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1-22 of 22
- Director
- Writer
- Producer
Lewis Milestone, a clothing manufacturer's son, was born in Bessarabia (now Moldova), raised in Odessa (Ukraine) and educated in Belgium and Berlin (where he studied engineering). He was fluent in both German and Russian and an avid reader. Milestone had an affinity for the theatre from an early age, starting as a prop man and background artist before traveling to the US in 1914 with $6.00 in his pocket. After a succession of odd jobs (including as a dishwasher and a photographer's assistant) he joined the Army Signal Corps in 1917 to make educational short films for U.S. troops. Following World War I, having acquired American citizenship, he went on to Hollywood to meet the director William A. Seiter at Ince Studios. Seiter started him off as an assistant cutter. Milestone quickly worked his way up the ranks to become editor, assistant director and screenwriter on many of Seiter's projects in the early 1920s, experiences that would greatly influence his directing style in years to come.
Milestone directed his first film, Seven Sinners (1925), for Howard Hughes and two years later won his first of two Academy Awards for the comedy Two Arabian Knights (1927). He received his second Oscar for what most regard as his finest achievement, the anti-war movie All Quiet on the Western Front (1930), based on a novel by Erich Maria Remarque. The film, universally praised by reviewers for its eloquence and integrity, also won the Best Picture Academy Award that year. A noted Milestone innovation was the use of cameras mounted on wooden tracks, giving his films a more realistic and fluid, rather than static, look. Other trademarks associated with his pictures were taut editing, snappy dialogue and clever visual touches, good examples being the screwball comedy The Front Page (1931), the melodrama Rain (1932)--based on a play by W. Somerset Maugham--and an adaptation of John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men (1939). When asked in 1979 about the secret behind his success, he simply declared "Arrogance, chutzpah--in the old Hollywood at least that's the thing that gave everybody pause" (New York Times, September 27, 1980). Milestone had a history of being "difficult", having clashed with Howard Hughes, Warner Brothers and a host of studio executives over various contractual and artistic issues. Nonetheless, he remained constantly employed and worked for most of the major studios at one time or another, though never on long-term contracts. While he was not required to testify before HUAC, Milestone was blacklisted for a year in 1949 because of left-wing affiliations dating back to the 1930's. His output became less consistent during the 1950s and his career finished on a low with the remake of Mutiny on the Bounty (1962) and its incongruously cast, equally headstrong star Marlon Brando.
Milestone must be credited with a quirky sense of humor: when the producer of "All Quiet on the Western Front", Carl Laemmle Jr., demanded a "happy ending" for the picture, Milestone telephoned, "I've got your happy ending. We'll let the Germans win the war".
Having suffered a stroke, Lewis Milestone spent the last ten years of his life confined to a wheelchair. He died September 25, 1980, at the University of California Medical Center in Los Angeles.- Music Department
- Producer
- Composer
Russian-born Joseph Gershenson began his show-business career in 1920 as a conductor of orchestras in movie theaters. Hired by Universal Pictures for its music department, he was made the department head in 1940. Gershenson's name appeared on virtually every Universal film made as music supervisor from 1949 until his retirement in 1969 after Angel in My Pocket (1969). He also branched out into producing and directing, using the pseudonym Joseph G. Sanford.- Miss Maria Cebotari complained about horrible pain during her opera performance the Figaro (music by Mozart) in Milano. She complained about her tiredness, and tried to fight against her unknown illness. Doctors discovered she had gallbladder infection. The diet she was on did not help at all. Miss Cebotari finally went for a medical examination under the direction of primarius doctor Strasser. An infected gallbladder was found, and gall stones needed to be removed. Miss Cebotari thought about her pain and tiredness, however she had no time to be ill at all. In March she played Laura in the operette 'The Beggar Student'. Furthermore she sang for an American movie company in Vienna 'L'Habanera' from the opera Carmen. Miss Cebotari was still performing in the operette which turned out to be a huge success; however her health was declining rapidly. The premiere of 'The Beggar Student' took place on March 27 in Vienna, Austria. Her last performance on stage ever was on March 31, while she was tortured by a lot of pain. Finally a surgery was performed on April 4 by primarius doctor Stradal. The doctor also discovered that Miss Cebotari suffered from Pankreas-Leberkarzinom, however did not inform her about this. The surgery came too late. After the surgery Miss Cebotari continued to have severe pains. However she made plans for the coming year and continued her schedule. Heavy painkillers relieved Miss Cebotari in her last days. After a long life in agonay Miss Cebotari died in her Villa in Vienna, Austria on June 9, 1949. Only the good die young.
- Muni Seroff was born on 8 January 1895 in Kishinev, Russia. He was an actor, known for Call of the Jungle (1944), Two Sisters (1938) and Route 66 (1960). He died in December 1979 in Brooklyn, New York, USA.
