Mercuryev, Vasily Vasilyevich (1904-1978), an actor

Subject / Art/Personnel
MERKURYEV, Vasily Vasilyevich (1904–1978), theatre and film actor, teacher, director, People’s artist of the USSR (1960). In 1926 he graduated from the Leningrad college of stage arts (teacher L.S. Vivien). Merkuryev worked in different Leningrad theatres, in Samara City krai (regional) theatre (1933). In the period 1933-35 he worked in the Leningrad district Red Army Theatre, since 1936 he worked in the Leningrad Theatre of Acting (modern Alexandrinsky Theatre). Since 1937 Merkuryev was in films, he played about 70 roles, including lieutenant Tucha in film “Nebesny Tikhokhod” (“Sky Slowcoach”) (1946), Nestratov in film “Vernye Druzia” (“True Friends”) (1954), Malvolio in film “Dvenadtsataya Noch” (“The Twelfth Night”) (1955). His most significant theatre roles were in plays written by A.N. Ostrovsky, A.S. Griboyedov, N.V. Gogol, V.A. Kochetov, D.Y. Khrabrovitsky, etc. Merkuryev performed in concerts a great deal. Since 1932 he worked as a teacher at the Leningrad college of stage arts (at present Theatre Academy), in 1950 he became a professor. He staged several plays in Leningrad theatres. In 1946 he bought a country house in Gromovo Settlement, which became a place of recreation for many of his colleagues; sometimes acts from plays were rehearsed here. Merkuryev was buried in Volkovskoye Cemetery, Literatorskiye Mostky (a special place for prominent art workers). Kruzhnov, Yuri Nikolayevich
Gogol, Nikolay Vasilyevich
Griboyedov, Aleksandr Sergeyevich
Khrabrovitsky, Daniil Yakovlevich
Kochetov, Vsevolod Anisimovich
Merkuryev, Vasily Vasilyevich
Ostrovsky, Aleksandr Nikolayevich
Vivien, Leonid Sergeyevich
Leningrad Oblast, the/Priozersk District/Gromovo Settlement
Цимбал С.Л. Василий Меркурьев. Л.; М., 1963
Василий Васильевич Меркурьев. Воспоминания. Статьи. М., 1986
Меркурьев-Мейерхольд П.В. Сначала я был маленьким: Книга о родителях. М., 2001.