Born in the Vinokurov family estate to educated Russian parents, both of whom belonged to the
merchantry social class. His father Alexander Savvich Protazanov came from a long generation of merchants and was a
hereditary distinguished citizen of
Kiev (an inherited privilege first granted to Yakov's great-grandfather, a merchant also named Yakov Protazanov who moved with his family to Kiev from
Bronnitsy). Alexander worked with the Shibaev brothers of the family of
Old Believers whose father Sidor Shibaev was among the pioneers of the oil industry. Yakov's mother Elizaveta Mikhailovna Protazanova (
nee Vinokurova) was a native
Muscovite. She finished the Elizabeth
Institute for Noble Maidens. Her brother Mikhail Vinokurov was close friends with the
Sadovsky theatrical family and made a great impact on young Protazanov. based on
Alexei Tolstoy's
novel. It was one of the first science fiction movies to depict a space flight and an alien society. His next film
The Tailor from Torzhok was released to a great success and established him as one of the leading comedy directors. He discovered many talents, such as
Igor Ilyinsky,
Mikhail Zharov,
Anatoli Ktorov,
Vera Maretskaya,
Yuliya Solntseva,
Georgy Millyar,
Serafima Birman,
Nikolai Batalov and
Mikhail Klimov. One of the most popular Russian
fairy tale directors
Alexander Rou also started as Protazanov's assistant. In 1928 he directed
The White Eagle that featured
Vsevolod Meyerhold and
Vasili Kachalov in the leading roles — one of their rare appearances on the big screen. His last acclaimed feature was a screen version of
Alexander Ostrovsky's play
Without Dowry in 1937. The cast featured many celebrated actors from the
Maly Theatre. During the
Great Patriotic War he was evacuated to
Tashkent along with some other members of
Mosfilm and
Lenfilm. Around the same time his health started declining; on his way to Tashkent he suffered a heart attack. He managed to produce only one more movie —
Nasreddin in Bukhara (1943) – itself set in Uzbekistan. His only son Georgy was killed in one of the final battles, which also affected Protazanov. He spent his last days working on the adaptation of
Alexander Ostrovsky's comedy play
Wolves and Sheep. Among his other plans were film adaptations of
War and Peace and
Oliver Twist. Protazanov died on 8 August 1945 and was buried at the
Novodevichy Cemetery. He was survived by his wife Frida and his elder sisters – Lidia Aristova, Valentina Protazanova and Nina Anjaparidze. ==Selected filmography==