Grigori Aleksandrov

Grigori Aleksandrov
Григорий Александров
Aleksandrov in 1934
Born(1903-01-23)23 January 1903
Yekaterinburg, Perm Governorate, Russian Empire
Died16 December 1983(1983-12-16) (aged 80)
Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Resting placeNovodevichy Cemetery, Moscow
55°43′29″N 37°33′15″E / 55.72472°N 37.55417°E / 55.72472; 37.55417
NationalityRussian
Occupation(s)Actor, film director, screenwriter
Spouses
Olga Ivanova
(m. 19251933)
    (m. 1934; died 1975)
      Galina Krylova
      (m. 1979)

      Grigori Vasilyevich Aleksandrov (23 January 1903 – 16 December 1983, known by artist name Mormonenko) was a Soviet film director who was named a People's Artist of the USSR in 1947 and a Hero of Socialist Labour in 1973. He was awarded the Stalin Prizes for 1941 and 1950.

      Initially associated with Sergei Eisenstein, with whom he worked as a co-director, screenwriter and actor, Aleksandrov became a major director in his own right in the 1930s, when he directed Jolly Fellows and a string of other musical comedies starring his wife Lyubov Orlova.

      Though Aleksandrov remained active until his death, his musicals, amongst the first made in the Soviet Union, remain his most popular films. They rival Ivan Pyryev's films as the most effective and light-hearted showcase ever designed for the Stalin-era USSR.