Gourmand Humorist

October 20 is the centenary of the birth of Mikhail Yanshin (1902-1976), a member of the “second wave” of MKhAT theater actors who made their debut when Konstantin Stanislavsky was director there.

Yanshin joined the MKHAT in 1924 together with two other soon-to-be famous MKhAT graduates: Nikolai Khmelev and Boris Livanov, and he acted on the stage of MKHAT until the end of his life.

The young actor’s first big success was in the role of Lariosik, in Mikhail Bulgakov’s autobiographical play, “The Days of the Turbins.” In fact, Yanshin was a close friend of Bulgakov, who even attended Yanshin’s wedding. Other famous roles included Sir Peter in “Sheridan’s School of Gossip,” and the touching Frantisek Abel, in “Solo for a Clock” (which earned him a State Prize).

Yanshin’s cinema career began in 1928, in the film Katorga (Penal Servitude), where he played the role of a telegraph operator. Other roles followed, including Emperor Paul I (Lieutenant Kizhe) (1934), and in the movies Glinka (1946) and Swedish Match (1954). Yanshin was also the voice-over for hundreds of cartoons.

Yanshin had a great sense of humor and an unbridled passion for eating. Actor Yevgeny Vesnik once recalled how Yanshin, after taking off his coat at the entrance to his apartment, asked the maid Nyusha whether there was something to eat in the house. Upon hearing a “nyet,” Yanshin burst into tears like a spoiled boy. In another story about the actor, Yanshin was quoted as saying: “I don’t understand four things 1) What was the big idea of doing a revolution? 2) How do they cut letters from words on the radio? 3) How do flowers fly in the air? 4) Why did God invent homosexuals?” To which a friend replied, “And what is the biggest puzzle to you, Mikhail Mikhailovich?” “Of course, the first one,” Yanshin answered. “About the revolution.”