Nikolai Okhlopkov

Nikolai Okhlopkov was born on May 15, 1900, in Irkutsk, Russia. He studied acting at Soviet State Experimental Workshops. From 1923 - 1930 Okhlopkov was member of the troupe at the Theatre of Vsevolod Meyerhold in Moscow. From 1937 - 1943 he was a permanent member of the troupe at Vakhtangov Theatre in Moscow. There his stage partners were such actors as Ruben Simonov, Boris Zakhava, Mikhail Astangov, Vladimir Etush, Varvara Popova, Yuliya Borisova, Andrei Abrikosov, Grigori Abrikosov, Boris Babochkin, and Aleksandr Grave, among others.

In 1924 he made his film debut in the silent movie Banda batki Knysha (1924) by director Aleksandr Razumnyj. He shot to fame and was awarded the Stalin's Prize for his roles as Vasili in the 1930s propaganda franchise Lenin in October (1937) and Lenin in 1918 (1939) both films by director Mikhail Romm. He was also active as film writer and director, as well as theatrical director in Leningrad, and opera director at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow.

Nikolai Okhlopkov was the Vice-Minister of Culture of the Soviet Union (1955 - 1957). He was designated People's Actor of the USSR (1948), and was awarded the State Prize of the USSR five times (1941, 1947, 1949, and twice in 1951). Nikolai Okhlopkov died of a heart failure on January 8, 1967, in Moscow, Russia, Soviet Union, and was laid to rest in the Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow, Russia.