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1-12 of 12
- Joseph Conrad was born in Berdichev, Kiev Province, now the Ukraine, to Polish parents Apollo Korzeniowski and Ewa Bobrowska. His father was a political activist and he and his family were exiled after he was suspected of involvement with revolutionary activities. Conrad had no friends as a child and rarely associated with boys or girls. His mother had always been a sickly person and died of tuberculosis in 1865. Conrad's father sent him to live with his uncle and pursue his education in France. Conrad's father died in 1869, also of tuberculosis. Conrad became an officer on British ships and spent two decades on various ships. Conrad was inspired to write "Heart of Darkness" after voyaging to Congo in 1890. In 1894, Conrad published his first novel and in 1896 he married Jessie George, an on-again off-again girlfriend. Conrad had few friends in adulthood, mainly fellow authors such as Stephen Crane and Henry James. Conrad died of a heart attack in 1924.
- Writer
- Script and Continuity Department
Oscar-nominated Hollywood screenwriter Jo Swerling, who also was a Tony Award-winning Broadway writer and lyricist, was born in Berdichev, Ukraine in what was then the Russian Empire. His family emigrated from Czarist Russia and he grew up on the Lower East Side in New York City.
From a youthful job peddling newspapers, he worked his way up to becoming a journalist, working on newspapers and magazines in the 1920s, including the prestigious "Vanity Fair". He became a playwright, like other famous journalists of the era (most notably Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur of The Front Page (1931) fame). Swerling wrote the stage show "Street Cinderella" for the The Marx Brothers and the screenplay for their first film, the 1921 comedy short Humor Risk (1921), starring Chico, Groucho, Harpo and Zeppo. Groucho supposedly hated it so much, he burned the negative. The movie was never released.
Swerling's first legitimate production on the Great White Way was the musical-revue "The New Yorkers", which ran for a then-respectable 52 performances in March and April 1927. Swerling wrote the book and the lyrics for the songs. His next foray on Broadway was the more successful "Kibitzer", an original comedy he co-wrote with Edward G. Robinson (who also co-starred in the show). It ran for 120 performances in February through June 1929.
Wall Street famously laid an egg in October 1929, and Swerling would not be back on Broadway for 21 years. Hollywood beckoned.
In 1929, Universal adapted his play "The Understander" into the movie Melody Lane (1929) while Paramount released The Kibitzer (1930) the following year (without the participation of Edward G. Robinson). Columbia Pictures, the premier studio on Hollywood's "Poverty Row", hired Swerling, and his first screen credit was for the screenplay for Frank Capra's Ladies of Leisure (1930). He would received screen credit on Capra's next five films in the period 1930-32, before Capra turned to Robert Riskin as his main collaborator. (Jo would work on the screenplay for Capra's classic It's a Wonderful Life (1946), providing additional scenes.)
Swerling worked on scores of films before he received his last screen credit for King of the Roaring 20's: The Story of Arnold Rothstein (1961) in 1961. He received his sole Oscar nomination for The Pride of the Yankees (1942). He was one of the many screenwriters, including Ben Hecht, who worked uncredited on the Oscar-winning Gone with the Wind (1939) screenplay (won by Sidney Howard).
Swerling's greatest professional success came when he returned to Broadway, co-writing the book for the classic musical Guys and Dolls (1955) with Abe Burrows, for which he shared the Tony and the New York Drama Critics' Circle Awards for Best Musical. The show was a smash, running from November 1950 to November 1953 for a total of 1,200 performances. The screenplay for the 1955 movie adaptation was written by director Joseph L. Mankiewicz, whose brother Herman J. Mankiewicz shared an Oscar nod for Best Screenplay in 1943 with Swerling.
Jo Swerling died in Los Angeles, California on October 23, 1964. He was 71 years old.- Antonina Girycz was born on 20 February 1939 in Berdichev, Zhitomir Oblast, Ukrainian SSR, USSR [now Berdychiv, Zhytomyr Oblast, Ukraine]. She was an actress, known for Interrogation (1989), Polowanie na muchy (1969) and Gracze (1995). She was married to Maciej Dzienisiewicz. She died on 19 January 2022 in Poland.
- Vasiliy Grossman was born on 12 December 1905 in Berdichev, Kiev Governorate, Russian Empire [now Berdychiv, Zhytomyr Oblast, Ukraine]. He was a writer, known for Stalingrad (2013), Stepan Kolchugin (1957) and The Commissar (1967). He was married to Olga Guber, Ekaterina Zabolotskaya and Galina Matsuk Petrowna. He died on 15 December 1964 in Moscow, Russian SFSR, USSR [now Russia].
- Writer
- Director
- Producer
Gennadiy Ostrovskiy was born on 9 March 1960 in Berdichev, Zhitomir Oblast, Ukrainian SSR, USSR [now Berdychiv, Zhytomyr Oblast, Ukraine]. He is a writer and director, known for Volk (2020), Lyubovnik (2002) and Bednye rodstvenniki (2005).- Director
- Writer
Naum Loiter was born on 10 January 1891 in Berdichev, Volhynian Governorate, Russian Empire [now Zhitomir oblast, Ukraine]. Naum was a director and writer, known for Dve dorogi (1932) and Zapomnite ikh litsa (1931). Naum died on 29 August 1966 in Moscow, RSFSR, USSR [now Russia].- Composer
Zinoviy Feldman was born in 1893 in Berdichev, Kiev Governorate, Russian Empire [now Berdychiv, Zhytomyr Oblast, Ukraine]. Zinoviy is known for Gaychi (1938).- Irina Polyanskaya was born on 29 May 1967 in Berdichev, Zhitomir Oblast, Ukrainian SSR, USSR. She is an actress, known for God sobaki (1994), Uboynaya sila (2000) and Snegurochka (2014).
- Pyotr Mikhnevich was born on 22 October 1901 in Berdichev, Russian Empire. He was an actor, known for Takaya pozdnyaya, takaya tyoplaya osen (1982), Strogaya igra (1964) and Naimychka (1964). He died on 15 July 1993 in Chernovtsy, Ukraine.
- Director
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
- Writer
Stanislaw Mozdzenski was born on 11 February 1916 in Berdichev, Kiev Governorate, Russian Empire [now Berdychiv, Zhytomyr Oblast, Ukraine]. He was a director and assistant director, known for Zuzanna i chlopcy (1961), Yokmok (1963) and Zolnierz królowej Madagaskaru (1958). He died on 24 June 1980.- Aleksandr Khazin was born on 29 April 1912 in Berdichev, Kiev Governorate, Russian Empire [now Berdychiv, Zhytomyr Oblast, Ukraine]. He was a writer, known for Nevskiye melodii (1960), Povest o molodozhyonakh (1960) and Arkadiy Raykin (1968). He died on 20 November 1976 in Leningrad, Russian SFSR, USSR [now St. Petersburg, Russia].
- Vsevolod Nestayko was one of Ukraine's best-known and best loved children's literature writer. He wrote and published stories, fairy tales, novels and plays over many years, and his books have been translated into twenty languages around the world. The short film adaptation of his "Toreadors from Vasyukivka" won a Grand-prix at the International Festival in Munich in 1968 and the main prize in Sydney in 1969. His works are included in school curricula in Ukraine.