Valéry Inkijinoff

Valéry Inkijinoff

Born: March 25, 1895
Died: September 26, 1973
in Bokhan, Irkutsk governorate, Russian Empire
Valéry Inkijinoff (Russian: Валерьян (Валерий) Иванович Инкижинов; 25 March 1895 – 26 September 1973) was a French actor of Russian-Buryat origin. His strong facial features made him a favourite villain of French cinema for exotic adventure films and crime movies.

Inkijinoff was born to a Christian Buryat father and a Russian mother in Irkutsk gubernia.

He studied at the Polytechnical Institute of Saint Petersburg and was for a time one of the resident actors of an imperial theater of this city. At the beginning of his career in Russia, he appeared first as stuntman in a few movies and then as director and as actor. His major lead role during the Russian part of his career is The Son in Storm Over Asia by Vsevolod Pudovkin in 1928, a major Soviet propaganda film about a fictional British consolidation of Mongolia.

He was also an actor in the troop of Vsevolod Meyerhold and was then appointed as director of the movie and theater school of Kiev in Ukraine.

In 1930, while in France on a European tour, he refused to return to the USSR. According to Boris Shumyatsky, after Stalin learned Inkijinoff had never returned in 1934, said: "Too bad that the man escaped. Now he, probably, is dying to come back but, alas, too late." He starred in 2 movies while living in the Soviet Union, and contrary to Stalin's assumption, Inkijinoff became immensely popular in Europe, arguably the most successful Soviet actor abroad, starring in a total of 44 French, British, German, and Italian films.

In France he frequently played the part of Asian villains. His most active period was in the thirties, when he appeared in Les Bateliers de la Volga and the G. W. Pabst film Le drame de Shanghai. He played for Fritz Lang in 1959, in Der Tiger von Eschnapur and its sequel Das indische Grabmal, in which he played the role of the high priest Yama. In 1965, Philippe de Broca cast him as Monsieur Goh, the wise but scary Chinese who guarantees to the Jean-Paul Belmondo character a certain death in Les tribulations d'un Chinois en Chine.

His last movie was with Brigitte Bardot and Claudia Cardinale, where he played the role of Indian chief Spitting Bull in Les pétroleuses.

He was a great friend of Charles Dullin and Louis Jouvet, and had a long career in French theater, appearing for instance in Marie Galante by Jacques Deval.

He died at his home in Brunoy, Essonne, France, aged 78.

Source: Article "Valéry Inkijinoff" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.

Movies for Valéry Inkijinoff...

