Вениамин Смехов (Soviet and Russian theater and film actor, director, screenwriter, writer)

Veniamin Borisovich Smekhov (Russian: Вениами́н Бори́сович Сме́хов; born 10 August 1940) is a Russian stage and film actor and director. He was the winner of the Petropol Award (2000) as well as the Tsarskoselsky Artistic Prize (2009, 2023). He refused the title of People's Artist of Russia, which was offered to him on his 70th birthday. Smekhov has long worked in the Moscow Taganka Theatre, where his roles included Woland in a stage adaptation of Mikhail Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita. In film, he is best known for the role of Athos in a Russian version of D'Artagnan and Three Musketeers (1978) and its sequels (1992, 1993). He also has written poetry, scripts and memoirs. Smekhov was born on 10 August 1940 in Moscow. His father, Boris Moiseyevich Smekhov (10 January 1912 in Gomel, Belarus – 8 October 2010 in Aachen, Germany), was a Belarusian professor and doctor of economics, and his mother, Maria Lyovna Schwartzburg (1918–1996) was a doctor and head of her medical department in a Moscow clinic. Smekhov spent most of his early life in Moscow. He saw his father for the first time only after he returned in 1945 from serving in the Second World War. From 1947 to 1957, he was a student at School No. 235 on Pal'chikov Lane where he was a part of the Palace of Pioneers drama club. Rolan Bykov worked with the students. In 1957, Smekhov attended the Boris Shchukin Theatre Institute, the conservatory of the Vakhtangov State Academic Theatre, as well as Vladimir Etush’s class at the Boris Shchukin Theatre Institute, graduating in 1961. He worked for a year at the Kuybiyshev Drama Theatre. In 1962, he joined the Moscow Theatre of Drama and Comedy, later renamed as the Taganka Theatre in 1964 under the direction of Yuri Lyubimov. In 1985, after Lyubimov was deprived of his Soviet citizenship following an interview with The Times in 1984, and Anatoly Efros replaced him, Smekhov left the theatre for Sovremennik Theatre, returning in 1987. In 1967, he began working as a freelance television director at Gosteleradio SSSR, the main producer of literary-drama programs. His first work was the teleplay Mayakovsky's Day. It was based on his own script and aired as a part of the Poetic Theatre series. He began work in film in 1968. In 1990, Smekhov began directing theatre performances, operas and made-for-television films in Russia and abroad, and he taught acting for several years in American universities.[which?] Smekhov began acting in films in 1968, gaining popularity after playing the role of Athos in the made-for-television film D'Artagnan and Three Musketeers, filmed at the Odesa Film Studio in 1978. He also played Athos in three follow-up films. He has made around 20 solo audio books and a collection of audio book compilations. In 2011, Smekhov returned to the Taganka Theatre as a guest actor and director. He reprised the role of Woland in Master and Margarita on two occasions. He performed in two poetic performances No Years, which he wrote and directed, and The Spine of the Flute. He has toured with evenings of poetry. Smekhov also makes poetic programs and documentary films for television. He is also the author of several books, including memoirs, poetry and prose. Smekhov shared his first marriage with Alla Smekhova, a radio editor.[when?] The couple had two daughters together, including Alika Smekhova (born 1968), an actress and singer. In 1980, he married film and theatre historian and translator Galina Aksenova. 