Actors - Donatas Banionis

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	Actors - Donatas Banionis

Donatas Banionis (born April 28, 1924 in Kaunas, Lithuania), known in Russian as Донатас Юозович Банионис (English transliteration: Donatas Yuozovich Banionis), 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. Tarkovsky named Banionis as "the worst actor he had ever met." Many years after the movie, Banionis tried to arrange a meeting with Tarkovsky, but Tarkovsky refused, stating that he didn't have time for losers. Their relationship never got better.

Banionis begun his career with some films in Lithuanian, but he would later play mainly in Russian language films. He has also featured in German language films, playing Beethoven in Beethoven - Tage aus einem Leben in 1976 and Goya in Goya - oder Der arge Weg der Erkenntnis (1971).

Russian President Vladimir Putin decided to become "chekist" after watching a popular film Dead Season that starred Banionis in the role of an intelligence officer (Donatas said that Putin confirmed this when they met in person).

In addition to films, he is a popular actor in the theatre of Panevėžys, where he has been acting since the age of 17, and which was frequented by Donatas' fans from all over the Soviet Union. His first teacher was Juozas Miltinis. He also acts in Vilnius, in the Lithuanian National Drama Theatre.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Donatas Banionis ]

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