Petr Shelokhonov

Petr Illarionovich Shelokhonov, (, , , ; in English also spelled 'Peter' or 'Pyotr' or 'Petr'; 15 August 1929 – 15 September 1999) was a Russian actor, director, filmmaker and socialite, designated Honorable Actor of Russia. A strong proponent of making High culture accessible to all people, he organized social events for all people in artistic communities of St. Petersburg and Moscow using his position as member of the Union of Actors.

Biography

Childhood Petr Shelokhonov was born in 1929, in Wilno Voivodeship, then a part of Poland;

World War II Petr Shelokhonov survived the Nazi occupation during World War II. But Stalin's regime again brutally purged the city during the Leningrad affair killing the mayor and other leaders and survivors of WW2. At that time, Petr Shelokhonov was detained by the Soviet authorities and was forced to work hard labour for several months on the construction grounds for the Kirov Stadium in Leningrad until he was drafted into the Soviet Navy.

But even after the guardhouse, again and again, as if spellbound, he continued to listen to his favorite music on the radio: Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Glenn Miller, Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, and understood that the big world lives a different life, that is full of joy and happiness. In 1954, Petr Shelokhonov was discharged from the Red Navy and applied to the Leningrad State Institute of Theatre, Music, and Cinema, but the school refused to accept him because of his scarred face and bad anti-soviet record. Peter's free-spirited humor only angered the hard-liners, so for him, many doors closed.

Siberia After that, Petr's acting career was limited to Siberia, where he remained under suspicion as did many other survivors who were held by the Nazis in occupied territory during World War II. He managed to survive through the roughest realities of life under Soviet communism; but he did not stop telling funny political jokes about the Soviet leadership, so when his free spirited humor angered the hard liners, many doors closed. He moved to the Siberian city of Irkutsk and studied acting at the Irkutsk drama school, graduating in 1960, as an actor. Petr Shelokhonov was member of the Irkutsk State Drama Theater from 1957 to 1962. In The Cherry Orchard, which he co-directed, he also played two opposing characters on different nights, alternating between the roles as Gayev, and as Lopakhin. Shelokhonov also appeared as Satin in The Lower Depths by Maxim Gorky and as Derzhavin in Friends and Years by Leonid Zorin. His favorite role of that period was Platonov in the eponymous play by Anton Chekhov. In 1967, for the 50th anniversary of the Russian Revolution of 1917, Shelokhonov was ordered by the Soviet Communist party to portray Lenin in several productions, an order no one could refuse in the Soviet Union. So, Shelokhonov portrayed Lenin in the style of satire, which angered the communists, but made common viewers smile.

In June 1969, the Chief of Soviet State Police (N.A.Shchelokov) wrote: His most memorable TV performances were such roles as Laptev in Chekhov's Three Years, as Corporal Vaskov in Dawns are quiet here by Boris Vasilyev, and as Batmanov in Far from Moscow (Daleko ot Moskvy) by Vasily Azhaev. At that time Shelokhonov was also cast in films made by Lenfilm Studios, Odessa Film Studio, Kiev Dovzhenko Film Studios, Mosfilm and Sverdlovsk film studios. Petr Shelokhonov shone in a range of leading and supporting roles such as Cossack Severian Ulybin in 1971 epic film Dauriya and as spy Sotnikov in the 1969 detective drama Razvyazka. He also portrayed a variety of historical figures, leaders and intellectuals, on stage and in film, such as the Russian composer Mikhail Glinka, Academician Ivan Sechenov, revolutionaries Lenin and Dorogomilov. In 1974 Shelokhonov played the leading role as industrialist Peresada, opposite another Russian film star Natalia Fateeva, in political drama Countermeasure (Otvetnaya mera) based on real historic events of the Cold War.

St. Petersburg In 1989, writer and director Peter Ustinov invited Petr Shelokhonov to play the leading role, as Sam, in his autobiographical play Photo Finish, which was staged and directed by Peter Ustinov in St. Petersburg at the Lensovet Theatre. In that production, Petr Shelokhonov gave a critically acclaimed performance with the support of an ensemble of his stage acting partners, such as Yelena Solovey, Roman Gromadsky, Anna Aleksakhina, and other notable Russian actors. The production ran more than 100 performances spanning three seasons from 1989 to 1992.

