Leading post-WWII actor who later turned to directing with epic reults. While studying under Sergei Gerasimov, Bondarchuk was cast with other students in the director's "The Young Guard" (1948) and later took lead roles in such noted Soviet films as "Taras Shevchenko" (1951) and "Othello" (1955), excelling at tragic, heroic parts.He made his directing debut with the audacious "Destiny of a Man" (1959), in which he stars as an ordinary, unheroic soldier struggling to survive in a German POW camp. Bondarchuk's compelling performance helped the film win the top prize at that year's Moscow Film
