When we talk about Andrzej Kopiczyński, the iconic “Czterdziestolatek” immediately comes to mind. He won the hearts of the viewers with his role in the series, and the character of engineer Karwowski created by him was permanently recorded in the history of Polish cinematography. However, it was the theater, not the shooting location, that was his true passion and the place of his greatest professional challenges. What was his private life like?
The post-war reality affected the Kopiczyński family. The future actor stole to earn money for food
Andrzej Kopiczyński was born on April 15, 1934 in Międzyrzec Podlaski, but spent the first years of his life in Augustów. After the end of the war, the family moved to Wrocław, where the father, a clerk, was supposed to have better prospects for finding a job. However, the reality was quite different. – I remember how I tried to help my parents at all costs, to get food, money – the actor in an interview with “Dziennik Łódzki”. His way of contributing to the household budget was to rob former German apartments and sell the plunder. In order not to burden his parents, he tried to eat out. He had his own way of doing it, which he practiced for years. — In order to gain some weight, I went to the common rooms of orphanages in Wrocław. When we ate soup in one, we ran with our friends to the next one. Then I felt full. I was very agile,” said Kopiczyński.
He started thinking about acting when he started studying in an electrical technician. There was an opera house near the school, and he found it fascinating to watch the artists. Then he found out about an amateur theater run by the Women’s League, which he joined. And so began the greatest adventure of his life.
After the first role, he did not appear on the screen for 7 years. He had a good run after that
In 1954, he passed the exam and received the index of the Łódź film school, but initially he was not one of the best, and in the first year he was expelled three times. “For lack of ability,” he would explain many years later. Eventually, however, he completed his studies and received his diploma in 1958.
He made his debut on the silver screen while still a student. At that time, Jerzy Kawalerowicz entrusted him with an episodic role in the film “The True End of the Great War”. A year later, he starred in the comedy “Call My Wife” and it was his last appearance in front of the camera for the next seven years. At that time, he fulfilled himself on theater stages, and his first engagement was participation in the play “Sprytna wdówka” staged on the stage of the Powszechny Theater in Łódź.
Andrzej Kopiczyński has over 160 outstanding acting roles on his account, counting only roles in films and series. He has collaborated with many respected directors in the industry, e.g. with Janusz Weychert, Wanda Jakubowska, Jan Rutkiewicz and Ewa and Czesław Petelski, who entrusted him with the title role in the biographical and historical film “Copernicus”. Over the years, he starred in many excellent productions. His performances in Jerzy Hoffman’s “Znachorze” and “With Fire and Sword” deserve special recognition, as well as in the film “Korczak” directed by Andrzej Wajda. Although the actor has appeared on both the small and the big screen many times, theater was his greatest element. “Fortunately, I treated film only as an adventure, and theater was always my refuge, which I missed while working on sets. Halfway through filming, I wanted to come back to him,” he said.
“Forty-Year-Old” was a turning point in his career. He has been associated with the role of Karwowski for five decades
The biggest breakthrough in his career came in 1974. It was then that he received a proposal, thanks to which he permanently entered the history of Polish cinematography, and the viewers fell in love with him. The director entrusted him with the role of engineer Stefan Karwowski in the already cult series. Two years later, it was decided to continue the story of his hero in the film “I am a butterfly, or the romance of a 40-year-old man”, which met with an equally positive response. Although the production brought Kopiczyński recognition and his career gained momentum, he himself saw much more flaws than advantages in it. “The trouble is, the next nearly forty years have passed, and I’m still that forty-year-old on the show. On the one hand, it’s nice, but on the other hand, it started to bother me over time,’ he said years later. After two decades, the series returned, creating the series “Forty-Year-Old. Twenty Years Later” and although the reviews were positive, the production did not make such a sensation as the original.
His private life was full of turmoil. “She left Andrew”
Although he triumphed on the screen and received standing ovations in the theater, his private life was full of turmoil. In many interviews he declared that he was married three times. After his death, it turned out that he had completely deleted the woman to whom he had entrusted his heart during his student days. For a young girl, he completely lost his head. The aspiring actress reciprocated his feelings and soon after, when Kopiczyński was only 21, they got married and then settled in Olsztyn, where his wife got a job in the theater. Along with a new job, a new man appeared in her life. The woman got involved in and abandoned the artist, which he experienced painfully.
The first wife – the fruit of a student romance, thanks to Andrzej got involved in the theater in Olsztyn, but she also got involved in a feeling with a completely different man. She left Andrzej
— Krystyna Gucewicz in the biography “How to be loved”. Later, Kopiczyński married Maria Chwalibóg, but this marriage did not stand the test of time either. Then he became involved with Ewa Żukowska, 12 years his junior, and the fruit of this relationship was the actor’s only daughter, Katarzyna. In the meantime, he got involved with Monika Dziensiewicz-Olbrychska. For some time he led a double life, but eventually divorced Żukowska. Then Kopiczyński officially became involved with Monika Dziensiewicz-Olbrychska, with whom he lived for 40 years. “Even though it wasn’t always easy, we made it in life. We are happy together,” said the actor. They did not get married until two decades later and lived to old age together.
Andrzej Kopiczyński died on October 12, 2016, less than four months after the death of his beloved wife. At the time, the actor was 82 years old.
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Source: Gazeta
Bruce is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment . He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
