Soviet film director
Aleksei Yakovlevich Kapler (also Alexei, Russian: Алексей Яковлевич Каплер, born Lazar Yankelevich Kapler; 28 September 1903 – 11 September 1979) was a prominent Ukrainian filmmaker, screenwriter, actor, and writer.[1][2][3][4][5] He was known as screenwriter of many Soviet movies, such as Lenin in 1918, Amphibian Man, The Blue Bird and Striped Trip, as well as one of the anchors and directors of TV program Kinopanorama (a cinema overview). In 1941, Kapler was awarded the Stalin Prize.
Internments in the Gulag
Kapler is also known as the first love of Joseph Stalin's then teenage daughter Svetlana Alliluyeva, who was more than 20 years his junior. According to Stalin's daughter, that was the reason for Kapler to be sentenced in 1943 to five years in exile on charges of anti-Soviet agitation.[6][7] He was sent to Vorkuta region, where he worked as a photographer and lived in a tiny room partitioned off in the corner of the local photo studio.[8]
In 1948, he was convicted a second time and spent five more years in Inta labour camps, being finally released only in July 1953, after Stalin's death.[9] After returning from the Gulag, Kapler continued working on cinema and TV.
Personal life
His first wife (married 1921–1930) was the actress Tatiana Tarnowska (1898–1994), daughter of Countess Maria Tarnowska. With Tatiana he had a son, Anatoly (b. 1927). His second wife (married 1953–1960) was actress Valentina Tokarskaya (1906–1996) whom he met in exile. Kapler's last wife (married 1960 till his death in 1979) was poet Yulia Drunina (1924–1991).
