Donatas Banionis (born
April 28,
1924 in
Kaunas,
Lithuania) is a
Lithuanian actor, popular in the
Soviet Union. He is best known in the West for his performance in the lead role of
Tarkovsky's
Solaris as Kris Kelvin.
Banionis began his career with some films in
Lithuanian, but he would later play mainly in
Russian language films. He has also worked outside the USSR like in the title role
Goya of the USSR-GDR coproduction
Goya - oder Der arge Weg der Erkenntnis (1971), directed by
Konrad Wolf and in the title role as
Beethoven in the 1976
DEFA-production
Beethoven - Tage aus einem Leben.
