Nicolas Rimsky
French postcard. Cinémagazine Editions, nr.223.
Nicolas Rimsky (Moscow 1886- Marseille 1941) was a Russian actor who is most famous for his silent films of the 1920s produced in France, though he also performed in several Russian films in the late 1910s and also had parts in the French sound cinema of the 1930s.
Nicolas Rimsky started out in Russian cinema in 1916, not only as actor but also as scriptwriter. His first film acting role was in Yastrebinoe gnedzo (1916), followed by Ledyanoydom/The House of Ice (196), while he wrote the script for Protazanov's Zhenschina s kinzhalom/The Woman with the Dagger (1916). The next year he played in three films by Protazanov: Otyets Sergei/Father Sergius, Proktalie millioni/The Red Gold, and Andrei Kozhukov (all 1917), and in 1918 in Hamka (Aleksandr Ivanovsky), Dnevnik Nelli/The Diary of Nellie (Ivanovsky), Cagliostro (Vladislav Strarevich), and Taine korolevy/The Secret of a Queen (Protazanov). His last film in Russia was Protazanov's To nadezhda, to revnost spelaya/Jealousy is Blind (1919).
With the troupe of Ermoliev, including Mozzhukin, Lissenko, Koline and Protazanov, Rimsky first moved to Crimea and then to France, where he had an excellent career in the 1920s at Ermoliev's studio in Montreuil. Next to roles in L'écheance fatale by Volkov and La tourmente by Nadejdine, his performance in 1921 was mainly dedicated to the 12-episode serial La fille sauvage by Henri Etievant, opposite Romuald Joubé and Nathalie Lissenko. After that followed three films by Tourjansky: Nuit de carnaval (1922), Calvaire d'amour (1923), and Ce cohon de Morin (1923), for which Rimsky also wrote the script and the adaptation of the stage play. Also for the next two films in which he acted Rimsky did the adaptation and scenario as well: L'heureuse mort (1924) and La cible (1924), both by Nadejdine. After his role in La dame masquée (Tourjansky 1924), Rimsky was ready to become film director as well. While his roles had been quite diversified in the early 1920s, he would specialize in comedy henceforth because of the success of the comedy Ce cochon de Morin .
Rimsky's first direction was the funny comedy Paris en cinq jours (1925), co-directed with Pierre Colombier, and with Dolly Davis in the lead, together with Rimsky himself. Again he did the adaptation and script as well. His next direction, together with Nadejdine and Henry Wulschleger was La nègre blanc (1925), for which he also did adaptation and scenario. His third and fourth direction were the romantic comedy Jim la Houlette, roi des voleurs (1926, codirected with Roger Lion) and Le chasseur de chez Maxim's (1927). In Jim la Houlette, Rimsky is a timid secretary who pretends to be a notorious thief, just to impress the daughter of his employer, a thriller writer. Of course things go wrong. In Le chasseur de chez Maxim's Rimsky again leads a double life, this time of an ordinary man with a second life in the night time. The story was co-written by Max Linder.
After that, Rimsky returned to acting, not only in the French films Minuit... Place Pigalle (René Hervil 1928), a rare tragic film, and Parce que je t'aime (Hewitt Claypoole Grantham-Hayes 1928), but also in two German films: Unmoral/Die sieben Abenteuer der Frau Venus (Willi Wolf 1928) and Cagliostro (Richard Oswald 1928). After his last silent role in Trois jeunes filles (Robert Boudrioz 1929), Rimsky co-directed with Nicolas Evreinoff his first sound film: the comedy Pas sur la bouche (1930). It was also his last film direction. Until 1939 he would continue to play in films, though: La voit qui meurt (Gennaro Dini 1932), Monsieur Sans-Gêne (1935), Gribouille (Marc Allégret 1937), Nostalgie (Tourjansky 1937), Nuits de prince (Valdimir Strijewski 1938), Les gaietés de l'exposition (Ernest Hajos 1938), le patriote (Maurice Tourneur 1938), Pièges (Robert Siodmak 1939), and Menaces/Angoisse/Cinq jours d'angoisse (Edmond T. Gréville 1939).
Sources:
www.cineartistes.com; IMDB,
François Albéra, Albatros. Des Russes à Paris, 1919-1929.
