Early years Leonid was born to Anna Mikhailovna and Aleksey Ivanovich Amalrik, an employee and later an inspector at the
Russia insurance company, a
distinguished citizen of Moscow. His paternal great-grandfather Jean Amalric emigrated to Russia from
Avignon,
France during the 19th century and founded a
lace manufactory, but later burned it down during his alcoholic intoxication; both Amalric and his wife were killed in fire, only their 4-year-old son also named Jean survived. He was raised by the French colony in Moscow as Ivan Ivanovich Amalrik and later joined the Albert Hübner's Calico Manufactory. He was married to the daughter of the Moscow 1st class merchant Sergei Belkin from
Old Believers. Among their children was Sergei Amalrik, grandfather of the Soviet writer and dissident
Andrei Amalrik, and Aleksey Amalrik, father of Leonid. Amalrik grew up in a wealthy family at the
Arbat District in the center of Moscow. At the age of seven he had to spend several months in bed following the
appendectomy. During that time he started drawing and became addicted to it. He would later direct a part-autobiographical film
A Girl and an Elephant (1969) based on
Aleksandr Kuprin's story as well as his childhood memories. In 1930 he returned to
Mezhrabpomfilm where he co-directed his first traditionally animated short
Black and White (1932) with
Ivan Ivanov-Vano. It was based on the satirical poem by
Vladimir Mayakovsky and addresses issues of American
racism in Cuba. After that he was visited by the
secret police who questioned him and searched his flat. The director himself explained it as a result of his radical formalistic "anti-
Disney" vision and some featured themes that seemed suspicious to them. In 1935 he moved to
Mosfilm, and in a year the animation department was transformed into
Soyuzmultfilm. For the first few years Amalrik along with other animators focused on Disney-styled films, though he didn't tolerate them. In 1939 he joined forces with
Vladimir Polkovnikov, and together they directed a trilogy
Limpopo (1939),
Barmaley (1941) and ''Peacock's Tail'' (1946) based on the
Doctor Aybolit fairy tales, all shot in full color using the three-color filming process by
Pavel Mershin (the color copies of the first two shorts are considered to be lost). It was one of the first Soviet mini-series and among the first distinctive pictures of Soyuzmultfilm that defined the "Soviet style" of animation. He was buried at the
Pyatnitskoye cemetery. His wife Nadezhda Mikhailovna Privalova, an artist, worked with him on many of his films. ==Films==