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Nikolai Plotnikov was a Russian actor and director affiliated with the Vakhtangov Theatre in Moscow.
Born Nikolai Sergeyevich Plotnikov on November 5, 1897, in Vyazma, Smolensk province, Russian Empire (now Vyazma, Russia), his father, Sergei Plotnikov, was a barber, and his mother was a homemaker. After his mother passed away in 1910 when he was 12, he moved to live with his uncle in St. Petersburg. There, he studied art at the Stieglitz School of Art and worked at the Schwartz printing company. Between 1916 and 1918, he served in the Imperial Tsar's Army during World War I before returning to Moscow. From 1918 to 1920, he studied acting at Michael Chekhov's studio alongside classmates such as Boris Babochkin and his brother. He then toured Russia with a traveling troupe for two years. From 1922 to 1934, he was a member of the Moscow Art Theatre (MKhAT), followed by a period with the Central Theatre of the Red Army.
From 1938 until 1979, Plotnikov was a permanent member of the Vakhtangov Theatre troupe in Moscow. His stage partners included renowned actors such as Mikhail Ulyanov, Ruben Simonov, Boris Zakhava, Mikhail Astangov, Vladimir Etush, Varvara Popova, Irina Kupchenko, Natalya Tenyakova, Yuliya Borisova, Lyudmila Maksakova, Lyudmila Tselikovskaya, Marianna Vertinskaya, Nina Ruslanova, Nikolai Gritsenko, Vasiliy Lanovoy, Yuriy Yakovlev, Vyacheslav Shalevich, Andrei Abrikosov, Grigori Abrikosov, Boris Babochkin, Nikolai Timofeyev, Aleksandr Grave, and Evgeniy Karelskikh, among others. His most notable stage roles included Polonius opposite Mikhail Astangov in Shakespeare's "Hamlet" (1958) and the Doctor in "Zhivoy trup" ("The Living Corpse"), based on Lev Tolstoy's novel.
Plotnikov was honored as a People's Artist of the USSR in 1964 and received the State Prize of the USSR in 1951. He also taught acting at the Mosfilm Studio School, the Moscow State Institute of Theatrical Art (GITIS), and the Soviet State Institute of Cinema (VGIK). Nikolai Plotnikov passed away from heart failure on February 3, 1979, in Moscow and was buried at Novodevichy Cemetery.
