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Valéry Inkijinoff

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Valéry Inkijinoff
Валерий Инкижинов
Inkijinoff in Storm Over Asia (1928)
Born
Valery Ivanovich Inkizhinov (Валерий Иванович Инкижинов)

25 March 1895
Died26 September 1973
Alma materPolytechnical Institute of Saint Petersburg
Occupations
  • Actor
  • director
  • teacher
Years active1928-1972

Valery Ivanovich Inkizhinov (Russian: Валерий Иванович Инкижинов[a]; 25 March 1895 – 26 September 1973), known as Valéry Inkijinoff, was a Russian-French actor, director and acting teacher. Born to a Buryat family in Irkutsk, he began his career in the Soviet Union, playing the lead role in Vsevolod Pudovkin's 1928 film Storm Over Asia. He immigrated to France in the 1930s, where his strong facial features made him a favorite villain for exotic adventure and crime films.

Early life

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Inkijinoff was born in Irkutsk gubernia to a Christian Buryat father and an ethnic Russian mother. He studied at the Polytechnical Institute of Saint Petersburg, and for a time one of the resident actors of an imperial theater of the city. He studied acting under Vsevolod Meyerhold, where he helped develop the rehearsal technique of biomechanics.[1] He joined Meyerhold's troupe in Moscow, where he also studied with Lev Kuleshov.

Career

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At the beginning of his career in Russia, he appeared first as stuntman in a few movies and then as director and as actor. His major lead role during the Russian part of his career is Bair in Storm Over Asia by Vsevolod Pudovkin in 1928, a major Soviet propaganda film about a fictional British consolidation of Mongolia. He was also an actor in the troop of Vsevolod Meyerhold and was then appointed as director of the movie and theater school of Kiev.

In 1930, while in France on a European tour, he refused to return to the USSR. According to Boris Shumyatsky, after Stalin learned Inkijinoff had never returned in 1934, said: "Too bad that the man escaped. Now he, probably, is dying to come back but, alas, too late." He starred in 2 movies while living in the Soviet Union, and contrary to Stalin's assumption, Inkijinoff became immensely popular in Europe, arguably the most successful Soviet actor abroad, starring in a total of 44 French, British, German, and Italian films.

In France he frequently played the part of Asian villains. His most active period was in the thirties, when he appeared in Les Bateliers de la Volga [fr] and the G. W. Pabst film Le drame de Shanghai. He played for Fritz Lang in 1959, in Der Tiger von Eschnapur and its sequel Das indische Grabmal, in which he played the role of the high priest Yama. In 1965, Philippe de Broca cast him as Monsieur Goh, the wise but scary Chinese who guarantees to the Jean-Paul Belmondo character a certain death in Les tribulations d'un Chinois en Chine.

His last movie was with Brigitte Bardot and Claudia Cardinale, where he played the role of Indian chief Spitting Bull in Les pétroleuses.

Personal life and death

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He was a great friend of Charles Dullin and Louis Jouvet, and had a long career in French theater, appearing for instance in Marie Galante by Jacques Deval.

He died at his home in Brunoy, Essonne, France, aged 78.

Filmography

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Film

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Year Title Role Notes
1917 Silnyi chelovek
1925 Pasplata As director; lost film
1926 Rasplata Lost film
1927 Vor As director; lost film
1928 Storm Over Asia Bair
1929 Kometa As director; lost film
1930 Le capitaine jaune Mongol Maitre d'Hotel
1933 The Battle Hirata
A Man's Neck Radek
Typhoon Dr. Nitobe Tokeramo
1934 Amok Amok / Maté
Volga in Flames Silatschoff
1935 Frisians in Peril Kommissar Tschernoff
1936 The Last Four on Santa Cruz Reeder Alexis Aika
The Volga Boatman Kiro
1937 The Wife of General Ling General Ling / Mr. Wong
1938 Street Without Joy Louis Stinner
The Shanghai Drama Lee Pang
Rail Pirates Wang
1948 The Renegade Moktar
1949 Maya Cachemire
1950 The Black Rose Chinese Minister Uncredited
1954 Mata Hari's Daughter Naos
1955 Verrat an Deutschland Hotsumi Ozaki
1956 Beloved Corinna Chin
Michel Strogoff Feofar Khan
1958 The Doctor of Stalingrad Lt. Colonel Worotilow
1959 The Tiger of Eschnapur Yama
The Indian Tomb
1960 Mistress of the World Priest
1961 The Triumph of Michael Strogoff Amektal
Maciste alla corte del Gran Khan Taoist High Priest
1962 Mon oncle du Texas Big Nose
1964 The Secret of Dr. Mabuse Dr. Krishna
Nick Carter va tout casser Li-Hang
1965 Up to His Ears Mr. Goh
1966 Atout cœur à Tokyo pour OSS 117 Yekota
1967 The Blonde from Peking Fang Ho Kung
The Last Adventure Kyobaski
1971 The Legend of Frenchie King Spitting Bull

Television

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Year Title Role Notes
1966 Il faut que je tue Monsieur Rumann Mr. Rumann Made-for-TV movie
1967-68 The Aeronauts Mr. X / Le Képala 17 episodes
1971 Tang Tang 13 episodes
1972 Le Fils du ciel Minh 26 episodes

References

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  1. ^ Zabrodin, Vladimir (2018). Experiences of Concrete Film Studies. LitRes. ISBN 9785041166472.
  1. ^ Alternatively anglicized as Walerian Iwanowitsch Inkischinow.
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