Russian director Yuri Yegorov graduated from Moscow’s V.G.I.K. in 1944 after studying film direction under Sergei Gerasimov. While in school, Yegorov worked as both an assistant director and actor for Gerasimov on The Young Guard (1948). Several years after graduating, Yegorov began working with the Central Studio of Films for Children and Youth (now the Gorky Film Studio) in Moscow; after five years, he was made head of the First Group. From 1954 through the end of his career, Yegorov lectured at V.G.I.K.