Michael Chekhov | |
|---|---|
 Chekhov, 1910s | |
| Born | Mikhail Aleksandrovich Chekhov (1891-08-16)16 August 1891 |
| Died | 30 September 1955(1955-09-30) (aged 64) |
| Years active | 1913–1954 |
| Spouses | |
| Children | Ada Tschechowa |
| Parent(s) | Alexander Chekhov Natalya Golden |
| Relatives | Anton Chekhov (uncle) Olga Knipper (aunt) Vera Tschechowa (granddaughter) |
Mikhail Aleksandrovich Chekhov (Russian:Михаил Александрович Чехов; 16 August 1891 – 30 September 1955), known asMichael Chekhov, was a Russian-Americanactor,director,author, andtheatre practitioner.[1] He was a nephew of the playwrightAnton Chekhov and a student ofKonstantin Stanislavski. Stanislavski referred to him as his most brilliant student.
Although mainly a stage actor, he made a few notable appearances on film, perhaps most memorably as the Freudian analyst inAlfred Hitchcock'sSpellbound (1945), for which he received his onlyAcademy Award nomination.
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Michael Chekhov was born inSaint Petersburg, the son ofAlexander Chekhov (the elder brother ofAnton Chekhov) and his wife Natalya Aleksandrovna Golden. It was his father's second marriage. His mother, a Russian Jew, had been the governess to the children from his father's first marriage. He was raised in a middle-class family; his father was in the Imperial Customs Service and was a moderately successful writer.[citation needed]
Chekhov's first wife was actressOlga Chekhova, whom he met at theMoscow Art Theatre First Studio. Olga Chekhova was a daughter of Konstantin Knipper and was the niece ofOlga Knipper,Anton Chekhov's wife, after whom she was named. Their daughter, also baptized Olga, was born in 1916 and became a German actress under the nameAda Tschechowa. His second wife was Xenia Karlovna Ziller, of German origins.[citation needed]
Chekhov studied under the Russiantheatre practitionerKonstantin Stanislavski at the First Studio, where he acted, directed, and studiedStanislavski's 'system'. He was also influenced in his creative development as an actor byYevgeny Vakhtangov andLeopold Sulerzhitsky.[2] In 1922, after the death ofVakhtangov, Chekhov became director of the First Studio, which was subsequently renamed Moscow Art Theatre II.[2]
Stanislavski considered Chekhov to be one of his brightest students. When Chekhov experimented with affective memory and had a nervous breakdown, this aided Stanislavski in seeing the limitations of his early concepts of emotional memory.
After theOctober Revolution, Chekhov split with Stanislavski and toured with his own company. He thought that Stanislavski's techniques led too readily to anaturalistic style of performance. He demonstrated his own theories acting in parts such as Senator Ableukhov in the stage version ofAndrei Bely'sPetersburg.
With the beginning ofStalinism in 1927, Chekov came into conflict with the Communist regime and was threatened to be arrested, especially for hisspiritualist interests.[3] In the late 1920s, Chekhov emigrated toGermany and set up his own studio, teaching a physical and imagination-based system of actor training. He developed the use of the "Psychological Gesture", a concept derived from theSymbolist theories of Bely. In this technique, the actor physicalizes a character's need or internal dynamic in the form of an external gesture. Subsequently, the outward gesture is suppressed and incorporated internally, allowing the physical memory to inform the performance on an unconscious level.
Between 1930 and 1935 he worked inKaunas State Drama Theatre inLithuania. Between 1936 and 1939 Chekhov established The Chekhov Theatre School atDartington Hall, inDevon,England. Following developments in Germany that threatened the outbreak of war he moved to the US with the couple, and later writers,Anne Cumming and Henry Lyon Young to recreate a drama school.[4]
Following Stanislavski's approach, much of what Chekhov explored addressed the question of how to access the unconscious creative self through indirect non-analytical means.[5] Chekhov taught a range of movement dynamics such as molding, floating, flying, and radiating that actors use to find the physical core of acharacter.[citation needed]
Despite his seemingly external approach, Chekhov's techniques were meant to lead the actor to a rich internal life. In spite of his brilliance as an actor and his first-hand experience in the development of Stanislavski's groundbreaking work, Chekhov as a teacher was overshadowed by his American counterparts in the 1940s and 1950s and their interpretations of Stanislavski's 'system,' which became known asMethod acting.[citation needed] Interest in Chekhov's work has grown, however, with a new generation of teachers. Chekhov's own students includedMarilyn Monroe,Anthony Quinn,Clint Eastwood,Dorothy Dandridge,Mala Powers,Yul Brynner,Patricia Neal,Sterling Hayden,Jack Palance,Elia Kazan,Robert Lewis,Paula Strasberg,Guy Gillette, andLloyd andDorothy Bridges.[6] In the television programmeInside the Actors Studio, noted actors such asJohnny Depp andAnthony Hopkins have cited Chekhov's book as highly influential on their acting.Beatrice Straight also thanked Chekhov in her acceptance speech after winning herOscar for her performance inNetwork (1976).[7]
Chekhov's description of his acting technique,On the Technique of Acting, was written in 1942. When reissued in 1991 it had additional material by Chekhov estate executorMala Powers; an abridged version appeared under the titleTo the Actor in 1953, with a preface byYul Brynner, and reissued in 2002 with an additional foreword bySimon Callow and additional Russian material translated and commented on by Andrei Malaev-Babel, a notable Russian-born acting scholar and teacher. The English translation of his autobiographyThe Path of the Actor was edited by Andrei Kirillov and Bella Merlin and published by Routledge in 2005, marking the 50th anniversary of his death. Some of Chekhov's lectures are available on CD under the titleOn Theatre and the Art of Acting. The documentaryFrom Russia to Hollywood: the 100 Year Odyssey of Chekhov and Shdanoff, profiles Chekhov and his fellow Russian associate George Shdanoff; released in 1998, it is narrated byMala Powers andGregory Peck, who starred inAlfred Hitchcock'sSpellbound, for which Chekhov earned an Oscar nomination.[citation needed]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1914 | Kogda zvuchat struny serdtsa | ||
| 1915 | Shkaf s syurprizom | ||
| 1916 | Liubvi syurprizy tshchetnye | ||
| 1921 | Erik XIV | Erik XIV | |
| 1927 | Einer gegen alle | ||
| 1927 | Man from the Restaurant | Skorokhodov | |
| 1929 | Der Narr seiner Liebe | Didier Mireuil | |
| 1930 | Phantoms of Happiness | Jacques Bramard | |
| 1930 | Troika | Paschka, village idiot | |
| 1944 | Song of Russia | Ivan Stepanov | |
| 1944 | In Our Time | Uncle Leopold Baruta | |
| 1945 | Spellbound | Dr. Alexander Brulov | |
| 1946 | Specter of the Rose | Max Polikoff | |
| 1946 | Cross My Heart | Peter | |
| 1946 | Abie's Irish Rose | Solomon Levy | |
| 1948 | Texas, Brooklyn & Heaven | Mr. Gaboolian | |
| 1952 | Invitation | Dr. Fromm | |
| 1952 | Holiday for Sinners | Dr. Konndorff | |
| 1954 | Rhapsody | Professor Schuman | (final film role) |
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Quotations from Wikiquote
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