Mikhail Mikhailovich Tarkhanov

(stage name of M. M. Moskvin). Born Sept. 7 (19), 1877, in Moscow; died there Aug. 18, 1948. Soviet actor, teacher, and director. Doctor of art studies (1939) and People’s Artist of the USSR (1937). Member of the CPSU from 1947. Brother of I. M. Moskvin.

Tarkhanov began his stage career in 1898. He worked in the provinces, notably at the theater of N. N. Sinel’nikov in Kiev and Kharkov. His broad and deep knowledge of Russian life, his enormous artistic experience, and his commitment to realism brought him in 1922 to the Moscow Art Academic Theater, where he fit in readily. It was here that Tarkhanov did his best work. He portrayed a gallery of satirical roles, such as Gradoboev and Dikoi in Ostrovskii’s Fiery Heart and The Thunderstorm, Sobakevich in Dead Souls (based on the novel by Gogol), Semenov in In the World (based on the novella by Gorky), Furnachev in Saltykov-Shchedrin’s The Death of Pazukhin, and Famusov in Griboedov’s Woe From Wit. Each of these characters represented an important sociopsychological generalization, and the vividness and pointed humor of his portrayals were striking.

Tarkhanov also taught; from 1942 to 1948 he served as artistic director of the State Institute of Theatrical Arts, where he became a professor in 1939. He also appeared in films.

Tarkhanov received the State Prize of the USSR in 1943. He was awarded two Orders of Lenin, the Order of the Red Banner of Labor, and various medals.