Nikolai Karachentsov

Nikolai Karachentsov worked for almost 40 years at Lenkom (now the Moscow State Theater Lenkom Mark Zakharov). World fame brought him the role of Count Rezanov in the rock opera Juno and Avos. Films with the participation of Karachentsov were popular among domestic viewers: “The Elder Son”, “The Adventures of Electronics”, “The Man from the Capuchin Boulevard”. And the actor also learned to play the guitar with Vladimir Vysotsky and played tennis with Boris Yeltsin.

Childhood and youth of Nikolai Karachentsov

Nikolai Karachentsov was born in Moscow on October 27, 1944 in the family of illustrator and graphic artist Pyotr Karachentsov and choreographer Yanina Brunak. His father was a member of the Union of Artists of the USSR, painted propaganda posters, collaborated with famous Soviet newspapers, magazines and publishing houses. Mother Karachentsova staged ballets in the largest theaters in Russia, worked in Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Later, the parents divorced, and the future actor stayed with his mother. She did not interfere with the communication of her son with his father.

From an early age, Nikolai Karachentsov was fond of ballet and dreamed of performing on the stage of the Bolshoi Theater. It seemed to him that “a dancer is the best thing a man should do.” But his mother dissuaded him from this idea. The boy had the ability for artistic creativity: when Karachentsov was nine years old, one of his works was put on display. However, he did not want to become an artist and soon gave up drawing.

After school, Nikolai Karachentsov decided to study as an actor.

Studying at the Moscow Art Theater School

Karachentsov’s teachers at the Studio School were actors Vasily Toporkov, Viktor Stanitsyn, Kira Golovko, Oleg Gerasimov. History was taught by a theater expert, who was called “the living embodiment of Chekhov’s intelligence” Vitaly Vilenkin.

In his student years, Nikolai Karachentsov was fond of playing the guitar. Then the actor met Vladimir Vysotsky: he graduated from the Moscow Art Theater School a few years before Karachentsov entered there.

In his second and third years, Nikolai Karachentsov played in productions based on the plays by Mikhail Bulgakov “Ivan Vasilyevich” and “Last Days”. In the first, he played the role of the swindler Georges Miloslavsky, and in the second, the watchmaker and spy Nikita Bitkov. For a better immersion in the role, he read all the works of the writer, including those that were distributed only underground. The writer’s wife, Elena Bulgakova, personally came to their course.

Work at Lenkom

In 1967, Anatoly Efros left Lenkom, instead of him, Vladimir Monakhov became the main director for the next four years in his autobiography “I did not leave Nikolai Karachentsov spoke of him as a very pleasant person. The aspiring actor played a lot on stage, including in the lead roles.

In the early 1970s, the director changed again in the theater. It was headed by director Mark Zakharov. At the new location, Avtograd-21 became his premiere performance. The production was based on a play that Zakharov wrote together with playwright and singer Yuri Vizbor. The plot told about the construction of a large car factory in the Urals. Nikolai Karachentsov got a minor role. Together with other actors, he participated in the choir, sang topical parodic ballads zongs. In his next performance, the director turned to the novel-poem by the Belgian writer Charles de Coster “The Legend of Ulenspiegel” and the play by playwright Grigory Gorin “Till”. Karachentsov this time got the main role. The actor played a jester and a hooligan, a medieval fighter for the truth Till Ulenspiegel.

During his work in Lenkom, he played in more than 20 productions he played in more than 20 productions. The actor explained his loyalty to the place of work with respect for Mark Zakharov: “Probably, I could get a job in any theater in Moscow. But what’s the point of walking away from the best director?”

The roles of Nikolai Karachentsov in movies and TV shows

Nikolai Karachentsov first appeared on the film set in the late 1960s. He made his debut in Maria Muat’s TV movie And May Again!”. The picture told about how the Bolsheviks set up the production of illegal literature.

The popularity of the actor brought a role in Vitaly Melnikov’s film “The Elder Son”. According to the plot, his hero, in order to spend the night in warmth, told the owner of the first apartment that came across that he was his father. In this picture, along with Karachentsov, Evgeny Leonov and Mikhail Boyarsky played.

Personal life

Nikolai Karachentsov met his future wife at the theater. Actress Lyudmila Porgina got a job at Lenkom a few years after it and got a role in the play Music on the Eleventh Floor. In marriage, the couple had a son, Andrei. He received a law degree and works as a lawyer. The acting couple lived together for more than 40 years.

In the mid-2000s, Karachentsov had a car accident, after which he recovered for a long time. The artist was able to take the stage for the first time only two years later. Over time, he continued to participate in creative evenings.

Nikolai Karachentsov died on October 26, 2018. He was buried at the Troekurovsky cemetery in Moscow.