Donatas Banionis (28 April 1924 – 4 September 2014) was a Soviet and Lithuanian stage and film actor and theatre director.[1] He has more than 80 credited roles in cinema and is best known for his performance in the lead role of Tarkovsky's Solaris as Kris Kelvin. He was born in Kaunas, Lithuania.[2][3]
Banionis began his career with some films in Lithuanian, but he would later play mainly in Russian language films (although his voice was dubbed by Russian actors). He has also worked outside the USSR like in the title role Francisco Goya of the USSR-GDR coproduction Goya or the Hard Way to Enlightenment (1971), directed by Konrad Wolf and in the title role as Ludwig van Beethoven in the 1976 DEFA-production Beethoven - Tage aus einem Leben. Aside from films, he was a popular stage actor in Panevėžys, where he acted since the age of 17, and which was frequented by Donatas' fans from all over the former Soviet Union. His first teacher was Juozas Miltinis. He acted in Vilnius, in the Lithuanian National Drama Theatre.
Vladimir Putin once stated that Banionis' part in the 1968 Soviet spy film Dead Season was the reason why he joined the KGB.[4]
^Peter Rollberg (2016). Historical Dictionary of Russian and Soviet Cinema. US: Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 80–81. ISBN 978-1442268425.
^"Донатас Банионис. Биография". RIA Novosti. 4 September 2014.
^"Донатас Банионис - биография, информация, личная жизнь". Shtuki Dryuki.
^Suebsaeng, Asawin (5 September 2014). "How the Actor Donatas Banionis Inspired Vladimir Putin to Become a Spy". The Daily Beast. The Daily Beast.com. Retrieved 5 September 2014.
DonatasBanionis (28 April 1924 – 4 September 2014) was a Soviet and Lithuanian stage and film actor and theatre director. He has more than 80 credited...
Donatas is a Lithuanian masculine given name and may refer to the following individuals: DonatasBanionis (born 1924), Lithuanian actor Donatas Kazlauskas...
Regimantas Adomaitis as Donatas Bruno Oja as Bronius Juozas Budraitis as Jonas Algimantas Masiulis as Mykolas DonatasBanionis as Chairman Vaitkus Vija...
screenplay by Aleksandr Shlepyanov and Vladimir Vajnshtok and featuring DonatasBanionis and Rolan Bykov. A connection between Dr. Hass and the West German...
Dead Season was based on Molody's mission in the UK. Molody advised DonatasBanionis who played him, and believed that resemblance between him and the actor...
Apostle / Absalom Armen Dzhigarkhanyan — David, director of the shelter DonatasBanionis — father Algis Matulionis — priest Valentinas Masalskis - member of...
/ Мёртвый сезон (spy film), directed by Savva Kulish, and starring DonatasBanionis and Rolan Bykov 1969: Prince Igor, directed by Roman Tikhomirov, and...
– theatre and film actor, successful both in Lithuania and Russia DonatasBanionis (1924–2014) – actor, star of Tarkovsky's Solaris Šarūnas Bartas (1964–)...
habilitated doctor and professor Moshe Arens, Israeli statesman and diplomat DonatasBanionis, actor Aharon Barak (originally Brick), professor of law at Hebrew...
East German DEFA Studio for Feature Film. Beethoven is portrayed by DonatasBanionis. The film covers Beethoven's life in Vienna between 1813 and 1819.[citation...
frequently provided voice-overs for foreign and domestic films, and even DonatasBanionis admitted that his dubbing was an improvement over his original acting...
Pryamoye popadaniye The Dolphin's Cry Aleksey Saltykov Ivars Kalniņš, DonatasBanionis, Armen Dzhigarkhanyan Soviet Union The End of Eternity Andrey Yermash...
War Solaris (a.k.a Solyaris) Andrey Tarkovskiy Natal'ya Bondarchuk, DonatasBanionis, Jüri Järvet Soviet Union Drama Mystery Superbeast George Schenck Antoinette...
produced the feature film The 13th Apostle, starring Juozas Budraitis, DonatasBanionis, Armen Dzhigarkhanyan, based on The Martian Chronicles. The film was...
miniseries The Adjutant of His Excellency, and also Dead Season (starring DonatasBanionis), and the 1992 Russian drama film The Chekist. In Spain, during the...
built in time. Many helpers participated in construction. One of them, DonatasBanionis, remembers: "I remember 1939 European Championship in Kaunas. Then...
personality, who led the theatre for decades. He worked with actors such as DonatasBanionis (main role in Andrei Tarkovsky’s "Solaris"). Because of its noticeable...
Solovey won the award for Best Supporting Actress. Regimantas Adomaitis DonatasBanionis Juozas Budraitis Uldis Dumpis Aleksandr Kaidanovsky Irena-Marija Leonaviciute...
Sherlock Holmes television series in the 1980s. Nero Wolfe is played by DonatasBanionis, and Archie Goodwin by Sergei Zhigunov. The first season (Niro Vulf...
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