Aleksei Batalov

Aleksey Batalov was born on November 20, 1928, into the family of famous Russian actors. He was born in the city of Vladimir, near Moscow, where his grandmother was the Doctor General at the Vladimir city hospital. His father, named Vladimir Petrovich Batalov and his mother, named Nina Antonovna Olshevskaya, were both actors of the Moscow Art Theatre (MKhAT). His uncle, named Nikolai Batalov, was a distinguished film actor.
The Batalov family lived in the actor's apartments at the Moscow Art Theatre, where Aleksey got early exposure to the acting profession. He then moved with his mother to the home of her second husband writer Viktor Ardov, who was the neighbor of Osip Mandelstam. Young Batalov became a good friend of poet Anna Akhmatova who stayed in his room on her visits to Moscow. Later, in the 60's, Aleksey Batalov made an oil portrait of Anna Akhmatova. Writers Mikhail A. Bulgakov, Mikhail Zoschenko, Boris Pasternak were among the closest friends of the Batalov's family, being also the colleagues of his stepfather Viktor Ardov.
In 1945, upon return from evacuation in Tatarstan, Batalov played his first film role, a cameo in 'Zoya'. He studied acting professionally at the Moscow Art Theatre's Acting Studio-School of Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko from which he graduated in 1950. He was drafted in the Army and worked with the Central Theatre of the Soviet Army from 1950-1953. He then returned to the Moscow Art Theatre and remained there through 1957.
Batalov made his feature film debut in 'Bolshaya Semya' (The Big Family 1954) directed by 'Iosif Kheifets' . For that role he won the Best Actor award at the Cannes Film Festival, which he shared with his partners Sergei Lukyanov, Boris Andreyev, Nikolai Gritsenko, Pavel Kadochnikov, and others; the whole ensemble of actors and actresses were awarded for that film at Cannes, in 1955.
Aleksey Batalov received more international acclaim for his memorable acting with Tatyana Samojlova in 'Letyat Zhuravli' (The Cranes Are Flying 1957) for which director 'Mikhail Kalatozov' won the Golden Palm at Cannes, in 1958. Batalov won the Jussi Diploma of Merit (1962) for the supporting role in 'Dama s sobachkoi' (The Lady with the Dog 1960), a story by Anton Chekhov directed by Iosif Kheifits. Batalov also worked with Kheifets in 'V gorode S.' (In the Town of S. 1966), another story by Anton Chekhov. Batalov himself directed three films; 'Shinel' (1960) on the story by Nikolai Gogol, 'Tri tolstyaka' (1966) by Yuri Olesha, and 'Igrok' (1973) by Fyodor Dostoyevsky.
Batalov earned the State Prize for a strong and difficult leading role in '9 dney odnogo goda' (1961), for which director Mikhail Romm won Crystal Globe. His performance in the leading role of a Russian intellectual in 'Beg' (1970) based on the play by Mikhail A. Bulgakov, was somewhat overshadowed by the brilliant duo of Mikhail Ulyanov and Yevgeni Yevstigneyev. Batalov made a successful comeback in 'Moskva slezam ne verit' (1979), which won an Oscar for the Best Foreign Language Film (1981).
In addition to his numerous international awards Batalov was honored with the title of the People's Artist of the USSR (1976). He was decorated and received many Soviet and Russian awards from the state. Batalov was the Dean of the Actors Studio at the Moscow State Film Institute (VGIK) from 1975 to the present. He taught over 20 acting seminars in the USA and Canada. He also made notable works for the Moscow Radio.
Aleksey Batalov is living and working in Moscow, Russia.