Nikolai Simonov

Nikolai Konstantionovich Simonov was born on December 4, 1901, in Samara, Russian Empire. His father, named Konstantin Simonov, was a manager of a local food industry. Young Simonov read voraciously and dreamed about acting in theatre. From 1917-1919 he studied art at Samara School of Art and Design. From 1919-1923 he studied art at Academy of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg, where his teachers were Aleksei Rylov and Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin. From 1922-1924 he studied acting under Leonid Vivyen at the Institute of Theatrical Arts in St. Petersburg, from which he graduated with honors in 1924. From 1924 -1973 Nikolai Simonov was a permanent member with the company of Pushkin Drama Theatre in St. Petersburg (Leningrad). Nikolai Simonov was among the leading actors of the Pushkin Drama Theatre. During the 1950s and 1960s he was Artistic Director of the Pushkin Drama Theatre. There his stage partners were such remarkable actors as Yekaterina Korchagina-Aleksandrovskaya, Illarion Pevtsov, Yuri Yury