Petr Illarionovich Shelokhonov, (, , , ; in English also spelled 'Peter' or 'Pyotr' or 'Petr'; 15 August 1929 – 15 September 1999) was a Russian actor, director, filmmaker and socialite, designated Honorable Actor of Russia (1979). A strong proponent of making High culture accessible to all people, he organized social events for all people in artistic communities of St. Petersburg and Moscow using his position as member of the Union of Actors.Book "My best friend Petr Shelokhonov" (2009, Russian) by actor Ivan I. Krasko – Saint Petersburg, Russia: SOLO Publishing, 2009.
Biography
Childhood Petr Shelokhonov was born in 1929, in Wilno Voivodeship, then a part of Poland; Petr Larionovich Shelokhonov (also known as Peter, Pyotr, or Petro Larionovich Schelochonovich in Belarusian, Polish, Yiddish and Ukrainian). His ancestors originated from Ukraine, from Baltic states, and from Poland.
His father, Larion (Illarion) Titovich Shelokhonov, practiced veterinary medicine and was living at a horse farm, where his grandfather, Tito Shelohonovich, was also a farmer. The Russian Revolution and the Russian Civil War brought dramatic changes, so Larion Shelokhonov became a feldsher and practiced medicine raising the son to become a medical doctor. Petr rode horseback during his childhood; he studied biology and medicine under his father's tutelage, spending hours researching cells and tissues using his father's microscope. Petr Shelokhonov was destined to practice medicine, like his father, but his fate was changed by World War II.Obraztsova, Natalia. "Steps to the sun" Biography of Petr Shelokhonov in THEATER LIFE" magazine No 2, 1968, Moscow, USSRIvaneev, Dmitri. Petr Shelokhonov, Honorable Actor of Russia, biography. Saint Petersburg, Russia, 2004
World War II Petr Shelokhonov survived the Nazi occupation during World War II. Following the German and Soviet invasion of Poland and the reshaping of Europe, Poland's borders were redrawn at the insistence of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, and Petr Shelokhonov's birthplace was incorporated into the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic that was swiftly occupied by German Wehrmacht in the summer of 1941. One terrible night his home was totally destroyed by Luftwaffe aerial bombing, he miraculously escaped the death by running away barefoot. He then witnessed the fire and destruction of the entire village when the German tanks leveled the remains of his house, then ruined his school and the horse farm. He tried to find his relatives until his cousin told him that there were no survivors. He was unable to find the remains of his mother, Anna Minska, to give her a proper traditional burial. He was separated from his father, who was away with horses. The Nazis arrested Petr but he escaped under heavy gunfire. Petr Shelokhonov was severely wounded in the forehead but he survived and dug a hole in the ground, to hide from Nazi police patrols during the autumn of 1941. There was no food, and people around were dying from starvation. Petr survived thanks to a wounded cow, which was blind and without calves, and her udders were full of milk. Petr used his veterinarian skills and befriended the cow, so he could suck her warm milk. Eventually, the wounded cow died. Then he learned how to explode German grenades to kill fish in a river. While doing that, he was arrested by the partisan patrol and joined the partisans in the woods.
Theatre In 1942, while surviving in the woods with partisans, Petr Shelokhonov had his first acting experience. He performed improvised parodies of Adolf Hitler and the Nazis for his fellow partisans. His performances helped lift their spirits in a time when they were struggling to survive. This experience accentuated his humble, modest character. The scar on his forehead, the mark of war, made his acting career seem like an impossible dream; but Petr was determined – depending upon his roles he covered his scar with an appropriate theatrical makeup, wore a wig or used various hats. At first, he accompanied himself playing the accordion. Then he made puppets and a screen, and worked in his own puppet theater entertaining people during the war years. In his show, titled "Peter and the Wolf," he managed to lead four puppets with four voices, and also played the accordion. He traveled across Belarus and Ukraine with his puppet theatre and performed for bread and rare food packages from the American airlift. He spoke Polish, Yiddish, Russian, Belarusian, and his native Ukrainian, and he was very lucky to survive until the end of World War II.
