Boris Khmelnitsky

Boris Khmelnitsky was a popular Russian actor of film and theatre and a member of the legendary Taganka company under directorship of Yuriy Lyubimov He was born Boris Alekseevich Khmelnitsky on June 27 1940 in Ussuriisk a small town near Vladivostok in the Far East of the Soviet Union His father Aleksei Khmelnitsky was a ranking officer in the Soviet Red Army who was manager of several Army clubs in the USSR Young Khmelnitsky was brought up in a rather privileged environment since childhood he studied literature arts and music and enjoyed a special atmosphere of his fathers circle He studied music at Lvov College of Music graduating in 1961 as orchestral conductor then studied acting at Shchukin Theatrical school in Moscow graduating in 1966 as an actor In 1966 he made his film debut in Kto vernetsa dolyubit by director Leonid Osyka Khmelnitsky shot to popularity with roles in Sofiya Perovskaya 1967 by director Lev Arnshtam and in Krasnaya palatka 1970 In the USSR he was best known as Robin Hood in Strely Robin Guda 1975 and later reprized the role in The Ballad of the Valiant Knight Ivanhoe 1983 From 1964 to 1984 Khmelnitsky was a member of the troupe under directorship of Yuriy Lyubimov at the Taganka Theatre company in Moscow There his stage partners were Vladimir Vysotskiy Leonid Filatov Venyamin Smekhov Alla Demidova Zinaida Slavina Ivan Dykhovichnyy Boris Galkin Aleksandr Porokhovshchikov Valeriy Zolotukhin Natalya Sayko Nikolay Gubenko Zhanna Bolotova Nina Shatskaya Leonid Yarmolnik and other notable Russian actors During the 60s and 70s Khmelnitsky played leading roles in Taganka productions such as Pugachev and Master i Margarita a stage adaptation of the eponymous book by Mikhail A Bulgakov He also wrote music for several Taganka productions Boris Khmelnitsky enjoyed recognition in the former Soviet Union and was part of the intellectual milieu known as the 60s generation He was designated Peoples Actor of Russia 2000 He died of a chronic illness on February 16 2008 and was laid to rest next to his parents in Kuntsevskoe cemetery in Moscow Russia He is survived by his exwife Marianna Vertinskaya and their daughter Darya Khmelnitskaya