Motion Picture Director. Best known for his Cold War era thrillers. Born in Odessa, Ukraine, he studied at the Moscow Film School (VGIK) and co-directed a documentary with his teacher, Sergei Gerasimov, "Sputnik Speaks" (1959). He subsequently spent most of his career at the Gorky Film Studios in Moscow. Dorman was little known until he scored a major hit in the USSR and Eastern Bloc countries with the espionage drama "The Secret Agent's Blunder" (1968), in which the KGB attempts to smoke out a foreign agent, the son of a White Russian emigre, in their midst. This was risky material for its time, made even more so by the film's ambiguous tone and a charismatic performance by Georgi Zhzhyonov as the spy, whom audiences tended to root for over his government pursuers. It spawned three sequels, all directed by Dorman and starring Zhzhyonov: "The Secret Agent's Destiny" (1970), "The Secret Agent's Return" (1982), and "The End of Operation 'Secret Agent'" (1986). In building a popular franchise around a villainous character - unheard of in his country's ideologically controlled cinema - Dorman was, in his modest B movie way, as subversive as the Tarkovskys and Klimovs of the Soviet picture business. His other films include "Springtime On the Volga" (1960), "The Lost Expedition" (1975), "The Hijacking of the Savoy" (1979), and "Night Accident" (1980). He died of a heart attack at 60.
Motion Picture Director. Best known for his Cold War era thrillers. Born in Odessa, Ukraine, he studied at the Moscow Film School (VGIK) and co-directed a documentary with his teacher, Sergei Gerasimov, "Sputnik Speaks" (1959). He subsequently spent most of his career at the Gorky Film Studios in Moscow. Dorman was little known until he scored a major hit in the USSR and Eastern Bloc countries with the espionage drama "The Secret Agent's Blunder" (1968), in which the KGB attempts to smoke out a foreign agent, the son of a White Russian emigre, in their midst. This was risky material for its time, made even more so by the film's ambiguous tone and a charismatic performance by Georgi Zhzhyonov as the spy, whom audiences tended to root for over his government pursuers. It spawned three sequels, all directed by Dorman and starring Zhzhyonov: "The Secret Agent's Destiny" (1970), "The Secret Agent's Return" (1982), and "The End of Operation 'Secret Agent'" (1986). In building a popular franchise around a villainous character - unheard of in his country's ideologically controlled cinema - Dorman was, in his modest B movie way, as subversive as the Tarkovskys and Klimovs of the Soviet picture business. His other films include "Springtime On the Volga" (1960), "The Lost Expedition" (1975), "The Hijacking of the Savoy" (1979), and "Night Accident" (1980). He died of a heart attack at 60.
Bio by: Bobb Edwards
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