Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko

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Vladimir Ivanovich Nemirovich-Danchenko (Владимир Иванович Немирович-Данченко in Russian) (December 11(23), 1858 - April 25, 1943, Moscow) was a Russian theatre director, writer, pedagogue, and playwright, who co-founded the Moscow Art Theatre with his more famous colleague, Konstantin Stanislavsky, in 1898.

In 1919 he established the Musical Theatre of the Moscow Art Theatre, which was reformed into the Nemirovich-Danchenko Musical Theatre in 1926. By that time, the relations between him and Stanislavsky became so strained that they didn't talk for years, as recounted in Mikhail Bulgakov's Theatrical Novel. After Stanislavsky's withdrawal from the theatre, Nemirovich-Danchenko staged an acclaimed version of Anna Karenina (1937) with Alla Tarasova in the title role. In 1943 Nemirovich-Danchenko established the Moscow Art Theatre School, which continues to thrive to this day.

Nemirovich-Danchenko was one of the very first recipients of the title of People's Artist of the USSR in 1936. Later, he was awarded the USSR State Prize (1942, 1943), Order of Lenin, and Order of the Red Banner of Labor. His descendants continue to work in the theatre he founded.