Mikhail Kuznetsov (actor)

{{Short description|Soviet actor (1918–1986)}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Mikhail Kuznetsov

| image = Kuznetsov mashenka.png

| caption = Kuznetsov in Mashenka (1942)

| birthname = Mikhail Artemyevich Kuznetsov

| birth_date = {{birth date|1918|2|25|df=yes}}

| birth_place = Bogorodsk, Moscow Governorate, RSFSR{{cite book |last1=Lyndina |first1=Elga |title=Актёры нашего кино. Сухоруков, Хабенский и другие |trans-title=Actors of our cinema. Sukhorukov, Khabensky and others |date=2022 |publisher=Litres |isbn=9785457272941 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FTBhAAAAQBAJ&dq=%D0%BA%D1%83%D0%B7%D0%BD%D0%B5%D1%86%D0%BE%D0%B2+%D0%BC%D0%B8%D1%85%D0%B0%D0%B8%D0%BB+%D0%B0%D1%80%D1%82%D0%B5%D0%BC%D1%8C%D0%B5%D0%B2%D0%B8%D1%87&pg=PT3 |access-date=9 September 2024 |lang=ru}}

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1986|8|23|1918|2|25|df=yes}}

| death_place = Moscow, USSR

| occupation = Actor

| years_active = 1940–1986

| spouse = Victoria Germanovna Kuznetsova (Germanova)

| signature =

| awards =

}}

{{family name hatnote|Artemyevich |Kuznetsov|lang=Eastern Slavic}}

Mikhail Artemyevich Kuznetsov ({{langx|ru|Михаил Артемьевич Кузнецов}}; 25 February 1918 – 23 August 1986){{Cite web|url=http://www.m-necropol.ru/kuznetsov-mikhail.html|title=Могилы знаменитостей. Кузнецов Михаил Артемьевич (1918-1986)|website=m-necropol.ru|access-date=2022-04-22|archive-date=2021-03-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210307060152/http://www.m-necropol.ru/kuznetsov-mikhail.html}} was a Soviet film and theater actor. He was an Honored Artist of the Ukrainian SSR (1955), People's Artist of the RSFSR (1964),[http://www.kino-teatr.ru/kino/acter/m/sov/2308/bio Михаил Кузнeцов — биография ] and the winner of the Stalin Prize of the first degree (1952).[http://www.kinopoisk.ru/name/201746/ Михаил Кузнeцов — КиноПоиск.ru]

He was born into a proletariat family. After the death of his father, he and his mother moved to the village Tikhoretskaya. He first received small roles, working his way up to the role of Truffaldino. At some point, he and his mother moved to Moscow, and he completed his education in a professional technical school. He desired to study acting, but was not allowed to abandon work to try out for theater, so he burnt his hand with acid in order to be allowed to leave. He began to study at the Stanislavsky Opera and Drama Studio under Konstantin Stanislavsky in 1937. He was also talented at singing - opera singer Antonina Nezhdanova described him as having a "pleasant baritone".

His debut role was in {{ill|Mikhail Gavronski|ru|Гавронский, Михаил Савельевич}}'s 1940 film The Friends({{langx|ru|Приятели|translit=Priyateli}}).{{cite journal |last1=Usuvaliev |first1=Sultan |title=The godfathers of Mikhail Kuznetsov |journal=Studies in Russian and Soviet Cinema |date=2 September 2014 |volume=8 |issue=3 |pages=184–199 |doi=10.1080/17503132.2014.969527 |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17503132.2014.969527 |access-date=11 January 2025}} After his role as Alexey Solovyov in Yuli Raizman's Mashenka, Kuznetsov began to be noticed by other directors. After being evacuated to Alma-Ata in the first years of World War Two, Kuznetsov performed roles in several films, including Ivan Pyryev and Iosif Kheifits, the latter of which he would name "one of his directors", alongside Raizman. He was invited to play the role of Fyodor Basmanov in Sergei Eisenstein's Ivan the Terrible, which became possibly the most well-known role of his career.

He died near the Hotel Ukraina in Moscow. He is buried at the Vvedenskoye Cemetery.{{cite web |url=http://www.kinosozvezdie.ru/actors/kuznetsovm/grave.html |website=Киносозвездие |access-date=9 September 2024 |title=Могила М.А. Кузнецова на Введенском кладбище}}

His cousin was Anatoly Kuznetsov.