- Actress
- Additional Crew
- Soundtrack
Svetlana Nikolaevna Kryuchkova was born on June 22, 1950, in Kishinev, Moldavia, USSR (now Chishnau, Moldavia). Her father, named Nikolai Kryuchkov, was an army officer. Before becoming an actress, Kryuchkova was a worker at ZIL automobile plant in Moscow. In 1973 she graduated from the Acting Studio named after Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko, and was an actress at Moscow Art Theatre for two seasons. She shot to fame after starring in TV series The Long Recess (1973).
Since 1975, Kryuchkova has been a permanent member of the legendary troupe of Bolshoi Drama Theatre (BDT) in St. Petersburg (Leningrad) upon personal invitation from the legendary director Georgi Tovstonogov. Kryuchkova worked with Tovstonogov for 14 years, she played in many of the Tovstonogov's stage productions and was highly regarded by Tovstonogov for her commanding stage presence and effortless style. During that time Kryuchkova worked with an outstanding ensemble of actors at BDT. There her stage partners were Sergey Yurskiy, Oleg Basilashvili, Kirill Lavrov, Zinaida Sharko, Elena Popova, Vladislav Strzhelchik, Vsevolod Kuznetsov, Gennadiy Bogachyov, Andrey Tolubeev, and many other remarkable Russian actors. Her best known stage performances in BDT were the role of Kupavina in 'Volki i ovtsy', a play by Aleksandr Ostrovskiy, and Kostyleva in 'Na dne' (Lower Depths) by Maxim Gorky.
Svetlana Kryuchkova received the title of People's Artist of Russia. She was two times winner of Nika Award in 1989, and was again nominated for Nika Award in 1999. Kryuchkova played over 40 roles in film and television, and also made stage performances at Gogol Theatre and at Galina Vishnevskaya Centre in Moscow. From 1998-2003 Kryuchkova was a professor of acting school at St. Petersburg University of Humanities. In 2003, with the graduates of her acting class, Kryuchkova formed her own company, named Theatre-Studio of Svetlana Kryuchkova in St. Petersburg. There she directed such plays as 'Lysistrata' (2005), a comedy by Aristophanes, and 'Blazhenny Ostrov' (2004) among other plays. For several seasons the Theatre-Studio of Svetlana Kryuchkova has been a popular entertainment in St. Petersburg, Russia.
Svetlana Kryuchkova is a popular TV show host in Russia. She is also regarded as a connoisseur of Russian poetry. She has been giving many concert recitals of poetry to "sold out" audiences. Kryuchkova's concert repertoire includes poems of Anna Akhmatova, Joseph Brodsky, Alexander Pushkin, David Samoylov, Marina Tsvetaeva, Ivan Bunin, Mikhail Lermontov, Boris Pasternak and other Russian poets.
Svetlana Kryuchkova is currently residing in St. Petersburg, Russia.- Charles Leonard, born Chaim Leb Eppelboim, worked in Hollywood from the early 1920's to the early 1960's as a publicist, screenwriter, and script doctor. A member of the Rodeo Drive Radicals in the leftist Hollywood Theatre Alliance, he collaborated with Langston Hughes and gave Hughes the idea for the skit "Young Black Joe." He claimed to have been the ghostwriter for L. Ron Hubbard's "Dianetics, "when he worked as Head of Publicity for the L. Ron Hubbard Foundation in Wichita, Kansas circa the early 1950's, although no evidence of that has been uncovered. He was fired from the Foundation position for his past membership in the Communist Party, after David and Babette Lang named him at the McCarthy HUAC hearings. Leonard then worked as a script doctor for Twentieth Century Fox, and wrote "To the Actor" for his friend and mentor Michael Chekhov, whose name appears as author of the book.
Leonard moved to Europe in 1963 with his young daughter, remaining there until 1966 and completing his book, "To the Director and Playwright." Upon his return to the United States, Leonard was unable to find work in Hollywood, and accepted a one year professorship at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, teaching Method acting. It was to be his last job. He returned to California to live at the Motion Picture Country Home in Woodland Hills, where he died in 1986. - Aleksandr Oleshko was born on 23 July 1976 in Kishinev, Moldavian SSR, USSR. He is an actor, known for August 8 (2012), Dark Planet (2008) and Dark Planet: Rebellion (2009).
