Vladimir Kenigson


Vladimir Vladimirovich Kenigson, or Königson was born November 7, 1907 in the family of barrister Vladimir Petrovich Kenigson in Simferopol, the Russian Empire. Swede by birth.

Biography and career

Vladimir Kenigson graduated from the school at Simferopol Drama Theatre in 1925 and was admitted to the theater group. Then he played at the theater in Kuibyshev, Dnepropetrovsk and other cities. He was noticed on the stage by Alexander Tairov and was invited into their group.
In the years 1940-1949 Kenigson worked in Kamerny Theatre under the direction of A. Tairov, where he became a partner Alisa Koonen - in the performances of "Madame Bovary" and "Guilty Without Guilt". After the closure of the Kamerny Theatre in 1949 on the advice of Tairov joined the Maly Academic Theatre.
At the same time Vladimir Kenigson starred in the Mikheil Chiaureli's film "The Fall of Berlin", where he played the role of the Nazi general Krebs. For this, Kenigson was awarded the Stalin Prize by Joseph Stalin himself, who was delighted with his performance. Therefore, from the very first steps on one of the oldest Russian scenes Kenigson took the leading position in the company.
From 1949-1986 Kenigson was a permanent member of the troupe at Maly Academic Theatre in Moscow. There his stage partners were such stars as Elena Gogoleva, Vera Pashennaya, Elina Bystritskaya, Boris Babochkin, Mikhail Zharov, Nikolay Annenkov, Viktor Pavlov, Yury Solomin and many other notable Soviet and Russian actors. He played over 60 roles on stage and 30 roles in film and on TV. In addition to roles in movies he worked on dubbing of foreign films and cartoons, actors who talk with his voice: Jean Gabin, Louis de Funès and Totò.
Vladimir Kenigson is buried at the Vagankovo Cemetery at the 58th site, next to his son-in-law Alexey Eybozhenko.

Personal life