Donatas Banionis

Acting

Donatas Banionis

Born — Died

1924-04-28 — 2014-09-04

Place of birth

Kaunas, Lithuania

Known for

Acting

Credits

68 titles

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.

Known for

Film credits

2010s · 4 titles

2000s · 5 titles

Kauno bliuzas poster
8.0

No synopsis available yet.

Kauno bliuzas

2004

The Courtyard poster
7.0

The first feature of Lithuanian Valdas Navasaitis is a drama which unravels the hopeless 1970s, when people were deprived of their roots and forced to sit and watch their lives slip from their fingers. In a decrepit house that once belonged to a bourgeois family, several families seek shelter. Senis, a 65-year-old alcoholic, lives on the ground floor with his wife and their 16-year-old daughter. Senis is a survivor of the Nazis as well as the communist camps. He drowns the pain of his memories in a nearby pub and in talking to a depressed young laborer, Lorenca. Later on, a young couple and a lonely eccentric who enjoys only his cat's company join the inhabitants. Children wile away the time with useless games or spying on adults. When Lorenca hangs himself at the ruins of a nearby factory, the lives are shaken up. During the dinner held for the deceased, they find a moment of common hope.

The Courtyard

2000

The Saga of the Ancient Bulgars: The Tale of Saint Olga poster
0.5

The first part of Bulat Mansurov's planned epic film series; “The Saga of the Ancient Bulgars". Tells the story of pagan Rus' during the time of Prince Igor, his murder by the Drevlyans, Olga's revenge, Olga's repentance and adoption of Christianity.

The Saga of the Ancient Bulgars: The Tale of Saint Olga

2004

Saga of the Ancient Bulgars: The Ladder of Vladimir the Red Sun poster
NR

The second part of Bulat Mansurov's planned epic film series; “The Saga of the Ancient Bulgars". The film depicts the life and reign of Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavich of Kiev, known in legends as Vladimir the Red Sun. The story begins in 972 AD, after the death of his father, Grand Prince Svyatoslav, which ignites a power struggle among Vladimir and his brothers. The film emphasizes that Russian princes only succeeded when they maintained good relations with the Bulgars and other steppe nations. It also depicts Vladimir's reflection on his rise to power upon receiving the book "The Ladder" in 1005, ten years after his conversion to Christianity.

Saga of the Ancient Bulgars: The Ladder of Vladimir the Red Sun

2004

No artwork available
NR

The last day of the year ends. At the Christmas market, where a lot of people were still bustling during the day, in the evening there were only three snow-covered graces, three beautiful women. They have nowhere to hurry, no one is waiting for them at home. And here, at the Christmas market...

Only Time...

2002

1990s · 8 titles

Entrance to Labyrinth poster
4.7

The actions of this mystery movie takes both in the past (in medieval times, as the scientists' hallucinations) and in the days of Perestroika.

Entrance to Labyrinth

1990

Human Target poster
5.0

A detective goes undercover in a small Russian town.

Human Target

1990

Seven Days After the Murder poster
5.8

A terrible tragedy occurs in the family of a famous general: one of his daughters is killed. The investigator leading the case understands that an outwardly prosperous and friendly family only seems to be pretending to be happy.

Seven Days After the Murder

1992

No artwork available
NR

The film tells of faithful devotion to spiritual ideals. It is based on Riga St. Anna Stocken's Life Story of the Cistercian Monastery of Mary Magdalene.

Anna

1996

Bloodsuckers poster
4.0

When a young man wants to marry a poor girl, her cousin envies her very much. She even makes everybody believe that the main character was in love with her. He escapes from many difficulties in order to find his beloved who also became trapped in a luxurious villa with some strange relatives. The people inside villa are vampires, they were called upyri in those days in Russia. They suck blood of anyone who comes to see them. The young man too much in love so he looses his head and goes directly to the nest of vampires.

Bloodsuckers

1991

Adomas Mickevičius. 1798 - 1855. Realybės versijos poster
NR

A documentary film about Adomas Mickevičius.

