Anatoly Solonitsyn

Solonitsyn's debut in cinema was in the Sverdlovsk Film Studio's short film The Case of Kurt Clausewitz (1963), directed by Gleb Panfilov. Solonitsyn is best known in the west for his roles in several of Andrei Tarkovsky's films, including Dr. Sartorius in Solaris (1972), the Writer in Stalker (1979), the physician in Mirror (1975), and the title role in Andrei Rublev (1966). Indeed, it was Tarkovsky who "discovered" him in the casting process for Andrei Rublev. Solonitsyn was an unknown provincial theatre actor from Sverdlovsk at the time, but he took the opportunity to go to Moscow and try himself in the casting for the Andrei Rublev role. Historical consultant of the movie saw the photos of actors from the casting, pointed to a photo of Solonitsyn and said to Tarkovsky: "This one is Rublev".

In his book Sculpting In Time, Tarkovsky calls him his "favorite" actor,[1] and writes that Solonitsyn was intended to play the lead roles in each of his films Nostalghia (1983) and The Sacrifice (1986), but the actor died before their production. Tarkovsky admired Solonitsyn's ability to fully embody the ideas of the director. When Tarkovsky was considering making a film adaptation of Dostoyevsky's famous novel The Idiot, Solonitsyn was even ready to do the plastic surgery to look more like the iconic Russian writer.[2]

In the former Soviet Union he is also well known for his roles in At Home among Strangers (1974), The Train Has Stopped (1982) and many others.

In 1981, he won the Silver Bear for Best Actor at the 31st Berlin International Film Festival for his role in Aleksandr Zarkhi's film Twenty Six Days from the Life of Dostoyevsky.[3]

Solonitsyn died from cancer in 1982, at the age of 47 (allegedly, according to Victor Sharun, the sound editor on Stalker, Solonitsyn, Tarkovsky and Larisa Tarkovskaya became ill due to exposure to toxic chemicals during filming on the location of the movie).[4]

• Anatoly Solonitsyn on IMDb