Mark Donskoy

Known for DirectingBorn 1901-03-06Died 1981-03-20Odessa, Ukrainian SSR, USSR [now Ukraine]

Mark Semyonovich Donskoy[a] (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 [ru] (1918–1983).Read more

Movies & web series

Hello, Children!

The Romantics

Brother of a Hero

Mother's Loyalty

A Mother's Heart

His Excellency

Nadezhda

Song of Happiness

The Orlovs

Foma Gordeyev

The Taras Family

Alitet Leaves for the Hills

My Apprenticeship

The Childhood of Maxim Gorky

My Universities

In the Big City

The Village Teacher

Rainbow

Mother

The Horse That Cried

Prostitute

How the Steel Was Tempered

Fighting Film Collection No. 9

Price of a Man