MAZHIT BEGALIN February 22, 1922, Semipalatinsk, Kazakh SSR, USSR — May 5, 1978, Moscow, RSFSR, USSR. Film director, screenwriter, actor. Honored Art Worker of the Kazakh SSR (1977). He graduated from the Directing Department of VGIK in 1948 (workshop of S.A. Gerasimov and T.F. Makarova). Since 1950, he worked as a director at the Kazakhfilm studio. His father was the well-known Kazakh writer Sapargali Iskakovich Begalin (1895–1983). His wife was actress Lyudmila Ivanova (1925–1995). His son was actor and stuntman Nartai Begalin (1951–1993).