Barbara Połomska was a great star of her time. She aroused the admiration of directors, critics and viewers, who gushed over her subsequent roles and beauty. Although she was often called the “Polish Brigitte Bardot”, the actress was not happy with it. She didn’t want to take advantage of other people’s successes. She knew her worth and valued her own skills and identity, she was not flattered by being a copy of anyone, even the most beautiful foreign stars.
They called her “Polish Brigitte Bardot”. She was the first actress to play in foreign films after the war
The artist was born in 1934 in Bydgoszcz. “My parents were highlanders. My father was born near Białka Tatrzańska, my mother came from the vicinity of Nowy Sącz. Then, after World War I, my father bought a tenement house in Bydgoszcz and moved there with my mother. My older brother studied medicine at the Jagiellonian University. I I passed my high school final exams in Bydgoszcz, and then I started studying in Krakow,” she told the story of her family in an interview with Dziennik Łódzki.
The actress was only in the first year of the Krakow theater school when director Jerzy Passendorfer appeared at the school. The creator immediately appreciated Połomska’s skills and offered her an episodic role in Jan Rybkowski’s film “Hours of Hope”. Working on the set opened the door to… a theater career.
While filming “Hours of Hope”, Połomska met Jadwiga Chojnacka. “She suggested that I come to her theater. I thought that after finishing school, I could try my hand at the theater in Łódź. I knew £ód¼ because I used to go there for film shoots when I was still studying,” Połomska said in an interview. After graduating, the actress took a job at the Powszechny Theater in Łódź, where she immediately got two major roles, including Eliza in “Pygmalion”. She didn’t know then that she would be connected with this place for the rest of her life.
Barbara Połomska was a star not only in Poland. Suddenly she disappeared
Połomska’s career flourished in the 1950s and 1960s. She played in “Eroica” and “Zezowaty szczöści” by Andrzej Munk and the popular comedy “Inspection of Mr. Anatol” by Jan Rybkowski. When the actress became more and more popular in Poland, she was soon invited to foreign festivals.
“I was sent to international film festivals in Mar del Plata, Rio de Janeiro, Karlovy Vary. I became a popular actress. (…) The fact that I was noticed in Poland and advertised in the press was determined by my personal success at festivals in world,” she recalled in an interview with “Ekran” magazine, quoted by Plejada.
Barbara Połomska was the first Polish actress who played in two foreign films after the war – in the Polish-Czech comedy “Call My Wife” and the Czech-Yugoslav film “The Star Goes South”. The actress’s second husband, Feridun Erol, pointed out that in those days, traveling abroad was not as simple and obvious as it is today. “She was invited to festivals, although at that time permission to travel behind the so-called Iron Curtain was bordering on a miracle. Basia was one of the first Polish actresses to visit a large part of foreign film territory, even reaching Brazil,” the website swiatseriali.pl quoted the director as saying.
In an interview for Dziennik Łódzki, Połomska admitted that she was encouraged to stay abroad. The Czech Republic, Yugoslavia and even Argentina were tempted. “I feel like I’m from Łódź! – replied the actress and stayed in Łódź. Unfortunately, Połomska’s career began to fade as quickly as it had grown to great proportions. The actress disappeared due to illness and a long stay in the hospital. Then her first marriage with Bogusław Lambach also broke up. The artist was very she went through a breakup. She married Feridun Erol for the second time and gave birth to a son, Marcin. For some time, she took care of the house, the child and her seriously ill mother.
When she returned to work, no attractive offers appeared. “I was forced off the screen by younger actresses. I played several episodic roles, but none of them deserved attention. (…)” – she said in one of the interviews quoted by Onet. The actress’s private life was also full of disappointments. Her second marriage soon broke up. Soon, the artist became involved with a man from outside the acting world. They were a couple until his death in 2015.
Despite everything, Połomska did not regret her decisions. In interviews, she emphasized that everything passes and you have to be able to come to terms with it. “I have a family. For a woman, the most important thing is home and family. I experienced unique joy when giving birth to my son, and crazy despair after losing the people closest to me. I am not afraid of the passing of time,” she said in an interview quoted by Viva. Barbara Połomska died on July 28, 2021 in Łódź.
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.
