«Artist’s Self-Portrait. Mikhail Ulyanov’s 90th Anniversary»

Mikhail A. Ulyanov (1927-2007), People’s Artist of the USSR, shared his creative ideas and thoughts in his diary and notebooks, thereby creating a kind of self-portrait.

Throughout his life he has written a lot and published five books, full of thoughts about the artist’s path and the Vakhtangov Theatre that became his home, about his teachers, theatre directors, partners, friends, about his roles in cinema.

The exhibition includes artist’s photo portraits, films’ fragments, diary records, as well as his personal belongings from the archives of the artist’s daughter and costumes provided by the Vakhtangov State Academic Theatre.

Mikhail A. Ulyanov was born in 1927 in the village of Bergamak (now it is in the Omsk region). Ulyanov wrote about his childhood: «I didn’t dream to be an actor, but I became it». He became involved in the theatrical art in the studio of the evacuated Maria Zankovetska Lviv Theatre in Tara from 1942 to 1944. Then Mikhail Ulyanov graduated from the Shchukin Moscow Theatre Institute. In 1950 he was accepted as an actor in the company of the Vakhtangov Theatre, where he has worked for 57 years. Here are some of his roles there: Laptev in «Egor Bulychev and the Others» by M. Gorky, Michele in «Filumena Marturano» by E. De Filippo, soldier Ivan in a Samuil Marshak’s fairy tale, Rogozhin in the play «Idiot» by F. Dostoevsky, Sergei in «An Irkutsk Story» by A. Arbuzov, Brighella in «Turandot» by C. Gozzi, Gulevoy in «Konarmiya» by I. Babel, Victor in «A Warsaw Melody» by L. Zorin, Mark Antony in the play «Antony and Cleopatra» and Richard III in «Richard III» by W. Shakespeare.

Some of Ulyanov’s characters in cinema became iconic: for example, Marshal Zhukov in the films «Liberation» and «The Battle of Moscow» by Y. Ozerov, Egor Trubnikov in the film «The Chairman» by A. Saltykov, General Charnota in the film «The Flight» by A. Alov and V. Naumov after the novel of M. Bulgakov.

Mikhail Ulyanov has received many awards for his merits: Meritorious Artist of the RSFSR (21.01.1961), People’s Artist of the RSFSR (26.11.1965), People’s Artist of the USSR (29.09.1969), Meritorious Worker of Arts of the Polish People’s Republic (1974), Hero of Socialist Labour, etc. He has been a chairman of the Union of Theatrical Figures from 1986 to 1996.