Anatoly Solonitsyn

Anatoly (Otto) Alekseyevich Solonitsyn (Russian: Анатолий (Отто) Алексеевич Солоницын; 30 August 1934 – 11 June 1982) was a Soviet actor known for his spiritually profound and deeply philosophical performances on stage and screen. Widely regarded as one of the greatest actors of the 20th century and one of the finest actors from the Soviet Union, he is revered for his work with Andrei Tarkovsky. He won the Silver Bear for Best Actor at the 31st Berlin International Film Festival.

Solonitsyn was born in Bogorodsk. At birth, he was named Otto, after the polar explorer Otto Schmidt.

His 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 titular role in Andrei Rublev (1966).

In his book Sculpting in Time, Tarkovsky calls Solonitsyn his favorite actor, and writes that Solonitsyn was intended to play the lead roles in 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 Dostoevsky's famous novel The Idiot, Solonitsyn was even ready to undergo plastic surgery to look more like the great Russian writer.

In the former Soviet Union he was 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 (1981). The same year, he was given the title of Honored Artist of the RSFSR.

Solonitsyn died from lung cancer in 1982, at the age of 47. Allegedly, according to Viktor 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.