Ptushko, Aleksandr Lukich

Born Apr. 6 (19), 1900, in Lugansk, present-day Voroshilovgrad; died Mar. 6, 1973, in Moscow. Soviet director and artist. People’s Artist of the USSR (1969).

Ptushko studied at the Moscow Institute of the National Economy. He initially worked as a news correspondent and as a painter. In 1927 he went to work in films as a puppet designer and a director of three-dimensional and graphic animated cartoons. He created a series of animated cartoons based on a character called Bratishkin.

In 1932, Ptushko directed the film Master of Life— a three-dimensional animated cartoon with sound. In subsequent films, such as A New Gulliver (1935) and The Gold Key, he combined live acting with three-dimensional animation. Ptushko directed the use of trick and composite photography in a number of artistic films. He also directed films based on literature, mainly fairy tales. Such films include The Stone Flower (1946), Sadko (1953), Il’ia Muromets (1956), Sampo (1959), The Fairy Tale About Lost Time (1964), The Story of Tsar Saltan (1967), and Ruslan and Liudmila (1972). Ptushko also directed the film Scarlet Sails (1961).

Ptushko received the State Prize of the USSR in 1947. A number of his films were awarded prizes at international film festivals. Ptushko was also awarded three orders and various medals.