Sergiu Nicolaescu was born on April 13, 1930, in Târgu Jiu, Gorj County, Romania. He was a self-taught technician and master of popular entertainment, known as the "Steven Spielberg of the Romanian cinema" for his brilliant approach to various genres. Growing up, he spent a significant amount of time and money at the cinema, being inspired by films and playing "war" or "mystery" games with 30 fellow kids in the suburbs of his native town.
His father, an engineer who worked for former King Michael, was arrested after the King's abdication in 1947. Nicolaescu finished high school and was accepted by three colleges, eventually attending the Romanian Marine Corps. He entered the realm of cinema by chance, being offered a job at the Bucharest Studios, and didn't expect a career in directing. However, his poetic short film The Memory of the Rose (1964) gained attention at the 1962 Cannes International Film Festival.
In 1967, his massive domestic success The Dacians (1966) became the first Romanian hit film in Western Europe, and he was internationally recognized as a film director of large-scale period films. He had the privilege to work in France, Germany, and other countries on several projects in the 1970s and 1980s. Nicolaescu directed Michael the Brave (1971) and Then I Sentenced Them All to Death (1972),two of the most successful and best Romanian epics.
He also directed indigenous blockbusters such as The Immortals (1974),Cu mâinile curate (1972),Noi, cei din linia întâi (1985),and Proud Heritage (1989). His only comedy, Uncle Marin: The Billionaire (1979),sold a record 14.6 million tickets in Romania, more than any other film in communist Romania. After the Romanian Revolution in December 1989, Nicolaescu became a political figure but continued to direct movies.
Without the free assistance of the Romanian military, he couldn't produce epics as he did back in the Communist era. His films Oglinda (1994) and The Death Triangle (1999) were smaller in scale but well-received at the box-office. Despite most of his epic films being only possible within the nationalist context of Communist Romania, they are still appreciated today by audiences as timeless, spectacular entertainments on a massive scale. One of his fans included director Steven Spielberg himself, who even included clips from a battle scene in "Mihai Viteazul" into E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982).
