Ponomarenko, Evgenii

Born Feb. 24 (Mar. 9), 1909, in Kherson. Soviet Ukrainian actor. People’s Artist of the USSR (1960). Member of the CPSU since 1944.

From 1926 to 1936, Ponomarenko acted in the October Revolution Odessa Theater; in 1928 he graduated from the theater’s acting studio. Since 1936 he has acted in the I. Franko Ukrainian Drama Theater in Kiev. His best roles have included Khlestakov in Gogol’s The Inspector-General, Ivan in Karpenko-Karyi’s Vanity, Neznamov in Ostrovskii’s Guilty Though Guiltless, Petr in Gorky’s The Last Ones, Shvandia in Trenev’s Liubov’ Iarovaia, Iskra in Korneichuk’s A Page from a Diary, Antonio in Kornei-chuk’s The Heart’s Remembrance, T. G. Shevchenko in Il’chen-ko’s St. Petersburg Autumn, Barclay Cooper in Delmar’s Make Way for Tomorrow, and General Karbyshev in Rachada’s When the Dead Come to Life.

Ponomarenko’s acting combines subtle lyricism and grace with dramatism and vivid realism. Ponomarenko has been awarded the T. Shevchenko State Prize of the Ukrainian SSR (1971), the Order of Lenin, and the Order of the Red Banner of Labor, as well as several medals.