Nicolas Rimsky
French postcard. Cinémagazine Editions, nr.223.
Nicolas Rimsky (Moscow 1886- Marseille 1941) was a Russian actor who is most famous for his silent films of the 1920s produced in France, though he also performed in several Russian films in the late 1910s and also had parts in the French sound cinema of the 1930s.
Nicolas Rimsky started out in Russian cinema in 1916, not only as actor but also as scriptwriter. His first film acting role was in Yastrebinoe gnedzo (1916), followed by Ledyanoydom/The House of Ice (196), while he wrote the script for Protazanov's Zhenschina s kinzhalom/The Woman with the Dagger (1916). The next year he played in three films by Protazanov: Otyets Sergei/Father Sergius, Proktalie millioni/The Red Gold, and Andrei Kozhukov (all 1917), and in 1918 in Hamka (Aleksandr Ivanovsky), Dnevnik Nelli/The Diary of Nellie (Ivanovsky), Cagliostro (Vladislav Strarevich), and Taine korolevy/The Secret of a Queen (Protazanov). His last film in Russia was Protazanov's To nadezhda, to revnost spelaya/Jealousy is Blind (1919).
With the troupe of Ermoliev, including Mozzhukin, Lissenko, Koline and Protazanov, Rimsky first moved to Crimea and then to France, where he had an excellent career in the 1920s at Ermoliev's studio in Montreuil. Next to roles in L'écheance fatale by Volkov and La tourmente by Nadejdine, his performance in 1921 was mainly dedicated to the 12-episode serial La fille sauvage by Henri Etievant, opposite Romuald Joubé and Nathalie Lissenko. After that followed three films by Tourjansky: Nuit de carnaval (1922), Calvaire d'amour (1923), and Ce cohon de Morin (1923), for which Rimsky also wrote the script and the adaptation of the stage play. Also for the next two films in which he acted Rimsky did the adaptation and scenario as well: L'heureuse mort (1924) and La cible (1924), both by Nadejdine. After his role in La dame masquée (Tourjansky 1924), Rimsky was ready to become film director as well. While his roles had been quite diversified in the early 1920s, he would specialize in comedy henceforth because of the success of the comedy Ce cochon de Morin .
Rimsky's first direction was the funny comedy Paris en cinq jours (1925), co-directed with Pierre Colombier, and with Dolly Davis in the lead, together with Rimsky himself. Again he did the adaptation and script as well. His next direction, together with Nadejdine and Henry Wulschleger was La nègre blanc (1925), for which he also did adaptation and scenario. His third and fourth direction were the romantic comedy Jim la Houlette, roi des voleurs (1926, codirected with Roger Lion) and Le chasseur de chez Maxim's (1927). In Jim la Houlette, Rimsky is a timid secretary who pretends to be a notorious thief, just to impress the daughter of his employer, a thriller writer. Of course things go wrong. In Le chasseur de chez Maxim's Rimsky again leads a double life, this time of an ordinary man with a second life in the night time. The story was co-written by Max Linder.
After that, Rimsky returned to acting, not only in the French films Minuit... Place Pigalle (René Hervil 1928), a rare tragic film, and Parce que je t'aime (Hewitt Claypoole Grantham-Hayes 1928), but also in two German films: Unmoral/Die sieben Abenteuer der Frau Venus (Willi Wolf 1928) and Cagliostro (Richard Oswald 1928). After his last silent role in Trois jeunes filles (Robert Boudrioz 1929), Rimsky co-directed with Nicolas Evreinoff his first sound film: the comedy Pas sur la bouche (1930). It was also his last film direction. Until 1939 he would continue to play in films, though: La voit qui meurt (Gennaro Dini 1932), Monsieur Sans-Gêne (1935), Gribouille (Marc Allégret 1937), Nostalgie (Tourjansky 1937), Nuits de prince (Valdimir Strijewski 1938), Les gaietés de l'exposition (Ernest Hajos 1938), le patriote (Maurice Tourneur 1938), Pièges (Robert Siodmak 1939), and Menaces/Angoisse/Cinq jours d'angoisse (Edmond T. Gréville 1939).
Sources:
www.cineartistes.com; IMDB,
François Albéra, Albatros. Des Russes à Paris, 1919-1929.