Background and career
Sergei Fyodorovich Bondarchuk (25 September 1920 – 20 October 1994) was a Soviet and Russian actor and filmmaker, born in Ukraine, who was one of the leading figures of Soviet cinema in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. He is known for his sweeping period dramas, including War and Peace (1966-67), his internationally acclaimed four-part film adaptation of Leo Tolstoy's novel, and for Waterloo (1970), a Napoleonic War epic.
Bondarchuk's work won him numerous international accolades. 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.
