Микола Яковченко

Mykola Fedorovych Yakovchenko (April 20 (May 3), 1900, Pryluky — September 11, 1974, Kyiv) was an outstanding Soviet Ukrainian theater and film actor who played character roles. He was named a People's Artist of the Ukrainian SSR in 1970. He was born in Pryluky (now Chernihiv Oblast, Ukraine, then Poltava Governorate, Russian Empire) into the family of an assistant manager of the Astrakhan fishing industry. His mother had four other children besides him. His family had its origins in the Don Cossacks — the family moved to the Poltava province from Rostov-on-Don and had a patriarchal structure, where a penchant for art was not particularly encouraged. In 1912, he enrolled in the Second Prilutsk Higher Primary School named after Kislov. In 1916, he enrolled in the city Jewish gymnasium, where he became interested in amateur art, performing his first roles in the gymnasium theater. At the same time, he thoroughly studied the Greek language. During the revolutionary events, he went to the front. His grandson, Mykola Bohonko-Yakovchenko, said, "It is not known for certain on whose side he fought — for the Reds or the Whites. According to documents, he spent the entire war on a Red Ar...