Nikolay Yakovchenko

Mykola Fedorovych Yakovchenko (April 20 (May 3) 1900, Pryluky - Sept. 11, 1974, Kyiv) - prominent Soviet Ukrainian theater actor and feature films. People's Artist of the Ukrainian SSR (since 1970). Contemporaries called him the most popular among the deserved and most deserved among the people. Born in the city of Priluki (now Chernihiv region, Ukraine, then Poltava province, Russian Empire) in the family of the assistant manager of the Astrakhan fishing industry, his mother, besides him, had four more children. His genus has begun with the Don Cossacks - the family moved to the Poltava province from under the Rostov-on-Don, had a patriarchal style, craving for art was not particularly encouraged. In 1912 he entered the Second Priluky Higher Elementary School named after Kislih. In 1916, he entered the city Jewish gymnasium, where he was engaged in artistic amateur performances; he represented the first roles in the gymnasium theater. At the same time he thoroughly studied the Greek language. In times of revolutionary events, it goes to the front. His grandson, Nikolai Bochonko-Yakovchenko: "It's not certain on whose side he fought - either in red or in white. According to the documents - the whole war was at the Red Army sanitary train. However, with time, I was fond of telling about the cavalry of General Shkuro; somehow got a well hidden two St. George crosses. " In 1918, he debuted on the amateur scene in Priluki. From the amateur circle he moved to the troupe of the theater Pylyp Khmara, by that time Russian, and from 1919 - Ukrainian, then Soviet. At this time he played in the plays of Leonid Andreev - Tyuha in "Savvi", and the underbody Grigory Mironov in "Days of our life". From 1920 to 1927 he worked at theaters Luben, Pryluk, Simferopol, Cherkasy, Chernigov, Dnipro, and Kharkiv. Since 1927 - actor of the Kyiv Academic Ukrainian Theater named after Franko (intermittently).