – ''When We Dead Awaken'' by Ibsen, directed by Nemirovich-Danchenko
*1900 – ''The Death of Ivan the Terrible'', Tolstoy, dir. by Stanislavski and Nemirovich-Danchenko
*1901 – ''
Three Sisters'' by Anton Chekhov, directed by Stanislavski, role: Vershinin
*1901 – ''
The Wild Duck
''The Wild Duck'' (original Norwegian title: ''Vildanden'') is an 1884 play by the Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. It is considered the first modern masterpiece in the genre of tragicomedy. ''The Wild Duck'' and ''Rosmersholm'' are "often ...
'' by Ibsen. Role: Ekdal
*1901 – ''
The Seagull
''The Seagull'' ( rus, Ча́йка, r=Cháyka, links=no) is a play by Russian dramatist Anton Chekhov, written in 1895 and first produced in 1896. ''The Seagull'' is generally considered to be the first of his four major plays. It dramatises th ...
'' by Anton Chekhov, directed by Stanislavski, role: Trigorin
*1902 – ''The Death of Ivan the Terrible'' by A. Tolstoy
*1902 – ''Three Sisters'', Anton Chekhov. Role: Tuzenbach
*1902 – ''
The Lower Depths
''The Lower Depths'' (russian: На дне, translit=Na dne, literally: ''At the bottom'') is a play by Russian dramatist Maxim Gorky written in 1902 and produced by the Moscow Arts Theatre on December 18, 1902 under the direction of Konstantin ...
'', Gorky. Role: Baron
*1903 – ''The Pillars of Society'', Ibsen. Role Hilmar
*1903 – ''Julius Caesar, Shakespeare''. Role: Julius Caesar
*1904 – ''The Cherry Orchard'', Chekhov. Role: Trofimov
*1904 – ''Ivanov'', Chekhov. Role: Ivanov
*1905 – ''Ghosts'', Ibsen. Role: Pastor Manders
*1906 – ''Brand'', Ibsen. Role: Brand
*1907 – ''
Boris Godunov'', by Pushkin
*1908 – ''
Rosmersholm
''Rosmersholm'' () is a play written by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen in Danish—the common written language of Denmark and Norway at the time—and originally published in 1886 in Copenhagen by the Danish publisher Gyldendal. ''Rosmersholm'' ...
'', Ibsen. Role: Rosmer
*1910 – ''
The Brothers Karamazov
''The Brothers Karamazov'' (russian: Братья Карамазовы, ''Brat'ya Karamazovy'', ), also translated as ''The Karamazov Brothers'', is the last novel by Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky. Dostoevsky spent nearly two years writing '' ...
'', by Dostoevsky. Role: Ivan Karamazov
*1910 – ''
A Month in the Country'', Turgenev. Role: Rakitin
*1911 – ''Hamlet'', Shakespeare, directed by Gordon Craig. Role: Hamlet
*1918 – ''
Uncle Vanya
''Uncle Vanya'' ( rus, Дя́дя Ва́ня, r=Dyádya Ványa, p=ˈdʲædʲə ˈvanʲə) is a play by the Russian playwright Anton Chekhov. It was first published in 1898, and was first produced in 1899 by the Moscow Art Theatre under the dir ...
'', by Anton Chekhov. Role: Astroff
*1935 – ''Enemies'', Gorky. Role: Bardin
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kachalov, Vasily
1875 births
1948 deaths
19th-century male actors from the Russian Empire
20th-century Russian male actors
Male actors from Vilnius
People from Vilna Governorate
Honored Artists of the RSFSR
People's Artists of the RSFSR
People's Artists of the USSR
Stalin Prize winners
Recipients of the Order of Lenin
Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour
Male actors from the Russian Empire
Russian people of Belarusian descent
Russian drama teachers
Russian male stage actors
Soviet drama teachers
Soviet male stage actors
Spoken word artists
Deaths from lung cancer in Russia
Deaths from lung cancer in the Soviet Union
Burials at Novodevichy Cemetery