Born into a bourgeois family. From 1916 to 1922, he worked as a machine operator, and then as a timekeeper at the
Tula Arms Factory. Since June 1939 – Chairman of the
Committee for Cinematography Under the Council of People's Commissars of the Soviet Union, since March 1946 – Minister of Cinematography of the Soviet Union. From 1953 to 1954, he worked as First Deputy
Minister of Culture of the Soviet Union. From 1954 to 1959 – Deputy
Minister of Foreign Trade of the Soviet Union. Buried at the
Novodevichy Cemetery. ==Awards==