Nikolai Afanasyevich Kryuchkov (13 April 1994) was a Soviet and Russian stage and film actor. He appeared in around 130 films between 1932 and 1993..
After the 1939 film Tractor Drivers, Kryuchkov became the most filmed actor in Soviet cinema. That role also won him a Stalin Prize, 1st class, in 1941. Later he gained even greater popularity thanks to the movies Lad from Our Town (1942) and Heavenly Slug (1945). A prolific actor, he could work in five films simultaneously and also played in theatre. He was named Merited Artist of the RSFSR in 1942, People's Artist of the RSFSR in 1950 and People's Artist of the USSR in 1965.
In 1991, he received a Nika Award for Lifetime Achievement, which is given by the Russian Academy of Cinema Arts and Science to one person per year.
Kryuchkov was awarded the Hero of Socialist Labor title (1980) and two Orders of Lenin (1940, 1980).
Nikolai Kryuchkov was born to a working-class family in Moscow on December 24, 1910 (N. S. January 6, 1911).
At the age of 14, he entered the professional technical school at the Trekhgornaya textile factory. There, he studied to be an engraver, and it was there where he began playing in amateur theatre.
In 1928âÂÂ1930, he studied at the acting school at the Moscow Central Theater of Working Youth. He combined his studies with work at the Trekhgornaya textile factory. He made his theatrical debut in 1927 in the production of a play titled 1905. From 1928 to 1933, he performed as an actor at the Moscow Central Theater of Working Youth (; presently Lenkom). He studied acting under Nikolai Khmelyov, Ilya Sudakov and Igor Savchenko.
His film debut was the role of the shoemaker Senka in Boris Barnet's film Outskirts (1933).
Since 1934 he worked as an actor at the Mezhrabpomfilm film studio (since 1936 named Soyuzdetfilm, since 1948 known as the Gorky Film Studio).
When the Great Patriotic War began, he wanted to enlist in the army, but the military registration and enlistment office refused him, deeming that his country needed him more as an actor. He continued to act in films, including as military men. He also performed for soldiers at the frontline as part of so-called concert brigades.
In 1941âÂÂ1945, he worked as an actor at the Mosfilm film studio and the Central United Film Studio (; presently Kazakhfilm).
Since 1945, he worked as an actor at the Theatre Studio of Film Actors.
In 1953, he joined the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
He was also a member of the Soviet Filmmakers' Union.
In 1987, he published a book titled What a Man Lives By.
In total, over the years, he acted in about one hundred and thirty films.
He died on April 13, 1994, in Moscow and was buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery.