Sergey Bondarchuk(1920-1994)
- Actor
- Writer
- Director
Sergei Bondarchuk was one of the most important Russian filmmakers,
best known for directing an Academy Award-winning film epic
War and Peace (1965), based on the book
by Lev Tolstoy, in which he also starred as
Pierre Bezukhov.
He was born Sergei Fedorovich Bondarchuk on September, 25, 1920, in the
village of Belozerka, Kherson province, Ukraine, Russian Federation
(now Belozerka, Ukraine). He was brought up in Southern Ukraine, then
in Azov and Taganrog, Southern Russia. Young Bondarchuk was fond of
theatre and books by such authors as
Anton Chekhov and
Lev Tolstoy. He made his stage debut in
1937, on the stage of the Chekhov Drama Theatre in the city of
Taganrog, then studied acting at Rostov Theatrical School. In 1942 his
studies were interrupted by the Nazi invasion during WWII. Bondarchuk
was recruited in the Red Army and served for four years until he was
discharged in 1946. From 1946 - 1948 he attended the State Institute of
Cinematography in Moscow (VGIK), graduating as an actor from the class
of Sergey Gerasimov. In 1948 he made
his film debut in
Povest o nastoyashchem cheloveke (1948)
then co-starred in
The Young Guard (1948).
For his portrayal of the title character in
Taras Shevchenko (1951) he was
awarded the State Stalin's Prize of the USSR, and was designated
People's Artist of the USSR, becoming the youngest actor ever to
receive such honor. Then he starred in the internationally renowned
adaptation of the Shakespeare's
Othello (1956), in the title role opposite
Irina Skobtseva as Desdemona. Bondarchuk
expressed his own experience as a soldier of WWII when he starred in
The Destiny of a Man (1959), a war
drama based on the eponymous story by
Mikhail Sholokhov, which was also
Bondarchuk's directorial debut that earned him the prestigious Lenin's
Prize of the USSR in 1960.
Bondarchuk shot to international fame with
War and Peace (1965), a powerful
adaptation of the eponymous masterpiece by
Lev Tolstoy. The 7-hour-long film epic won
the 1969 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, and brought
Bondarchuk a reputation of one of the finest directors of his
generation. The most expensive project in film history,
War and Peace (1965) was produced over
seven years, from 1961 to 1968, at an estimated cost of $100,000,000
(over $800,000,000 adjusted for inflation in 2010). The film set
several records, such as involving over three hundred professional
actors from several countries and also tens of thousands extras from
the Red Army in filming of the 3rd two-hour-long episode about the
historic Battle of Borodino against the Napoleon's invasion, making it
the largest battle scene ever filmed. Bondarchuk also made history by
introducing several remote-controlled cameras that were moving on 300
meter long wires above the scene of the battlefield. Having earned
international acclaim for
War and Peace (1965), he starred in the
epic The Battle of Neretva (1969)
with fellow Russian, Yul Brynner, and
Orson Welles, whom he would direct the
following year.
By the late 1960s Bondarchuk was one of the most awarded actor and
director in the Soviet Union. However, he was still not a member of the
Soviet Communist Party, a fact that brought attention from the Soviet
leadership under Leonid Brezhnev. Soon
Bondarchuk received an official recommendation to join the Soviet
Communist Party, an offer that nobody in the Soviet Union could refuse
without risking a career. At that time he was humorously comparing his
situation with the historic Hollywood trials of filmmakers during the
50s. Bondarchuk was able to avoid the Communist Party in his earlier
career, but things changed in the Soviet Union under Brezhnev, so in
1970, he accepted the trade-off and joined the Soviet Communist Party
for the sake of protecting his film career. In 1971 he was elected
Chairman of the Union of Filmmakers, a semi-government post in the
Soviet system of politically controlled culture. Eventually he evolved
into a politically controlled figure and turned to making such
politically charged films as
Red Bells (1982)
and other such films. Later, during the liberalization of the Soviet
Union under Mikhail Gorbachev,
Bondarchuk was seen as a symbol of conservatism in Soviet cinema, so in
1986 he was voted out of the office.
