Michael Chekhov

Michael Chekhov
Chekhov, 1910s
Born	Mikhail Aleksandrovich Chekhov (1891-08-16)16 August 1891 Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire
Died	30 September 1955(1955-09-30) (aged 64) Beverly Hills, California, U.S.
Years active	1913–1954
Spouses	Olga Chekhova ​ ​ (m. 1914; div. 1917)​ Xenia Karlovna Ziller ​ ​ (m. 1918)​
Children	Ada Tschechowa
Parent(s)	Alexander Chekhov Natalya Golden
Relatives	Anton Chekhov (uncle) Olga Knipper (aunt) Vera Tschechowa (granddaughter)

Mikhail Aleksandrovich Chekhov (Russian: Михаил Александрович Чехов; 16 August 1891 – 30 September 1955), known as Michael Chekhov, was a Russian-American actor, director, author, and theatre practitioner. He was a nephew of the playwright Anton Chekhov and a student of Konstantin Stanislavski. Stanislavski referred to him as his most brilliant student.

Although mainly a stage actor, he made a few notable appearances on film, perhaps most memorably as the Freudian analyst in Alfred Hitchcock's Spellbound (1945), for which he received his only Academy Award nomination.

Life

He was born in Saint Petersburg, the son of Alexander Chekhov (the elder brother of Anton Chekhov) and his wife Natalya Aleksandrovna Golden. It was his father's second marriage. His mother, a Russian Jew, had been the governess to the children from his father's first marriage. He was raised in a middle-class family; his father was in the Imperial Customs Service and was a moderately successful writer.

Chekhov's first wife was actress Olga Chekhova, whom he met at the Moscow Art Theatre First Studio. Olga Chekhova was a daughter of Konstantin Knipper and was the niece of Olga Knipper, Anton Chekhov's wife, after whom she was named. Their daughter, also baptized Olga, was born in 1916 and became a German actress under the name Ada Tschechowa. His second wife was Xenia Karlovna Ziller, of German origins.

Chekhov studied under the Russian theatre practitioner Konstantin Stanislavski at the First Studio, where he acted, directed, and studied Stanislavski's 'system'. He was also influenced in his creative development as an actor by Yevgeny Vakhtangov and Leopold Sulerzhitsky. In 1922, after the death of Vakhtangov, Chekhov became director of the First Studio, which was subsequently renamed Moscow Art Theatre II.

Stanislavski considered Chekhov to be one of his brightest students. When Chekhov experimented with affective memory and had a nervous breakdown, this aided Stanislavski in seeing the limitations of his early concepts of emotional memory.

After the October Revolution, Chekhov split with Stanislavski and toured with his own company. He thought that Stanislavski's techniques led too readily to a naturalistic style of performance. He demonstrated his own theories acting in parts such as Senator Ableukhov in the stage version of Andrei Bely's Petersburg.

With the beginning of Stalinism in 1927, Chekov came into conflict with the Communist regime and was threatened to be arrested, especially for his spiritualist interests. In the late 1920s, Chekhov emigrated to Germany and set up his own studio, teaching a physical and imagination-based system of actor training. He developed the use of the "Psychological Gesture", a concept derived from the Symbolist theories of Bely. In this technique, the actor physicalizes a character's need or internal dynamic in the form of an external gesture. Subsequently, the outward gesture is suppressed and incorporated internally, allowing the physical memory to inform the performance on an unconscious level.

Between 1930 and 1935 he worked in Kaunas State Drama Theatre in Lithuania. Between 1936 and 1939 Chekhov established The Chekhov Theatre School at Dartington Hall, in Devon, England. Following developments in Germany that threatened the outbreak of war he moved to the US with the couple, and later writers, Anne Cumming and Henry Lyon Young to recreate a drama school.

Career

Chekhov in 1922, from The Russian Theater by Oliver Sayler

Following Stanislavski's approach, much of what Chekhov explored addressed the question of how to access the unconscious creative self through indirect non-analytical means. Chekhov taught a range of movement dynamics such as molding, floating, flying, and radiating that actors use to find the physical core of a character.

