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Sergei Bondarchuk was one of the most important Russian filmmakers, best known for directing an Academy Award-winning film epic "Voyna i mir" (1967), based on the novel by Leo 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. He made his stage debut in 1937, on the stage of the Chekhov Drama Theatre in the city of Taganrog, near Rostov, then studied acting at Rostov Theatrical School. In 1942 his studies were interrupted by the invasion of the Nazi Armies during the World War II. 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 Sergei Gerasimov. In 1948 he made his film debut in Povest o nastoyashchem cheloveke (1948) then co-starred in Molodaya gvardiya (1948). He received acclaim for his portrayal of the title character in Taras Shevchenko (1951), for which he was awarded the State 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 Otello (1955), in which he played the title role opposite Irina Skobtseva as Desdemona. Bondarchuk expressed his own experience as a soldier of the World War II when he starred in Sudba cheloveka (1959), the acclaimed 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 Voyna i mir (1967), a powerful adaptation of the eponymous masterpiece by Leo Tolstoy. The 7-hour-long film epic won the 1968 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, and brought Bondarchuk a reputation of one of the finest directors of his generation. Recognized as the most expensive project in film history, Voyna i mir (1967) was produced over seven years, from 1961 to 1968, at an estimated cost of $100,000,000 (over $700,000,000 adjusted for inflation in 2008). The film set several records, such as involving tens of thousands of actors and 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 critical acclaim for Voyna i mir (1967), he starred in the SFR Yugoslavian epic Bitka na Neretvi (1969) with fellow Russian, Yul Brynner, and Orson Welles, whom he would direct the following year. By the late 1960s Bondarchuk was acclaimed around the world and earned many awards and nominations, becoming one of the most awarded actor and director in the Soviet Union. In 1971 he was elected the Chairman of the Union of Cinematographers.
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/I), a Russian-Italian co-production vividly reconstructing the final battle of the Napoleonic Wars. This was his first English-language production, but several Russian actors were cast. His second and last production in Engli