Sergei Gerasimov (film director)

Sergei Appolinarievich Gerasimov ( _ru. Серге́й Апполина́риевич Гера́симов; OldStyleDate|25 May|1906|13 May in Kundravy village, Chelyabinsk Oblast – 26 November, 1985, Moscow) was one of the most reputable film directors and screenwriters in the Soviet Union. The oldest film school in the world, the VGIK, bears his name.

Gerasimov started his film acting career in 1924. At first he appeared in Grigori Kozintsev's silent films, such as "The Overcoat" and "New Babylon". Later, he was commissioned to produce screen versions of the literary classics of Socialist realism. His epic screenings of Alexander Fadeyev's "The Young Guard" (1946) and Mikhail Sholokhov's "And Quiet Flows the Don" (1957-58) were extolled by the authorities as exemplary. During several decades of their teaching in the VGIK Gerasimov and his wife Tamara Makarova prepared many generations of Russian actors. In his last movie Gerasimov played Leo Tolstoy, while Makarova was cast as Tolstoy's wife. Gerasimov is buried in the Novodevichy Cemetery of Moscow.

Honours

* People's Artist of the USSR, 1948
* USSR State Prize, 1941, 1949, 1951, 1971
* Hero of Socialist Labour, 1974
* Lenin Prize, 1984

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