Mikhail Alexandrovich was born in 1891 in Petersburg. He was the nephew of the famous writer. Anton Pavlovich noted that the boy was gifted and predicted a fate of a talented person for him. And so it happened. Before emigrating, M. A. Chekhov’s creative biography was closely linked with the Moscow Art Theatre.

He served as an actor at the 1st MAT Studio. The artistic directors were L. A. Sulerzhitsky and E. B. Vakhtangov. And in 1924, he headed the already renamed MAT 2nd. The roles he performed were memorable. Critics remarked that in the 80 years of the existence of “The Government Inspector” on stage, the image of Khlestakov was played for the first time exactly as described by Gogol himself.

Mikhail Alexandrovich taught. He developed his own method, which he detailed in the book “On the Actor’s Technique.” This work is based on the world-famous Stanislavski school, with whom Chekhov worked and was his student.

Mikhail’s romance with the Republic of Latvia began on February 28, 1932, when Mikhail Alexandrovich Chekhov arrived in Riga. At the station, he was met by directors of several Riga theaters. The famous actor, a student of the brilliant director Konstantin Stanislavski, was in high demand: he wanted to perform at the Russian Theatre, but they also required him to perform at the National Theatre. How did an actor who did not know Latvian perform in a Latvian theater?

Mikhail Chekhov described it this way: “My partners performed in Latvian, I — in Russian. This did not bother anyone — in Riga, Russian was understood.” That is, Latvian audiences were willing to tolerate another language in their theater just to see the performance of a great actor!

Moreover, actor Chekhov literally “tore himself” between Latvia and Lithuania — he also performed at the State Drama Theatre of Kaunas. Chekhov not only played roles, he directed productions — both at the Russian Theatre and the National Theatre in Riga, and at the Drama Theatre in Kaunas. At the same time, he managed to rest in the summer in Jūrmala and, according to him, fell in love with Riga.

At one of the performances at the Riga Russian Theatre, the legendary Fyodor Chaliapin attended. During the intermission, he went backstage and showered actor Mikhail Chekhov with compliments!

It was in Latvia that Mikhail Chekhov opened his own studio and began conducting master classes for beginning actors.

In 1934, after the Ulmanis coup, Mikhail Alexandrovich left Latvia. He lived in England and the USA. He acted in theater and appeared in films.

For the role of Dr. Brulov in Alfred Hitchcock’s film “Spellbound,” Mikhail Chekhov was nominated for an Oscar.

Although “The Actor’s Technique” was not immediately published in America, many Hollywood “stars” went through the “Chekhov System”: Marilyn Monroe, Clint Eastwood, Anthony Quinn, Yul Brynner, Lloyd Bridges, and many others. The school was called “a forge of theatrical talents.”

Chekhov’s contribution to revealing Marilyn Monroe’s talent is considered especially significant. Many colleagues doubted the actress’s professional suitability, but Chekhov introduced her to his system of acting mastery, which Monroe followed throughout her career.

Sources:

https://ruskontur.com/ot-rigi-do-beverli-hillz/

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Чехов,_Михаил_Александрович