Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein

b 1898 in Riga—died 1948 in Moscow (RUS). 1919 works as theater director, actor and stage designer; 1920 works in Polozk, Mogiljow, Smolensk, discovering Japanese Kabuki theater; 1921 becomes a member of the Theatercolleagues at «Proletkult;» 1924 moves to Moscow to work in the production and distribution department of SEVSAPKINO; 1925 premiere of »Strike« in Moscow and beginning of the production of the film «The Year 1905»; works also on «Battleship Potjomkin;» which is first shown in the Bolschoi-Theater on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the revolution 1905; 1926 premiere of «October;» 1928 begins to teach at the GIK (State Film School) and at Tonfilm-Manifest; 1930 invitation to Hollywood and encounter with Chaplin, Sinclair, Dreiser and Disney; production of a film on Mexiko; 1932 the production is cancelled and he returns to the U.S. and West Europe to Moscow; 1933 works as film director for the Moscow Filmstudio SOJUZKINO; 1937 appointed professor at GIK; works with P. Pawlenko on «Rus» (later titled «Alexander Nevsky»); works on the book project «Montage;» 1939 receives the Lenin medal and the honorary title «Doctor of Art History;» 1940 works on the script of «Iwan the Terrible;» appointed artistic director of Mosfilmstudios; 1945 premiere of the first part of «Iwan the Terrible» in Moscow, for which he receives the Stalin Prize in 1946; part two is banned on the order of the Central Committee; 1947 appointed Head of the Film Department at the Institute for Art History at the Academy of Science of the USSR.
Source:http://www.carleton.edu/curricular/MEDA/classes/media110/Severson/bio.htm