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Nikolai Boyarsky was a Russian character actor known as Kozlevich in the popular comedy The Golden Calf (1968), and as leading stage actor with the Theatre of Komissarzhevskoi in St. Petersburg, Russia.
He was born Nikolai Aleksandrovich Boyarsky on 10 December 1922, in St. Petersburg, Russia. His father, Aleksandr Boyarsky, was a priest of Russian Orthodox Church who was executed by the communists during the Great Purge of 1937 under the dictatorship of Joseph Stalin. Young Nikolai Boyarsky was fond of theatre, he followed his elder brother, Sergey Boyarskiy. From 1940 to 1941 he studied acting at the Leningrad Institute of Theatre and Cinema, but his studies were interrupted by WWII. Nikolai Boyarsky was drafted in the Red Army and served for four years fighting in the front-lines against the Nazis. During the war, he was taken by the Nazi forces and was kept as a POW, but he managed to escape and survived. He was wounded in the battle, but survived again and made it to the Victory day. He received numerous decorations for his courage. After the end of WWII, Nikolai Boyarsky returned to Leningrad. There, in 1945, he married actress Lidiya Shtykan who survived the Siege of Leningrad.
From 1948 to 1988 Nikolai Boyarsky was a permanent member of the troupe at the Theatre of Komissarzhevskoi in Leningrad/St. Petersburg. There his stage partners were such actors as Galina Korotkevich, Ivan Dmitriev, Tamara Abrosimova, Natalya Chetverikova, Elena Safonova, Valentina Chemberg, Tatyana Samarina, Aleksandr Galibin, Yefim Kamenetsky, Mikhail Khrabrov, Georgi Korolchuk, Stanislav Landgraf, Sergey Boyarskiy, Vladimir Osobik, Boris Sokolov, Ivan Krasko, Peter Shelokhonov, and other notable Russian actors. His most memorable stage appearances were as Zakhar in "Oblomov" and as Levan in "Esli b nebo bylo zerkalom" among other stage works.
He made his film debut as King Karl II of Spain in Don Sezar de Bazan (1957). In the course of his acting career, Nikolai Boyarsky played over 30 characters in film and on television. He worked with such directors as Pavel Kadochnikov, Mikhail Shapiro, Aleksandr Belinsky, Mikhail Shveitser, Vladimir Vengerov, Aleksandr Rou, Aleksandr Proshkin, Sergey Bondarchuk, and others. Nikolai Boyarsky was regarded for his presence and effortless style. He was designated People's Artist of Russia. He died on 7 October 1988, and was laid to rest in Komarovo cemetery near St. Petersburg, Russia.
