Emerging from a modest Belarusian peasant background in a Siberian village, he served in the Red Army during World II before beginning his theatrical training in Krasnoyarsk in 1946 and later joining Moscow’s stage scene. An invitation from Georgy Tovstonogov brought him to Leningrad’s Bolshoi Drama Theatre in 1957, where his portrayals of Prince Myshkin and Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich earned critical…
