Hanka Bielicka has been entertaining audiences for decades as an actress and cabaret artist with a characteristic hoarseness, great temperament and usually with a hat on her head. In one of the interviews, she said that she wears hats because she seems “more handsome” in them, – [Myślę – red.]that I don’t see my features so much that I don’t reveal myself, this hat gives me some distance. I do not know? Besides, people don’t understand that I grew up in the hat period. My mother and grandmother, if they went out without hats, everyone would think: something happened at home, that they are running around the street without a hat, or they came to the cafe. People wore hats in the 1920s. True, when I was growing up, and only after the war, women started walking around with or without handkerchiefs – the artist recalled.
She had a large apartment in Warsaw, but she did not leave a fortune
Although she officially retired in 1977, she did not say goodbye to the stage. In 2006, she appeared on screen in the film “I’ll Show You” (a continuation of “Never in My Life”) as Judyta’s aunt. Exactly 40 years since her debut on the big screen in “Forbidden Songs”.
In 1940, she married Jerzy Duszyński, with whom she was for 20 years. She was also in a relationship with the then-married lyricist and satirist Jerzy Baranowski. She went through a breakup very hard, and after the second one she decided that she no longer wanted to be involved with men. She had no children. She died after surgery for an aortic aneurysm on March 9, 2006.
Since 1968, Hanka Bielicka lived in an over 100-square-meter apartment at Śniadeckich Street in Warsaw. Only after her death did the public learn that the artist had no longer been its owner for some time. In 2004, she decided to sell it with the understanding that she could stay there for the rest of her life. The housekeeper lived there with her. – We sat down at the table together, the housekeeper served us, there was always a cookie, tea, coffee and half an hour of conversation. Mrs. Haneczka told various stories, most of them about her hats – Janusz Sadowski, the time when, at the actress’s request, the group organized rehearsals for the play “Arsenic and Old Laces” at Śniadeckich Street. The premiere took place in 2001.
Although the apartment was worth a lot, Bielicka left no fortune. Even during her lifetime, she financially supported the children from the orphanage in Łomża – a city with which she had strong emotional ties and where, among other things, she finished high school. The Amazon Association in Łomża and the Na Paluchu shelter in Warsaw could also count on her financial assistance.
My aunt was a very good person, with a heart on her sleeve. She gave away everything she could
– after Bielicka’s death, her only relative, her cousin’s daughter, Barbara Wudarska, quoted by Pomponik.
Hanka Bielicka: I really wanted Łomża to leave something behind me
She donated some of the items that were important to her to Łomża. – I really wanted Łomża to leave something behind me – said the actress in June 2005, opening her “living room” in the Catholic Center named after Pope John Paul II in Łomża. In a specially designated room, some of Bielicka’s stage costumes were collected, as well as her hats, paintings, caricatures and drawings, and trinkets. Later, even after the artist’s death, more exhibits were added.
Hanka Bielicka’s stage costumes in Łomża, photo from 2005 Photo Grzegorz Dąbrowski / Agencja Wyborcza.pl
– Playing on the stage was a mission for her, she used to say that a sick body and a worried soul hurt less when you follow the principle “laughter is health”. She went on stages and stages just like we all go out on the stage of our lives every day. She was a good person and a perfect artist. Don’t be fooled by her stage nonchalance and famous jokes – says Jerzy Filar, composer, lyricist, stage companion of Hanka Bielicka in her biography. You can read a fragment of the book “Dziunia, ale Dama. A novel about Hanka Bielicka” by Katarzyna Droga.
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.
