Donatas Banionis (b. April 28, 1924), known in Russian as Донатас Юозович Банионис (English transliteration: Donatas Yuozovich Banionis), is a Lithuanian actor, popular in the Soviet Union. He is best known in the West for his performance in the lead role of Tarkovsky's Solaris as Kris Kelvin. April 28 is the 118th day of the year (119th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 247 days remaining. ... 1924 was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Transliteration in a narrow sense is a mapping from one system of writing into another. ... Andrei Tarkovsky Andrei Arsenyevich Tarkovsky (Андре́й Арсе́ньевич Тарко́вский) (April 4, 1932 - December 28, 1986) was a Russian movie director, writer, and actor. ... Solaris (Russian title in Cyrillic lettering: Солярис--English transliteration: Solyaris) is a 1972 Russian film and is also a 2002 United States film. ...

Banionis was born in Kaunas, Lithuania. Kaunas (approximate English transcription [ˈkəʊ.nəs], simplified Lithuanian transcription [kaŭnas]; German: Kauen; Polish: Kowno, often anglicized as Kovno; Russian Каунас, formerly Ковно), is the second largest city in Lithuania. ...

Banionis begun his career with some films in Lithuanian, but he would later play mainly in Russian language films. He has also featured in German language films, playing Beethoven in Beethoven - Tage aus einem Leben in 1976 and Goya in Goya - oder Der arge Weg der Erkenntnis (1971). Russian (русский язык   listen?) is the most widely spoken language of Europe and the most widespread of the Slavic languages. ... German (called Deutsch in German; in German the term germanisch is equivalent to English Germanic), is a member of the western group of Germanic languages and is one of the worlds major languages. ... Ludwig van Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptized December 17, 1770 – March 26, 1827) was a German composer of Classical music, the predominant musical figure in the transitional period between the Classical and Romantic eras. ... 1976 is a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar). ... This article is about Francisco Goya, a Spanish painter. ... 1971 is a common year starting on Friday (click for link to calendar). ...

Russian President Vladimir Putin decided to become "chekist" after watching a popular film Dead Season that starred Banionis in the role of an intelligence officer (Donatas said that Putin confirmed this when they met in person). Term of office: December 31, 1999 – Preceded by: Boris Yeltsin Succeeded by: Date of birth: October 7, 1952 Place of birth: Leningrad First Lady: Liudmila Putina Political party: None Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (Russian: Владимир Владимирович Путин   pronunciation?; born October 7, 1952) is a Russian politician and the current President of the Russian Federation. ... The Cheka (ЧК in Russian) was the first (of many) Soviet secret police organizations. ... Intelligence has two different common meanings : Intelligence (trait) Animal intelligence Artificial intelligence Intelligence (information gathering) Business intelligence Military espionage This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ...

In addition to films, he is a popular actor in the theatre of Panevėžys, where he has been acting since the age of 17, and which was frequented by Donatas' fans from all over the Soviet Union. The first his teacher was Juozas Miltinis. He also plays in Vilnius, in Lithuanian National Drama Theatre. Panevėžys (approximate English transcription [pÊŒ.nÉ›.vÉ›.ˈʒıːs], simplified Lithuanian transcription [panevÄ“Ê’Ä«s]; pol. ... Juozas Miltinis (1907-1994) is the founder of the Panevėžys Drama Theatre, famous in Lithuania and Europe. ... Vilnius Old Town Vilnius (Belarusian Вільня, Polish Wilno, Russian Вильнюс, German Wilna, see also cities alternative names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania with population in excess of 540 thousand (in 2003). ...

External links

• Banionis' IMDB entry