Vasily Lanovoi graduated from high school with honors.
He studied in MSU only half a year.
Lanovoy came to prominence through playing bold, dashing characters, combining heroic bravado with a sensitivity typical of Russian heroes, a tendency evident in many of his early features, such as A Certificate of Maturity (1954) and Pavel Korchagin (1956). Lanovoy's many film roles from the 1960s include Anatole Kuragin in Sergei Bondarchuk's War and Peace and Count Vronsky in the screen version of Anna Karenina. By this time, he has tried to create complex psychological portraits of his characters. Lanovoy portrayed Ivan Varavva, one of the main characters in the 1971 saga Officers which became a life-motivating movie for the Soviet Army officers. He also played a supporting role of SS General Karl Wolff in the cult spy thriller TV-series Seventeen Moments of Spring (1973).In 2000s, Lanovoy has appeared primarily in the roles of Soviet-era party bosses, such as Yuri Andropov in the 2005 TV series Brezhnev. In 2012 played the role of Cardinal Richeliau in Russian minisereis/movie The Three Musketeers.
He was married three times and has 2 children.