Mark Donskoy

• Name — Mark Donskoy • Born — 6 March 1901 • Birthplace — Odessa, Russian Empire • Died — 21 March 1981 • Place of death — Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union • Occupation — * Film director • screenwriter • Years Active — 19261981

Mark Donskoy was born in Odessa in a Jewish family. During the Civil War, he served in the Red Army (1921–1923), and was held captive by the White Russians for ten months. After he was freed, he was discharged from military service. He studied psychology and psychiatry at the Crimean Medical School. In 1925, he graduated from the legal department of the Faculty of Social Sciences of the Crimean M.V. Frunze University in Simferopol. He worked in investigative bodies, in the Supreme Court of the Ukrainian SSR, and the bar association. He published a collection of short stories drawn from his life called Prisoners (1925). Donskoy began his career in film in 1926. He worked in the script department, but soon advanced as an assistant director in Moscow. Later, he worked in Leningrad as an editing assistant. In 1935, he became the first Soviet dubbing director; he dubbed the American film The Invisible Man. Following this, he directed numerous films. He also worked from time to time as a studio administrator: in 1938–1941, and in 1945-1955 he was the administrative director of Soyuzdetfilm's film studio in Moscow; in 1942-1945 and in 1955-1957 he was director of the Kiev film studio; after 1957, he was director and art director of the Maxim Gorky film studio where he mentored Ousmane Sembène. His wife was the screenwriter Irina Borisovna Donskaya (19181983).

• The Childhood of Maxim Gorky (1938) • Gorky 2: My Apprenticeship (1939) • Gorky 3: My Universities (1940) • How the Steel Was Tempered (1942) • Fighting Film Album 9 (1942) (aka Diary of a Nazi) • Rainbow (1944) • The Taras Family (1945) • Alitet Leaves for the Hills (1949) • Mother (1955) • At Great Cost/The Horse That Cried (1957) • Foma Gordeyev (1959) • A Mother's Heart (1965)

Mark Donskoy is recorded as having received Stalin Prize, USSR State Prize and Order of Lenin. Recognition and collections. Donskoy received Stalin Prize, USSR State Prize, Order of Lenin, Hero of Socialist Labour, Order of the October Revolution and People's Artist of the USSR.