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. ==Awards==