1968 Two Comrades Served – Baron Krauze 1969 The Air of Sovnarkom – Petrovsky (not credited) 1971 Twenty Years Later – Aramis 1976 Smoke and the Shorty – Smoke (voiced by Vladimir Ferapontov) 1977 Middle of Life – Dennis 1979 D'Artagnan and Three Musketeers – Athos 1979 I Ask to Accuse Klava K. of My Death – Uncle Seva 1983 The Story of Voyages – Local Don Quixote 1984 Favorites of the Moon – episode 1986 Seven Cries in the Ocean – Baron Porto 1988 Puppy – Alexander, journalist for Komsomol'sky Truth 1990 Trap For the Single Man – Maksimen 1991 Fool – Benjamin Borever 1992 Key – Alexander Brown 1992 Musketeers Twenty Years Later – Athos 1993 The Secret of Queen Anne or Musketeers Thirty Years Later – Athos 1993 Breakfast with a View on El'brus – Sumarokov 2004 Middle Age, Or All Men Are bas... – Alexander, Sonia's Admirer 2007 The Captain's Children – Lev Goreyno 2008 Montecristo – Ilia Orlov 2008 The Magician Friend Is Flying In – Semen Semenovich 2009 The Return of The Musketeers, Or the Treasure of Cardinal Mazarini – Athos 2009 Proposed Circumstances – Georgiy Strunin, Director 2011 Furtseva – Peter Vladimirovich Boguslavsky 2011 Countertrig – Baron von Libenfel's, Olaf's Uncle 2012 The Toy Salesman – Ivan Polikarpovich, Professor 2013 Finding a Husband In the Big City – Alexander Gordeev, Lisa's Father 2014 Spiral – Yakob Arnol'dovich 2014 The Frog Princess – Kashcheev 2014 Bones – Vitaliy Borisovich Deykevich 2016 Mafia: The Game of Survival – Luka Sergeyevich 2020 Elsa's Land – Leonid 1965 – The Room 1965 – Four Friends and the Magic Slippers 1969 – Khafiz 1971 – Twenty Years Later – Aramis 1972 – The Magician from Shiraz – Khafiz (he was also the author of the script and director) 1983 – Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves – Mustafa (he was also the author of the script and song lyrics) 1983 – Monsieur Lenoir, Who... – Victor Lenoir 1984 – The Life and Books of Alexander Green – Visitor, Til's, Bill, Read-Headed Young Man, Guard 1984 – Ten Jazz Scenes Based on Macbeth – Macbeth 2002 – Willy-Nilly Doctor – Sganarel' 2013 – Suicide – reader 2016 – Disturber of the Peace – Hussein Guslia 1967 – Mayakovsky's Day (television) 1971 – First Songs – Last Songs (television) 1972 – Magician from Shiraz (television) 1973 – Frederick Moro (television) 1982 – Gentlemen from Congress (television) 1985 – The Sorochinsky Market (television) 2002 – Willy-Nilly Doctor (television) 2013 – Movie Star Between the Hammer and Sickle (documentary film about Marina Ladiynina) 2013 – Vladimir Tendryakov. A Portrait in the Background of Time (documentary film) 2015 – The Last Poet of the Great War (documentary film about Ion Degen) 2015 – Boris Zaborov. Searching For Lost Time (documentary film about Boris Zaborov) 2016 – Archives. Film 1. Alexander Dovzhenko and Yulia Solntseva 2016 – Archives. Film 2. Elem Klimov and Larisa Shepit'ko "В Пушкине вручат Царскосельскую художественную премию" (in Russian). Retrieved 2023-10-20. Вениамин Смехов: «У вашего города самое красивое название» Вениамин Смехов в Воронеже: «Я отказался от звания народного: его можно купить, а для меня это не ценно!» – Смехов В. – «Когда я был Атосом» (аудиофрагмент из книги воспоминаний В. Б. Смехова о съёмках известного кинофильма «Д'Артаньян и три мушкетера») "Veniamin Smekhov". Verbier Festival. Retrieved 2025-09-13. "Мушкетёр, друг Высоцкого и поэт с душой шофёра. О жизни Вениамина Смехова" (in Russian). Retrieved 2025-08-08. "Неофициальный сайт Вениамина Смехова". Archived from the original on 2012-01-06. Retrieved 2012-01-27. "На сцену Таганки вернётся Вениамин Смехов. Пока как Воланд". Archived from the original on 2017-08-01. Retrieved 2017-05-28. "Алика Смехова: «В нашем доме слово «папа» под запретом»". 7Дней.ру. "Школа-студия МХАТ. Галина Аксёнова". Archived from the original on 2017-06-01. Retrieved 2017-05-28. "Самоубийца / Телеканал «Россия – Культура»" (in Russian). tvkultura.ru. Archived from the original on 2020-03-26. Retrieved 2020-03-28. "Возмутитель спокойствия / Телеканал «Россия – Культура»" (in Russian). tvkultura.ru. Archived from the original on 2020-03-28. Retrieved 2020-03-28. Wikimedia Commons has media related to Veniamin Smekhov. Veniamin Smekhov at IMDb Veniamin Smekhov home page (Russian)