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Boris Pavlovich Stepantsev (7 December 1929 — 21 May 1983) was a Soviet and Russian animation director, animator, artist and book illustrator, and creative director of the Multtelefilm animation department of the Studio Ekran. As a child Boris Stepantsev (born Stepantsov) fell in love with animated films "because there was nothing funnier in the whole world" 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, joined animation courses at Soyuzmultfilm where he watched many movies, including films by Disney that served as a major inspiration for him. [from Wikipedia]