A photo exhibition dedicated to the 100th anniversary of Innokenty Smoktunovsky's birth will open in Moscow.

On April 10, 2025, at 12:00 p.m., a photo exhibition dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the birth of People's Artist of the USSR Innokenty Smoktunovsky, a Soviet and Russian theater and film actor, will open on Strastnoy Boulevard, opposite House 12. The photo exhibition will introduce guests to the amazing biography of the actor and the kaleidoscope of his great works both on the theater stage and in the cinema. The project was prepared by the Department of Culture, the Moscow Directorate of Mass Events in cooperation with the Moscow Art Theater Museum.

Innokenty Smoktunovsky's meteoric rise in cinema and theater was accompanied by a general shock, and they began talking about the appearance of a new type of actor. Smoktunovsky was called the first intellectual actor of Soviet cinema, and after the premiere of the play "Idiot" on the stage of the Leningrad BDT he was simply a genius. His Hamlet, Prince Myshkin and Yuri Detochkin became the standards of acting. The exhibition on Strastnoy Boulevard will introduce visitors to the creative legacy of Innokenty Smoktunovsky, a master of complex and subtle images.

In 1943, he was sent as a private to the front, was captured, from where he was able to escape, and continued to serve in the military with the rank of senior sergeant. He finished the war in the German city of Grevesmuhl, and received two medals for Bravery.

In 1955, Smoktunovsky came to Moscow and got a job as an extra at the Actor's Theater. And the following year, he made his cameo debut with Mikhail Romm himself in the film Murder on Dante Street.

A pivotal role in Innokenty Smoktunovsky's career was played by Prince Myshkin in Georgy Tovstonogov's play "The Idiot" based on the novel by Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky on the stage of the Leningrad Academic Bolshoi Drama Theater named after M. Gorky. After the role of Myshkin, Smoktunovsky was regularly invited to shoot by leading directors – Eldar Ryazanov, Andrei Konchalovsky, Grigory Kozintsev and many others.

At the photo exhibition, visitors will be able to see unique footage from the archival collection of the Moscow Art Theater Museum, get acquainted with the biography of the People's Artist and see recordings of Smoktunovsky's performances on the Moscow Art Theater stage as Ivanov from the play "Ivanov", Louis the Great from the play "The Cabal of Saints" and Bach from the production "A Possible Meeting" – the exhibition stands will be supplemented with QR codes, presenters on video recordings of performances.

The photo exhibition will be presented on Strastnoy Boulevard opposite House 12, from April 10 to May 4, 2025.