Nikolai Smortschkow

Nikolay Gavrilovich Smorchkov (Russian: Николай Гаврилович Сморчков ; 9 August 1930 – 7 March 2021) was a Soviet and Russian film actor.

Nikolay Smorchkov was born on 9 August 1930 in the village of Ivankovo, Gavrilovo-Posadsky District, in a large peasant family named Gavril Ivanovich and Pelageya Matveyevna. In 1933, fleeing Collectivization, the family moved to the village of Orgtrud, which was not far from Vladimir (now the district of the city). Being still in the 7th grade, the future actor caught a movie and decided to become a film actor.

After graduation Smorchkov came to Moscow and entered the VGIK (course of Sergei Gerasimov and Tamara Makarova), where he had to deal specially with removing his pronounced accent. While still in his second year in 1951, he played his first role in Gerasimov's film The Village Doctor. He graduated from VGIK in 1953 with a red diploma. After graduating from the institute, the actor was enrolled in the theater-studio of the film actor and the film studio Mosfilm, where he worked for almost forty years. On the stage of the theater he played in the play The Evening of Old Vaudevilles, went with him on tour, but then completely switched to cinema.

He starred in more than 160 films.

Smorchkov died on 7 March 2021 from COVID-19 amid the COVID-19 pandemic in Russia. He was 90.