Mark Donskoy

Directing·Mar 6, 1901·Odessa, Ukrainian SSR, USSR [now Ukraine]

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Mark Semyonovich Donskoy (6 March [O.S. 21 February] 1901 – 21 March 1981) was a Soviet film director, screenwriter, and studio administrative head. 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 in 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 (1918–1983).

Film	Credit
The Orlovs1978 · Screenplay, Director	Screenplay, Director
Nadezhda1973 · Director	Director
Mother's Loyalty1967 · Director	Director
A Mother's Heart1966 · Director	Director
Hello, Children!1962 · Director	Director
Foma Gordeyev1959 · Director, Writer	Director, Writer
The Horse That Cried1957 · Director	Director
Mother1956 · Director, Writer	Director, Writer
Alitet Leaves for the Hills1949 · Director	Director
The Village Teacher1947 · Director	Director
The Taras Family1945 · Director, Screenplay	Director, Screenplay
Rainbow1944 · Director	Director
How the Steel Was Tempered1942 · Director, Screenplay	Director, Screenplay
Fighting Film Collection No. 91942 · Director	Director
The Romantics1941 · Director	Director
My Universities1940 · Director, Writer	Director, Writer
My Apprenticeship1939 · Director, Writer	Director, Writer
The Childhood of Maxim Gorky1938 · Director, Writer	Director, Writer
Song of Happiness1934 · Director	Director
Price of a Man1929 · Director	Director
In the Big City1927 · Director, Writer	Director, Writer