A Ukrainian filmmaker, born in Kyiv, to Jewish parents. His first job in theater was in 1915, as he became an actor in a theater in Saint Petersburg and took acting lessons at the State Drama School. He also worked with Nordkino Studios in Leningrad, where he was assistant director on nine silent films. For political and ideological reasons, and due to the nationalization of Russian theaters in the 1920s, he fled Russia to Berlin in 1925. After Adolf Hitler came to power in 1933, he moved to France, filmed many of his movies in Paris, and then moved to Hollywood in 1937. His credits include The Journey (1959), Anastasia (1956) and Goodbye Again (1961). He died on December 15, 1974.