Orlov, Dmitrii Nikolaevich

Born May 8 (20), 1892, in Spassk, now Spassk-Riazanskii, Riazan’ Oblast; died Dec. 19, 1955, in Moscow. Soviet Russian actor. People’s Artist of the RSFSR (1943).

Orlov graduated from P. I. Il’in’s theatrical school in Kharkov in 1916 and in 1918 joined N. N. Sinel’nikov’s company. In 1922 he joined the Higher Theatrical Studios, directed by V. E. Meyerhold. His roles here included Raspliuev in Sukhovo-Kobylin’s Death of Tarelkin. From 1922 to 1944, Orlov acted in the Moscow Theater of the Revolution, now the V. Mayakovsky Theater. Among his roles were Semen Rak in Romashov’s The Meringue, Stepan in Pogodin’s Poem of the Ax, Umka in Sel’vinskii’s Umka the White Bear, Globa in Simonov’s The Russian People, and Miron Gorlov in Korneichuk’s The Front. In 1944, Orlov joined the Moscow Art Theater; his roles there included Koniukov in Simonov’s Days and Nights and Perchikhin in Gorky’s Smug Citizens.

Orlov was an outstanding representative of the Russian school of acting. His characterizations were sharply defined, and his acting was sincere, faithful to details of everyday life, and marked by gentle humor, with grotesque satirical overtones. He was well-known for his dramatic readings, the first of which took place in 1931. A recipient of the State Prize of the USSR (1947), Orlov was awarded two orders and several medals.