Moscow on the Hudson

Robin Williams starred in this 1984 comedy, directed by Paul Mazursky, where he plays a Russian man who defects to the United States.

When Williams was a guest on the Bravo network show, "Inside the Actor's Studio," he told host James Lipton that he had to learn the Russian language five months beforehand. His teacher, he told Lipton, was a man named Paul Gomberg.

Williams' co-stars in this film were Maria Conchita Alonso, Elya Baskin, Savely Kramarov, Alejandro Rey and Cleavant Derricks.

Before trying his hand at directing, Paul Mazursky appeared in such Stanley Kubrick films as Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, A Clockwork Orange and 2001: A Space Odyssey.