that "not all trees are useful ... from time to time the forest must be thinned." In 1945, Leonov served as a correspondent for Pravda at the Nuremberg Trials. He was elected as a Deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union in 1950. In 1967, Leonov was named a Hero of Socialist Labour. He was admitted to the Soviet Academy of Sciences five years later. During the last decades of his life, he worked upon the dark nationalistic-religious epic The Pyramid (1994). Kornei Chukovsky described Leonov as follows in his diary entry for 21 August 1946:I've been seeing a lot of Leonid Leonov and admire his splendid character. He's a strong man, well armed for life. He visits once or twice a week and talks nonstop, but never brings up his own plans, projects, or triumphs. The Maly is premiering a play of his tomorrow, say, or he had a book come out yesterday—he'll talk for three hours and never breathe a word of it. Not only is there no hint of the braggart in him, he goes on and on about his failures and defeats. He can do anything with his hands: he makes lampshades, tables, and chairs; he molds faces out of clay; he has fashioned a magnificent cigarette lighter out of bronze—he has all kinds of instruments and tools. Watch the way he handles seeds or berries and you know he's got a green thumb. Simple as he looks, he plays his cards close to the chest. He is well-bred and well-organized, oddly lacking in kindness but a thoroughbred, and he has a poetic nature. In short, he's a typical Russian. Awards Hero of Socialist Labour (1967) Six Orders of Lenin USSR State Prize (1977) – screenplay for "Escape of Mr. McKinley" (1975) Order of the Red Banner of Labour, twice Order of the October Revolution, twice Order of the Patriotic War, 1st class, twice Honored Artist of the RSFSR (1949) Leo Tolstoy Award for Literature (1993) Stalin Prize, 1st class (1943) – for the play "Invasion" Lenin Prize (1957) – for his novel "Russian Forest" (1953) English translations Sot, Putnam, 1931. The Thief, MacVeagh/Dial Press, 1931. Soviet River, MacVeagh/Dial Press, 1931. Skutarevsky, Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1936. Road to the Ocean, L. B. Fischer, NY, 1944. Chariot of Wrath, L. B. Fischer, NY, 1946. The Badgers, Hutchinson International, 1947. The Russian Forest, Progress Publishers,