The Legend of Frenchie King
Title: The Legend of Frenchie King
Character: Spitting Bull
Released: December 16, 1971
Type: Movie
Outlaw sisters in the old West inherit a ranch and try to settle down and develop relationships with neighboring family of lots of brothers.
bee
The Blonde from Peking
Title: The Blonde from Peking
Character: Fang Ho Kung
Released: August 25, 1967
Type: Movie
Spies from several countries try to find out what secrets are hidden in the mind of a young amnesiac girl who has appeared in Paris.
bee
The Last Adventure
Title: The Last Adventure
Character: Kyobaski, producer
Released: April 12, 1967
Type: Movie
Two adventurers and best friends, Roland and Manu, are the victims of a practical joke that costs Manu his pilot's license. With seeming contrition, the jokesters tell Roland and Manu about a crashed plane lying on the ocean floor off the coast of Congo stuffed with riches. The adventurers set off to find the loot.
bee
O.S.S. 117: Mission to Tokyo
Title: O.S.S. 117: Mission to Tokyo
Character: Yekota
Released: October 28, 1966
Type: Movie
After an American Navy base is annihilated by a secret weapon, Agent OSS 117 is sent to Japan to investigate the organization that's claiming responsibility, and threatening the US with another attack, if they don't pay.
bee
The Death Ray of Dr. Mabuse
Title: The Death Ray of Dr. Mabuse
Character: Dr. Krishna
Released: September 17, 1964
Type: Movie
The evil Dr. Mabuse develops a death ray with which he threatens the world.
bee
License to Kill
Title: License to Kill
Character: Li-Hang (as Inkijinoff)
Released: June 16, 1964
Type: Movie
Didier Formenter, the French scientist, has just put the final touch on an invention that will be able to destroy to destroy any sort of flying apparatus. An international crime gang is very interested in stealing this equipement to sell it to the higher bidder of lawless nations. Menaced, the scientist, who was friends with Nick Carter's father, calls Nick for help. At Nice airport, Nick Carter escapes death, but that night he is unable to stop Formenter's murder. He suspects Bruno, Formenter's adoptive son, and Tonio, the owner of a bar near Formentier's home. Bruno is actually after Formenter's heritage, and for that he tries to kill Catherine, Formentier's granddaughter. Therefore, Nick Carter finds himself against more than a gang, but he will uncover the plots, in time to break every gangster apart.
bee
The Rebel Gladiators
Title: The Rebel Gladiators
Character: Gladiator
Released: November 15, 1962
Type: Movie
In order to persuade the Emperor to spare his village, the mighty Ursus is forced to fight the greatest gladiator in Rome in the Roman Arena.
bee
My Uncle from Texas
Title: My Uncle from Texas
Character: The old Indian
Released: September 28, 1962
Type: Movie
In 1911, Arnolphe Combalette left his corner of Provence to seek his fortune in the Americas. Fifty years later, a letter from him arrived in the village: "No, I'm not dead yet, but it won't be long now. A Combalette should be sent here to settle a question of big money". The family took counsel and delegated their youngest son, Dieudonné, a cook by trade. Dieudonné arrived safely in New York, but soon found himself short of money. Somehow, he managed to reach that prodigious corner of Texas where, he thought, his uncle's many factories would be built. Neither the factories nor his uncle, who died in poverty a week ago, welcome him there. Dîeudonné can't imagine returning to his native village to announce this new family disgrace; for one thing, he hasn't got a penny in his pocket. The owner of a modest saloon hires him as a cook.
bee
The Triumph of Michael Strogoff
Title: The Triumph of Michael Strogoff
Character: Yusuf Ben Amektal
Released: December 15, 1961
Type: Movie
In this adaptation of the Jules Verne novel, the Czarina asks an intrepid colonel to protect her nephew as he fights an invasion in 19th century Russia.
bee
Man Wants to Live
Title: Man Wants to Live
Released: November 6, 1961
Type: Movie
Professor Chardin has just killed a man. Before calling the police to turn himself in, he burns some leaves and a notebook in the fireplace. Secret agents in the street with listening devices flee when the police arrive. The professor refuses to be defended by a lawyer and to explain himself, but his friend Professor Carter and his wife come to his support and he agrees to explain his crime of inventing the H-bomb, the secret of which was stolen from him by his collaborator Rossi at the very moment when he had given up his research, convinced by Albert Einstein's pacifist plea and other personal circumstances.
bee
Samson and the 7 Miracles of the World
Title: Samson and the 7 Miracles of the World
Character: High Priest
Released: October 31, 1961
Type: Movie
Samson must rescue a beautiful Chinese princess from a marauding horde of warriors.
bee
Journey to the Lost City
Title: Journey to the Lost City
Character: Yama, High Priest
Released: October 1, 1960
Type: Movie
An exotic dancing girl of India inflames the passions of a traveling draftsman.
bee
Mistress of the World - Part II
Title: Mistress of the World - Part II
Character: Priester
Released: April 26, 1960
Type: Movie
Karin is now continuing her father's research and is also caught in the cross hairs of the mysterious opponents. Johanson himself retreats to a Cambodian monastery in order to escape the gangsters' shots and recover. Meanwhile, the international criminals manage to steal Johanson's energy formula. Karin then goes after the thieves, supported by Lundstrom. But he also has his own goals. The hunt takes them around the world. It soon turns out that a certain Madame Latour is behind the sinister machinations. Eventually old Johanson falls into her hands. In Southeast Asia, a showdown ensues between the kidnappers and Lundstrom and Karin.
bee
The Indian Tomb
Title: The Indian Tomb
Character: Yama
