Sergei Bondarchuk

Sergei Bondarchuk
Sergei Bondarchuk and Orson Welles on premiere of The Battle of Neretva in Sarajevo.
Born	Sergei Fyodorovich Bondarchuk 25 September 1920 Belozerka, Kherson Governorate, Ukrainian SSR
Died	20 October 1994 (aged 74) Moscow, Russia
Years active	1948–1992
Spouse(s)	Inna Makarova (1949–1956) Irina Skobtseva (1959–1994)
Children	Natalya Bondarchuk (b. 1950) Yelena Bondarchuk (1962–2009) Fyodor Bondarchuk (b. 1964)
Awards

Sergei Fedorovich Bondarchuk (Russian pronunciation: [sʲɪrˈɡʲej ˈfʲɵdərəvʲɪtɕ bəndɐrˈtɕuk]; Russian: Серге́й Фё́дорович Бондарчу́к; Ukrainian: Сергі́й Фе́дорович Бондарчу́к, Serhiy Fedorovych Bondarchuk; 25 September 1920 – 20 October 1994) was a Soviet film director, screenwriter and actor.

Biography

Born in Belozerka, in the Kherson Governorate of the Ukrainian SSR, 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 against Nazi Germany and was discharged in 1946.

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 future wife Irina Skobtseva in Othello and after four years, they married. He was previously married to Inna Makarova, mother to his elder daughter. In 1959 he made his directorial debut with Destiny of a Man, based on the Mikhail Sholokhov short story of the same name.

Bondarchuk's western fame lies with his epic production of Tolstoy's War and Peace, which on original release totaled more than seven hours of cinema, took six years to complete and won Bondarchuk, who both directed and acted the role of Pierre Bezukhov, the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1968.^[1] The year after his victory, in 1969, he starred as Ivan Martik with Yul Brynner and Orson Welles in the Yugoslav epic Battle of Neretva, directed by Veljko Bulajic.

His first English language film was 1970's Waterloo, produced by Dino De Laurentiis. In Europe the critics called it remarkable for the epic battle scenes and details in capturing the Napoleonic Era. However, it failed at the box office. To prevent running into hurdles with the Soviet government, he joined the Communist Party in 1970. A year later, he was appointed President of the Union of Cinematographers, while he continued his directing career, steering toward political films, directing Boris Godunov before being dismissed from the semi-government post in 1986.

In 1973 he was the President of the Jury at the 8th Moscow International Film Festival.^[2]

In 1975 he directed They Fought for Their Country, which was entered into the 1975 Cannes Film Festival.^[3] In 1982 came Red Bells, based on John Reed's Ten Days that Shook the World (which serves as the film's alternative title).^[4] His 1986 film, Boris Godunov, was also screened at Cannes.^[5]

Bondarchuk's last feature film, and his second in English was an epic TV version of Sholokhov's And Quiet Flows the Don, starring Rupert Everett. It was filmed in 1992–93 but premiered on Channel One only in November 2006,^[6] as there were disputes concerning the Italian studio that was co-producing over unfavourable clauses in his contract, which left the tapes locked in a bank vault, even after his death aged 74 of a heart attack.

In 1995 he was posthumously awarded with an Honorable Diploma for contribution to cinema at the 19th Moscow International Film Festival.^[7]

Bondarchuk is buried in the Novodevichy Cemetery, Moscow. His daughter Natalya Bondarchuk is remembered as a star of Andrei Tarkovsky's Solaris, while his son Fyodor Bondarchuk (who starred with him in Boris Godunov) is a popular Russian film actor and director best known for his box-office champion The 9th Company (2005). In June 2007, his ex-wife Inna Makarova unveiled a bronze statue of Sergei Bondarchuk in his native Yeysk.

