--- name: "Donatas Banionis" canonical: "https://film.one/person/donatas-banionis" roles: ["Actor"] born: "28 April 1924" died: "4 September 2014" reviewed_on_fi1m: 1 average_as: "actor" average_over: 1 updated: "2026-09-21T03:34:04.500467+00:00" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Donatas Banionis Actor. Born 28 April 1924 in Kaunas, Lithuania. Died 4 September 2014. ## Details - **Work:** Actor - **Born:** 28 April 1924, Kaunas, Lithuania - **Died:** 4 September 2014 - **Also known as:** Донатас Банёнис, Донатас Юозович Банионис, D. Banionis, Д. Банионис - **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donatas_Banionis, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q908633, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0052023/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/1190206 ## Streaming the US now - **HBO Max:** [*Solaris*](https://film.one/film/solaris-1972.md) (87) For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country. ## Fi1m on Donatas Banionis > Donatas Banionis can make a silent, watchful man worth sustained attention. We value the restraint that makes his Kris Kelvin so hard to reach in *Solaris*, while sometimes wishing he would let us closer. In *Solaris* (1972), Donatas Banionis makes Kris Kelvin difficult to know even while he is speaking. His reserve suits a man sent to investigate a planet whose behaviour defeats explanation, only to find human memories and needs getting in the way. We value the performance’s reluctance to make Kelvin easily approachable. Andrei Tarkovsky has an actor who can hold our attention without making his thoughts immediately available. There are limits: in some conversations, that guardedness makes the scene feel longer than the thought behind it. Kelvin can make the rest of the screen career too easy to overlook. His breakthrough as Vaitkus in *Nobody Wanted to Die* (1965) was followed by the popular spy role of Ladeinikov in *Dead Season* (1968). He went on to play Francisco Goya in *Goya or the Hard Way to Enlightenment* (1971) and Ludwig van Beethoven in *Beethoven – Tage aus einem Leben* (1976). He remained primarily a stage actor throughout a screen career that included psychological dramas, spy films and biopics. The recurring screen figure was a reserved, thinking man who watched more readily than he acted. His voice needs a little care when discussing that work. His Lithuanian accent led to dubbing in most of his Russian-language films, so we should not automatically credit him with every vocal inflection. The intense stare, the timing and the reserved physical presence are more reliable things to attend to. That makes him well suited to Kelvin, whose difficulty in communicating is something the film can make us feel before it starts explaining it. With Natalya Bondarchuk’s Hari in *Solaris*, that distance becomes emotionally useful. We were moved by the contrast between her readily felt hurt and his difficulty in letting anyone close. Bondarchuk supplies much of the feeling, and the film is stronger for allowing her performance to do what Kelvin’s reserve cannot. The long philosophical conversations sometimes explain what the two actors have already made clear, which is our chief caveat about a film we warmly recommend. For a first encounter, choose *Solaris* on an evening when nobody is in a hurry. ## Biography Donatas Banionis (28 April 1924 – 4 September 2014) was a Lithuanian stage and film actor and theatre director. He was born in Kaunas and trained at the acting studio of the Panevėžys Drama Theatre under Juozas Miltinis, graduating in 1944. He remained associated with the theatre for much of his career, appearing in over 100 stage roles, and later studied at the Lithuanian State Conservatory. Banionis made his film debut in the late 1940s and went on to appear in more than 80 cinema and television roles, often in Russian-language productions. He is best known for playing Kris Kelvin in Andrei Tarkovsky's *Solaris* (1972). Other notable films include *Nobody Wanted to Die* (1966), *Dead Season* (1968), *The Red Tent* (1969), *Goya or the Hard Way to Enlightenment* (1971) and *Beethoven – Days of a Life* (1976). He was named People's Actor of the USSR in 1974 and received various state awards in Lithuania and the Soviet Union. *Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com.