Samuil Iosifovich Aleshin

(pseudonym of S. I. Kotliar). Born July 8 (21), 1913, in Zambrov (now in Poland). Russian Soviet playwright. Graduated from the Military Academy of Motorization and Mechanization (1935). Candidate in technical sciences (1946).

Aleshin wrote humorous stories from 1941 to 1947. He is the author of the plays Director (1950), Gogol (1952), Stern Girl (1953), One (1956), Everything Is Left to People (1959, staged by the Moscow Art Theater; film of the same name, 1963), Fulcrum (1960), Chamber (1962; film of the same name, 1965), The Man From Stratford (Shakespeare, 1954; staged, 1964), Don Juan (The Commodore’s Revenge, 1960), Leading Role (1964), To Each His Own (1966), The Diplomat (1967), Another (1968), and others. His writing is characterized by attention to questions of Soviet morality and by the sharpness of social and psychological conflicts. His plays have been performed in many Soviet theaters and abroad. He has been awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor.