People’s Artist of the USSR, the USSR State Prizes Laureate Alexey Denisovich Dikiy was born on 12(24) February 1889 in Ekaterinoslavl (now Dnepropetrovsk).Passion for the theatre was a family tradirion. His sister M.D. Dikova was an actress, her husband – an actor and director A.L. Sukhodolsky.At insistence of his friend and patron, MAT actor I.M. Uralov, in 1909 Alexey Dikiy moved to Moscow, where after graduation from the Khalyuna Theatre School he joined the Moscow Art Theatre troupe (1910).Since 1913 he worked at the First MAT Studio, since 1924 — at the Second MAT.It seemed that Dikiy would be among the best MAT actor, but there was an obstacle – his permanent carving for experiment on the stage, existence in a “laboratory” environment. His genuine vocation was direction.Since January of the 1918 the work at MAT and the 1st Studio resumed.Since 1928 Alexey Dikiy worked as a director at Moscow and Leningrad theatres, in Tel-Aviv and Yaffo, where he staged two performances.In 1931 he founded his own theatre-studio (Dikiy’s Studio), where he worked as a director and teacher. The Studio was closed in 1936.In 1932-1936 he headed Moscow VCSPS Theatre.In 1936 Alexey Dikiy mevoed to Leningrad, worked at the Bolshoi Drama Theater named after Gorky.In 1937 the authorities received a delation against Dikiy. He was arrested and spent four years in a labour camp.After being released, in September of the year 1941 Alexey Dikiy joined The Vakhtangov Theatre, with which he was evacuated to Omsk.In 1944 – 1952 he worked at the Maly Theatre, became a member of the Art Council of the Committee on Cinematography, since 1952 — at the Moscow Pushkin Drama Theatre.Alexey Dikiy was also a teacher, a professor of the Schepkin Theatre School.Alexey Denisovich Dikiy died on 1 October 1955.