motion-picture writer and director best known for a trilogy based on the autobiography of the Russian proletarian novelist Maksim Gorky (Gorky, Maksim).

In 1926 Donskoy began his cinema career as a scriptwriter and assistant director. He soon became a director of lyrical and personal films that differed markedly from the grand-scale Russian melodramas of the 1930s. The three films based on the life of Donskoy's friend Gorky, Detstvo Gorkogo (1938; Childhood of Maksim Gorky), V lyudyakh (1939; On His Own), and Moi universitety (1940; University of Life), sensitively interpolate scenes from Gorky's short stories into the factual narrative to compose one of the finest of all film biographies.

Other major films are Raduga (1944; “The Rainbow”) and Nepokoryonnye (1945; “Unconquered”), which show Donskoy's skill with child actors; two more films adapted from the writings of Gorky, Mat (1956; Mother) and Foma Gordeyev (1956; The Gordeyev Family); and his diptych, Serdtsye matery/Vernost matery (1966–67; Heart of a Mother/A Mother's Devotion). Donskoy was twice given the Order of Lenin, the U.S.S.R.'s highest civilian award.