Despite his seemingly external approach, Chekhov's techniques were meant to lead the actor to a rich internal life. In spite of his brilliance as an actor and his first-hand experience in the development of Stanislavski's groundbreaking work, Chekhov as a teacher was overshadowed by his American counterparts in the 1940s and 1950s and their interpretations of Stanislavski's 'system,' which became known as Method acting. Interest in Chekhov's work has grown, however, with a new generation of teachers. Chekhov's own students included Marilyn Monroe, Anthony Quinn, Clint Eastwood, Dorothy Dandridge, Mala Powers, Yul Brynner, Patricia Neal, Sterling Hayden, Jack Palance, Elia Kazan, Robert Lewis, Paula Strasberg, Guy Gillette, and Lloyd and Dorothy Bridges. In the television programme Inside the Actors Studio, noted actors such as Johnny Depp and Anthony Hopkins have cited Chekhov's book as highly influential on their acting. Beatrice Straight also thanked Chekhov in her acceptance speech after winning her Oscar for her performance in Network (1976).

Chekhov's description of his acting technique, On the Technique of Acting, was written in 1942. When reissued in 1991 it had additional material by Chekhov estate executor Mala Powers; an abridged version appeared under the title To the Actor in 1953, with a preface by Yul Brynner, and reissued in 2002 with an additional foreword by Simon Callow and additional Russian material translated and commented on by Andrei Malaev-Babel, a notable Russian-born acting scholar and teacher. The English translation of his autobiography The Path of the Actor was edited by Andrei Kirillov and Bella Merlin and published by Routledge in 2005, marking the 50th anniversary of his death. Some of Chekhov's lectures are available on CD under the title On Theatre and the Art of Acting. The documentary From Russia to Hollywood: the 100 Year Odyssey of Chekhov and Shdanoff, profiles Chekhov and his fellow Russian associate George Shdanoff; released in 1998, it is narrated by Mala Powers and Gregory Peck, who starred in Alfred Hitchcock's Spellbound, for which Chekhov earned an Oscar nomination.

Selected filmography

Michael Chekhov as Erik in the 1921 production of August Strindberg's Erik XIV

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1914	Kogda zvuchat struny serdtsa
1915	Shkaf s syurprizom
1916	Liubvi syurprizy tshchetnye
1921	Erik XIV	Erik XIV
1927	Einer gegen alle
1927	Man from the Restaurant	Skorokhodov
1929	Der Narr seiner Liebe	Didier Mireuil
1930	Phantoms of Happiness	Jacques Bramard
1930	Troika	Paschka, village idiot
1944	Song of Russia	Ivan Stepanov
1944	In Our Time	Uncle Leopold Baruta
1945	Spellbound	Dr. Alexander 'Alex' Brulov
1946	Specter of the Rose	Max Polikoff
1946	Cross My Heart	Peter
1946	Abie's Irish Rose	Solomon Levy
1948	Texas, Brooklyn & Heaven	Mr. Gaboolian
1952	Invitation	Dr. Fromm
1952	Holiday for Sinners	Dr. Konndorff
1954	Rhapsody	Professor Schuman	(final film role)

Bibliography

• Чехов, Михаил. Литературное наследие: В 2 т. / Общ. науч. ред. М.О. Кнебель; сост.: И.И. Аброскина, М.С. Иванова, Н.А. Крымова; коммент. И.И. Аброскиной, М.С. Ивановой. М., 1995.

