Born in Bogorodsk, Gorky Oblast, USSR, and died on 11 June 1982 in Moscow. Honored Artist of the RSFSR (11.08.1981). Born into a family of Volga Germans. His father was a journalist and worked as executive secretary of the newspaper "Gorkovskaya Pravda". In the first years of his life the future actor bore the name Otto - he was born when the country was watching with admiration the feat of the Chelyuskin heroes, and the boy was named after the scientific leader of the expedition, Otto Yulyevich Schmidt. When, with the outbreak of the war, this name began to be perceived by many as hostile, the name was changed to Anatoly. In 1951-1952 he worked at the Saratov scale-repair plant as a scale-repair mechanic. In 1952-1954 he studied in the 9th-10th grades of secondary school. In 1954-1956 he worked at the Frunze agricultural machinery plant as a toolmaker.

In 1956-1957 - Pervomaysky RKLSM (Frunze, Kyrgyzstan), head of the organizational department. In 1957-1960 he studied at the Sverdlovsk theater studio at the Sverdlovsk Drama Theater. In 1960-1966 - actor of the Sverdlovsk Drama Theater. In 1966-1967 - actor of the Gorky Drama Theater (BSSR). In 1967-1968 - actor of the Odessa Film Studio (by contract). In 1968-1970 - actor of the Novosibirsk Drama Theater "Red Torch". In 1970-1971 - actor of the Russian Drama Theater in Tallinn. In 1971-1972 - actor of the Gorky Film Studio (by contract). In 1972 - actor of the Lenfilm Film Studio (by contract). In 1972-1976 - actor of the Lensovet Theater. In 1981, during the filming of another film in Mongolia, Solonitsyn fell from a horse and injured his chest. He was placed in a hospital, and during the examination doctors discovered he had lung cancer.