Acting dynasty of the Chekhovs: Which member of the family of the great writer became a star of theater and cinema

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

The name of the Chekhovs is known all over the world not only thanks to the most famous representative of this family - the writer Anton Chekhov. There were also artists and actors in their family. The world learned about the acting dynasty of the Chekhovs thanks to the writer's nephew Mikhail, who founded an acting school in Hollywood, and his family members. True, at home, their names have long been consigned to oblivion, because they all became emigrants.

Mikhail Chekhov

The nephew of the writer Anton Chekhov, Mikhail, was the son of his older brother Alexander. He was born and raised in St. Petersburg. His creative inclinations manifested themselves in childhood, he was a star of home theater. After graduating from the theater school. A. Suvorin, Mikhail was accepted into the troupe of the Suvorin Theater, and a year later he moved to the Moscow Art Theater to K. Stanislavsky. About his performance of the role of Khlestakov in "The Inspector General" they said that it was "that Khlestakov, about whom Gogol himself wrote." In 1918, Chekhov created his own acting studio, and 4 years later he headed the First Studio of the Moscow Art Theater, which was later transformed into the Moscow Art Theater.

Since 1913, Mikhail Chekhov began acting in silent films, playing Mikhail Romanov in the film "Three hundred years of the reign of the Romanov dynasty", and then in 5 more films. In 1928, Chekhov published The Actor's Way, researching Stanislavsky's method and teaching it to actors in seminars. In the same year, he left for Germany, where he took part in theatrical performances and acted in films. In the 1930s. Mikhail Chekhov toured Europe, performed and taught acting in Paris and London. He hoped to return to his homeland, negotiated with Soviet officials about the creation of a theater, but this did not happen, and Chekhov remained abroad forever.

Since 1939, Mikhail Chekhov has lived in the United States. There he was engaged in directing and created his own acting school, which was very popular in Hollywood. Her students included Yul Brynner, Anthony Quinn, Clint Eastwood and Marilyn Monroe. In the mid-1940s. Chekhov himself acted in films and was even nominated for an Oscar for his role in Alfred Hitchcock's film "Bewitched". At the same time, he published the book "On the Technique of the Actor", which is considered to be the same mandatory reading among actors and directors today, like "The Work of an Actor on Himself" by Stanislavsky. In 1955, Mikhail Chekhov died after a heart attack. At home, his merits remained undeservedly forgotten for many years. Only in the 1980s. Chekhov's system began to be studied along with the Stanislavsky method.

Olga Chekhova

In 1914, Mikhail Chekhov married the niece of Anton Chekhov's wife Olga Knipper. They had a daughter, Ada, but their marriage lasted only 3 years. Olga was an actress and, having moved to Germany in 1920, she successfully began acting in films. In the 1930s. she became a real star of German cinema. Olga Chekhova enjoyed Hitler's incredible disposition and was one of his favorite actresses. For all the holidays he sent her sweets and his portraits with the caption: "". In 1936 she was awarded the title of State Actress of the Third Reich. During her career, she starred in more than 140 films, but none of them, for obvious reasons, was shown in the USSR.

Who she really was is still a mystery. The fact is that after the capture of Berlin by Soviet troops, the actress was transported to Moscow on a military plane, and after a conversation in the Kremlin, she was allowed to return to Berlin. This prompted researchers to speculate that Olga Chekhova was recruited by Soviet intelligence during World War II and became a double agent of Stalin and Hitler. However, she herself denied this, and no documentary evidence of her activities has survived. She never visited the USSR again. In 1980 Olga Chekhova passed away at the age of 82.

Vera Chekhova-Rust

Mikhail Chekhov and his first wife Olga had a daughter, also named Olga at birth. She later called herself Ada. She grew up in Germany. Ada followed in the footsteps of her parents and also became an actress, starred in German cinema. At 49, Ada died in a plane crash. Married to the German doctor Wilhelm Rust, in 1940 she had a daughter, Vera Chekhova-Rust, who became the continuer of the acting dynasty.

Vera Chekhova began acting in films at the age of 16. She was called one of the most famous German actresses of the post-war period and one of the most beautiful European actresses of the twentieth century. Her film career lasted from the mid-1950s. until the mid-1990s. During this time, she played more than 50 roles. In 2006 Vera Chekhova was awarded the “For her contribution to German cinema” award.

After the death of her grandmother, Olga Chekhova, Vera came to Russia, was present in Melikhovo on the 80th anniversary of the ear of Anton Pavlovich Chekhov, was a participant in the 1983 XIII Moscow International Film Festival.

Olga Leonardovna Knipper-Chekhova, the wife of the writer Anton Pavlovich Chekhov, was the only one of the Chekhovs' acting dynasty who remained at home. She stood at the origins of the Moscow Art Theater and lived a long and eventful life: Olga Knipper - the last love of Anton Chekhov.