
Anatoly Alekseyevich Solonitsyn (August 30, 1934, Bogorodsk – June 11, 1982, Moscow) was a Soviet actor of remarkable intensity and philosophical depth, best known for his collaborations with Andrei Tarkovsky. Born in 1934 in Bogorodsk, he became the face of inner struggle and metaphysical searching in Soviet cinema, most famously portraying Andrei Rublev, the tormented painter of icons, and the introspective Writer in Stalker. Solonitsyn’s performances were marked by a quiet magnetism—his stoic presence and penetrating gaze gave form to Tarkovsky’s spiritual explorations. Though he appeared in a range of Soviet films, his legacy is inseparable from Tarkovsky’s cinema, where he embodied characters wrestling with art, faith, and the weight of history. His life was cut short in 1982 by cancer, yet his work remains timeless—an imprint of the soul etched in celluloid.

Mirror
1975 · as Forensic Doctor

Stalker
1979 · as Writer

Solaris
1972 · as Dr. Sartorius

Andrei Rublev
1966 · as Andrei Rublev

The Ascent
1977 · as Portnov, collaborationist interrogator

The Love of Mankind
1973 · as Dmitry Kalmykov

Agony: The Life and Death of Rasputin
1981 · as Colonel

Iz zhizni otdykhayushchikh
1981 · as Tolik Chikin

The Bodyguard
1979 · as Sultan Nazar

The Legend of Till
1977 · as Fishmonger

Trial on the Road
1986 · as Petushkov

Trust
1976 · as Bochazhnikov

Between Sky and Earth
1976

Twenty Six Days in the Life of Dostoevsky
1981 · as Fyodor Dostoevsky

One Chance in One Thousand
1969 · as Captain Migunko

At Home Among Strangers, a Stranger Among His Own
1974 · as Sarychev

The Turning Point
1978 · as Kostik

The Train Has Stopped
1982 · as Malinin, a journalist