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]
Early life and education
Donatas Banionis was born on 28 April 1924 in Kaunas, Lithuania, to a family of labourers. His father was Juozas Banionis and his mother Ona Blažaitytė Banionienė.[2][3]
He graduated from the First Kaunas Handicraft School, specialising in ceramics. During his studies he participated in a drama club.[2][3]
In 1940 in Kaunas, based on the amateur collective that existed at the House of Labor, a professional theatre was created, which was headed by the young director Juozas Miltinis, and soon the theatre moved to Panevėžys. In 1941 Donatas Banionis was admitted to the troupe.[2][3]
In 1944, Banionis graduated from the studio at the Panevėžys Theater, becoming a professional actor.[2][3]
In 1984 he graduated from the State Conservatory of the Lithuanian SSR (now the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theater).[2][3]
Career
Banionis in 2008
Theatre
On the stage, Banionis played over 100 characters. He acted in many plays, including "The Inspector General" by Nikolai Gogol (1945); Liar by Carlo Goldoni (1952); How the Steel Was Tempered, based on the novel by Nikolai Ostrovsky (1952); Hedda Gabler by Henrik Ibsen (1957), There, Behind the Door, based on the work of Wolfgang Borchert (1966); and The Chair, by Valery Vrublevskaya (1980).[2][3]
In the early 1980s, after the retirement of Juozas Miltinis, Banionis was appointed the chief director of the Panevėžys Theater, assuming, in addition to problems of a creative nature, the entire burden of purely economic problems: preparation for tours, replenishment of the troupe. Banionis led the theatre until the year 1988. The performances staged during this time included "Amadeus", "Three sacks of weeds" and "Evening".[2][3]
In the 1990s, the actor performed in the plays "Mindaugas" by Justinas Marcinkevičius (1994), "On the Golden Lake" by Ernest Thompson (1996), "The Circle" by Somerset Maugham (1996), "Love Letters" by Albert Garni (1997)[2][3]
Film
In 1947, Banionis appeared in the film Marytė. However, his cinematic debut is considered to be the film Adam wants to be a Man (1959) by director Vytautas Žalakevičius, then Banionis starred in his picture The Chronicle of One Day (1964).
Banionis' fame came after the film by Žalakevičius Nobody Wanted to Die (1965). The actor's work in the film by Savva Kulish Dead Season (1968) earned him great popularity.[2][3]
One of the best-known works of the actor was the role of Kris Kelvin in the film of Andrei Tarkovsky Solaris (1972).[2][3]
Other activities
Banionis was a member of the Jurgis Baltrušaitis Foundation, whose goal is to promote cultural ties and expand humanitarian cooperation between Lithuania and Russia.[2][3]
His awards include the Order of Gediminas III degree (1994), the medal. Khanzhonkov in the nomination "For outstanding contribution to the cinema" (1999), the Russian Friendship Orders (1999) and Honor (2009), the Grand Commander's Cross of the Order of Merit for Lithuania (2004), the National Award of Lithuania in the field of culture and art (2013).[2][3]
He won several prizes at international film festivals. At the film festival of the CIS and Baltic countries Kinoshok in 1999 he was awarded with a special prize "Lady luck" named after Pavel Luspekaev, "for courage and outstanding merits in creativity."[2][3]
In 1999 he became an Honorary Citizen of the city of Panevėžys.[2][3]
Personal life
His wife was actress Ona Banionis (1924-2008). They had two sons - Egidijus (1948-1993), a historian, posthumously awarded the State Prize in the field of science, and Raimundas (born in 1957), director.[2][3]