Further reading

• Rushe, Sinéad, Michael Chekhov's Acting Technique: A Practitioner's Guide. London, Bloomsbury, 2019.
• Dixon, Graham, The Master Key to Acting Freedom: Getting Ready for the Theatre of Life, 2021.
• Chekhov, Michael, On the Technique of Acting. New York: HarperCollins, 1991.
• Chekhov, Michael, Lessons for the Professional Actor. New York: Performing Arts Journal Publications, 1985.
• Chekhov, Michael, Lessons for Teachers of his Acting Technique. Ottawa: Dovehouse Editions Inc., 2000.
• Powers, Mala, Michael Chekhov: On Theatre and the Art of Acting, Audio CD. New York: Working Arts, 2004. There are 4 CDs.
• Chekhov, Michael, The Path of the Actor. London: Routledge, 2005. This includes selections from Life and Encounters.
• Chekhov, Michael, Ball, David (trans), Life and Encounters. Unpublished manuscript, copyright Michael Chekhov Centre UK.
• Leonard, Charles, Michael Chekhov's To the Director and Playwright. New York: Limelight Editions, 1984.
• Hurst Du Prey, Deirdre Hurst, ‘Interview with Deirdre Hurst Du Prey at Dartington in July 1978 by Peter Hulton’ in The Training Sessions of Michael Chekhov, Dartington: Dartington Theatre Papers, Third Series, 9 (1979–80) ( ISSN 0309-8036).
• Hurst Du Prey, Deirdre Hurst, ‘Verbatim transcripts by Deirdre Hurst Du Prey of lessons given by Michael Chekhov in 1939′ in The Training Sessions of Michael Chekhov,
• Dartington: Dartington Theatre Papers, Third Series, 9 (1979–80) ( ISSN 0309-8036).
• Petit, Lenard, The Michael Chekhov Handbook, for the Actor. Oxon: Routledge, 2010.
• Chamberlain, Franc, Michael Chekhov. London; Routledge, 2004.
• Black, Lendley C., Mikhail Chekhov as Actor, Director and Teacher. Michigan: Ann Arbor UMI Research Press, 1987.
• The Drama Review: TDR, Vol. 27, No. 3 (T99) (Fall 1983), Michael Chekhov.
• Chamberlain, Franc, Kirillov, Andrei and Pitches, Jonathan, Theatre, Dance and Performance Training, Michael Chekhov, Vol. 4(2) (2013).
• Ashperger, Cynthia, The Rhythm of Space and the Sound of Time. New York: Rodopi, 2008
• Zinder, David, Body, Voice, Imagination. London: Routledge, 2002.
• Micha, Master Classes in the Michael Chekhov Technique, DVD. UK: Routledge, 2007.
• Zinder, David, Actor Training (Michael Chekhov), DVD, Peter Hulton (dir). Exeter: Arts Documentation Unit.
• Michael Chekhov, The Dartington Years, DVD
• Michael Chekhov: From Moscow to Hollywood, DVD
• Mason, Felicity, The Training Sessions of Michael Chekhov (1993) Arts Archives. Arts Documentation Unit, Exeter, UK 2008.
• Farber, Vreneli, Stanislavsky in Practice: Actor Training in Post-Soviet Russia (Artists & Issues in the Theatre, Vol. 16) New York: Peter Lang, 2008. (summary of M. Chekhov's system and its application in post-Soviet actor training) ISBN 978-1-4331-0315-5
• Евгений Вахтангов. Документы и свидетельства: В 2 т. / Ред.-сост В.В. Иванов; ред. М.В. Львова, М.В. Хализева. М.: Индрик, 2011. Т. 1 – 519 с., илл.; Т. 2 – 686 с., илл.
• Евгений Вахтангов в театральной критике / Ред.-сост. В.В. Иванов. М.: Театралис, 2016. – 703 с.; илл.
• Иванов В.В. Евгений Вахтангов и Михаил Чехов. Игра на краю, или Театральный опыт трансцендентального// Русский авангард 1910-1920-х годов и проблема экспрессионизма/ Редколлегия: Г.Ф. Коваленко и др. М.; Наука, 2003.
• Лекции Рудольфа Штайнера о драматическом искусстве в изложении Михаила Чехова. Письма к В.А. Громову. Публ. С.В. Казачкова и Т.Л. Стрижак. Вступ. текст В.В. Иванова. Коммент. С.В. Казачкова, Т.Л. Стрижак и В.Г. Астаховой // Мнемозина. Документы и факты из истории отечественного театра ХХ века / Ред.-сост. В.В. Иванов. Вып. 2. М.: УРСС, 2000. С. 85–142.
• "Зритель – лицо всегда загадочное для артиста…" Письма зрителей, читателей и коллег Михаилу Чехову. Публ., вступит. статья и коммент. М.В. Хализевой // Мнемозина. Документы и факты из истории отечественного театра XX века / Ред.-сост. В.В. Иванов. Вып. 4. М.: Индрик, 2009. С. 585–616.

External links

• Studio Azot méthodes M.Chekhov et Meisner - Paris

• Michael Chekhov at IMDb 
• Michael Chekhov at the TCM Movie Database
• Michael Chekhov at the Internet Broadway Database
• National Michael Chekhov Association
• Michael Chekhov in Russia
• Michael Chekhov International Center
• Michael Chekhov and The Psychological Gesture
• The Actor is the Theatre: a collection of Michael Chekhov's unpublished notes and manuscripts on the art of acting and the theatre: typescript, 1977, held by the Billy Rose Theatre Division, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
• Michael Chekhov School: A Theatre Laboratory
• The Michael Chekhov Association
• Chekhov International Theatre School in Melikhovo (Russia)
• Chekhov Studio International USA & Europe
• Learn Michael Chekhov's Method at Studio Azot