Photo: Андрей Романенко / CC BY-SA 3.0 (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
Yuri Norstein is, simply, one of the gods of animation in my book. Hedgehog in the Fog and Tale of Tales are touchstones the whole field reveres, made through painstaking cut-out work alongside his wife Francheska Yarbusova. He's been honoured everywhere, the USSR State Prize, People's Artist of Russia, the Annie and Winsor McCay awards, even Japan's Order of the Rising Sun. The legend is that he's spent decades on The Overcoat, refusing to compromise. That obsessive, uncommercial devotion to a single vision is almost superhuman. Born in 1941 and still at it, he's a true master, and I bow to that kind of artistic patience.
Overview
Yuri Borisovich Norstein (Russian: Юрий Борисович Норштейн; born 15 September 1941) is a Russian animator best known for his animated shorts Hedgehog in the Fog and Tale of Tales made in collaboration with his wife, Francheska Yarbusova. Since 1981, he has been working on a feature film called The Overcoat, based on the short story by Nikolai Gogol of the same name.
Summary adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Yuri Norstein
- Name (Japanese)
- ユーリ・ノルシュテイン
- Reading
- ゆーり・のるしゅていん
- Born
- September 15, 1941 (age 84)
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Virgo / Snake
- Origin
- Andreyevka, Penza Oblast, Russia
- Blood type
- Private
- Height
- Private
- Agency
- Private
- Occupation
- film director / actor / screenwriter / animator / painter
2. Background
- Elementary school
- Private
- Junior high
- Private
- High school
- Private
- University
- Private
Awards & achievements
- 1979 USSR State Prize
- 1996 People's Artist of the Russian Federation
- Annie Award
- Honored art worker of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic
- Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres
- 1991 Winsor McCay Award
- Order of the Rising Sun
- Nika Award
3. Relationships
- Spouse
- Private
- Children
- Private
- Parents
- Private
- Siblings
- Private
4. Personality
Motto
Private
6. Links
Film director — see all → · Actor — see all → · More people from Russia →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-02
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public items are marked "Private / Unknown". English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.