Aleksey Batalov

Aleksey Vladimirovich Batalov (Russian: Алексе́й Влади́мирович Бата́лов; 20 November 1928 – 15 June 2017) was a Soviet and Russian actor acclaimed for his portrayal of noble and positive characters. He was named a People's Artist of the USSR in 1976 and a Hero of Socialist Labour in 1989.

Biography

Batalov was born in Vladimir on 20 November 1928 into a family associated with the theatre. His uncle Nikolay Batalov starred in Vsevolod Pudovkin's classic Mother (1926). Anna Akhmatova was a family friend, and he painted a well-known portrait of her in 1952. Batalov joined the Moscow Art Theatre in 1953 but left three years later to concentrate on his career in film. During the Khrushchev Thaw he was one of the most recognizable actors in the Soviet Union. The Cranes Are Flying (1957) is his best-regarded film of the period, and the one which won Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. He also starred in Mikhail Romm's Nine Days of One Year (1962). In 1967 he was a member of the jury of the 5th Moscow International Film Festival. In 1973 he was a member of the jury at the 8th Moscow International Film Festival.

During the 1960s and 1970s, Batalov became known for his fastidious approach towards choosing roles for himself. He appeared mostly in film adaptations of Russian classics, including Anton Chekhov's The Lady with the Dog (1960) and Bulgakov's The Flight (1970). He also directed screen versions of Gogol's The Overcoat (1960) and Yuri Olesha's Three Fat Men (1966). In the 1970s he concentrated on professorship at the Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography.

In 1979 Batalov was invited to play Gosha, a mill machinist, in the melodrama Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears. After many hesitations, Batalov brilliantly played his part in the movie, which won him the USSR State Prize. The role was central to the film's Soviet message. As one character says in the picnic scene: "Seventy percent of my doctorate was due to Gosha's mechanical genius". After that, he effectively retired from acting and devoted his time to coaching new generations of film actors. Boris Yeltsin presented the Lifetime Achievement Nika Award to him in 2002. Batalov was awarded the State Prize of the Russian Federation (2005).

In 2007 he was awarded with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 29th Moscow International Film Festival.

In March 2014 he signed a letter in support of the position of the President of Russia Vladimir Putin on Russia's military intervention in Ukraine.

Batalov died on 15 June 2017 in Moscow from complications of a fall, which resulted in a broken neck and hip, at the age of 88.

Honours and awards

Awards of Russia and the USSR

• Hero of Socialist Labour (1989)
• Order of Merit for the Fatherland
  • 2nd class (20 November 2008) - for outstanding contribution to the development of national culture, many years of creative and educational activities
  • 3rd class (10 November 1998) - for outstanding contributions to the development of national cinematography
• Two Orders of Lenin (1967, 1989)
• Honored Artist of the RSFSR (1964)
• People's Artist of USSR (1976)
• People's Artist of the RSFSR (1969)
• USSR State Prize (1981) - for taking part in the movie Moscow does not believe in tears
• State Prize of the RSFSR (1966) - for taking part in the movie Nine Days of One Year
• State Prize of the Russian Federation (2005)
• Russian Presidential Prize in Literature and Art in 1999 (17 February 2000)

Foreign awards

• Order of St. Cyril and Methodius (Bulgaria)

Community Awards

• Order of Peter the Great (Academy of Security, Defence and Law Enforcement, 2003)
• Lenin Komsomol Prize (1967)
• Juno Award (1997)
• Idol Award (2002) - For high service to art
• Commemorative Medal for the 150th anniversary of Anton Chekhov, by the Moscow Art Theatre (2005)

Filmography

• Zoya (Зоя, 1944) as Aleksey
• A Big Family (1954) as Aleksey Ilich Zhurbin
• The Rumyantsev Case (Дело Румянцева, 1955) as Sasha Rumyantsev
• Mother (1955) as Pavel Vlasov
• The Cranes Are Flying (1957) as Boris
• The Lady with the Dog (1960) as Dmitri Dmitrievich Gurov
• Nine Days of One Year (Девять дней одного года, 1962) as Dmitri Gusev
• A Day of Happiness (1963) as Alexander Nikolaevich Beryozkin
• Three Fat Men (1966) as Fyodor Vasilyevich Protasov
• The Seventh Companion (Седьмой спутник, 1968) as commissar
• The Flight (Бег, 1970) as Sergei Pavlovich Golubkov
• A Very English Murder (1974) as Dr. Botwink
• The Captivating Star of Happiness (Звезда пленительного счастья, 1975) as Sergei Petrovich Trubetskoy
• Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears (Москва слезам не верит, 1979) as Georgy
• Time for rest from Saturday to Monday (Время отдыха с субботы до понедельника, 1984) as Pavel
• Stalin's Funeral (Похороны Сталина, 1990) as Eugene's father

• The Overcoat (1959)
• Three Fat Men (1966)
• The Gambler (1972)

• Hedgehog in the Fog (1975)
• The Adventures of Scamper the Penguin (1988)