- Actor
- Production Manager
Nikolay Volkov was born on 6 May 1926 in Kishinev, Kingdom of Romania [now Chisinau, Moldova]. He was an actor and production manager, known for Dersu Uzala (1975), Nu crede tipatului pasarii de noapte (1977) and Mezhdu nebom i zemlyoy (1975). He died on 27 December 2012.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Nita Raya was born on 15 October 1915 in Kishinev, Russian Empire [now Chisinau, Moldova]. She was an actress, known for Le roi des gangsters (1935), Chipée (1938) and Bécassine (1940). She was married to Joseph Akcelrod. She died on 25 March 2015 in Trégastel, Côtes-d'Armor, France.- Constantsa Tirtseu was born on 14 September 1930 in Kishinev, Romania. She was an actress, known for Lautarii (1972), Iyunskiy rubezh (1982) and Rodnoy dom (1973). She died on 24 April 2014 in Kishinev, Moldavia.
- Miriam Bernstein-Cohen was born on 14 December 1895 in Kishinev, Russia. She was an actress, known for Tel Aviv Taxi (1956), Rockinghorse (1978) and The Highway Queen (1971). She was married to Michael Gur. She died on 4 April 1991 in Israel.
- Director
- Actor
- Writer
Naum Kleiman is an historian of cinema, Russian film critic, specialist in Sergei Eisenstein, former director of the Moscow State Central Cinema Museum, Eisenstein-Centre director.
He was co-founder of the legendary Eisenstein Archives, and their director from 1967 to 1985.
In 1989 he founded the Moscow State Central Cinema Museum whose director he became in 1992.
From 1992 to 2014 he was director of the Moscow State Central Cinema Museum and director of the Eisenstein Centre.
In 2017 he released the book "Eisenstein on Paper. Graphic Works by the Master of Film" about collection of drawings, sketches, caricatures and storyboards by Sergei Eisenstein.
From 2021 on the show Radio Dolin (2021) as a historian of cinema, he tells about important film directors and their cult movies.- Mihail Timofti was born on 19 September 1948 in Kishinev, USSR. He was an actor, known for Lautarii (1972). He died on 10 November 2023 in Kishinev, Moldavia.
- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Andrei Tutyshkin was a notable Russian actor and director best known for his roles in Volga - Volga (1938), Carnival Night (1956), and Anna Karenina (1967).
He was born Andrei Petrovich Tutyshkin, on January 24, 1910, in Kishinyov, Russia (now Chishinau, Moldova). His father, Petr Tutyshkin, was a well known medical doctor in Kishinyov. The Tutyshkins moved to Moscow during the turbulent years of the Russian revolution. In 1927, then 17-year-old Andrei Tutyshkin made his stage debut at the Vakhtangov Theatre in Moscow. From 1927 to 1930 he studied at the Vakhtangov Shool of Acting, graduating in 1930 as an actor.
From 1930 - 1952 he was a member of the troupe at Vakhtangov Theatre in Moscow. There his stage partners were such actors as Varvara Popova, Boris Zakhava, Mikhail Astangov, Vladimir Etush, Nikolai Plotnikov, Iosif Tolchanov, Yuliya Borisova, Lyudmila Maksakova, Lyudmila Tselikovskaya, Cecilia Mansurova, Nikolai Gritsenko, Yuriy Yakovlev, Andrei Abrikosov, Grigori Abrikosov, Boris Babochkin, Vladimir Osenev, Nikolai Timofeyev, Mikhail Sidorkin, Nikolai Pazhitnov, Vasili Kuza, Nikolai Bubnov, and Aleksandr Grave, among others. He made his directorial debut with staging of a popular comedy 'Solomennaya shlyapka' (aka.. A Straw Hat) starring Vladimir Osenev and Dina Andreeva.
On June 21, 1941, just one day before the Nazi invasion in WWII, Andrei Tutyshkin premiered his second directorial work, the highly praised 1941 production of 'Maskarad' (aka.. Masquerade) starring Iosif Tolchanov as Arbenin and Alla Kazanskaya as Nina. Tutyshkin's staging of the classic play by Mikhail Lermontov was acclaimed by critics and audiences. Tutyshkin's 'Maskarad' satirized the Soviet regime by comparing it to refined pre-revolutionary culture. 'Maskarad' was a multi-layered show peppered with jokes, hints, poses and gestures alluding to some Soviet political figures. Unfortunately, the Tutyshkin's 'Maskarade' had a very short run in Moscow. On July 23, 1941, the Nazi air-bombing had completely destroyed the Vakhtangov Theatre, killing many actors and personnel, including the principal actor Vasili Kuza, a close friend of Tutyshkin. The elaborate stage decorations for 'Maskarad' were also destroyed by the Nazi air-bombing. The war disrupted cultural life causing evacuation of surviving actors and staff. However, Tutyshkin continued successful performances of 'Maskarad' while in evacuation in Siberia.
