Barbara Kwiatkowska-Lass

Barbara Kwiatkowska-Lass
Born
Barbara Kwiatkowska

(1940-06-01)1 June 1940
Patrowo, Wartheland
Died6 March 1995(1995-03-06) (aged 54)
Munich, Bavaria, Germany
Resting placeRakowicki Cemetery, Kraków, Poland
Other namesBarbara Lass
Barbara Kwiatkowska
Barbara Kwiatkowski
OccupationActress
Years active1958–1995
Spouses
(m. 1959; div. 1962)
(m. 1963; div. 1980)
(m. 1980)
ChildrenKatharina Böhm
The grave of Barbara Lass in Poland

Barbara Kwiatkowska-Lass (1 June 1940 – 6 March 1995) was a Polish actress.

Early life and career

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Barbara Kwiatkowska was born in Patrowo, a village near Gostynin in central Poland, then under German-occupied Poland, which the Nazis had renamed Gasten in 1939 through 1941 (at time of her birth). Then changed to Walrode from June 1941 until the end of the war. Although she received ballet and dance education, she eventually took up an acting career. After her debut role in Tadeusz Chmielewski's comedy Ewa chce spać (1957) she gained wider popularity in Poland. The role had been offered to her after she took the first place in a contest organized by a popular Polish cinema magazine.

In 1959 she left Poland for the West and soon starred in a few major films like La millième fenêtre (with Jean-Louis Trintignant) and The Joy of Living (with Alain Delon). She played roles in several Italian, French and German films such as Krzysztof Zanussi's Bluebeard [pl] (1984) and in Sting in the Flesh [de] (1981).

Personal life

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She married film director Roman Polanski in 1959; they divorced in 1962.[1] The following year she met Karlheinz Böhm in Tokyo on the set of the film Rififi in Tokyo (1963); the couple later married, their daughter is actress Katharina Böhm. Kwiatkowska-Lass divorced Böhm in 1980, and married Polish jazz musician Leszek Żądło, with whom she lived until her death.[citation needed]

Politics

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Kwiatkowska was opposed to the Communist regime in Poland and cooperated with the United States-controlled Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, which transmitted anti-communist propaganda, information and programmes free from censorship to Poland.[2]

Death

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On 6 March 1995, Kwiatkowska-Lass collapsed and died from a brain hemorrhage, aged 54, in Munich.[3] She was interred in Kraków's Rakowicki Cemetery.

Filmography

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Film
Year Title Role Notes
1958 Ewa chce spać Ewa Bonecka Credited as Barbara Kwiatkowska
1958 Żołnierz królowej Madagaskaru Sabinka Lemiecka
1958 Pan Anatol szuka miliona Iwona Slowikowska
1959 When Angels Fall Short, Alternative title: Gdy spadają anioły
Credited as Barbara Kwiatkowska
1960 Tysiąc talarów Kasia Wydech
1960 Zezowate szczeście Jola Wrona-Wronska Alternative title: Bad Luck
Credited as Barbara Kwiatkowska
1960 La 1000eme fenêtre Ania
1961 Ostroznie, Yeti! Bride
1961 Che gioia vivere Franca Fossati Alternative title: The Joy of Living
1961 Lycanthropus Priscilla Alternative title: Werewolf in a Girls' Dormitory
1962 L'Amour à vingt ans Basia Alternative title: Love at Twenty
(segment "Warszawa")
1963 Vice and Virtue Prisoner
1963 Rififi in Tokyo Françoise Merigne Alternative title: Rififi in Tokyo
1965 Serenade für zwei Spione Tamara Alternative title: Serenade for Two Spies
1967 Jowita Agnieszka "Jowita" Credited as Barbara Kwiatkowska
1970 Der Pfarrer von St. Pauli Dagmar Alternative title: The Priest of St. Pauli
1974 Effi Briest Polnische Köchin
1974 Jak to sie robi Holiday-Maker Alternative title: How It's Done
1981 Sting in the Flesh [de] Ines
1986 Rosa Luxemburg Rosa's mother
1986 Das Schweigen des Dichters Janina
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1970 Hauser's Memory Angelika TV movie
1972 Doppelspiel in Paris Renée Borni, seine Geliebte TV movie
1984 Bluebeard [pl] Rosalinde TV movie
1990 Wahnsinnsehe Herta TV movie
1991 Moskau - Petuschki Fürstin TV movie, (final film role)

References

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  1. ^ Bradshaw, Peter (15 July 2005). "The Guardian profile: Roman Polanski". guardian.co.uk. Retrieved 26 November 2009.
  2. ^ "X rocznica śmierci". polonikmonachijski.de. 2005. Archived from the original on 17 July 2007. Retrieved 16 July 2012.
  3. ^ Gańczak, Filip (6 March 2010). "Taka była pierwsza żona Polańskiego". Newsweek Polska (in Polish). Archived from the original on 17 February 2013. Retrieved 16 July 2012.
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