Emerging from Petrograd’s artistic circles, he entered a children’s studio in 1927, later apprenticing as a metal craftsman while studying at the theatrical school of TYuZ and graduating from the Leningrad Theatrical Institute in 1935 before joining Leningrad’s New TYuZ troupe. His film debut came the same year with Mikhas in Maturity, and despite early dissatisfaction he continued, taking a minor…