Adomas Mickevičius. 1798 - 1855. Realybės versijos

1998

Nobleman Zavalnia poster
7.0

A kind nobleman named Zavalnya lives in the Polotsk region. His estate stands at a crossroads, so he always has many guests in his house. And everyone knows that Pan Zavalnya loves fantastic stories more than anything else. Therefore, every guest tries to tell some incredible tale...

Nobleman Zavalnia

1994

Yatra Witch poster
5.5

Soviet horror movie based on the play by the writer Vyacheslav Adamchik Raisa Gromyko. The film takes place in the XVI century.

Yatra Witch

1991

1980s · 12 titles

Andrius poster
7.5

A young boy Andrius learns a magic words which open a door to another world.

Andrius

1980

He Stands in a Desert Counting the Seconds of His Life poster
8.4

A film collage tracing the story of the lives, loves, and deaths within the artistic community surrounding Jonas Mekas.

He Stands in a Desert Counting the Seconds of His Life

1986

Fact poster
5.7

Facts is a dramatization of a massacre in a Lithuanian village during World War II when Nazis rounded up over 100 men, women, and children accused of partisan activity and then torched the houses in which they were held. Using Russian interrogations of a few survivors, the testimony of villagers, and some of the Germans responsible for the killing, the film gradually reconstructs the event and its context.

Fact

1981

Snake Catcher poster
4.4

The former director of a large deli Pavel Shorokhov, having returned from prison and not received the expected reception from his wife, who forbade him to see his son, temporarily settles with Kotov, the owner of the lists of participants in the unaccounted goods movement system. Kotov, who is near death, transfers lists to Shorokhov and thereby puts him at risk from former accomplices. But Shorokhov breaks the pledge circle...

Snake Catcher

1986

No artwork available
5.7

Soviet Armenian adaptation of Ray Bradbury's "The Martian Chronicles".

The Thirteenth Apostle

1988

Cry of a Dolphin poster
5.0

The crew of the new American strategic missile submarine "Archelon" is struck by an unknown virus. The command must decide on removing the submarine from combat duty and sending the crew to quarantine.

Cry of a Dolphin

1987

A Child's World poster
7.0

A middle-aged jeweler is falling in love with a glorious woman. She, raising a son alone, is in no hurry to reciprocate a fan.

A Child's World

1982

At the End of the Night poster
5.5

On the night of June 22, 1941, a fire breaks out on a German passenger ship. The Soviet tanker "Caspian" comes to its aid - and navigator Nikolai Borshch rescues a German girl, being severely injured in the process. Later, however, the Germans capture the "Caspian" and force it to go to Hamburg...

At the End of the Night

1988

The Monarch Butterfly poster
NR

A young biophysicist, dreaming of spiritual and physical immortality, makes an experiment on himself: by radioactive irradiation he violates the genetic code, as a result of which he passes into another biological substance and becomes immeasurably more perfect than his fellows on Earth.

The Monarch Butterfly

1980

Nicolo Paganini poster
3.2

Biopic about Niccolo Paganini. He receives training from his father in early childhood. The best teachers of Parma are unable to give him more, so Paganini turns to a daily 15 hours of rigorous self-training. He makes sensational concert tours in Vienna, Paris, London and many other cities of Europe. He is always playing from memory, wearing black, and his stage appearance supports the rumors of his supernatural abilities. He is a wealthy man, but gambling and reckless spending forces him to pawn his violin. He is given a Guarneri violin by a wealthy listener to keep. He later gives this violin to the city if Genoa. The Paganini's violin is played by Leonid Kogan in this film.

Nicolo Paganini

1982

I'm Sorry poster
6.3

Pranas, now a celebrity singer, returns to his homeland from a big city. He is greeted at the airport and driven to his native village by a childhood friend Jonas, who works there as a doctor.

I'm Sorry

1982

Honeymoon in America poster
7.0

For thirty years after the wedding, the war separated Jurgis and Morata. Now he is a famous surgeon, he works in the USA under the name of George Sticker and does not know that his daughter has grown up. But Morata finds him anyway. A belated honeymoon does not bring them happiness...

