Nurmuxan Janturin

Nurmukhan Seitakhmetovich Zhanturin (Kazakh: Нұрмұхан Сейтахметұлы Жантөрин; April 22, 1928 — May 2, 1990) was a Soviet and Kazakh stage and film actor and director, People's Artist of the Kazakh SSR (1966).

Biography

Nurmukhan Zhanturin was born in the settlement of Kondaurovo, Guriev Region (now known as Atyrau Region, Kazakhstan) on April 22, 1928. At the age of 14 he started working as an operator's assistant in a Guriev oil prospecting group, and later attended motion picture operator courses in Alma-Ata. He graduated from Alma-Ata Movie School in 1950 and the Acting Dept. of the Ostrovsky Institute of Performing Arts (Tashkent) in 1952 and soon joined Auezov Theater. His first screen roles go back to 1948, while 1967 saw Zhanturin officially employed at Kazakhfilm Studios. He returned to the theater in 1988 and continued to work there until his death in 1990.

Zhanturin's best-known roles include Chokan Valikhanov (eponymous play by Sabit Mukanov), Kodar (Kozy Korpesh — Bayan Sulu by Gabit Musirepov), Kebek and Syrym (Enlik-Kebek and Karakoz by Mukhtar Auezov), Arman (One Tree Does Not Make a Forest by Abdilda Tazhibaev), Kaben (Unquenchable Fire by Zeinulla Kabdulov), Sanzhan (Unfunny Comedy by Akim Tarazi), Doctor (The Forgotten Man by Nâzım Hikmet), Sintaro (A Woman's Life by Kaoru Morimoto), Molière (The Cabal of Hypocrites by Mikhail Bulgakov), as well as Iago and Macbeth in Shakespeare's Othello and Macbeth (the latter in a production at the Seifullin Theater in Karaganda).

Mark Donskoy spotted Zhanturin's talent when scouting the Central Asia for actors for his movie Alitet Leaves for the Hills (after a 1950 novel by Syomushkin). Nurmukhan played the role of a young man named Tumatuge. This first screen role paved his way to popularity. Nurmukhan's other well-known roles included Kerim (Daughter of the Steppes, 1954), Dzhoomart (Saltanat, 1955), Alzhanov (On the Wild Coast of the Irtysh, 1959), Abakir (Heat, 1962), Tagay (Dzhura, 1964), Tanabay (The Trotter's Gait, 1968), Ablaykhanov (The End of the Ataman, 1970), Kurmangazy (Kurmangazy, 1974). He first appeared as Shoqan Walikhanov in the 1957 movie His Time Will Come (directed by Mazhit Begalin). Zhanturin's eponymous role in Sultan Baybars brought him a prize for Special Achievements in Acting (shared with Nonna Mordyukova) at Sozvezdie-90 USSR national festival. He performed a total of more than 50 roles on screen.

Stage career

Auezov Theater (actor):

• 1952 — The Land in Bloom;
• 1953 — Kozy Korpesh;
• 1953 — Silk Suzani;
• 1954 — Love at Dawn;
• 1954 — The Taming of the Shrew;
• 1955 — Farhad and Shirin;
• 1955 — Amangeldy;
• 1955 — Envy;
• 1956 — Chokan Valikhanov;
• 1957 — Enlik-Kebek;
• 1958 — One Tree Does Not Make a Forest;
• 1959 — What Would You Do?;
• 1960 — The Start of an Era;
• 1961 — Saule;
• 1962 — The Fourth;
• 1962 — Abai;
• 1962 — You Are the Song I Long For;
• 1963 — Karagoz;
• 1963 — Like-Minded People;
• 1964 — Mother's Field;
• 1964 — Othello;
• 1964 — Little Tragedies;
• 1965 — Forgotten By Everyone;
• 1966 — A Woman's Life;
• 1967 — Unfunny Comedy;
• 1980, 1988 — The Cabal of Hypocrites (Molière);
• 1980, 1988 — Goodbye, Wolfhound!.

Director:

• 1961 — Marriage.

Filmography

Family

Margarita Zhanturina (Iovleva) – spouse;

2 daughters: Zhanna Zhanturina is a well-known art historian in Kazakhstan, and Bakhyt Zhanturina, Doctor of Philology.

Awards and honours

• Order of the Red Banner of Labour (1959) — for outstanding achievements in the development of Kazakh art and literature and in conjunction with the ten-day festival of Kazakh art and literature in Moscow;
• Order of Friendship of Peoples (1988);
• People's Artiste of the Kazakh SSR (1966);
• State Award of the Kazakh SSR;

Legacy

• Atyrau Regional Philharmonic Hall named after Nurmukhan Zhanturin (Atyrau, 1966);
• Regional Theater of Music and Drama named after Nurmukhan Zhanturin (Aktau, 2003);
• Nurmukhan Zhanturin monument in Aktau (2018);
• Sculptures to Asanali Ashimov, Khadisha Bokeeva, Sabira Maikanova and Nurmukhan Zhanturin were installed in front of Makhambet Academic Theater of Drama in Atyrau (2020). The group is called 'Creative Discussion'.