As the tributes poured in, Poland’s President Andrzej Duda called Barbara Krafftówna “the Grand Lady of the Polish Stage,” adding on Twitter: “I was saddened to hear about her passing today. She remains in her creations. R.I.P.”
Born in Warsaw, in 1928, Krafftówna made her stage debut in the northern city of Gdynia just after World War II, before returning to grace the capital’s theatres later on in her career, the state PAP news agency reported.
Filmmakers recognised Krafftówna’s talent early on, with her first on-screen appearance coming in 1953, followed by a role in Andrzej Wajda’s celebrated Ashes and Diamonds (1958). Over the next decade, she delivered a string of acclaimed performances in movies by Wojciech J. Has.
These included roles in 1961’s Gold, the award-winning The Saragossa Manuscript (1964) and Codes (1966), as well as Krafftówna’s most critically praised turn in 1962’s How to Be Loved, which brought her the best actress award at the 1963 San Francisco Film Festival.
A year later, she was voted Poland’s most popular actress in a newspaper poll.
Theatre, film, TV
With her characteristic and versatile voice, Krafftówna also excelled in comedy shows, notably on the wildly popular TV show The Elderly Gentlemen’s Cabaret (1958-1966).
Her status as a much-liked on-screen performer was cemented with a role in one of the most successful Polish TV series of all-time: The Four Tank Men and a Dog (1966-1970).
Krafftówna spent much of the 1980s and 1990s in the United States, where she won the prestigious Drama-Logue theatre award for an English-language performance in Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz’s play Mother.
After returning to Poland, Krafftówna received the Gloria Artis Gold Medal in 2006, while in 2019, President Duda decorated her with the Commander’s Cross with a Star of the Polonia Restituta Order, a major state order in Poland, public broadcaster Polish Radio's IAR news agency reported.
(pm/gs)
Source: IAR, PAP