This talented lyceum on the theatrical stage and in the cinema filigree reincarnated in images endowed with qualities such as inner concentration, powerful judiciousness and wisdom. He played just an unimaginable number of vivid roles in Soviet cinema.
It just so happened that Nikolai Sergeyev became a recognized actor, being already in old age. Is such a paradox? Let's consider this question in more detail.
Curriculum Vitae
It should be noted that Sergeyev is an actor who comes from a noble family. Initially, she lived in the Kursk province (village of Ozerki), where the future lyceum was born in 1894, and after some time, her parents moved to Moscow. Upon arrival in the large and crowded city, Nikolai began to study at the gymnasium. It was in the walls of the above educational institution that he began to take part in performances and theatrical productions.
After graduating from high school, a young man becomes a student at the Physics and Mathematics University of Moscow. In parallel with his studies, Sergeyev (actor) is employed in a cooperative as an agent. He gives part of his earnings to parents in order to improve the financial situation of the family.
In the midst of a civil war, a young man drops out of school and, of his own free will, joins the ranks of the Armed Forces. In the army, he acts as secretary of the garrison club and plays in performances organized by the department of public education.
Studying acting
After serving, Nikolai Sergeyev wants to forever connect his life with theater and cinema. In 1921, he became a student in the acting department of the capital's Lunacharsky College. The young man, realizing that those who study, have a hard time from a material point of view, are arranged to look for jobs at the railway station and in the visual aids museum under the Moscow Union of Artists.
Carier start
In 1925, Nikolai Sergeyev, whose biography is of great interest to domestic film critics, receives a document confirming that he is a professional actor.
Where to go to work? This question was the most important for the newly minted lyceum. He changed more than one cultural institution before finding himself in art.
First, he performed on the stage of the Moscow House of Amateur Art named after Polenov. Then, until 1930, he worked in a trade union workshop at the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions. After Sergeyev (actor), he again changes his place of work, having fallen into the staff of the Krupskaya House of Amateur Art.
In the period from 1932 to 1936, Nikolai Vasilievich was in the troupe of the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions. Then he goes to work in the Central Theater of the Red Army (CCCA). During the war, Sergeyev worked for some time in the Moscow Philharmonic, and then became an actor of the 1st front-line theater of the WTO. In the fall of 1943, the maestro returned to the Central Control Theater and served on the stage of this Melpomene temple until 1959.
Movie Prospects
As already emphasized, fame and recognition in the cinema to Nikolai Vasilievich came late, when he was already at a respectable age. Why was it not in demand in his youth was on the set of Sergeyev? The actor began acting in films in the 30s, but he got episodic roles. Unfortunately, in the pre- and post-war years, relatively few films were shot in the USSR, and it is likely that Nikolai Vasilievich, for this objective reason, could not fully reveal his potential.
Only in the second half of the 50s film production received a new development and the country began to need actors capable of playing new characters and images.
Movie career
Nikolai Sergeyev, whose filmography includes more than sixty roles, according to many film experts, brought his own personality to the art of reincarnation. This distinguished his work from the play of actors who “made a name for themselves” in the 30s. It is possible that this is the key to his demand for cinema precisely in his mature years.
The Soviet audience remembered Nikolai Vasilyevich for the role of the worker Alexander Basmanov in the film "The Big Family" (director I. Kheifits, 1954).
The film was a huge success. Further, eminent Mikhail Schweitzer invited Sergeyev to act in his picture.
Images that brought success
The director directed the film “Alien Relatives” (1955) and suggested that the maestro was by no means a secondary role of Silanty Petrovich Ryashkin.
He agreed and was able to most reliably transform into the image of a peasant who defends property interests. The film "Foreign Relatives" has become a triumph for the actor.
In the late 1950s, Nikolai Vasilievich appeared less and less on the theater stage, focusing on work in films. The viewer never ceases to admire his talent as an actor on the set after the release of such films as “Sasha Comes Into Life” (dir. M. Schweitzer, 1956), “Difficult Happiness” (dir. A. Stolper, 1958), “The Sun Shines for All "(Dir. K. Voinov, 1959).
Another round of fame for Sergeyev is brought by a film shot by A. Tarkovsky. We are, of course, talking about "Andrei Rublev" (1966-1969). Andrei Arsenievich saw in an intelligent Sergeyev, the owner of an ascetic face, a thin figure and expressive eyes, the image of Feofan Grek.
The painting “Living and the Dead” (dir. A. Stolper, 1963), in which Nikolai Vasilievich got even a secondary but vivid role of Sintsov’s neighbor, deserves special mention.
The actor has someone to play
In the 70s, Sergeyev’s cinema career marked a peak. During this period of his biography, the directors literally overwhelmed him with offers. And despite the fact that these were not the main roles, the actor agreed to the shooting and did his work filigree and expertly, so his characters immediately struck the memory of the viewer.
Nikolai Vasilievich was able, like no one else, to convey the inner world of his heroes, whether it was a hardworking icon painter or an intelligent teacher. In 1971, he was awarded the title of People's Artist of the RSFSR.
One of the maestro’s latest roles is Afanasy Rtishchev in the film “The Tale of How Peter Arapa Married” (dir. A. Mitt, 1976). The actor at that time was already 82 years old.
And in 1980, Sergeev last went to the set. At the age of 86, he played the role of Nikolai Yegorovich in Mikhail Ryk's "Investigation".
Outside profession
Actor Nikolai Sergeyev, whose personal life was quite successful, was married to actress Olga Vasilyevna Dolgova. Their family idyll lasted until the death of the maestro. Nikolai Vasilyevich and Olga Vasilyevna were forever connected by the theater of the Soviet Army, in which they served for many years. When the actor decided to leave the theater stage, his wife followed his example, devoting herself to keeping the hearth. In marriage, Nikolai Vasilievich had no children, but he cared for his niece Svetlana, who lived with the Sergeyevs and was a member of the family.
Colleagues of Nikolai Vasilievich note his natural intelligence, kindness and decency in relations with others. In his spare time, he was fond of archeology and history. He loved spending time in his own country house and caring for roses, which he simply adored: he arranged on the site an entire alley of these beautiful flowers.
When the actor celebrated his 85th birthday, he was awarded the Order of Merit in the art of cinematography.
At the very beginning of 1988, Nikolai Vasilievich broke his hip and was hospitalized. The maestro died on January 8, 1988. Only a few relatives and director Joseph Kheifits came to a modest funeral . He was buried at the Vagankovsky cemetery of the capital.