Released: March 5, 1959
Type: Movie
Seetha and Harold Berger are rescued from the desert by a caravan and brought to a small village. However, the greedy owner of the house where they are lodged betrays the law of hospitality and reveals their location to Prince Ramigani. The couple tries to escape but is hunted and captured by Ramigani and his men. Meanwhile Irene Rhode and her husband Walter Rhode suspect that Maharaja Chandra is not telling the truth about Harold's destiny. The conspirator Ramigani forces Seetha to accept to get married with Chandra to provoke the wrath of the priests and get the alliance of Prince Padhu and his army. In the meantime, Harold succeeds in escaping from the dungeon and seeks out Seetha to save her.
bee
The Tiger of Eschnapur
Title: The Tiger of Eschnapur
Character: Yama
Released: January 21, 1959
Type: Movie
In Eschnapur, a German architect saves the life of the Maharajah's favorite temple dancer and becomes Maharajah's friend but their friendship is tested when the architect and the dancer fall in-love, triggering the Maharajah's vengeful ire.
bee
The Doctor of Stalingrad
Title: The Doctor of Stalingrad
Released: February 20, 1958
Type: Movie
Dr. Fritz Böhler is a prisoner of war doctor in the Soviet POW camp 5110/47 near Stalingrad. Despite the harshest conditions, he tries to help his fellow prisoners with the simplest means. But when his assistant Dr. Schultheiss falls in love with the Russian doctor Alexandra Kasalinskaja, Schultheiss not only endangers his own life - because Alexandra is the lover of First Lieutenant Markow.
bee
Corinna Darling
Title: Corinna Darling
Character: Chin
Released: December 22, 1956
Type: Movie
Out of love, young Corinna follows the plantation owner Mannsfeld to the Far East - where she has to realize that he is already married. A small consolation for her is the fact that Mannsfeld is not about a womanizer, but that he is serious about his love for Corinna. The only thing standing in the way of this love is his wife, who, despite the broken marriage, does not want to let Mannsfeld go. When the wife is murdered, this crime seems to bring dubious happiness to the two of them - but it doesn't last long.
bee
Michael Strogoff
Title: Michael Strogoff
Character: Feofar Khan
Released: December 14, 1956
Type: Movie
When Emir Feofar Khan, leader of the Tartar hordes, takes up arms and invades the steppes of Eastern Siberia, Czar Alexander II of Russia entrusts the brave officer Michael Strogoff with a dangerous mission.
bee
Mata Hari's Daughter
Title: Mata Hari's Daughter
Character: Naos
Released: September 22, 1954
Type: Movie
In this espionage film, Mata Hari's daughter takes the mantle from her notorious mother and entangles her self in an Asian web of intrigue and war.
bee
Maya
Title: Maya
Character: Cachemire
Released: December 9, 1949
Type: Movie
Based on a venerable Legend of the Sea, the story concerns a pliable prostitute named Bella (Romance) who is all things to all men. No matter what sort of woman her client wants, she will become that woman -- at least for the night. When a middle-aged man named Jean insists that Bella is his long-lost sweetheart, she plays along, hoping to escape her sordid lifestyle. The emotional tragedy that follows is meant to explain how Bella became "Maya," the living embodiment of Lost Souls.
bee
La Renégate
Title: La Renégate
Character: Moktar
Released: April 9, 1948
Type: Movie
In a small town in Spanish Morocco, old Ricardo, who runs a café, lives with his daughter, Conchita. She believes that Ricardo is her father. In reality, he took her in at the age of eighteen months in a douar abandoned during the conquest. One day a Berber chief, Tamar, sees Conchita, tells her that she is from his tribe and wants to take her away. She rejects it, then accepts later to find that Muslim civilization is incompatible with the Christian training she received. She escapes and succeeds in obtaining forgiveness from Tamar. A French officer from the Intelligence Service offers to collect it.
bee
The Shanghai Drama
Title: The Shanghai Drama
Character: Lee Pang
Released: September 23, 1938
Type: Movie
A Russian emigrant sings in a Shanghai nightclub under the assumed name of Kay Murphy. All she dreams of is a peaceful life with her daughter Vera. But this is only a pipe dream as she has been forced by her former lover Ivan to work for a secret criminal organization, "The Black Dragon". Vera, who studies in a Hong Kong boarding-school, knows nothing about her mother's past. When Ivan, who is also Vera's father, resurfaces and blackmails Kay, the young woman is determined to fight back...
bee
Street Without Joy
Title: Street Without Joy
Character: Louis Stinner
Released: April 13, 1938
Type: Movie
Jeanne supports supports his family on his modest salary. Her boss is arrested for fraud. Jeanne is forced, out of poverty, in the street.
bee
Rail Pirates
Title: Rail Pirates
Character: Wang
Released: January 19, 1938
Type: Movie
Henri Pierson, the chief engineer of a railway line crossing Yunnan in China, must prevent the incessant attacks of a gang of looters.
bee
The Wife of General Ling
Title: The Wife of General Ling
Character: General Ling
Released: April 7, 1937
Type: Movie
In this espionage drama, a Secret Service agent must discover who has been smuggling British arms into China. The prime suspect is a prosperous Chinese merchant-philanthropist and the agent thinks the merchant is working with the notorious Chinese guerilla warlord General Ling.
bee
Friesennot
Title: Friesennot
Character: Kommissar Tschernoff
Released: November 19, 1935
Type: Movie