In 1993, Petr Shelokhonov directed a stage production of the American play Isabella by Irving A. Leitner, about Jewish girl Isabella Katz Leitner, who survived the Auschwitz concentration camp. The production was made possible by American producers. Petr Shelokhonov created an innovative and life-affirming final scene in which the victims of the Nazis are seen emerging from the burning ovens of Auschwitz. One by one, they slowly walk across the stage to symbolically join the living audience, accompanied by the music from Mozart's Requiem.

Recognition

Petr Shelokhonov was loved by the public, despite hard times with Soviet officials. He played leading and supporting roles in Russian and international films, and his filmography includes over 80 roles in film and on television. His film partners were such actors as Kirill Lavrov, Alisa Freindlich, Yefim Kopelyan, Pavel Luspekayev, Ivan I. Krasko, Igor Gorbachyov, Nikolai Gritsenko, Vitali Solomin, Natalya Fateyeva, Imre Sinkovits, James Fox, Sophie Marceau, Sean Bean, and other notable actors. He also played over 100 roles onstage in Russian and international theater productions and was a member of three theatre companies in Leningrad – St. Petersburg. Petr Shelokhonov received honors from the republic of Latvia (1952) and was designated Honorable Actor of Russia (1979). He died in 1999 and was laid to rest in St. Petersburg, Russia. The book about him is titled "My best friend Petr Shelokhonov" by actor Ivan I. Krasko was published in 2009, to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the actor, and other books about him were published in Russia, in Europe, and in the United States.

Filmography

Actor 1967: Shagi v Solntse – as Unknown soldier 1968: Tri goda by Chekhov – as Aleksei Fedorovich Laptev 1968: Hidden Enemy - as Soviet police officer 1969: Rokirovka v dlinnuyu storonu – as Scientist 1969: Untangling – as Spy Vladimir Sotnikov 1970: Franz Liszt. Dreams of love – as Mikhail Glinka, Russian composer 1970: Lyubov Yarovaya – as Commissare Mazukhin 1970: Dawns are quiet here – as Sergeant Vaskov 1970: Far from Moscow (Daleko ot Moskvy) – as Manager Batmanov 1971: Night on the 14th Parallel – as Newspaper Editor 1971: Dauria – as Cossack Severian Ulybin 1971: Shutite? – as Chairman 1971: Kholodno – goryacho – as Writer Anton Podorozhny 1972: Taming of the Fire – as Michael Karelin, rocket scientist 1972: Grossmeyster – as Stepfather 1972: Such a long, long road – as Captain 1973: Opoznanie – as Colonel 1974: Amra – as Khasarman, Amra's father 1974: Countermeasure – as Sergei Ivanovich Peresada 1975: You win it in battle – as Mayor Nikolai Sergeev 1975: Troil and Kressida (TV) – as King Agamemnon 1976: Menya eto ne kasaetsa – as Detective Pankatov 1976: Trust – as Georgiy Pokrovsky 1976: Vitali Bianki – as Presenter-Narrator 1977: First joy – as Dorogomilov 1978: Kamyshy – as Detective

