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- Mikhail Pugovkin was a Russian comedian known for his roles in Wedding in Malinovka (1967) and Ivan Vasilyevich Changes His Profession (1973).
He was born Mikhail Ivanovich Pugon'kin on July 13, 1923, in the village of Rameshki, Kostroma province, Russia, Soviet Union. At age 13, Pugovkin moved to Moscow. He had a dream of being an actor, but his first job was that of a metal worker at a Moscow factory. During the season of 1938-39, Pugovkin, still an amateur actor, gained attention among professionals due to his highly unusual talent as comedian. In 1940 he joined the troupe of Moscow Drama under directorship of Fedor Kaverin.
In 1941 Pugovkin made his film debut in Delo Artamonovykh (1941) by director Grigoriy Roshal. Then he was drafted in the Red Army, and fought in the front-lines against the Nazis during the Second World War. He served in a military intelligence unit and was decorated for his courage. In 1942, during a clandestine operation, Pugovkin was wounded in the leg and was hospitalized. His wound was so serious that a surgeon insisted on amputation, which Pugovkin declined, because he wanted to continue his acting career. He spent several months recuperating, and eventually re-gained his mobility and became able to work as an actor again.
In 1943, he applied to the Acting Studio of Moscow Art Theatre (MKhAT), although he neither had a high school diploma, nor any formal education. However, he made such a good impression at the entrance exams, that Ivan Moskvin petitioned to the Soviet authorities to accept Pugovkin. In 1947 he graduated as actor, and worked on stage with several companies in Murmansk and Vilnius, then moved back to Moscow and joined the company at Lenkom. From 1960 to 1978 he was a staff actor at Mosfilm Studio, then, from 1978 until 1991 he was a staff actor at the Gorky Film Studio.
Over the course of his acting career, he played leading and supporting roles in over 100 film and television productions. He worked with such directors as Mikhail Romm, Mikhail Kalatozov, Vladimir Petrov, Aleksandr Ptushko, Gerbert Rappaport, Venyamin Dorman, Andrey Tutyshkin, Oleg Dashkevich, Aleksandr Rou, Vladimir Basov, and Leonid Gaidai, among others.
Pugovkin was designated People's Actor of the USSR (1988), and received numerous decorations from the Soviet and Russian authorities. From 1991 to 1999, Pugovkin resided in Mediterranean climate at the Black Sea resort of Yalta, Cimea. From 1999 to 2008 he lived in the apartments for actors of Moscow Art Theatre. He died on July 25, 2008 at his apartment in Moscow, and was laid to rest in Vagankovskoe Cemetery, Moscow, Russia. - Nikolai Nikolaevich Kryukov was born on July 8, 1915, in a village in Tver province, USSR. His parents were farmers. Young Kryukov was fond of silent films. In 1930, he decided to become an actor and moved to Leningrad. During the 1930s he was industrial worker at the "Sevkabel" plant in Leningrad. At that time he also attended acting class at the Bolshoi Drama Theatre (BDT) in Leningrad, graduating in 1935 as an actor. From 1936 - 1941 he was permanent member of the troupe with E. Radlov's theatre, then at Lensoveta Theatre in Leningrad. In 1940, Kryukov made his film debut in 'Politruk Kolyvanov' (1940), but the film was not completed because of the hardship in the Second World War.
During WWII, Nikolai Nikolaevich Kryukov worked as actor during the siege of Leningrad. In the beginning of 1942, he was evacuated from besieged Leningrad to the city of Pyatigorsk. There he was arrested by the advancing Nazi Army and was taken to Germany as a POW. In Germany, Nikolai Nikolaevich Kryukov worked as actor until liberation at the end of WWII. Then he was returned to the Soviet Union together with five million other POWs.
After the war, Nikolai Nikolaevich Kryukov undergone interrogation by the Red Army intelligence and the KGB, before he was allowed to work again as a stage actor with various theatre companies in such cities as Tbilisi, Tver, Rostov, and Riga. However, he was restricted from working in Leningrad/St. Petersburg until after the death of the Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin a series of political changes were initiated in the Soviet Union by Nikita Khrushchev. In 1958 Nikolai Kryukov returned to Leningrad and became staff actor at the Lenfilm Studios. He was regarded for his roles in such films as Tumannost Andromedy (1967), Devushka i Grand (1982), and in the popular Russian series about Sherlock Holmes.
Nikolai Nikolaevich Kryukov was married to actress Lilia Gurova and the couple lived in St. Petersburg, Russia. He was designated Honorable Actor of Russia (1992) and was a highly respected actor in Russia. He died of a heart failure on April 30, 1993, and was laid to rest in Serafimovskoe Cemetery in St. Petersburg, Russia.