Vitold Polonsky

Vitold Alfonsovich Polonsky (Russian: Витольд Альфонсович Полонский; 1879 – 5 January 1919) was a Russian silent film actor. Biography The son of a nobleman, Polonsky took drama courses in the Moscow theatre school, graduating in 1907. He acted in the Maly Theatre (Moscow) until 1916. He was one of the most popular actors in pre-Revolutionary Russian cinema. His first role was that of Prince Andrey Bolkonsky in the 1915 film Natasha Rostova. He played several hero-lover roles including Boris in The Brothers Boris and Gleb; Boris in Irina Kirsanova; Evgeny in The Song of Tumultuous Love; Andrey Bargov in After Death; Vladislav Zaritsky in Shadows of Sin (all 1915); Prince Baratynsky in A Life for a Life (1916); Lanin in By The Fireplace (1917) and Prince Mirsky in Evening Sacrifice. Polonsky was married twice. His first wife was the Maly Theatre actress Vera Nikolaevna Pashennaya (1887–1962), who became a National Artist of the USSR, a State Laureate and Lenin Prize winner. They had one daughter, Irina Polonskaya.