Sergei Bondarchuk

Sergei Fyodorovich Bondarchuk (, ; ; 25 September 192020 October 1994) was a Soviet and Russian actor, film director, and screenwriter of Ukrainian, Bulgarian and Serbian origin who was one of the leading figures of Russian cinema of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. He is known for his sweeping period dramas, including the internationally acclaimed four-part adaptation of Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace and the Napoleonic War epic Waterloo. Bondarchuk's work won him numerous international accolades. His epic production of Tolstoy's War and Peace won Bondarchuk, who both directed and acted in the leading role of Pierre Bezukhov, the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film (1968), and the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1968. He was made both a Hero of Socialist Labour and a People's Artist of the USSR. Early life Bondarchuk was born in the village of Bilozerka (now in Kherson Raion, Kherson Oblast of Ukraine) on September 25, 1920, in the family of peasants Fyodor Petrovich and Tatyana Vasilievna (nee Tokarenko). The paternal grandfather was ethnically Bulgarian Pyotr Konstantinovich Bondarchuk, the grandmother was ethnically Serbian Matryona Fyodorovna Sirvulya. At the time of childbirth, the father was serving in the Red Army, the mother, being a deeply religious person, named her son in honor of Sergius of Radonezh and baptized him in the Annunciation Monastery near Kherson. Sergei Bondarchuk spent his childhood in the cities of Yeysk and Taganrog, graduating from the Taganrog School Number 4 in 1938. His first performance as an actor was onstage of the Taganrog Theatre in 1937. He continued studies in the Rostov-on-Don theater school (1938–1942). After his studies, he was conscripted into the Red Army during World War II against Nazi Germany. He was decorated for his courage in battles and was discharged with honors in 1946. Film career In 1948, Bondarchuk made his film debut in The Young Guard directed by Sergei Gerasimov. In 1952, he was awarded the Stalin Prize for the leading role in the film Taras Shevchenko. At the age of 32, he became the youngest Soviet actor ever to receive the top dignity of People's Artist of the USSR. In 1955, he starred with his future wife Irina Skobtseva in Othello. In 1959, he made his directorial debut with Fate of a Man, based on Mikhail Sholokhov's short story of the same name. The film was internationally acclaimed upon its release.