Zrazhevskii, Aleksandr Ivanovich

Born Aug. 25 (Sept. 6), 1886, in Nikolaev; died Dec. 14, 1950, in Moscow. Soviet Russian actor; People’s Artist of the USSR (1949). Member of the CPSU since 1940.

Zrazhevskii began his career in 1905 on the amateur stage and later acted in theaters in the Ukraine and Leningrad. Between 1927 and 1933 he was an actor with the Moscow Dramatic Theater (formerly the Korsh Theater) and from 1933 to 1935 with the Moscow Oblast Trade Union Council Theater. From 1935 he acted at the Malyi Theater. His roles included the Chairman of the District Committee in Bill’-Belotserkovskii’s The Storm, the elder Vaniushin in Naidenov’s Vaniushin’s Children, Pechenegov in Gorky’s Enemies, Lyniaev and Krutitskii in Ostrovsky’s Wolves and Sheep and Even a Wise Man Stumbles, and Galushka in Korneichuk’s In the Ukrainian Steppe.

Zrazhevskii’s film roles included Dubok in The Great Citizen (1938–39), General Panteleev in The Great Turning Point (1945), and Commander Beliaev in The Cruiser Variag (1947). Zrazhevskii received the State Prize of the USSR in 1941, 1942, 1946, and 1947. He was also awarded two orders as well as medals.