Grachia Nersisyan Actor Country: Armenia

Biography of Grachya Nersisyan

Grachya Nersisyan was an actor who was revered by people during his lifetime, and legends were created about him. The famous American writer Hemingway described Nersisyan as "Don Quixote 50/50 with Hamlet". His biography is filled with interesting facts. He was born in 1895 in Constantinople. As he grew up, his parents sent him to the French college "Saint Barb". However, due to their search for a decent living, his family had to move from place to place. He studied at the American "Robert College" and the Armenian "Esayan School", but under such circumstances, he was unable to complete his education. Nevertheless, he had the opportunity to interact with people who were part of Armenian culture at that time.

Armenian intellectuals often gathered at the home of one of his relatives, and his mother always took him there. Soon, the boy learned many languages there and could read fluently in Armenian, English, and French. Moreover, he spoke Italian, Arabic, and Turkish fluently. He even wrote poetry and attempted to compose music for them. After his family left Constantinople, he met well-known individuals such as poets Varuzhan and Siamanto and frequently attended Komitas' concerts.

However, in 1915, tragedy struck the Armenians with the organized massacre by the Turkish authorities. During these days, Nersisyan witnessed the tragedy of his people in Western Armenia with his own eyes. He saw deserts where his friends Varuzhan and Siamanto died, and where Komitas went insane. Only by fortunate chance did death pass him by. Like all other Armenians, he was arrested. In the cell where they placed him with Muslim prisoners, they began to pray at the appointed time. Nersisyan was supposed to follow them, consciously repeating all their movements. But one of the prisoners noticed that Nersisyan did not utter a single word. After the prayer, this prisoner interrogated him and discovered that he did not know any Muslim prayers. Subsequently, his cellmates started beating Nersisyan and called the prison commander. When Nersisyan was brought to him, the commander recognized him as an Armenian. The commander became frightened and somehow signaled to Nersisyan not to reveal their secret. Moreover, he brutally beat Nersisyan in the presence of Turkish guards and then ordered him to be thrown into a solitary cell. That same night, the commander secretly visited him and said that the only way to avoid execution was to join the German army as a translator (it should be noted that Turkey was an ally of Germany during the First and Second World Wars). Nersisyan did not know German but was fluent in French. He had no choice. He asked the commander for a German-French dictionary and spent three days learning German using that dictionary. On the fourth day, he was supposed to go to the German headquarters. Introducing himself to the German major and reciting the phrase he had memorized, Nersisyan naturally could not answer any of the major's questions. The major became angry. Nersisyan was already mentally saying goodbye to his life when suddenly he heard the major angrily curse in French. Seizing this opportunity, Nersisyan addressed the major in French. The major, who was a German aristocrat and knew French, was pleasantly surprised by the young man's good pronunciation.

Nersisyan was saved. For the next five years, he served in the German army. The Turkish military authorities noticed his service to the Germans, his knowledge of English, French, and Turkish. As soon as his boss, German Major Berel, who saved him five years ago, left Turkey, Nersisyan was given a secret package and ordered to deliver it to a certain officer in Constantinople. But in the capital (at that time Constantinople was the capital of Turkey), he got distracted and inexplicably decided to open the package and read the secret document. And what do you think was written there?! It said, "The carrier of this package is suspected of espionage and must be executed."

Getting rid of the package, Nersisyan thought about his future. At that time, Constantinople resembled a chaotic and barbaric market. There was no longer an Armenian theater in the city. Several actors who had survived were performing in Turkish. But soon, thanks to the efforts of the Armenian intelligentsia, the Armenian theater reopened, and Grachya Nersisyan was invited to perform there. Soon, the Armenian theater in Constantinople became famous again.

The sudden death of the head of the Armenian Dramatic Society was indeed a blow to some actors, including Nersisyan. This person was already ready to send a group of young talented actors to Soviet Armenia... But despite all the difficulties, his students carried out his plan.

In the autumn of 1922, among many other ships in the bustling port of Constantinople, there was also a steamship from Batumi (Georgia) that was supposed to take a group of Armenian actors led by Vagram Papazyan. 27-year-old Grachya Nersisyan was also there. In those years, hundreds of ships were taking Armenian refugees from Constantinople to different parts of the world. Nersisyan and his friends' journey was in the opposite direction, heading towards their homeland. On one of those days, from the same place, i.e. from Constantinople, a ship departed with the parents of William Saroyan, who was not yet born at that time. But many years later, the famous writer and actor met in the capital of Armenia, Yerevan, and became friends.

Both of them had immense love for people. And it is an amazing coincidence that Nersisyan's last role was the role of Mac Gregor in Saroyan's play "My Heart's in the Highlands". It is the role of a person who thirsts to bring joy to people, just like the kind of person and artist that Grachya Nersisyan wanted to become and indeed became.