Donatas Banionis (28 April 1924 – 4 September 2014) was a Lithuanian actor. He is best known for his performance in the lead role of Tarkovsky's Solaris as Kris Kelvin. He was born in Kaunas, Lithuania.

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 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 was the reason why he joined the KGB. Banionis died on 4 September 2014 from a stroke. He was 90 years old.

Biography

Donatas Banionis a commencé sa carrière dans quelques films en Lituanie, avant de jouer dans des films en langue russe. Il a également joué hors de l'Union Soviétique, dans le rôle-titre de Goya en 1971, dirigé par Konrad Wolf, par exemple, ou dans celui de Beethoven en 1976.