№ 313/окр. 100th birth anniversary of Mikhail Kuznetsov (1918-1986), an outstanding Soviet actor

Mikhail Artemyevich Kuznetsov (1918−1986) was a Soviet film and theatre actor, the winner of the Stalin Prize of the first degree, People’s Artist of the RSFSR.

He was born on 25 February 1918 in Bogorodsk (now Noginsk, Moscow Oblast). He finished the Drama Department of the Stanislavsky State Opera and Drama Studio in 1941. His cinema career started while he was a student.

From 1950 till the middle of the 1960s, Mikhail Kuznetsov was a staff actor at the Kiev Film Studio. At that time he starred in a large number of films. Mikhail Kuznetsov moved to Moscow in the middle of the 1960s to join the Film Actor Studio Theatre. 

His characters were distinguished by inner passion, sincere lyricism and gentle humour. Among his best roles in the cinema were Alexey Solovyev in Mashenka, Fyodor Basmanov in Ivan the Terrible, Doctor Kolosov in In the Name of Life, Solder Skobelev in Taras Shevchenko, Taras in Marina’s Destiny, Chizhik in Salor Chizhik, Anton Lutenko in The Silver Coach, Colonel Lartsev in The Game without Rules, Laktionov in The Guarneri Quartet, Soldier in The Magic Weaver, Military Governor Prozorovsky in The Young Russia, Chistov in Mister High-School Student.

The card with a commemorative stamp depicts Mikhail Kuznetsov’s portrait and a scene from Ivan the Terrible (Mosfilm Studio, 1945) in which he starred in the role of Fyodor Basmanov.