Veniamine Borissovitch Smekhov, born on August 10, 1940, in Moscow, is a Russian actor, director, writer, documentary filmmaker, and television host.
In 1957, he was admitted to Vladimir Etush’s class at the Boris Shchukin Theatre Institute. Graduating in 1961, his career began at the Samara Drama Theatre. The following year, he joined the Moscow Drama and Comedy Theatre, which in 1964 became the Taganka Theatre under the direction of Yuri Lyubimov. In 1985, after Lyubimov was deprived of his Soviet citizenship following an interview with The Times in 1984, and Anatoly Efros replaced him, Smekhov left the theatre for Sovremennik Theatre, returning in 1987.
His film career began in 1968, but true popularity came with the role of Athos in “D’Artagnan and the Three Musketeers” directed by Georgiy Jungvald-Khilkevitch.
