Radin, Nikolai

(real surname Kazan-kov). Born Dec. 3 (15), 1872, in St. Petersburg; died Aug. 24, 1935, in Moscow. Soviet Russian actor. Honored Artist of the Republic (1925). Illegitimate son of the actor M. M. Petipa; grandson of the choreographer M. I. Petipa.

Radin graduated from the law faculty of the University of St. Petersburg in 1900. He took part in amateur theatricals and from 1903 to 1908 acted in the Korsh Theater in Moscow. He then acted in M. F. Bagrov’s troupe in Odessa and in the So-lovtsov Theater in Kiev. From 1914 to 1918 he acted in the Su-khodol’skii Theater of Drama in Moscow, and from 1918 to 1932 (with brief interruptions) at the former Korsh Theater in Moscow, where he was also a director. From 1932 to 1935 he acted in the Malyi Theater.

Radin’s acting was notable for its subtle and refined humor, vivid and sparkling comic dialogue, mastery of detail, and expressive gestures. His best roles included the title role in Mo-lière’s Don Juan, Bolingbroke in Scribe’s A Glass of Water, Viscount Goring in Wilde’s An Ideal Husband, Henry Higgins in Shaw’s Pygmalion, Dul’chin in Ostrovskii’s The Last Victim, the title roles in Nikulin’s Engineer Merts and Rostand’s Cyrano de Bergerac, and Zakhar Bardin in Gorky’s Enemies.