He was raised by his Jewish stepfather Mark Leventhal who was also later arrested and sent into internal exile to the Russian North in Komi Republic in 1927.

[1] In 1938 he entered the Moscow State Medical University, but left it for VGIK.

I was sent to the 7th department of the Main Political Directorate of the Soviet Army — which meant counterpropaganda.

Nagibin was one of the most prolific Soviet screenplay writers, but he also wrote several novels and novellas, as well as many short stories and newspaper articles.

[3] He also co-wrote the screenplay for the Soviet-Japanese movie Dersu Uzala directed by Akira Kurosawa which received an Oscar for the Best Foreign Language Film in 1976.

Among his wives was Valentina Likhachyova — daughter of Ivan Likhachev — and acclaimed Soviet poet Bella Akhmadulina.