Selected filmography

Actor

Year	Title	Medium	Role	Notes
1948	The Young Guard	Film	Valko
1948	Michurin	Film	Uralets
1950	Dream of a Cossack	Film	Sergei Tutarinov
1951	Taras Shevchenko	Film	Taras Shevchenko
1953	The Ships Storm Bastions	Film	Tikhon Prokopiev
1953	Admiral Ushakov	Film	Tikhon Prokopiev
1954	This cannot be forgotten	Film	writer Harmash
1955	Not ended story	Film	Yuri Sergeiyevich Yershov
1955	Othello	Film	Othello
1955	Skipping girl	Film	docotr Dymov
1956	Ivan Franko	Film	Ivan Franko
1958	Soldiers went	Film	Matvei Krylov
1959	Destiny of a Man	Film	Andrei Sokolov	Grand Prix at the 1st Moscow International Film Festival[8]
1960	Seryozha	Film	Korostelyov
1960	Era notte a Roma	Film	soldier Nazukov
1966–67	War and Peace	Film	Pierre Bezukhov	Grand Prix at the 4th Moscow International Film Festival[9]
1969	Battle of Neretva	Film	Martin
1969	Golden Gates	Film	background voice
1970	Uncle Vanya	Film	Mikhail Astrov
1970	Waterloo	Film
1973	Silence of Doctor Evans	Film	Martin Evans
1974	Aim selection	Film	Igor Kurchatov
1974	Such tall mountains	Film	Ivan Stepanov
1975	They Fought for Their Country	Film	Zvyagintsev
1977	Poshekhon Oldie	Film	background voice
1977	The Steppe	Film	Yemelian
1978	Velvet season	Film	Mister Bradbury
1978	Father Sergiy	Film	Father Sergiy
1979	Take off	Film	background voice
1979	Occupation – cinema-actor	Film	cameo
1980	The Gadfly	Film	Cardinal Montanelli
1986	Boris Godunov	Film	Boris Godunov
1988	Incident in airport	Film	Major-General Tokarenko
1990	Battle of three kings	Film	Selim
1992	Storm over Rus	Film	boyar Morozov
2000	Sergei Bondarchuk	Documentary	self

Film director

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1959	Destiny of a Man	Andrei Sokolov
1966–67	War and Peace	Pierre Bezukhov
1970	Waterloo
1975	They Fought for Their Country	Zvyagintsev
1977	The Steppe	Yemelian
1982	Red Bells
1983	Red Bells II
1986	Boris Godunov	Boris Godunov
1993/2006	Quiet Flows the Don

Writer

• The Battle of Sutjeska (1973)

Honours and awards

• Stalin Prize, 1st class (1952) – for the main role in the film Taras Shevchenko and the role of Sergei Tutarinov in Knight of the Golden Star (1950)
• USSR State Prize (1984) – for the film Red Bells
• Lenin Prize (1960) – for the film The Destiny of Man (1959)
• Academy Award (Oscar) for "Best Foreign Language Film" (1968) – for the film War and Peace
• Hero of Socialist Labour (1980)
• State Prize of the RSFSR Vasiliev brothers (1977) – for the film They Fought for Their Motherland
• USSR State Prize Taras Shevchenko (1982) – for his performance as Cardinal Montanelli in the film The Gadfly (1980)
• Order of Lenin, twice
• Order of October Revolution
• Order of the Patriotic War, 2nd class
• Order of the Red Banner of Labour
• People's Artist of the USSR

References

1. "The 41st Academy Awards (1969) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Retrieved 2011-11-15.
2. "8th Moscow International Film Festival (1973)". MIFF. Retrieved 2012-12-25.
3. "Festival de Cannes: They Fought for Their Country". festival-cannes.com. Retrieved 2009-04-29.
4. "New York Times". Movies.nytimes.com. 2010-11-01. Retrieved 2012-03-14.
5. "Festival de Cannes: Boris Godunov". festival-cannes.com. Retrieved 2009-07-10.
6. "Europe | Russia recovers Soviet-era epic". BBC News. 2006-11-07. Retrieved 2012-03-14.
7. "19th Moscow International Film Festival (1995)". MIFF. Retrieved 2013-03-16.
8. "1st Moscow International Film Festival (1959)". MIFF. Retrieved 2012-11-03.
9. "4th Moscow International Film Festival (1965)". MIFF. Retrieved 2012-12-03.

External links

• Sergei Bondarchuk at the Internet Movie Database
• War and Peace of Sergei Bondarchuk