Sergiu Nicolaescu was born on the 13th of April 1930, in Targu Jiu, Gorj County, Romania. Nicolaescu, the 'Steven Spielberg of the Romanian cinema', was a brilliant, self-taught technician and a master of popular entertainment who approached during his long career various genres with great success. In his childhood, he spent a lot of time at the cinema. He was inspired by the films and played "war" or "mystery" games with 30 fellow kids in the suburbs of his native town. His father was an engineer, who worked for King Michael. Therefore, after the King's abdication in 1947, his father was arrested. After finishing high school, Nicolaescu was accepted by three colleges. He finally attended the Romanian Marine Corps. Nicolaescu entered the realm of cinema by chance. A friend offered him a job in the Bucharest Studios of that time. He didn't expect a career in directing, but his poetic short film Memoria trandafirului (1964) got a lot of attention at the 1962 Cannes International Film Festival. In 1967, his massive domestic success Les guerriers (1966) became the first Romanian hit film in Western Europe. Subsequently, Nicolaescu was internationally appreciated 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 70s and 80s. He directed La dernière croisade (1970) and Atunci i-am condamnat pe toti la moarte (1972), two of the most successful and best Romanian epics. He also was responsible for such indigenous blockbusters as Nemuritorii (1974),Cu mâinile curate (1972),Noi, cei din linia întîi (1985) and Mircea (1989). His only, but very popular, comedy Nea Marin miliardar (1979) sold a record 14.6 mill. tickets in Romania, more than any other film in communist Romania. After the Romanian Revolution in Dec. 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. Oglinda (1993) and Triunghiul mortii (1999) were smaller in scale, but well-received at the box-office. While most of his epic films were 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., l'extra-terrestre (1982).