1978: Moment decides everything – as Matveev, Director of Sport 1978: Full Circle – as Professor-psychiatrist Badmayev from St. Petersburg 1979: Extraordinary summer – as Dorogomilov 1979: Puteshestvie v drugoi gorod – as Fedor Ignatevich 1980: Zhizn i priklyucheniya chetyrekh druzei 1/2 – as Forest ranger 1980: Late rendez-vous – as Lena's father 1981: Zhizn i priklyucheniya chetyrekh druzei 3/4 – as Forest ranger 1981: "Truth of Lieutenant Klimov" – as Nikolai Chervonenko 1981: 20 December – as Lawyer Zarudny 1981: Devushka i Grand – as Director of Sport 1981: Syndikate - 2 – as Agent Ivan Fomichev 1981: It was beyond the Narva gates – as Revolutionary Gregory 1982: Customs – as Chief customs officer 1982: Niccolò Paganini – Voice 1982: The year of active sun – as School suprviser 1982: Liszt Ferenc – as Count Mikhail Vielgorsky 1982: Golos – as Production Director 1982: Fifth decade – as Vasili Nikitich 1983: Magistral – as Chairman Gadalov 1983: Mesto deistviya – as Mayor Ivan Ryabov 1984: Zaveshchanie professora Douela – Cameo 1984: Two versions of one collision – as Diplomat Gordin 1985: Sofia Kovalevskaya – as Ivan Sechenov 1985: Rivals – as Coach Semenich 1985: Kontract of the century – as Government Minister 1985: Rassleduet Brigada Bychkova – Detective Officer 1986: The last road – as Doctor Stefanovich 1986: "Red arrow" – as Manager Yusov 1987: Sreda obitaniya – as Director of National Archives 1987: Vezuchiy chelovek – as Manager 1987: Moonzund – as Captain Andreev 1988: "Bread is a proper noun" – as Blacksmith Akimych 1991: "My best friend, General Vasili, son of Joseph Stalin" – as Colonel Savinykh 1992: Richard II – as Lord Marshal 1996: Passazhirka – as Passenger 1997: Anna Karenina, a 1997 film by Bernard Rose starring Sophie Marceau. – as Kapitonich, Karenin's butler

Stage works

Actor 1997: Passenger – as Passenger 1994: Barefoot in the Park – as Victor Velasco 1993: Antiquariat by :fi:Anneli Pukema – as Johansson 1992: Murder of Gonzago – as King Gonzago 1989: Photo Finish by Peter Ustinov – as Sam 1988: The Land of Promise by W. Somerset Maugham – as Mr. Wikham 1986: Round table under lamp – as Slepokhin 1985: A Grand Piano in the Sea 1983: Last Summer in Chulimsk by Alexander Vampilov – as Pomigalov 1980: Fifth decade – as Fedor Nikitich 1980: Theme and Variations – as Dmitri Nikolaevich 1978: Gnezdo glukharia ( – as Sudakov 1977: Tsar Boris – as Mitropolite Job 1976: Tsar Fédor Ivanovitch – as Prince Golitsyn 1974: Death of Ivan the Terrible – as Nikita Romanovich Zakharin-Yuriev 1970: Far from Moscow (aka.. Daleko ot Moskvy) – as Batmanov 1970: Dawns are quiet here ( – as Sergeant Vaskov 1969: Cyrano de Bergerac ( – as Montfleury, Jodelet 1967: In the name of Revolution – as Lenin 1967: Lecture by Lenin – as Lenin 1967: The Cherry Orchard – as Gayev, as Lopakhin 1967: Three Sisters – as Tuzenbach 1966: Platonov – as Michael Platonov 1966: The night of Moon eclipse – as Dervish Divana 1966: The Seagull ( – as Treplev 1965: Obelisque – as Peter 1965: Ivanov – as Ivanov 1964: Uncle Vania – as Uncle Vanya 1964: "104 pages about love" 1964: Grave accusation ( – Male lead 1963: The Lower Depths – as Satin 1963: Armoured train 14–69 – as Vaska Pepel 1963: Friends and Years – as Derzhavin 1963: Ocean ( – as Captain Platonov 1962: Ocean ( – as Captain Chasovnikov 1961: Golden Boy – as Joe Bonaparte, the Golden Boy 1961: Credit with Nibelungen 1960: An Irkutsk story – as Victor, as Denis 1960: Dubrovsky – as Dubrovsky 1959: A little student – as Larisov 1958: Hamlet – as Hamlet 1957: Poem of bread – as Senya

Director of theatre 1993 – Isabella (play by Irving A. Leitner) 1968 – Platonov (play by A. Chekhov) 1967 – Lectures of Lenin (play by M. Shatrov) 1967 – Girls from the street of hope (play by A. Mamlin) 1966 – Obelisque (play by A. Mamlin) 1965 – Ivanov (play by A. Chekhov) 1965 – Shadowboxing (play by B. Tour) 1964 - 104 pages about love (play by Edvard Radzinsky) 1964 – Sacred night (play by A. Chavrin) 1963 – Friends and years (play by L. Zorin)

Honors 1979: Honorable Actor of Russia SFSR 1952: Honorary Letter from the Government of Latvia for outstanding performance on stage.