Mark Semyonovich Donskoy, a Soviet film director, screenwriter, and studio administrative head, was born on March 6, 1901, in Odessa, Ukraine, to a Jewish family. His early life was marked by the Russian Civil War, during which he served in the Red Army from 1921 to 1923 and was held captive by the White Russians for ten months.
After being freed, Donskoy was discharged from military service and pursued higher education, studying psychology and psychiatry at the Crimean Medical School. He then graduated from the legal department of the Faculty of Social Sciences of the Crimean M.V. Frunze University in Simferopol in 1925.
Before entering the film industry, Donskoy worked in investigative bodies, the Supreme Court of the Ukrainian SSR, and the bar association. He also published a collection of short stories, "Prisoners," in 1925, which drew from his life experiences.
Donskoy began his film career in 1926, working in the script department before advancing as an assistant director in Moscow and later as an editing assistant in Leningrad. In 1935, he became the first Soviet dubbing director, dubbing the American film "The Invisible Man."
As a film director, Donskoy worked on numerous projects, often taking on administrative roles within film studios. He was the administrative director of Soyuzdetfilm's film studio in Moscow from 1938 to 1941 and again from 1945 to 1955. He also directed the Kiev film studio from 1942 to 1945 and again from 1955 to 1957, as well as the Maxim Gorky film studio from 1957 onwards, where he mentored renowned filmmaker Ousmane Sembène.
Donskoy's personal life was marked by his marriage to screenwriter Irina Borisovna Donskaya, who was born in 1918 and passed away in 1983.
