People’s Artist of the USSR, the USSR State Prize Laureate An actor and director Joseph Moiseyevich Tolchanov was born on 29 April (11 May) 1891.In 1911-1914 he studied at the University of Liege (France).After 1917 he entered Moscow Mamonov Studio (under the direction of B.Y. Zakhava, Y.A. Zavadsky).In 1918 he and the other students of the Studio entered Y.B. Vakhtangov’s Studio.He worked at the Vakhtangov Theatre from 1919 till 1981.Since 1920 Tolchanov took up pedagogical work, taught at the Uzbek Theatre School, at the Yakut GITIS Studio, The Schukin Theatre School.Tolchanov could create elegant images out of “ungraceful” material. The actor could understand the image thoroughly and uncover its authentic truth, depth of social and psychological description of the character.As a director Tolchanov proved to be an exacting, delicate artist, who could understand and appreciate the author’s purport and find the most clear, intelligible form of the performance to express fully the concept of the work of literature.Joseph Moiseyevich Tolchanov died on 24 August 1981.