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Russian filmmaker Grigori Alexandrov started out as an acrobat, entertaining Russian troops on the Western Front. Alexandrov then went to work as an actor and stage manager at Prolekult Theater in Moscow, where he befriended the troupe's director, Sergei Eisenstein. When Eisenstein decided to give the movies a try, Alexandrov went along as screenwriter and general assistant. The two men collaborated on such silent masterpieces as Strike (1925) and Oktiabr (1925). In 1931, Alexandrov accompanied Eisenstein to Mexico to work on the ill-fated, never-completed Qui Viva Mexico: the resultant footage didn't see light of day until Alexandrov prepared an edited version-48 years later. Alexandrov's first solo directorial effort was the non-narrative French short subject Romance Sentimentale (1930); two years later, he completed his first feature, Internationale. His subsequent Russian films were non-dogmatic musicals and comedies, the best of which included Jazz Comedy (1934), Circus (1936) and Volga Volga (1938). He succeeded Eisenstein as the artistic director of Mosfilm in 1944, subsequently winning multiple awards for his Mosfilm productions Spring (1947), Meeting on the Elbe (1949) and Glinka (1952). Grigori Alexandrov was married to popular Soviet film star Lyubov Orlova.