Nelskii, Valerii

(also V. S. Nel’skii-Bulatovskii; real surname, Bulatovskii). Born Nov. 2 (15), 1906, in the settlement of Krasnyi, in what is now Smolensk Oblast. Soviet Russian actor. People’s Artist of the USSR (1975). Member of the CPSU since 1963.

After making his debut in 1922, Nel’skii performed in such cities as Smolensk, Sverdlovsk, Cheliabinsk, and Kuibyshev. He joined the Volkov Yaroslavl Theater in 1945. He has portrayed V. I. Lenin in productions of D. I. Zorin’s The Eternal Source, Pogodin’s Third Pathétique, Nazarov’s Mutiny on the Volga, and Dangulov’s An Ambassador’s Diary. His other outstanding roles include Shvandia in Trenev’s Liubov’ Iarovaia, Petr and Monakhov in Gorky’s Smug Citizens and The Barbarians, respectively, General Panfilov in Nazarov’s The Panfilovtsy, and Fedor in A. K. Tolstoy’s Tsar Fedor loannovich.

Nel’skii received the State Prize of the USSR in 1950 and has been awarded the Order of the October Revolution, two other orders, and various medals.