5 facts about Oscar-winning director Sergei Bondarchuk

1. Writer Mikhail Sholokhov inspired him

For a radio broadcast, Bondarchuk recorded Sholokhov's story ‘The Fate of a Man’, about a front line soldier, who loses his entire family in the war. After hearing the young actor's rendition, the writer sent him a telegram: "Now I can't imagine another actor who could read it like that: you read it better than I wrote it!"

Sergei wanted to play this role on the big screen, but as he saw it. So… he secured the rights to film and direct the movie.

He would return to Sholokhov's work twice more, making ‘They Fought for Their Country’ (1975) and ‘Quiet Flows the Don’ (2006).

2. His ‘War and Peace’ won the first Oscar for a Soviet feature movie

Work on the film adaptation of Leo Tolstoy's novel took six years. It was one of the largest projects in Soviet cinema, with a huge cast, extensive location shooting and worldwide success.

One of the ‘War and Peace’ episodes was shown at the Cannes Film Festival and, in 1969, Bondarchuk's movie won an Oscar and a Golden Globe and was nominated for a BAFTA. The adaptation was purchased for distribution to over one hundred countries.

3. Worked abroad during the Soviet era

After the success of ‘War and Peace’, Italian producer Dino Di Laurentiis invited Bondarchuk to make a movie about the Battle of Waterloo. It starred American, British and Soviet stars – Rod Steiger, Orson Welles, Christopher Plummer, Vasily Livanov, Irina Skobtseva and Oleg Vidov, to name a few.

‘Waterloo’ (1970) was nominated for a BAFTA and Bondarchuk became the first non-Italian director to win the ‘David di Donatello’ award for a movie.

4. Cast a ‘Bond girl’ in one of his movies

In the early 1980s, the director took on another large-scale international project, ‘Red Bells’ (1982), about the revolutions in Mexico and Russia, based on the books by journalist John Reed, who witnessed the events.

The protagonist's companion was played by ‘Bond girl’ Ursula Andress, who had starred in ‘Dr. No’ (1962).

5. Dreamed of making ‘And Quiet Flows the Don’ for many years

The director had been obsessed with the idea of ​​making a new adaptation of Sholokhov's novel since the 1960s. Bondarchuk was inspired to make it by the writer himself, who admitted he was not very satisfied with director Sergei Gerasimov's version. But, he was only able to realize his dream in the 1990s (which, due to production disputes, was only released in 2006). He cast foreign stars Rupert Everett and Delphine Forrest in the lead roles. The latter, who plays the role of Aksinya, admitted that working with Bondarchuk was incredibly interesting, but also challenging. However, her family history helped: Delphine's great-grandmother was a Russian émigré and she herself spoke some Russian.