Nikolai Konstantinowitsch Simonow

Nikolay Konstantionovich Simonov (Russian: Николай Константинович Симонов ; December 4, 1901 – April 20, 1973) was a Soviet film and stage actor. People's Artist of the USSR (1950).

Nikolay Simonov was born on December 4, 1901, in Samara, Russia. From 1917–1919 he studied art at Samara School of Art and Design. From 1919–1923 he studied art at the Imperial Academy of Arts. From 1922–1924 he studied acting at the Saint Petersburg State Theatre Arts Academy, from which he graduated with honors in 1924.

From 1924–1973, He was a permanent member with the company of Pushkin Drama Theatre in St. Petersburg. During the 1950s and 1960s he was also the theatre's artistic director.

Simonov made his film debut in 1924 and played supporting roles in five Russian silent films. He shot to fame after his role of Commander Zhikharev in the classic film Chapaev (1934) by the Vasilyev brothers.

Simonov's portrayal of Peter the Great in The Conquests of Peter the Great (1937 and 1938) brought him international fame and numerous awards. This portrayal was the one used to define Peter the Great for American audiences in Frank Capra's 1943 propaganda film The Battle of Russia, which used brief clips from the Soviet films.

Simonov was considered to be a patriarch of the St. Petersburg school of acting. Simonov's stage performances were legendary; several of his stage works were filmed for a historic record. His leading role in The Living Corpse, an adaptation of the book by Leo Tolstoy, is remembered as one of the highest achievements in stage acting in Russian theatre. Simonov's portrayal of Antonio Salieri in Mozart and Salieri from The Little Tragedies by Alexander Pushkin won him a Stanislavski State Prize award in 1962. Simonov regarded acting on stage as superior to acting in film; he supported the similar position of Constantin Stanislavski and Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko.

Simonov was also the father of a remarkable family. His wife was an actress and his son, Nikolay Nikolaevich Simonov, was a famous surgeon in Russia.

Nikolay Simonov died on April 20, 1973, in St. Petersburg and was laid to rest in the Necropolis of Masters of Arts at Alexander Nevsky Lavra.