Honeymoon in America

1982

1970s · 19 titles

Solaris poster
7.8

A psychologist is sent to a space station orbiting a planet called Solaris to investigate the death of a doctor and the mental problems of cosmonauts on the station. He soon discovers that the water on the planet is a type of brain which brings out repressed memories and obsessions.

Solaris

1972

King Lear poster
6.8

King Lear, old and tired, divides his kingdom among his daughters, giving great importance to their protestations of love for him. When Cordelia, youngest and most honest, refuses to idly flatter the old man in return for favor, he banishes her and turns for support to his remaining daughters. But Goneril and Regan have no love for him and instead plot to take all his power from him. In a parallel, Lear's loyal courtier Gloucester favors his illegitimate son Edmund after being told lies about his faithful son Edgar. Madness and tragedy befall both ill-starred fathers.

King Lear

1970

Goya: Or the Hard Way to Enlightenment poster
5.3

As a painter in the court of King Carlos IV, Goya has attained wealth and reputation. He believes in King and Church, yet he is also a Spaniard who dearly loves his people. This contradiction presents him with a dilemma.

Goya: Or the Hard Way to Enlightenment

1971

The Commander of the Lucky 'Pike' poster
5.7

1942, Polar region. The Germans are preparing to capture Murmansk. The submarine Sch-721 is considered lucky, and its captain Aleksei Strogov has the ability to extricate himself from the most difficult situations. He also develops tactics for a periscope-free torpedo attack, despite the skepticism of colleagues and management. And now, when the Happy "Pike" had to take on board the crew of another Soviet submarine, and she was on the seabed with almost no oxygen, Aleksei manages to save people and perform the operation, paying for it with his life...

The Commander of the Lucky 'Pike'

1973

The Life and Death of Ferdinand Luce poster
7.5

A West German concern is conducting secret negotiations on the production of an atomic bomb with an interested state. The son of the head of the concern, realizing the monstrosity and scale of his father's activities, interrupts the negotiations and returns home with the intention to publicize his father's activities.

The Life and Death of Ferdinand Luce

1977

Mama, I’m Alive poster
4.0

In a Russian POW camp, four Germans determined to end WWII agree to pose as Red Army soldiers. Are they patriots or traitors, heroes or opportunists? Although they go to the frontlines, their new Russian comrades are initially unsure whether to trust them. Three of them then accept a mission behind German lines, but they are unprepared to fire upon their countrymen and it ends up costing the life of a Russian soldier. In the meantime, the fourth man has fallen in love with Russian radio operator Svetlana. After being criticized by the other Russians, he too agrees to participate in the mission..

Mama, I’m Alive

1977

The Centaurs poster
4.5

A political conspiracy is brewing in an unnamed Latin American country. Everything is in play: blackmail, bribery, political assassinations, newspaper slander. The operation, code-named "Centaur", is conceived in Washington.

The Centaurs

1979

Identification Marks None poster
8.0

Drama about the period of F. Dzerzhinsky's activity in 1902-1905, when he, having escaped from the Viluysk prison, lived in Poland.

Identification Marks None

1979

The Flight of Mr. Mc.Kinley poster
4.4

A man decides to escape into the future by the way of hibernation. When he wakes up, feeling lucky that the experiment worked out well, the staff of the hibernation company politely walks him to the outside were he finds a post atomic war desert… He wakes up! Thank God it was just a dream! Or was it?

The Flight of Mr. Mc.Kinley

1975

The Adventures of Prince Florisel poster
6.5

A mostly comical tale of all-powerful and wealthy Bavarian prince adventures that started when prince was seeking to deal with the boredom. Joining the Club of Suicide society, he uncovered the mastermind criminal behind it, and vowed to get rid of him by any means necessary, following deaths of several servants when dreaded president of club makes dashing escape. During that point, story changes into nearly second movie, as prince has to uncover yet another crime.

The Adventures of Prince Florisel

1979

Captain Jack poster
7.0

Captain Jack, this is actually an ordinary girl, she is an informal leader among the boys, loves the sea very much and spends a lot of time on the decommissioned ship Signal. The film tells the amazing story of the Signal team, which during the war saved the lives of Soviet prisoners of war, among whom were Gunar and Mitya.

