Sergei Bondarchuk

Sergei Fyodorovich Bondarchuk (5 September 1920 – 20 October 1994) was a Soviet and Russian actor, film director, and screenwriter 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

Sergey 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.

Bondarchuk earned international fame 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 Martin 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-governmental post in 1986.

In 1973, he was the president of the Jury at the 8th Moscow International Film Festival.

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

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 1992–1993 but premiered on Channel One only in November 2006, as there were disputes concerning the Italian studio that was co-producing over unfavorable clauses in his contract, which left the tapes locked in a bank vault. After his death, the film remained locked for several years until it was recovered and released in 2006.

In 1995, he was posthumously awarded an honorable diploma for contribution to cinema at the 19th Moscow International Film Festival.

Personal life

He first married Inna Makarova, mother to his oldest daughter, Natalya Bondarchuk (born 1950). Natalya is remembered for her role in Andrei Tarkovsky's 1972 film Solaris.

He met his second wife Irina Skobtseva when both were appearing in Othello, and they married in 1959. They had two children, actress Yelena Bondarchuk (1962–2009) and a son Fyodor (born 1967), (who starred with him in Boris Godunov), a popular Russian film actor and director best known for his box-office hit The 9th Company (2005).

Death

Sergei Bondarchuk died on October 20, 1994 at the age of 74 in Moscow from myocardial infarction. Before his death, he was confessed and given communion by Hieromonk Tikhon (Shevkunov). He is buried in the Novodevichy Cemetery, Moscow. In June 2007, his ex-wife Inna Makarova unveiled a bronze statue of Bondarchuk in his native Yeysk.