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Nikolai Gritsenko was a distinguished Soviet actor, renowned for his portrayal of Karenin in Aleksandr Zarkhi's 1967 film Anna Karenina, and for playing a Nazi General in Tatyana Lioznova's TV series Semnadtsat mgnovenii vesny.
Born Nikolai Olimpiyevich Gritsenko on July 24, 1912, in Yasynuvata, Donetsk province, Russian Empire (now Donetsk oblast, Ukraine), he graduated from the Makeevka School of Musical Drama in 1934 before studying acting in Kyiv. Between 1937 and 1940, he trained at the Shchukin Theatrical School of the Vakhtangov Theatre in Moscow, completing his studies as an actor in 1940.
From 1940 until 1979, Gritsenko was a permanent member of the Vakhtangov Theatre troupe in Moscow. His stage colleagues included notable 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 Plotnikov, Vasiliy Lanovoy, Yuriy Yakovlev, Vyacheslav Shalevich, Andrei Abrikosov, Grigori Abrikosov, Boris Babochkin, Nikolai Timofeyev, Aleksandr Grave, and Evgeniy Karelskikh, among others. His standout stage roles included Fedor Protasov in Zhivoy Trup (The Living Corpse) (1962), based on Lev Tolstoy’s novel, and the title role of Prince Myshkin in Dostoyevsky’s Idiot (1958). He originated the role of Tartaglia in Princess Turandot (1963) and received acclaim for his performances in Vakhtangov's production of Carlo Gozzi's comedy.
Gritsenko was honored as a People's Artist of the USSR in 1964. He received the State Prize of Russia for his theatrical achievements and the State Prize of the USSR in 1951 for his performance in the film Dream of a Cossack (1951). He passed away from heart failure on December 8, 1979, in Moscow, and was buried in Moscow's Novodevichy Cemetery.
