Vladimir Pavlovich Basov[a] (28 July 1923 – 17 September 1987[1]) was a Soviet Russian actor, film director and screenwriter.

He was awarded the Medal "For Battle Merit" in 1943 and the Order of the Red Star in 1945 for displaying outstanding heroism during the capture of a Nazi military base.

He studied direction under Sergei Yutkevich and Mikhail Romm and graduated in 1952 to work on the Mosfilm studio.

Among his most acclaimed pictures is the TV adaption of Mikhail Bulgakov's play The Days of the Turbins and a big-screen spy thriller The Shield and the Sword (1968) which he also co-wrote.

In 1963 his friend Georgiy Daneliya offered a small part in the upcoming film Walking the Streets of Moscow (1963).

He usually portrayed episodic, but distinguishing characters running some shady businesses, such as the lonely official in Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears.

Among his bigger roles is Viktor Myshlaevsky in The Days of the Turbins (1976), Huck Finn's father in Hopelessly Lost (1973), Duremar in The Adventures of Buratino (1975), Pyotr Luzhin in Crime and Punishment (1969), Artur Arturovich in The Flight (1970), Stump in The Adventures of the Elektronic (1979).