Bondarchuk was the first Russian director to make a big budget
international co-production with the financial backing of Italian
producer Dino De Laurentiis,
such as Waterloo (1970), a
Russian-Italian co-production vividly reconstructing the final battle
of the Napoleonic Wars. This was his first English-language production,
but several Soviet actors were cast, e.g.
Sergo Zakariadze and
Oleg Vidov. In this film,
Orson Welles, his co-star in
The Battle of Neretva (1969) made a
cameo as the old King Louis XVII of France. But this time Bondarchuk
was unable to control the advances of
Rod Steiger, and the film was a commercial
flop in Europe and America, albeit it gained the favor of critics.
After his dismissal from the office of Chairman of the Union of
Cinematographers he started filming
Tikhiy Don (2006)
based on the eponymous novel by the Nobel Prize winner
Mikhail Sholokhov, with
Rupert Everett as the lead. At the end of
filming, just before post-production, Bondarchuk learned about some
unfavorable details in his contract, causing a bitter dispute with the
producers over the rights to the film and bringing much pain to the
last two years of his life. Amidst this legal battle the production was
stopped and the film was stored in a bank vault, and remained unedited
and undubbed for nearly fourteen years. The production was completed by
Russian television company "First Channel", and aired in November 2006.
In his career that spanned over five decades, Sergei Bondarchuk had
credits as actor, director, writer, and co-producer in a wide range of
films. He suffered a heart attack and died on October 20, 1994, and was
laid to rest in Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow, Russia, next to such
Russian luminaries as Anton Chekhov and
Mikhail A. Bulgakov. His death
caused a considerable mourning in Russia. Bondarchuk was survived by
his second wife, actress Irina Skobtseva
and their children, actress
Alyona Bondarchuk, and actor/director
Fedor Bondarchuk, and actress
Natalya Bondarchuk, his daughter with
his first wife, actress Inna Makarova.
As a tribute to Sergei Bondarchuk, his son,
Fedor Bondarchuk called him "a father
and my teacher," and dedicated his directorial debut,
9th Company (2005), set in war-torn
Afghanistan, whereas Sergei's directorial debut was set in WWII.
best known for directing an Academy Award-winning film epic
War and Peace (1965), based on the book
by Lev Tolstoy, in which he also starred as
Pierre Bezukhov.
He was born Sergei Fedorovich Bondarchuk on September, 25, 1920, in the
village of Belozerka, Kherson province, Ukraine, Russian Federation
(now Belozerka, Ukraine). He was brought up in Southern Ukraine, then
in Azov and Taganrog, Southern Russia. Young Bondarchuk was fond of
theatre and books by such authors as
Anton Chekhov and
Lev Tolstoy. He made his stage debut in
1937, on the stage of the Chekhov Drama Theatre in the city of
Taganrog, then studied acting at Rostov Theatrical School. In 1942 his
studies were interrupted by the Nazi invasion during WWII. Bondarchuk
was recruited in the Red Army and served for four years until he was
discharged in 1946. From 1946 - 1948 he attended the State Institute of
Cinematography in Moscow (VGIK), graduating as an actor from the class
of Sergey Gerasimov. In 1948 he made
his film debut in
Povest o nastoyashchem cheloveke (1948)
then co-starred in
The Young Guard (1948).
For his portrayal of the title character in
Taras Shevchenko (1951) he was
awarded the State Stalin's Prize of the USSR, and was designated
People's Artist of the USSR, becoming the youngest actor ever to
receive such honor. Then he starred in the internationally renowned
adaptation of the Shakespeare's
Othello (1956), in the title role opposite
Irina Skobtseva as Desdemona. Bondarchuk
expressed his own experience as a soldier of WWII when he starred in
The Destiny of a Man (1959), a war
drama based on the eponymous story by
Mikhail Sholokhov, which was also
Bondarchuk's directorial debut that earned him the prestigious Lenin's
Prize of the USSR in 1960.
