Igor Ilyinsky, a Russian actor and People’s Artist of the USSR (he starred as Ogurtsov in Eldar Ryzanov’s comedy The Carnival Night and as Kutuzov in Ryazanov’s another motion picture Hussar Ballad), was born on July 25 (July 11 old style) 1901, into a doctor’s family. He loved theater from his youth. During his school years, he published the humorous magazine “Razny Rod” and often went to see Art and Maly theater performances. In the fall of 1917, he enrolled at the Kommissarzhevsky and Sakhnovsky theater studio. Soon afterwards, in February 1918, he went on the professional stage by playing in Lysistrata staged at the Kommissarzhevskaya Theater. Then followed a succession of other Moscow theatres – the operetta, the Bat cabaret, Terevsat (Theatre of Revolutionary Satire), and the First Studio of the Moscow Art Theater. Starting in 1920, he threw his fate in with Vsevolod Meyerhold, who featured Ilyinsky in his productions as Compromiser and Prisypkin (in Vladimir Mayakovsky’s Mysteria-Buff and The Bedbug), Bruno (The Magnificent Cuckold), Arkady Shchastlivtsev (in Alexander Ostrovsky’s The Forest) and Rasplyuyev (in Alexander Sukhovo-Kobylin’s Krechinsky’s Wedding). In 1938, he joined the Maly Theater, where he played many roles, including Khlestakov in The Inspector General. He debuted in cinema in 1924. The films he acted in include Aelita, The Cigarette Girl of Mosselprom, The Tailor from Torzhok, The Three-Million Trial, The Feast of St. Jorgen, A Doll with Millions, and A Kiss from Mary Pickford. In Grigory Alexandrov’s musical comedy Volga-Volga he created the striking and well-remembered character of the bureaucrat Byvalov. A new wave of popularity came when he appeared in the film The Carnival Night (1956). His acting as Kutuzov in the film Hussar Ballad marked another high in his career. Igor Ilyinsky died on January 13, 1987. He is buried at Novodevichy Convent.