Captain Jack

1972

Unseeded Rye Blossom poster
NR

A man who abandoned his wife and son 20 years ago is forced to deal with the consequences.

Unseeded Rye Blossom

1979

Beethoven - Days in a Life poster
5.8

Vienna, 1813-1819: Beethoven (played by Donatas Banionis) is at the peak of his fame. Orchestras all over the world play his music, but he lives modestly and is dependent upon private patrons. Nagged by his patronizing brothers, spied upon by officials for his republican beliefs and faced by his progressive hearing loss, the composer becomes more and more isolated. Seeman’s poetic film explores the joys, heartbreak and artistic spirit of the great composer as he works on his Ninth Symphony.

Beethoven - Days in a Life

1976

Капитан Джек poster
7.0

No synopsis available yet.

Капитан Джек

1972

Armed and Very Dangerous poster
5.5

America’s Wild West of the last third of the 19th century. Thousands of people rushed here in pursuit of enrichment. Among them was Gabriel Conroy, a man absolutely helpless in the world of business. When fountains of oil started gushing on his plot of land, the local moneybags Peter Damphy decided to appropriate the land, and succeeded in it by blackmailing Conroy’s wife and his former mistress Julie...

Armed and Very Dangerous

1978

Where have you been, Odysseus? poster
6.0

A story of a Soviet spy working in France during WWII.

Where have you been, Odysseus?

1978

Discovery poster
10.0

This story is told by academician S. Yuryshev, Director of the Institute of applied biochemistry. The events in it are developing in 20 years during the Civil war, when he sent a geologist searching for copper in the coal mines of the merchant Stasova, and in the 70s, when the head of the Institute. His thoughts and actions as if he reconciles his past, revolutionary romanticism 20-h his life's work was the discovery of a new chemical element. He believes in getting it even when the explosion in the laboratory takes the life of his closest friend and colleague, when his grown-up adopted son, becoming also a chemist, suffered during the experiments. Believe when testing on military ground again fail…

Discovery

1973

Cash Collector's Bag poster
3.5

Two cash collectors are found burned with their car but the bag is missing. Two detectives - Aleksandr Sanin and Aleksey Tulyakov are investigating the crime.

Cash Collector's Bag

1977

Territory poster
6.8

Discovery of gold by a group of tough people in the far Northeast of Russia.

Territory

1979

1960s · 11 titles

The Red Tent poster
6.1

Torn by personal guilt, Italian General Umberto Nobile reminisces about his 1928 failed Arctic expedition aboard the airship Italia.

The Red Tent

1969

The Dead Season poster
5.3

Soviet spy Ladeynikov learns that in one of the pharmaceutical centers in a small resort town works a former German war criminal, Dr. Hass, who is finishing the creation of a deadly chemical gas RH development that he began during World War II, experimenting on POWs. Since Ladeynikov doesn't know Dr. Hass's appearance, Soviet intelligence recruits an actor, Ivan Savushkin, who, during the war, escaped from a prison camp where Hass was testing his gas. Together, they must identify and stop him before he finishes and unleashes his weapon of mass destruction.

The Dead Season

1968

Nobody Wanted to Die poster
5.5

The film is set in Lithuania after the Second World War. It shows dramatic events in a small Lithuanian farming community, where people are split between the Soviets and the "brothers in the woods", who are fighting to defend their land from the Soviets after the end of the Second World War.

Nobody Wanted to Die

1966

Beware of the Car! poster
7.5

An insurance agent who moonlights as a car thief steals cars various crooks and never from the common people. He sells the stolen cars and gives the money to charity. His best friend, a cop, is assigned to bring in this modern Robin Hood.

Beware of the Car!

1966

In a Remote Homestead poster
NR

Based on the story of Pyatras Tsvirka "The Well". The story of how Matas Kryauza, a farmer, wanting to take over the farm of his father-in-law, who had deceived him with a dowry, buried Motskus's father alive by boarding up an old well, where Motskus drunkenly fell.