Bondarchuk shot to international fame with
War and Peace (1965), a powerful
adaptation of the eponymous masterpiece by
Lev Tolstoy. The 7-hour-long film epic won
the 1969 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, and brought
Bondarchuk a reputation of one of the finest directors of his
generation. The most expensive project in film history,
War and Peace (1965) was produced over
seven years, from 1961 to 1968, at an estimated cost of $100,000,000
(over $800,000,000 adjusted for inflation in 2010). The film set
several records, such as involving over three hundred professional
actors from several countries and also tens of thousands extras from
the Red Army in filming of the 3rd two-hour-long episode about the
historic Battle of Borodino against the Napoleon's invasion, making it
the largest battle scene ever filmed. Bondarchuk also made history by
introducing several remote-controlled cameras that were moving on 300
meter long wires above the scene of the battlefield. Having earned
international acclaim for
War and Peace (1965), he starred in the
epic The Battle of Neretva (1969)
with fellow Russian, Yul Brynner, and
Orson Welles, whom he would direct the
following year.
By the late 1960s Bondarchuk was one of the most awarded actor and
director in the Soviet Union. However, he was still not a member of the
Soviet Communist Party, a fact that brought attention from the Soviet
leadership under Leonid Brezhnev. Soon
Bondarchuk received an official recommendation to join the Soviet
Communist Party, an offer that nobody in the Soviet Union could refuse
without risking a career. At that time he was humorously comparing his
situation with the historic Hollywood trials of filmmakers during the
50s. Bondarchuk was able to avoid the Communist Party in his earlier
career, but things changed in the Soviet Union under Brezhnev, so in
1970, he accepted the trade-off and joined the Soviet Communist Party
for the sake of protecting his film career. In 1971 he was elected
Chairman of the Union of Filmmakers, a semi-government post in the
Soviet system of politically controlled culture. Eventually he evolved
into a politically controlled figure and turned to making such
politically charged films as
Red Bells (1982)
and other such films. Later, during the liberalization of the Soviet
Union under Mikhail Gorbachev,
Bondarchuk was seen as a symbol of conservatism in Soviet cinema, so in
1986 he was voted out of the office.
Bondarchuk was the first Russian director to make a big budget
international co-production with the financial backing of Italian
producer Dino De Laurentiis,
such as Waterloo (1970), a
Russian-Italian co-production vividly reconstructing the final battle
of the Napoleonic Wars. This was his first English-language production,
but several Soviet actors were cast, e.g.
Sergo Zakariadze and
Oleg Vidov. In this film,
Orson Welles, his co-star in
The Battle of Neretva (1969) made a
cameo as the old King Louis XVII of France. But this time Bondarchuk
was unable to control the advances of
Rod Steiger, and the film was a commercial
flop in Europe and America, albeit it gained the favor of critics.
After his dismissal from the office of Chairman of the Union of
Cinematographers he started filming
Tikhiy Don (2006)
based on the eponymous novel by the Nobel Prize winner
Mikhail Sholokhov, with
Rupert Everett as the lead. At the end of
filming, just before post-production, Bondarchuk learned about some
unfavorable details in his contract, causing a bitter dispute with the
producers over the rights to the film and bringing much pain to the
last two years of his life. Amidst this legal battle the production was
stopped and the film was stored in a bank vault, and remained unedited
and undubbed for nearly fourteen years. The production was completed by
Russian television company "First Channel", and aired in November 2006.
In his career that spanned over five decades, Sergei Bondarchuk had
credits as actor, director, writer, and co-producer in a wide range of
films. He suffered a heart attack and died on October 20, 1994, and was
laid to rest in Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow, Russia, next to such
Russian luminaries as Anton Chekhov and
Mikhail A. Bulgakov. His death
caused a considerable mourning in Russia. Bondarchuk was survived by
his second wife, actress Irina Skobtseva
and their children, actress
Alyona Bondarchuk, and actor/director
Fedor Bondarchuk, and actress
Natalya Bondarchuk, his daughter with
his first wife, actress Inna Makarova.
As a tribute to Sergei Bondarchuk, his son,
Fedor Bondarchuk called him "a father
and my teacher," and dedicated his directorial debut,
9th Company (2005), set in war-torn
Afghanistan, whereas Sergei's directorial debut was set in WWII.