Nikolay Konstantinovich Cherkasov^[a] (27 July [O.S. 14 July] 1903 – 14 September 1966) was aSoviet andRussianactor. He was namedPeople's Artist of the USSR in 1947.^[1]

Nikolay Cherkasov
Николай Черкасов
Cherkasov inAlexander Nevsky, 1938
Born	(1903-07-27)July 27, 1903 Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire
Died	September 14, 1966(1966-09-14) (aged 63) Leningrad, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Resting place	Tikhvin Cemetery
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1918–1965

He was born inSaint Petersburg (later Petrograd in 1914, and Leningrad from 1924 to 1991) into the family of a railway clerk. From 1919 he was amime artist in Petrograd'sMaryinsky Theatre, theBolshoi Theatre, and elsewhere. After graduating from the Institute of Stage Arts in 1926, he began acting in theYoung Spectator's Theatre in Leningrad.

Cherkasov debuted in film with the supporting part of hairdresser Charles in Vladimir Gardin’s Pushkin biopicThe Poet and the Tsar (1927). Cherkasov was one ofStalin's favorite actors and played title roles inSergei Eisenstein's monumentalsound filmsAlexander Nevsky (1938) and Parts I & II ofIvan the Terrible (1945 & 1946; though Part II was not officially released until 1958 for political reasons). He also playedJacques Paganel in the memorable 1936 adaptation ofJules Verne'sThe Children of Captain Grant. In the 1947comedySpringtime Cherkasov appeared alongside other icons of Stalinist cinema,Lyubov Orlova andFaina Ranevskaya. For the role ofAlexander Popov in the filmAlexander Popov in 1951, he received aStalin Prize of the second degree. In 1957, Cherkasov portrayedDon Quixote in directorGrigori Kozintsev'sscreen adaptation of the novel.

In 1941, Cherkasov was awarded theStalin Prize; in 1947, he was named a People's Artist of the USSR. He wrote his memoirs, "Notes of a Soviet Actor" in 1951. He died in Leningrad in 1966 and was buried inTikhvin Cemetery, the "Necropolis of the Masters of Art", at theAlexander Nevsky Lavra.

The image of Cherkasov in the role of Alexander Nevsky is on the SovietOrder of Alexander Nevsky, because there are no known lifetime portraits of Nevsky.^[2]

• Nikolay Cherkasov atIMDb