Nikolay Pavlovich AKIMOV born on April 3 [16], 1901 in Russian. He was an experimental theatre director and scenic designer noted for his work with the Leningrad Comedy Theatre. His most notorious production was the cynical version of Hamlet (1932), with Ophelia as a drunken prostitute and the king's ghost as a clever mystification arranged by Hamlet. Akimov, who was the Comedy Theater director in 1935-1949 and 1956-1968, wrote several books, among them About Theater and Not Just About Theater, and was designated a People's Artist of the USSR in 1960. He dead on September 6, 1968.