Tutyshkin was a popular film star since his appearance opposite Lyubov Orlova in Volga - Volga (1938). Tutyshkin has many hilarious scenes in the film, including this song "America gave Russia a steamboat, but it's very, very, very slow." In 1942, the film was presented to president Franklin D. Roosevelt as a gift from Joseph Stalin, as a hint that the Allies were very, very, very slow to open-up the second front in Europe during WWII. Roosevelt requested full translation of the lyrics, and understood the humor, then instructed the US Ambassador Harriman to have a meeting with Stalin in Moscow. Although, Tutyshkin worked on the movie before the war started, his creativity revealed a premonition that helped international relations between the Allies.
After the war, Andrei Tutyshkin was designated Honorable Actor of Russia (1946), but then he suffered after the political attacks on Russian intellectuals in 1946 and 1948, under the dictatorship of Joseph Stalin. After the death of Stalin, Tutyshkin resumed his career as a stage director and actor. During the 1950s, Tutyshkin directed several stage productions in Moscow. In 1954 he made his debut as a film director together with his partner Vladimir Dostal in My s vami gde-to vstrechalis (1954). However, some Soviet political figures were holding old grudges against Tutyshkin, and made his life in Moscow unbearable, so he had to move to Leningrad.
Later, in the 60s, Tutyshkin directed several popular comedies. His best directorial work is Wedding in Malinovka (1967), starring Mikhail Pugovkin, Zoya Fyodorova, Mikhail Vodyanoy, Vladimir Samoylov, Lyudmila Alfimova, Nikolay Slichenko, and other notable actors. The film was awarded at the Leningrad-68 film festival, and became a comedy classic; it also propelled the Moldavian folk dance group "Zhok" to international recognition.
During the 1960s Tutyshkin lived and worked in Leningrad. He was artistic director of Musical Comedy Theatre, and later was artistic director of Lenkom Theatre in Leningrad. He died of a heart attack on November 30, 1971, and was laid to rest next to his father in Moscow, Russia.- Producer
- Writer
- Production Manager
Mark Levin was born in Kishinev, Moldova. His father was a military officer and mother was a teacher. Mark Levin graduated from VGIK, Moscow Film School and for ten years worked as Line Producer at Gorky Film Studio in Moscow. Then in 1989 he started the first privately owned production company in the Soviet Union called Podarok and produced the movie The Dark Nights at the Black Sea. (Directed by Vassily Pitchul, starring Natalia Negoda). The film participated in Official Selection of the Cannes Film Festival in 1990, and was a huge success in Russia. The same year Mark started his business education at the George Washington University, School of Government. After Graduating in 1991 he moved to Los Angeles, and became actively involved in distribution of American films to growing Russian Market. At the same time he attended Independent Producers Program at UCLA. In 1996 Mark returned to Russia, and became involved in distribution of Warner Bros. Home Video product in Russia, as VP of PIDP, Inc, official licensor for WBHV at that time. In 1999-2003 he created and produced 250 episodes teen series The Simple Truth for Russian State TV. Then he produced several motion pictures and TV series for children and teens. His recent limited series Djuna, about famous Russian healer was a big hit on Channel 1 in the fall of 2015 and was sold to several foreign territories. i- Viktor Vukol was born on 4 February 1954 in Kishinev, USSR [now Moldova]. He is an actor, known for The Ballad of the Valiant Knight Ivanhoe (1983), Wild Wind (1985) and Suvenir dlya prokurora (1989).
- Dmitriy Vysotskiy was born on 27 August 1975 in Kishinev, Moldavian SSR, USSR [now Chisinau, Moldova]. He is an actor, known for Russkaya igra (2007), Metro (2013) and Zagovor (2007).
- Stepan Kuznetsov was born on 27 January 1879 in Kishinev, Russian Empire [now Chisinau, Moldova]. He was an actor, known for Kapitanskaya dochka (1928), Man from the Restaurant (1927) and Slesar i kantsler (1924). He died on 18 April 1932 in Moscow, RSFSR, USSR [now Russia].
- William F. Friedman was born in 1891 in Kishinev, Russia. He was married to Elizabeth Smith. He died on 2 November 1969 in Washington, District of Columbia, USA.
- Boris Kletinich was born on 1 August 1961 in Kishinev, USSR [now Moldova]. Boris is a writer, known for Vash spetsialnyi korrespondent (1987).
- David Stoliar was born on 31 October 1922 in Kishinev, Romania. He was married to Marda Emslie and Adria Nacmias. He died on 1 May 2014 in Bend, Oregon, USA.
- Lucjan Zitrig was born on 14 April 1893 in Kishinev, Russian Empire [now Chisinau, Moldova]. He was an actor, known for Awatar, czyli zamiana dusz (1964) and The Postmaster (1968). He died on 1 February 1970 in Wroclaw, Dolnoslaskie, Poland.