People’s Artist of the USSR, the USSR State Prizes Laureate Boris Andreyevich Babochkin was born on 18 January 1904 in Saratov.After the October Revolution, being 15 years old, he worked at the political department of the 4th Army of the Eastern Front. That Army included Chapaev’s division. Though Boris didn’t met Chapaev himself, he had seen commanders who were very much alike, and when he was to act in a film as Chapaev, he played that role brilliantly.After demobilization Boris entered the senior year of the dramatic studio. Shortly after the head of the studio provided a recommendation letter for him to V.I. Nemirovich-Danchenko, and in 1920 Boris Babochkin went to Moscow. Having decided to achieve everything by himself, he entered two theatre schools, and then chose to study at the Pevtsov Studio “Young masters” (1920-1921).He worked at theatres of Ivanovo-Voznesensk, Mogilyov, Kostroma, Voronezh, Samarkand, at the Moscow MGSPS Theatre and Moscow Drama Theatre.Since 1927 he was an actor of the Leningrad Theatre of Satira.In 1931-1935 he worked as an actor and director at the State Academic Drama Theatre (Pushkin Drama Theatre).In 1935-1940 he was an actor, director and then the Art Director of the Bolshoi Drama Theater named after Gorky.In 1940-1945 he was an actor and director of the Vakhtangov Theatre, where he plays Stepan in “The Teacher” by S. Gerasimov (dir. By B. Zakhava, 1940) and Ognev in “The Front” of A. Korneychuk (dir. Simonov, 1942), staged “New Year’s Eve” by A. Gladkov (1945).In 1948-1951 and since 1955 Babochkin was an actor and director of the Maly Academic Theatre.In 1952-1953 — the Chief Director of the Pushkin Drama Theatre.

Boris Andreyevich Babochkin died on 17 July 1975.