# Boris Stepantsev
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{{Short description|Soviet-Russian animation director, animator and artist}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Boris Stepantsev
| image =
| caption =
| birth_name = Boris Pavlovich Stepantsov
| birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1929|12|7}}
| birth_place = [Moscow](/source/Moscow), [USSR](/source/Soviet_Union)
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1983|5|21|1929|12|7}}
| death_place = [Moscow](/source/Moscow), [USSR](/source/Soviet_Union)
| occupation = Animator, artist, book illustrator
}}
'''Boris Pavlovich Stepantsev''' ({{langx|ru|Борис Павлович Степанцев}}; 7 December 1929 — 21 May 1983) was a [Soviet](/source/Soviet_Union) and Russian [animation director](/source/animation_director), animator, artist and book illustrator, as well as a vice-president of [ASIFA](/source/International_Animated_Film_Association) (1972–1982) and creative director of the Multtelefilm animation department of the [Studio Ekran](/source/Studio_Ekran) (1980–1983). [Honored Artist of the RSFSR](/source/Merited_Artist_of_the_Russian_Federation) (1972).[''[Giannalberto Bendazzi](/source/Giannalberto_Bendazzi) (2016)''. [https://books.google.com/books?id=0azMCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA287&lpg Animation: A World History: Volume II: The Birth of a Style - The Three Markets] at [Google Books](/source/Google_Books), p. 287, 77][''Sergei Kapkov (2006)''. [Encyclopedia of Domestic Animation](/source/Encyclopedia_of_Domestic_Animation). — Moscow: Algorithm, p. 615—616]
==Biography==
As a child Boris Stepantsev (born Stepantsov) fell in love with animated films "because there was nothing funnier in the whole world"[''Sergei Asenin (1983)''. The Wisdom of Fiction: Masters of Animation about Themselves and Their Art. — Moscow: Iskusstvo, p. 155-159] and decided to dedicate his life to comedy animation. He graduated from the Moscow Art School and in 1946, right after the end of [war](/source/Great_Patriotic_War), joined animation courses at [Soyuzmultfilm](/source/Soyuzmultfilm) where he watched many "trophy" movies, including films by [Disney](/source/Disney) that served as a major inspiration for him.
Between 1947 and 1949 Stepantsev worked as animator on a number of films, including the award-winning ''Grey Neck'' (1948) by [Leonid Amalrik](/source/Leonid_Amalrik) and [Vladimir Polkovnikov](/source/Vladimir_Polkovnikov).[[http://www.animator.ru/db/?ver=eng&p=show_film&fid=2974 Grey Neck] at [Animator.ru](/source/Animator.ru)] He spent the next five years serving in the [Soviet Navy](/source/Soviet_Navy), and on his return entered the [Moscow State University of Printing Arts](/source/Moscow_State_University_of_Printing_Arts) while continuing his animation career. In 1954 he co-directed his first short ''A Villain with a Label'' (together with Vsevolod Shcherbakov) which also became one of the first Soviet post-war [stop motion](/source/stop_motion) animated films produced at the newly founded puppet division of Soyuzmultfilm.[[http://arch.rgdb.ru/xmlui/discover?scope=&rpp=10&page=1&query=Степанцев Books and diafilms by Boris Stepantsev] at the [National Children's Digital Library](/source/%3Aru%3A%D0%9D%D0%B0%D1%86%D0%B8%D0%BE%D0%BD%D0%B0%D0%BB%D1%8C%D0%BD%D0%B0%D1%8F_%D1%8D%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%BA%D1%82%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%BD%D0%BD%D0%B0%D1%8F_%D0%B4%D0%B5%D1%82%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B0%D1%8F_%D0%B1%D0%B8%D0%B1%D0%BB%D0%B8%D0%BE%D1%82%D0%B5%D0%BA%D0%B0) (in Russian)] In 1958 they produced ''Petya and the Little Red Riding Hood'', a postmodern comedy based on the fairy tale by [Vladimir Suteev](/source/Vladimir_Suteev) about a [pioneer](/source/pioneer_movement) Petya who sneaked into the [Little Red Riding Hood](/source/Little_Red_Riding_Hood) movie in order to save the girl from the Big Bad Wolf. The film was co-directed by [Evgeny Raykovsky](/source/Evgeny_Raykovsky) and drew inspiration from Disney and [Tex Avery](/source/Tex_Avery) in contrast to the majority of "realistic" movies [of that time](/source/History_of_Russian_animation) that used [rotoscopy](/source/rotoscopy). It turned very popular and won a prize at the 1960 [Annecy International Animation Film Festival](/source/Annecy_International_Animation_Film_Festival).[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXxgO_MnKtU Monsters of Animation. Boris Stepantsev] at the official [2×2](/source/2%C3%972_(TV_channel)) channel (in Russian)]
From 1956 to 1960 Stepantsev and Raykovsky also directed one of the first Soviet mini-series that starred [Murzilka](/source/Murzilka), a popular character from the children's magazine of the same name. The third part, ''Murzilka on Sputnik'' (1960), became the first Soviet [widescreen](/source/widescreen) animated short and was awarded the first prize at the 1960 [Karlovy Vary International Film Festival](/source/Karlovy_Vary_International_Film_Festival).[Denis Filin. ''[http://2005.novayagazeta.ru/nomer/2005/94n/n94n-s34.shtml And the ears are sticking out anyway] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191026112927/http://2005.novayagazeta.ru/nomer/2005/94n/n94n-s34.shtml |date=2019-10-26 }}'' article at [Nezavisimaya Gazeta](/source/Nezavisimaya_Gazeta), December 15, 2005 (in Russian)] Author [Eduard Uspensky](/source/Eduard_Uspensky) later used it as an argument during his legal battle against the artist [Leonid Shvartsman](/source/Leonid_Shvartsman), stating that he held no rights for the character's image.[[http://www.idelo.ru/390/23.html Eduard Uspensky // Cheburashka. The Road to Calvary] interview with [Eduard Uspensky](/source/Eduard_Uspensky) at the [Delo](/source/%3Aru%3A%D0%94%D0%B5%D0%BB%D0%BE_(%D0%B3%D0%B0%D0%B7%D0%B5%D1%82%D0%B0%2C_%D0%A1%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%BA%D1%82-%D0%9F%D0%B5%D1%82%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%B1%D1%83%D1%80%D0%B3)) newspaper, October 10, 2005 (in Russian)]
thumb|left|''Junior and Karlson'' stamp based on the animated dilogy
Around the same time Stepantsev felt he "got tired from quizzery" and decided to explore other themes.[[http://www.animator.ru/articles/article.phtml?id=75 Curiosity Is My Teacher] interview with Anatoly Savchenko at [Animator.ru](/source/Animator.ru)] They received awards for both of the movies at the international film festivals in [Romania](/source/Romania) and [Spain](/source/Spain).[''[Iosif Boyarsky](/source/Iosif_Boyarsky) (1995)''. [http://www.pereplet.ru/text/boyarskiy.html Literary Collages]. — Moscow: Russian Binding (online magazine, in Russian)]
Stepantsev liked to spend a lot of time developing his films, and yet he easily switched between completely different projects as soon as he got obsessed with a new idea. Neither the ''[Karlsson-on-the-Roof](/source/Karlsson-on-the-Roof)'' nor the ''Dead Souls'' series were ever finished because of this. In one of his last publications he expressed a lot of enthusiasm regarding the possibilities of [computer animation](/source/computer_animation) which he predicted to be the future of animation.