* ## On Fi1m (1) - *Solaris* (1972), Fi1m 87, as Kris Kelvin — [page](https://film.one/film/solaris-1972.md) ## Complete filmography (73) Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page. - *Ryuichi Sakamoto: CODA* (2017), as Kris Kelvin (archive footage) - *The Silent Lithuanian Revolution* (2013), as Donatas Banionis - *Fireheart: The Legend of Tadas Blinda* (2011), as Murovjovas - *Revisiting Solaris* (2007), as Chris Kelvin - *Anastasia* (2006), as Doctor's father - *Meeting* (2005), Actor - *The Saga of the Ancient Bulgars: The Tale of Saint Olga* (2004), Actor - *Saga of the Ancient Bulgars: The Ladder of Vladimir the Red Sun* (2004), as Sveneld - *The New Adventures of Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin* (2004), series, as Nero Wolfe - *Kauno bliuzas* (2004), Actor - *Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin* (2002), series, as Nero Wolfe - *Only Time...* (2002), as Alexander Yanovich - *The Courtyard* (2000), as The old man - *Adomas Mickevičius. 1798 - 1855. Realybės versijos* (1998), Actor - *Anna* (1996), Actor - *Nobleman Zavalnia* (1994), Actor - *Seven Days After the Murder* (1992), as investigator - *Depression* (1991), as "Oldster" - *Yatra Witch* (1991), Actor - *Bloodsuckers* (1991), as Telyaev - *Human Target* (1990), Actor - *Entrance to Labyrinth* (1990), as Mazardi - *Entrance to the Maze* (1990), series, as Mazardi - *Vera - Der schwere Weg der Erkenntnis* (1989), series, Actor - *The Thirteenth Apostle* (1988), Actor - *At the End of the Night* (1988), Actor - *Enclosure* (1988), Actor - *Cry of a Dolphin* (1987), as Bar-Mattay - professor psychologist - *Snake Catcher* (1986), as Mitrich-Kolobok - *The Limit of Truth* (1986), as Ožoginas - *To the Coming Century* (1985), series, Actor - *I'm Sorry* (1982), as Guest from Vilnius - *Honeymoon in America* (1982), Actor - *Nicolo Paganini* (1982), series, Actor - *A Child's World* (1982), as Mikhail Rasporkin - *Nicolo Paganini* (1982), Actor - *Fact* (1981), as Colonel Titel - *The Adventures of Prince Florisel* (1981), series, Actor - *Andrius* (1980), as Rauplėnas - *The Monarch Butterfly* (1980), Actor - *Territory* (1979), as Chinkov - *Unseeded Rye Blossom* (1979), as Antanas Petrušonis - *The Centaurs* (1979), as The President - *The Adventures of Prince Florisel* (1979), as Ник Николс, "Председатель" - *Identification Marks None* (1979), as Harting - *Where have you been, Odysseus?* (1978), Actor - *Armed and Very Dangerous* (1978), as Gabriel Conroy - *Cash Collector's Bag* (1977), as Aleksey Tulyakov - *Mama, I’m Alive* (1977), as Mauris - *The Life and Death of Ferdinand Luce* (1977), as Ferdinand Luce - Left-Wing Journalist - *Beethoven - Days in a Life* (1976), as Ludwig van Beethoven - *The Flight of Mr. McKinley* (1975), as мистер Мак-Кинли - *Discovery* (1973), as Сергей Матвеевич Юрышев (академик) - *The Commander of the Lucky 'Pike'* (1973), as Viktor Sherknis - *Captain Jack* (1972), Actor - *Капитан Джек* (1972), as Митя - *Solaris* (1972), as Kris Kelvin — Fi1m 87, [page](https://film.one/film/solaris-1972.md) - *Goya: Or the Hard Way to Enlightenment* (1971), as Goya - *The Red Diplomat* (1971), as Savva Morozov - *King Lear* (1970), as Albany - *The Red Tent* (1969), as Adalberto Mariano - *The Dead Season* (1968), as Konstantin Ladeinikov - *Operation 'Trust'* (1968), as Eduard Ottovich Staunits - *Operation 'Trust'* (1968), series, as Эдуард Оттович Стауниц - барон - *The Life and Ascension of Yuras Bratchik* (1967), Actor - *The Little Prince* (1966), as Adult - *Beware of the Car!* (1966), as пастор, покупатель - *Nobody Wanted to Die* (1966), as Vaitkus - *In a Remote Homestead* (1966), as kunigas - *March, march! Tra-ta-ta!* (1964), as Major Varnalesa - *The Chronicle of One Day* (1963), Actor - *Adam Wants to Be a Man* (1960), as Dausa - *Maryte* (1947), as Nephew of Petras ## Awards ### Other awards — 7 won - Russian Federation Presidential Certificate of Honour 2014: Russian Federation Presidential Certificate of Honour (won) - Order of Honour 2009: Order of Honour (won) - Order of Friendship 1999: Order of Friendship (won) - Order of the October Revolution 1981: Order of the October Revolution (won) - USSR State Prize 1977: USSR State Prize (won) - People's Artist of the USSR 1974: People's Artist of the USSR (won) - USSR State Prize 1967: USSR State Prize (won) *From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.* --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/donatas-banionis