Mikhail Papava

Born Oct. 24 (Nov. 6), 1906, in Kharkov. Soviet screenwriter.

In 1931, Papava graduated from the department of history and philology of Moscow University. In 1930 he began working as a journalist. He graduated from the screenwriting department of the State Institute of Cinematography in 1938. He wrote the screenplays for the films Native Fields (1945), Academician Ivan Pavlov (1949; US screen version, Ivan Pavlov), Far From Moscow (1950, based on the novel by V. N. Azhaev), Height (1957, based on the novel by E. Z. Vorob’ev), A Square Peg in a Round Hole (1958, with I. P. Drutse), On the Same Planet (1966, with S. A. Dangulov), The Childhood of Ivan (1962, with V. O. Bogomolov; US screen version, My Name Is Ivan), and I Am His Betrothed (1969, with A. B. Chakovskii). Papava received the State Prize of the USSR in 1950 and has been awarded three orders and a number of medals.