Ivan Ilyich Mozzhukhin (Иван Ильич Мозжухин, Ivan Il'ič Mozžuchin) ( —January 18 1939) was a leading Russian-French silent film actor.

Ivan Mozzhukhin was a legendary actor of Russian silent films, who escaped from execution by the Soviet Red Army and made a stellar career in Europe. He was born Ivan Ilyich Mozzhukhin on September 26, 1889, in the village of Kondol, Saratov province, Russia (now Penza province, Russia). His father was general manager of the large estate of Prince Obolensky. Mozzhukhin attended all-boys Gymnasium in Penza, then studied at the Law School of Moscow University for two years. There he was active in amateur stage productions, and joined a touring troupe, then returned to Moscow and was member of Vvedensky Narodny Dom Theatre. He made his film debut in 1908. From 1911 to 1914 he worked in the silent films of producer Aleksandr Khanzhonkov. Mozzhukhin shot to fame after his leading role as violinist Trukhachevsky in Kreitzerova sonata (1911) by director Pyotr Chardynin, based on the eponymous story by Leo Tolstoy. He starred as Admiral Kornilov in Oborona Sevastopolya (1911) and in about thirty more silent films made by Chardynin, Yevgeni Bauer and Khanzhyonkov. By the mid-1910s Mozzhukhin became the indisputable leading star of the Russian cinema, having such film partners as Diaghilev's ballerina Vera Karalli, and his wife Natlia Lisenko. His facial expressions were studied by many actors and directors as exemplary acting masks. From 1915 - 1919 he worked in about 40 films by directors Yakov Protazanov and Viktor Tourjansky under the legendary Russian producer Joseph N. Ermolieff. His best known films of the Russian period were Pikovaya dama (1916) and Otets Sergiy (1917), both by Protazanov. Mozzhukhin's incredible popularity brought him significant wealth, that came with attendant pressure; he also became famous for his numerous love affairs with his admirers. In 1918, the Russian Communist Revolution already caused irreversible destruction of cultural and economic life, and Mozzhukhin moved under protection of the White Russians in Yalta, Crimea. There he worked for Ermolieff during the Russian Civil War. Meanwhile, the Soviet government leader V.I. Lenin ordered to seize and "nationalize" all film studios and their films, lands, and other property, to use it for the Soviet propaganda, so almost all of 70 original films starring Mozzhukhin were arrested and censored. Lev Kuleshov used fragments of Mozzhukhin's films to demonstrate his editing ideas. Mozzhukhin's face was used in Kuleshov's psychological montage to illustrate the principles of film editing, known today as the Kuleshov Effect. Mozzhukhin suffered terribly from the loss of his property after the Communist Revolution. However, he continued working in Yalta with Ermolieff until the end of 1919. But when the Red Army advanced in Crimea and reached Yalta, he joined the White Russians and fled the communist Russia at the end of the Civil War. Mozzhukhin managed to save a few rolls of his silent films, which he took aboard the Greek steamer "Pantera" in February of 1920. He left Russia together with his film partners from the Ermolieff film company, his wife Nathalie Lissenko, actors Nicolas Koline and Nicolas Rimsky, actress Nathalie Kovanko, cinematographer Nikolai Toporkoff, director Viktor Tourjansky, and producer Joseph N. Ermolieff. They emigrated together to Paris, France, and started a Russian-French film company. In 1926 Mozzhukhin got a lucrative contract with the Universal Pictures, he was cast as a male lead in Surrender (1927). However, his stint in Hollywood, was not a success, due to numerous pressures from producers who insisted on changing his name in credits to John Moskin. The studio also insisted on the plastic surgery to shorten Mozzhukhin's nose, thus causing a permanent change of his natural facial expression. In addition to the emotional pains of plastic surgery, and changes to his facial features, Mozzhukhin suffered from the lack of chemistry with his non-responsive co-star, Mary Philbin. At that time Hollywood was already shifting to talkies, and Mozzhukhin, who did not speak English, was not offered any more roles, and returned to Europe. Soon Aleksandr Vertinsky commented on Mozzhukhin's suffering in Hollywood, that it was a conspiracy to destroy the strong competitor. By 1939 Mozzhukhin's filmography included over 100 movies made in Russia, France, Italy, United States, Germany, and Austria. He continued starring in the talkies of the 1930s, albeit with a smaller success. He also wrote screenplays for several of his films, and planned to direct a film in France, but the work stopped, because he contracted a severe form of tuberculosis, and was hospitalized. Mozzhukhin died of tuberculosis in a Paris clinic on January 17, 1939, and was laid to rest in the Russian Cemetery at Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois, in Paris, France. Mozzhukhin's home in Kondol, Penza province, is now restored as a public Memorial Museum of Ivan Mozzhukhin. There, since the 1990s, the museum is having annual Mozzhukhin's film show also known as Mozzhukhin's Festivities.