In a Remote Homestead

1966

Adam Wants to Be a Man poster
5.9

In a pre-WWII Lithuanian town, occupied with unemployed workers and crooks of various kinds, lives Adam, a naive young man with no job and a lot of dreams. His closest friend is the Captain, an old sea wolf with many tales to tell about Singapore, Hawaii and other equally exotic and sunny places. Inspired by his stories, Adam manages to get a job in an emigration bureau and starts saving for his ticket to leave abroad.

Adam Wants to Be a Man

1960

The Chronicle of One Day poster
5.8

An academic heads to Leningrad to attend the funeral of an old friend.

The Chronicle of One Day

1963

Operation 'Trust' poster
5.9

A story about CHeKa operation against a foreign spies during the early years of Soviet Russia.

Operation 'Trust'

1968

March, march! Tra-ta-ta! poster
8.0

An eccentric and buffoonish tragicomedy and a satirical pamphlet, making fun of chauvinism and petty politicians.

March, march! Tra-ta-ta!

1964

The Little Prince poster
5.6

After a pilot is forced to make an emergency landing in the Sahara Desert, he befriends a young prince from outer space; the friendship conjures up stories of journeys through the solar system for the stranded aviator.

The Little Prince

1966

The Life and Ascension of Yuras Bratchik poster
7.2

In ancient times of famine and Tatar raids, the satirist Yuras Bratchik appears to the people in the guise of Christ, and the people believe in a miracle. The cunning monk Bosyatsky decides to use this event. Arrested by order of the Cardinal, Yuras and his friends - "apostles", disguised and dressed in appropriate clothes, are brought to the people. The hungry people begin to beg for bread, and Yuras leads the crowd to the bins of the rich. Having escaped from the Cardinal, Yuras and his friends take refuge in a convent. With the help of the people they defeat both the attacking Tatars and the Cardinal's army.

The Life and Ascension of Yuras Bratchik

1967

1940s · 1 titles

Series credits

Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin poster
8.8

The adventures of detective Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin.

Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin

2002

Entrance to the Maze poster
6.3

A Russian mystery miniseries set both in medieval times and in the days of Perestroika.

Entrance to the Maze

1990

The Adventures of Prince Florisel poster
8.0

A mostly comical tale of all-powerful and wealthy Bavarian prince adventures that started when prince was seeking to deal with the boredom. Joining the Club of Suicide society, he uncovered the mastermind criminal behind it, and vowed to get rid of him by any means necessary, following deaths of several servants when dreaded president of club makes dashing escape. During that point, story changes into nearly second movie, as prince has to uncover yet another crime.

The Adventures of Prince Florisel

1981

The New Adventures of Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin poster
8.8

New York, 1930s. The courageous and hyperactive Archie Goodwin risks his life to carry out dangerous assignments, gathering information for his boss's conclusions and brilliant verdicts. Meanwhile, the intellectual Nero Wolfe, without leaving his mansion, solves even the most complicated crimes.

The New Adventures of Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin

2004

Vera - Der schwere Weg der Erkenntnis poster
NR

Vera is Secretary at NATO Headquarters in Brussels. During a business trip to the USA, she learns that US nuclear missiles are to be stationed in Western Europe.

Vera - Der schwere Weg der Erkenntnis

1989

Operation 'Trust' poster
9.0

The series is about the operation code-named "Trest", which under the leadership of F.E.Dzerzhinsky was carried out by the VChK to identify and eliminate the counter-revolutionary and monarchist underground on the territory of the USSR, associated with foreign white-emigrant organizations.

Operation 'Trust'

1968

Nicolo Paganini poster
NR

Biopic about Niccolo Paganini. He receives training from his father in early childhood. The best teachers of Parma are unable to give him more, so Paganini turns to a daily 15 hours of rigorous self-training. He makes sensational concert tours in Vienna, Paris, London and many other cities of Europe. He is always playing from memory, wearing black, and his stage appearance supports the rumors of his supernatural abilities. He is a wealthy man, but gambling and reckless spending forces him to pawn his violin. He is given a Guarneri violin by a wealthy listener to keep. He later gives this violin to the city of Genoa.

Nicolo Paganini

1982

To the Coming Century poster
10.0

An adaptation of Georgy Markov's novel of the same name – the final part of the trilogy about several generations of the Strogov family.

To the Coming Century

1985