Feodor Feodorovich Chaliapin Jr. (Russian: Фёдор Фёдорович Шаляпин, romanized: Fyodor Fyodorovich Shalyapin; 6 October 1905 – 17 September 1992) was a Russian-born actor, who appeared in many American and Italian films. His career spanned over seven decades, from the 1920s until the early 1990s. He was the son of noted opera singer Feodor Chaliapin.
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Early life
Chaliapin was born in Moscow in 1905 to a theatrical family. His father and namesake was the great operatic bass Feodor Chaliapin. His mother, Iola Tornaghi, was an Italian-born ballerina from Monza, who abandoned a promising ballet career to care for Feodor and his five siblings. When the Russian Revolution occurred in October 1917, the Chaliapins attempted to continue living in Russia, but this became impossible, especially after the Bolsheviks reputedly confiscated his wealthy father's money and property. Along with many other Russian émigrés, part of the family emigrated to Paris in 1924, via Finland. The senior Chaliapin used this as his world base, like other émigrés and members of their families who often ended up living in the United States such as Igor Stravinsky, Sergei Rachmaninoff and, for a while, Sergei Prokofiev.Chaliapin grew up in a family that spoke three languages. He received an excellent education in Moscow and lived there until 1923, when he emigrated to Paris to be with his father, leaving behind his mother and the rest of the family. Chaliapin knew some of the greatest composers and conductors of the 20th century, particularly Rachmaninoff, a personal family friend and teacher of his father.
