Sergey Aleksandrovich Martinson (; – 2 September 1984) was a Soviet and Russian stage, film and voice actor. People's Artist of the RSFSR (1964).
He was born in Saint Petersburg in the family of Swedish and Russian descent. His parents adored theater and took their son to many performances. As a schoolboy, Sergey played in a theatrical studio.
After one year of education in the Technological institute, he decided to become a professional actor. At the entrance exams he read Boris Godunov's monologue from Pushkin's play. The exam board roared with laughter, but refused to accept him. He later joined the theatrical institute from a second attempt.
Martinson worked in several theaters. In 1924–1941 he played in the Theatre of the Revolution. In 1925–1926, 1929–1933, 1937–1938 he was the leading actor of Vsevolod Meyerhold's theatre. He was cast by Meyerhold in the plays The Government Inspector, Mandate and others. From 1933 to 1936 he worked in the music hall.
He married his first wife, Yekaterina Ilyinichna Ilyina (born: 1900, St Petersburg, Russia, died: 1985, New York, USA), an actress, in 1927, whom he met during his acting studies; their daughter, Anna, later a successful artist and costume designer, was born in 1928 (died New York, 2012), she married the Russian conductor and violist Rudolf Barshai (1924–2010). Although they had never officially divorced, he married his second wife, dancer Lola Dobrokhotova, who was later exiled by the government for alleged connections to "foreign elements" and died in exile; they had a son, Aleksandr (1939–2003). His third wife, Luisa (born: Ukraine, 1929, died: 2018, USA) was a woman 30 years junior to Martinson. They had a daughter, Natasha (born 1956) and divorced several years later.
Filmography
Films
The Adventures of Oktyabrina (1924) – Coolidge Kerzonovich Poincaré
The Devil's Wheel (1926) – Orchestra conductor
Little Brother (1927) – Trust director
The Deserter (1933) – Passerby
Marionettes (1934) – G, the Barber
Loss of Sensation (1935) – Dizer, music hall artist
Treasure Island (1937) – Bradley
The Oppenheim Family (1938) – Gutwetter, poet
Stepan Razin (1939) – Fyodor Shpyn
The Golden Key (1939) – Duremar
Anton Ivanovich Is Angry (1941) – Kerosinov, composer
We from the Urals (1943) – Dance club manager
Silva (1944) – Count Boni
The Wedding (1944) – Ivan Mikhailovich Yat, telegrapher
Secret Agent (1947) – Willi Pommer
The Third Blow (1948) – Adolf Hitler
Przhevalsky (1951) – Andrei Ivanovich Shatilo, professor
Sadko (1952) – Inok
Attack from the Sea (1953) – Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies
Ilya Muromets (1956) – Boyar Mishatychka
A Crazy Day (1956) – Miusov
The Idiot (1958) – Lebedev
Scarlet Sails (1961) – Philip, coal miner
The Night Before Christmas (1961) – Osip Nikiforovich, diak
Wind of Freedom (1961) – Innkeeper
Funny Stories (1962) – Lyuska the dog's owner
Tale about the Boy-Kibalchish (1964) – Agent 518
Tale About the Lost Time (1964) – Prokofy Prokofyevich the Evil Wizard
Thirty Three (1965) – Valentin Petrovich, Rozochka's father
The Tale of Tsar Saltan (1966) – Saltan's guardian
The Beautiful Girl (1969) – Lonely old man with cane
Ruslan and Ludmila (1972) – Byzantine ambassador
Armed and Dangerous (1977) – Mr. Trott
The New Adventures of Captain Wrongel (1978) – Sir Vant, bandit leader
The Hound of the Baskervilles (1981) – Mr. Frankland
And Life, and Tears, and Love (1983) – Yegoshkin
Voice acting
The Lost Letter (1945) – Witch
The Enchanted Boy (1955) – Rat leader
The Snow Queen (1957) – The Raven
The Adventures of Buratino (1959) – Mantis the Doctor
It Was I Who Drew the Little Man (1960) – Chalk-drawn Little Man / Eight-legged creature Cipollino (1961) – Prince Lemon / One of Lemon's soldiers The Key (1961) – Zmei Gorynych's second head The Wild Swans (1962) – Monk Adventures of Mowgli (1967–1971) – Tabaqui