Leningrad In 1945, Petr Shelokhonov became a piano student at the Kiev Conservatory of Music, he also played the accordion onstage, albeit his plan was to become an actor in Leningrad. In 1946, he moved to Leningrad in pursuit of an acting career. Petr Shelokhonov was looking for a job with a jazz band, similar to his favorite bands of Leonid Utyosov and Eddie Rosner, so he joined a jazz band at the Leningrad Navy Club and also gave performances as a stand-up comedian and played the accordion. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Sergei Prokofiev and Sergei Rachmaninov were his favorites as well as the music of Glenn Miller, Louis Armstrong, Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald and other stars heard on the Voice of America radio shows. Petr's love of music and his passion for acting, which was generously peppered with his free-spirited humor, protected his peaceful soul and positive disposition and helped him survive through the roughest realities of life under Soviet communism; but when his free-spirited humor angered the hard-liners, many doors closed. The city that stood the attack of Hitler's armies and was terribly ruined but not destroyed by the nightmares of war and the Siege, where depleted people stood in lines for bread, now Stalin's supporters resumed purges. In 1946, the persecution of creative intellectuals began, so publishers, magazines, and theaters were closed. In the war-ravaged and repressed city, new people from all over poured in and with fresh forces, they attempted to restore normal life.Nicolas Werth, Histoire de l'Union soviétique, Paris, PUF, 2008, But Stalin's regime again brutally purged the city during the Leningrad affair killing the mayor and other leaders and survivors of WW2. At that time, Petr Shelokhonov was detained by the Soviet authorities and was forced to work hard labour for several months on the construction grounds for the Kirov Stadium in Leningrad until he was drafted into the Soviet Navy.
Baltic Sea In 1949, Petr Shelokhonov was conscripted into the Soviet Armed Forces in Leningrad, and then he served in the Red Navy for five years. Petr began his service as a seaman part of the crew in charge of smoke screen devices on ships of the Baltic Fleet. There he was soon arrested for telling a political joke. Petr was detained for several days at the strict guardhouse – military detention facility. That experience did not break his will, as he used humor to survive. From 1949 to 1954 he served in the Soviet Navy stationed in Kaliningrad, Klaipėda and Liepāja. Peter eventually moved up from a sailor to actor with the Theatre of the Baltic Fleet in the city of Liepāja. There he delivered many radio and stage performances, earning critical acclaim and an Honorable Note from the Republic of Latvia. In 1952, in Liepāja, he did a great job at the gala concert of the Baltic Fleet delivering exceptional performance and attracting the attention of Admirals Kharlamov and Golovko, and not only them. Petr noticed being followed. He was "caught" in the radio room listening to foreign radio stations - Frank Sinatra's voice. At that time Stalin ordered radio jamming of foreign radio stations throughout the USSR, but there was no radio interference on the sea, and the sailors listened to prohibited radio broadcasts. Listening to "enemy voices" was then a serious accusation. Petr Shelokhonov was punished again for telling political jokes and for listening to foreign radio stations, such as the Voice of America and the BBC. Listening to foreign radio stations was considered anti-soviet activity, a punishable crime in the Soviet Union during the Cold War.International broadcasting#Cold War era
But even after the guardhouse, again and again, as if spellbound, he continued to listen to his favorite music on the radio: Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Glenn Miller, Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, and understood that the big world lives a different life, that is full of joy and happiness. In 1954, Petr Shelokhonov was discharged from the Red Navy and applied to the Leningrad State Institute of Theatre, Music, and Cinema, but the school refused to accept him because of his scarred face and bad anti-soviet record. Peter's free-spirited humor only angered the hard-liners, so for him, many doors closed.Fred Andresen. "Hidden treasures" – biography of Petr Shelokhonov.
Siberia After that, Petr's acting career was limited to Siberia, where he remained under suspicion as did many other survivors who were held by the Nazis in occupied territory during World War II. He managed to survive through the roughest realities of life under Soviet communism; but he did not stop telling funny political jokes about the Soviet leadership, so when his free spirited humor angered the hard liners, many doors closed. He moved to the Siberian city of Irkutsk and studied acting at the Irkutsk drama school, graduating in 1960, as an actor.Way to stage, by Nikolai Kurteev, MOLOT daily newspaper, 17 December 1966, Rostov-Don, Russia, USSR Petr Shelokhonov was member of the Irkutsk State Drama Theater from 1957 to 1962. There he created a variety of characters ranging from Soviet working class heroes to Hamlet in Shakespeare's play.
Chekhov's Theatre From 1962 to 1968, Petr Shelokhonov worked as an actor and director at the Chekhov Drama Theatre in the city of Taganrog, Russia. There Shelokhonov created leading roles in several new productions of such classic plays by Anton Chekhov as Uncle Vanya in Uncle Vanya (), Ivanov in Ivanov (), Tuzenbach in Three Sisters (), and Treplev in The Seagull ().THEATER magazine, No8, 1965, page 6, Moscow In The Cherry Orchard, which he co-directed, he also played two opposing characters on different nights, alternating between the roles as Gayev, and as Lopakhin. Shelokhonov also appeared as Satin in The Lower Depths () by Maxim Gorky and as Derzhavin in Friends and Years by Leonid Zorin.THEATER magazine, No11, 1963, page 129, Moscow His favorite role of that period was Platonov in the eponymous play by Anton Chekhov. In 1967, for the 50th anniversary of the Russian Revolution of 1917, Shelokhonov was ordered by the Soviet Communist party to portray Lenin in several productions, an order no one could refuse in the Soviet Union. So, Shelokhonov portrayed Lenin in the style of satire, which angered the communists, but made common viewers smile.
Moscow