The peaceful life of a village of Frisions by the river Volga is troubled by the arrival of a troop of Red Guards led by the inhuman commissary Tschernoff.Not only content to mistreat the brave villagers led by no-nonsense young man Jürgen Wagner, he makes Mette, a girl born from a Frision man and a Russian woman, his mistress. Outraged, the villagers expel the girl who takes refuge in the marshes. The Bolsheviks are prompt to react, one of them raping a young Frision girl. The Frisions, in desperation, set fire to their village after slaughtering the "Reds" and head for a new motherland, Nazi Germany maybe...
bee
Les Bateliers de la Volga
Title: Les Bateliers de la Volga
Released: July 5, 1935
Type: Movie
In 1912, a Russian officer is wrongly accused of having stolen important papers. His only alibi being to have spent the night with the wife of a colonel, he allows himself to be condemned so as not to compromise the latter. He manages to escape and hides in the guise of a poor boatman. One day, the truth comes out, the colonel commits suicide and the lovers are finally reunited.
bee
Police File 909
Title: Police File 909
Character: Dr. Nitobe Tokeramo
Released: July 27, 1934
Type: Movie
A Japanese doctor, on a secret mission to Paris for his country, becomes romantically involved with a cabaret singer at a Parisian nightclub. His entire mission is put at risk when he kills a rival for her love, a French journalist and blackmailer. (This film was a heavily re-shot 76 minute version of the 1933 film Typhoon but with a dramatically altered plot from the original where the Japanese are now portrayed as unsympathetic villains. The new version was approved by German censors and released in 1934 although its critical reception was poor. It is possible that Wiene, who had left for Budapest in 1933 following the Nazi rise to power, did not personally work on the new version). From Wikipedia.
bee
The Battle
Title: The Battle
Character: Hirata
Released: May 11, 1934
Type: Movie
The Battle is a 1934 Franco-British co-production English language drama film directed by Nicolas Farkas and Viktor Tourjansky, and starring Charles Boyer, Merle Oberon and John Loder. It was adapted from a novel by Claude Farrère. In 1904 during the Russo-Japanese War, a Japanese naval officer gets his wife to seduce a British atachee in order to gain secrets from him. Things begin to go wrong when she instead falls in love with him.
bee
Amok
Title: Amok
Character: Maté / Amok-afflicted Native
Released: February 21, 1934
Type: Movie
Dr. Holk leads an isolated and lonely existence in a small, Dutch colony in the tropics. Having fled from love and civilization, his only companions now are alcohol and his work, which takes him to villages ravaged by dirt, fever and a strange illness which turns innocent people into madmen: Amok. One day, he is called on by Helene Haviland, who asks him to abort her lover's child before her husband returns from abroad. Even though Holk is enchanted by her seductive beauty, he haughtily refuses her request. Rejected, the woman turns to a Chinese practitioner. When Holk tracks her down in a dirty dive, it's already too late for the two of them.
bee
Volga in Flames
Title: Volga in Flames
Character: Silatschoff
Released: February 9, 1934
Type: Movie
Lieutenant Orloff, a recently graduated Russian officier, is making his way across the snow-covered steppes to the garrison where he is to be stationed. He comes across a man who has lost his way in the blizzard and takes him to the safety of an inn. Arriving at the garrison, Orloff meets and falls immediately in love with Macha, the daughter of his commander. The town is suddenly attacked by a hoard of bandits who claims to be the true Tsar of Russia.
bee
Typhoon
Title: Typhoon
Character: Doctor Nitobe Tokeramo
Released: August 25, 1933
Type: Movie
A Japanese doctor, on a secret mission to Paris for his country, becomes romantically involved with a cabaret singer at a Parisian nightclub. His entire mission is put at risk when he kills a rival for her love, a French journalist and blackmailer. (This film was later modified and released in 1934 as Police File 909. That new 76 minute version dramatically altered its plot from the original and the Japanese are now portrayed as unsympathetic villains. The new version was approved by German censors and released in 1934 although its critical reception was poor. It is possible that Wiene, who had left for Budapest in 1933 following the Nazi rise to power, did not personally work on the new version). From Wikipedia.
bee
A Man's Neck
Title: A Man's Neck
Character: Radek
Released: February 18, 1933
Type: Movie
Willy Ferrière is a gambler living beyond his means, and his mistress is as greedy as he's dead broke. One day, he says out of loud in a a Montparnasse café that he would give 100,000 francs to get rid of his wealthy aunt so he could claim his inheritance. Someone secretly lets Willy know it's a deal. The old lady is murdered, and a low-life criminal is manipulated to be the perfect suspect. But Superintendant Maigret feels something is wrong.
bee
The Yellow Captain
Title: The Yellow Captain
Released: December 19, 1930
Type: Movie
bee
Storm Over Asia
Title: Storm Over Asia
Character: Bair
Released: November 10, 1928
Type: Movie
In 1918 a young and simple Mongol herdsman and trapper is cheated out of a valuable fox fur by a European capitalist fur trader. Ostracized from the trading post, he escapes to the hills after brawling with the trader who cheated him. In 1920 he becomes a Soviet partisan, and helps the partisans fight for the Soviets against the occupying British army. However he is captured by the British when they try to requisition cattle from the herdsmen at the same time as the commandant meets with a reincarnated Grand Lama. After the trapper is shot, the army discovers an amulet that suggests he is a direct descendant of Genghis Khan. They find him still alive, so the army restores his health and plans to use him as the head of a puppet regime. The trapper is thus thrust into prominence as he is placed in charge of the puppet government. By the end, however, the "puppet" turns against his masters in an outburst of fury.