Short answers, pulled from the story.
Eldar Ryazanov was a Soviet and Russian film director, screenwriter, poet, actor, and pedagogue born on the 18th of November 1927 in Samara. He was best known for popular tragicomedies satirizing daily life in the Soviet Union, and was named People's Artist of the USSR in 1984.
Ryazanov's most celebrated films include Carnival Night (1955), Hussar Ballad (1962), Beware of the Car (1966), The Irony of Fate (1975), Office Romance (1977), The Garage (1980), Station for Two (1982), and A Cruel Romance (1984). His main genre was tragicomedy.
The Irony of Fate (1975) became a New Year's Eve television tradition across most post-Soviet countries. The film is still broadcast every December 31st, though Ukraine stopped the tradition following the 2014 Revolution of Dignity.
Eldar Ryazanov died around midnight on the 30th of November 2015, of heart and lung failure, at the age of 88. He had been admitted to a Moscow hospital on the 21st of November 2015 due to shortness of breath, and had suffered an acute ischemic stroke in November 2014.
Ryazanov received the USSR State Prize in 1977 for The Irony of Fate, the People's Artist of the USSR title in 1984, and the Nika Award for Best Director in 1991 for Promised Heaven. He also received the Order of the Red Banner of Labour twice, in 1969 and 1977, and France named him a Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters.
A street in Moscow was named after Ryazanov in 2017. A museum and memorial dedicated to his memory was opened at the site of his childhood home in Samara. The asteroid 4258 Ryazanov also bears his name.