Sergey Bondarchuk 25 September 1920 20 October 1994 was a Soviet director actor and screenwriter Peoples Artist of the USSR 1952 Academy Awards winner War and Peace 1969 BAFTA winner Waterloo 1971 His directorial debut was Fate of a Man a WWII classic where he portrayed the main role Bondarchuk is considered a master of big scale pieces with epic battle scenes that involved thousands of extras War and Peace Waterloo He often starred star in his films as well as cast his family notably his wife actor Irina Skobtseva eg War and Peace Vybor Tseli Molchanie Doktora Ivensa In late 1980searly 1990s Bondarchuk started his longterm passion project an adaptation of an epic novel And Quiet Flows the Don together with the UK and Italy however the work couldnt be finished before the actordirector passed away in 1994 His son actordirector Fyodor Bondarchuk finished the piece in 2006