[1][2] He was awarded six Stalin Prizes (1941, 1942, 1946, 1946, 1948, 1951), served as Director of the Mosfilm studios (1954–57)[3] and was, for a time, the most influential man in the Soviet motion picture industry.

His early career included acting on stage directed by Vsevolod Meyerhold in The Forest («Лес») and by Sergei Eisenstein in the Proletcult Theatre production The Mexican.

Such films as They Met in Moscow (1941), Ballad of Siberia (1947) and Cossacks of the Kuban (1949) have often been broadcast on national television and proved effective in showcasing the idealized Soviet way of life.

The protagonists, a Russian swineherd and a Chechen shepherd (played by Ladynina and Vladimir Zeldin) meet at the All-Union Agricultural Exhibition and fall in love with each other.

Grigori Roshal wrote that "Pyriev's comedies speak of man's right to happiness, the attainment of which, in his native country, is not hindered by any national or class distinctions.