Mikhail Zharov

Acting

Mikhail Zharov

Born 1899-10-27 · Moscow, Russia

Mikhail Ivanovich Zharov is a Soviet theater and film actor. People's Artist of the RSFSR (1944) and People's Artist of the USSR (October 26, 1949). In 1920, he graduated from the studio at the theater of the Artistic and Educational Union of Workers' Organization. He acted in theaters No. 1 of the Revolutionary Military Union of the Republic, the Safonov Theater, the Baku Workers' Theater, the Realistic Theater, and the Moscow Chamber Theater. From 1938, he was an actor and director at the Maly Theater. He made his film debut in 1915 with a tiny, practically unnoticeable role as an oprichnik in the film "Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich the Terrible." He played his first major role, that of Red Army soldier Yegor, in 1925 in the film "The Road to Happiness." In those years, Zharov was considered an unrivaled master of the episodic genre (Don Diego and Pelageya, The Man from the Restaurant, The White Eagle, The Living Corpse, Outskirts, and Puppets). He found expressive, distinctive details and rich, vibrant colors for his characters, imbuing them all—both villains and heroes—with a common quality: they are all great lovers of life, charming, confident, and in control of life. His heroes know how to enjoy everything: food, billiards, wine, women, the simple songs they often hum, a sunny day, or an unexpected win. Zharov combined absolute authenticity and vivid psychological characterization with a sometimes grotesque portrayal of the role, enlivening any plot, even the most serious, with his presence. In the 1930s, thanks to cinema, Zharov achieved national popularity. The artist was in great demand. He was invited by the most famous directors. With Nikolai Ekk he played one of his most famous roles - the bandit Zhigan (A Start in Life), with Grigory Kozintsev and Leonid Trauberg - the smug clerk Dymba (The Return of Maxim and The Vyborg Side), with Vladimir Petrov - the cheerful prankster Kudryash (The Storm) and the good-natured, cheerful courtier Menshikov (Peter the Great), with Isidor Annensky - the loud, healthy landowner Smirnov (The Bear), the cheerful teacher Kovalenko (The Man in the Case) and the carefree landowner Artynov (Anna on the Neck), with the Vasiliev brothers - the daring Cossack Perchikhin (The Defense of Tsaritsyn), with Sergei Eisenstein - Malyuta Skuratov, a cunning, cruel, "smart" peasant, who managed to become the Tsar's right hand ("Ivan the Terrible"). In 1944, he was awarded "For successful work in the field of Soviet cinematography during the Patriotic War and the release of highly artistic films." In total, M.I. Zharov starred in more than 60 films. Over the years, the courage of his characters diminished; they became calmer, wiser, and more grounded. His last film character was the rural policeman Aniskina ("The Village Detective," "Anikina and Fantomas," "And Again Aniskina"). The role was a signature one for the actor: his Aniskina is a village philosopher, a sage, insightful, unfussy, and attentive to all matters. A hero who affirms the belief that our lives depend on our own decision to live correctly and wisely. As a film director, Zharov made three films: “Troublesome Economy”, “Aniskine and Fantomas” (together with V.A. Rappoport), “And Again Aniskine” (together with V.I. Ivanov).

Acting credits

Ivan the Terrible, Part I poster
7.3

Set during the early part of his reign, Ivan faces betrayal from the aristocracy and even his closest friends as he seeks to unite the Russian people. Sergei Eisenstein's final film, this is the first part of a three-part biopic of Tsar Ivan IV of Russia, which was never completed due to the producer's dissatisfaction with Eisenstein's attempts to use forbidden experimental filming techniques and excessive cost overruns. The second part was completed but not released for a decade after Eisenstein's death and a change of heart in the USSR government toward his work; the third part was only in its earliest stage of filming when shooting was stopped altogether.

Ivan the Terrible, Part I

1944

His Call poster
10.0

The main protagonists of the film are Katya (Varvara Popova), the daughter of a factory worker and Andrey (Ivan Koval-Samborsky), the son of the former owner of the factory who illegally returns to the USSR to find treasures hidden by his father. The film title refers to the Communist party's appeal, after Lenin's death, to enlarge its membership.

His Call

1925

Love and Hate poster
5.4

A group of Ukrainian women are forced to work in the mine under the supervision of cruel enemy soldiers. When the soldiers are forced to retreat and decide to blow up the mine, the women organize a guerrilla action to stop them.

Love and Hate

1935

Stepan Razin poster
4.5

Don Cossack Stepan Razin vowed to take revenge on the boyars for his tortured friends. Having led the rebellious peasants, he becomes the leader of an entire army. Humiliated and insulted people flock to him from all over the Russian land.

Stepan Razin

1939

Twins poster
5.3

A funny comedy about a lost twins and a lot of good people who are involved in a search for twins' parents.

Twins

1945

Road to Life poster
6.2

The first Russian talking picture which won a prize at the 1st Venice IFF. The action is set in 1923. The USSR is struggling with hunger and economic ruin. It is a story of homeless teenagers for whom a work commune is set up with the idea of uniting and reforming them.

Road to Life

1931

Don Diego and Pelagia poster
4.7

The vain station master of a Russian train station out in the sticks has a quarrel with an old peasant woman and has her thrown in jail. The local party youth organisation finally manage to get her released, after having to cut through lots of red tape.

