Anatoly Solonitsyn

Anatoly Solonitsyn
Anatoly Solonitsyn
Born	Otto Alekseyevich Solonitsyn (1934-08-30)30 August 1934 Bogorodsk, RSFSR, Soviet Union
Died	11 June 1982(1982-06-11) (aged 47) Moscow, RSFSR, Soviet Union
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1960–1982
Awards	Silver Bear

Anatoly Alekseyevich Solonitsyn (Anatoli, Anatoliy; Russian: Анатолий (Отто) Алексеевич Солоницын; 30 August 1934 – 11 June 1982 in Moscow) was a Soviet and Russian actor known for his roles in Andrei Tarkovsky's films. He won the Silver Bear for Best Actor at the 31st Berlin International Film Festival.

Film career[]

Solonitsyn was born in Bogorodsk. 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 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 theater 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 Dostoevsky'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.

Awards[]

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] The same year, he was given the title of Honored Artist of the RSFSR.

Death[]

Solonitsyn died from cancer in 1982, at the age of 47. Allegedly, according to Viktor Sharun, the sound editor on Stalker, Solonitsyn, Tarkovsky and became ill due to exposure to toxic chemicals during filming on the location of the movie.^[4]

Filmography[]

References[]

External links[]

• Anatoly Solonitsyn at IMDb

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