Sergei Martinson

Sergey A. Martinson (January 25 (February 6) 1899 - September 2, 1984) - Soviet theater and film actor. People's Artist of the RSFSR (1964). Sergey Martinson was born in the family of a Swedish baron, an honorary citizen of St. Petersburg, Alexander Alexandrovich Martinson, and a Russian noblewoman, Theodosia Alexandrovna (born Petrova). According to the grandson, Vladimir Barshai, the Swede was Martinson's grandfather, at the age of 15 he moved to Russia to study with Count Yusupov. Various sources call A. A. Martinson a civil engineer, a real estate trader and a manufacturer. According to the actor himself, whose words are given by the theater expert Lyudmila Kafanova, his father sold diamonds, including supplied stones to the imperial court. The family lived in the center of St. Petersburg in a mansion on Millionnaya Street, where the cultural elite of the city gathered and gave concerts with Alexander Skryabin - a close friend of his father. Since childhood, Sergei has attended leading metropolitan theaters, studied music. At the age of 7 he was sent to Annenschule School, where he perfectly mastered French and German. In 1918, he graduated from the private gymnasium of G. K. Stemberg and joined the Red Army. Demobilized two years later, he, at the insistence of his parents, entered the Technological Institute, but soon transferred to the Institute of Performing Arts, which he graduated in 1923. He performed in Petrograd variety theaters - in the Volny Comedy Theater and Free Theater. Work in the cinema began in the workshops of FEKS. He played in the Theater of the Revolution (1924-1941) and in the Music Hall (1933-1936). Three times he became the leading actor in the troupe of the Meyerhold Theater (1925–1926, 1929–1933, 1937–1938), where he played until the theater closed. Since 1945, he has been in the troupe of the Studio Theater of Film Actor. Filmed by filmmakers: Vsevolod Pudovkina, Yakov Protazanov, Sergey Yutkevich, Boris Barnet, Grigory Roshal, Alexander Ptushko. Sergey Martinson also worked a lot in animations, voicing cartoons. An outstanding comedian, eccentric, master of pantomime, slapstick and grotesque. One of the most popular masters of cinema and theater. He did not consider himself a comedian, while the Martinson art abroad was compared with the art of Charlie Chaplin. He died on September 2, 1984. He was buried at Kuntsevo Cemetery of Moscow.