Don Diego and Pelagia

1928

Ivan the Terrible, Part II: The Boyars' Plot poster
7.4

This is the second part of a projected three-part epic biopic of Russian Czar Ivan Grozny, undertaken by Soviet film-maker Sergei Eisenstein at the behest of Josef Stalin. Production of the epic was stopped before the third part could be filmed, due to producer dissatisfaction with Eisenstein's introducing forbidden experimental filming techniques into the material, more evident in this part than the first part. As it was, this second part was banned from showings until after the deaths of both Eisenstein and Stalin, and a change of attitude by the subsequent heads of the Soviet government. In this part, as Ivan the Terrible attempts to consolidate his power by establishing a personal army, his political rivals, the Russian boyars, plot to assassinate him.

Ivan the Terrible, Part II: The Boyars' Plot

1958

That's How It Will Be poster
NR

Based on the play of the same name by K. Simonov, in the production of the State Academic Maly Theatre of the USSR. The events of September 1944 are described, when military engineer Saveliev arrives in Moscow for a few days. In his apartment, he finds new tenants—the Vorontsov family. A mutual love sparks between him and Olya…

That's How It Will Be

1973

A Narym Divorce poster
NR

About the district officer Fyodor Ivanovich Aniskin, who maintains order and legality in his native collective farm.

A Narym Divorce

1972

The Ostrovsky House poster
NR

A production of the State Academic Maly Theater. The film, dedicated to the memory of Alexander Nikolayevich Ostrovsky, includes fragments of plays based on the playwright's plays: "We'll settle accounts with our own people", "Thunderstorm", "Wolves and Sheep", "The Abyss", "The Snow Maiden", "The Heart is not a Stone", "It Shines but Doesn't Warm", "Mad Money", "The Truth is Good, but Happiness is Better", and "It's not all for naught".

The Ostrovsky House

1974

Michurin poster
5.6

About the life of the Russian biologist Ivan Michurin. 1912 year. Having rejected American offers to work abroad, Michurin continues his research in the Russian Empire, despite the fact that his ideas are not perceived by the tsarist government, the church and idealistic science. Michurin is supported by prominent scientists of the country and he continues to work hard. After the October Revolution, a small Michurin garden in the city of Kozlov (the biologist's homeland) becomes a large state nursery.

Michurin

1949

26 Commissioners poster
4.2

Docu-drama about political and military conflict during the Russian Civil War in 1918, from an orthodox pro-Communist viewpoint.

26 Commissioners

1933

The Living Corpse poster
5.3

The central character of the play, Fedor Protasov, is tormented by the belief that his wife Liza has never really chosen between him and the more conventional Victor Karenin, a rival for her hand. He wants to kill himself, but doesn't have the nerve. Running away from his life, he first falls in with Gypsies, and into a sexual relationship with a Gypsy singer, Masha.

The Living Corpse

1929

The Very Last Day poster
NR

A former front-line soldier, who worked at his post for a quarter of a century, local commissioner Lieutenant Semyon Mitrofanovich Kovalev, going to the department in the morning, was most sad that tomorrow he would no longer have to go to service: tomorrow he would be retired. But the last day of his service ended tragically.

The Very Last Day

1973

A Girl with Guitar poster
5.3

A romantic story about the girl working in the musical instruments store.

A Girl with Guitar

1958

Outskirts poster
6.2

In a remote Russian village during World War I, colourful and nuanced characters experience divided loyalties: family loyalty vs. personal desire, nationalism vs. transcendent humanism.

Outskirts

1933

Aelita: Queen of Mars poster
6.0

A young man travels to Mars in a rocket ship, where he leads a popular uprising against the ruling group with the support of Queen Aelita, who has fallen in love with him after watching him through a telescope.

Aelita: Queen of Mars

1924

Involuntary auditors poster
8.0

Two business travelers, Laptev and Rusakov, staying at a small town hotel, were surprised by the care that the service staff showed them. It turns out that the hotel administrators, lazy and bureaucratic, accepted the new guests as capital auditors. But it soon turns out that the real auditor has been living in one of the rooms for three days and has already started working as a hotel staff member.

Involuntary auditors

1955

Cain the XVIII-th poster
5.4

A traveling musician falls in love with a princess who is betrothed to a dictator planning to defeat his enemies with the help of an exploding mutant mosquito.

Cain the XVIII-th

1963

The Power of Darkness poster
NR

Based on Leo Tolstoy's drama "The Power of Darkness, or the Claw is Faded, the whole bird is lost" staged by the State Academic Maly Theater of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

The Power of Darkness

1978

The Anna Cross poster
5.0

To save her family from disgrace and hunger, a young dowerless girl gets married to a rich old man, only to turn into an unscrupulous kept woman who forgets her close ones.

The Anna Cross

1954

The Village Detective: A Song Cycle poster
4.0

Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Iceland, July 9, 2016. The surprising discovery of a canister —containing four reels of The Village Detective (Деревенский детектив), a 1969 Soviet film—, caught in the nets of an Icelandic trawler, is the first step in a fascinating journey through the artistic life of film and stage actor Mikhail Ivanovich Zharov (1899-1981), icon and star of an entire era of Russian cinema.

The Village Detective: A Song Cycle

2021

Two-Buldi-Two poster
7.8

A father and son, both clowns, are to perform together for the first time, but the civil war separates them, and the elder Buldy, tempted for a moment to acquiesce to the White forces, casts his lot with the revolution.

Two-Buldi-Two

1929

Behind the camera