Biography

Mark Donskoy was born on March 6, 1901 in Odessa, Kherson Governorate, Russian Empire [now Ukraine]. He was a director and writer, known for Gorky 1: The Childhood of Maxim Gorky (1938), The Taras Family (1945) and Mother (1956). He died on March 21, 1981 in Moscow, RSFSR, USSR [now Russia].

Biography in: John Wakeman, editor. "World Film Directors, Volume One, 1890-1945". Pages 257-260 (as "Mark Donskoi"). New York: The H.W. Wilson Company, 1987.

Member of the jury at the Cannes Film Festival in 1972

Served with the Soviet Red Army during the post-revolution civil war in Russia. Subsequently studied law and medicine and became a police prosecutor in the Ukraine.

In 1926, enrolled at the State Film Institute as a pupil under Eisenstein. Directed films from 1927, most celebrated of which were his 'Maxim Gorky' trilogy.