Witold Sadowy (7 January 1920 – 15 November 2020) was a Polish film and theatre actor as well as publicist and columnist of the ''

Gazeta Wyborcza ''Gazeta Wyborcza'' (; ''The Electoral Gazette'' in English) is a Polish daily newspaper based in Warsaw, Poland. It is the first Polish daily newspaper after the era of "real socialism" and one of Poland's newspapers of record, covering the g ...

'' daily and ''Życie na gorąco'' magazine.

Life and career

He was born on 7 January 1920 in

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

. In 1944, during the

Warsaw Uprising The Warsaw Uprising ( pl, powstanie warszawskie; german: Warschauer Aufstand) was a major World War II operation by the Polish resistance movement in World War II, Polish underground resistance to liberate Warsaw from German occupation. It occ ...

, he lost his father and brother. He returned to Warsaw with his mother after the

Soviets Soviet people ( rus, сове́тский наро́д, r=sovyétsky naród), or citizens of the USSR ( rus, гра́ждане СССР, grázhdanye SSSR), was an umbrella demonym for the population of the Soviet Union. Nationality policy in th ...

gained control of the city. He made his theatre debut in 1945 by performing the role of Florian in

Maurice Maeterlinck Maurice Polydore Marie Bernard Maeterlinck (29 August 1862 – 6 May 1949), also known as Count (or Comte) Maeterlinck from 1932, was a Belgian playwright, poet, and essayist who was Flemish but wrote in French. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in ...

's play ''Le Bourgmestre de Stilmonde'' directed by Ryszard Wasilewski. He worked at such Warsaw theatres as City Drama Theatre (1945, 1946–1949),

Polish Theatre In common with other European countries, the most frequent and most popular form of theatre in Poland is dramatic theatre, based on the existence of relatively stable artistic companies. It is above all a theatre of directors, who decide on the ...

(1945–1946; 1949–1951), New Theatre (1951–1953), Młoda Warszawa Theatre (1953–1957), Classic Theatre (1957–1972) and

TR Warszawa TR Warszawa (also Teatr Rozmaitości w Warszawie, i.e., Variety Theatre in Warsaw) is a theatre in Warsaw, Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces c ...

(1972–1988). He gave his last performance in 1989 by playing the role of Field Marshal in Zygmunt Nowakowski's play ''The Rosemary Twig''. In the 1980s, he began working as a theatre columnist and publicist in such newspapers as ''

Życie Warszawy ''Życie Warszawy'' (meaning ''Life of Warsaw'' in English) is a Polish language newspaper published in Warsaw. History and profile ''Życie Warszawy'' was founded in 1944 as an initiative of Polish Workers' Party. The paper is published by Grem ...

'', ''Życie Codzienne'', ''Słowo'', ''Express Wieczorny'' and the

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

-based ''

Nowy Dziennik ''Nowy Dziennik'' (, in Polish: ''The New Daily'', in reference to New York), is a Polish-language newspaper, formerly a daily with the English subtitle ''Polish Daily News'', and now a weekly subtitled ''POLISH WEEKLY'', published in New York Cit ...

''. Since 1985, he also wrote articles in ''

''. He published a number of books on theatre and film and came to be known as "the chronicler of Warsaw's theatre life". The Polish Union of Stage Actors (ZASP), awarded him the title of distinguished member as a recognition of his work.

Personal life

In January 2020, at the age of 100, he publicly

came out Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBT people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. Framed and debated as a privacy issue, coming out of ...

homosexual Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to peop ...

in a television reportage by

TVP Kultura TVP Kultura is the first TV theme channel to be run by the Polish public broadcaster TVP. It was launched on 24 April 2005 and is dedicated to arts and culture. Every day of the week, the channel concentrates on other disciplines; e.g., cinema, m ...

channel devoted to the celebration of the centenary of his birth. He lived in a relationship with Jan Ryżow, an engineer, from 1942 until Ryżow's death in 1996. In March 2020, his coming out received a considerable national and international attention. He died on 15 November 2020.

Filmography

*1946: ''

Zakazane piosenki Zakazane piosenki (, ''Forbidden Songs'') is a 1946 Polish musical film directed by Leonard Buczkowski. It was the first feature film to be created in Poland following the six years of World War II. The film, set during the German occupation o ...

'' – violinist *1960: '' Bad Luck'' – soldier *1970: ''Pogoń za Adamem'' – officer *1973: ''Wielka miłość Balzaka'' – Victor Hugo (episode 7) *1978: '' ... Gdziekolwiek jesteś panie prezydencie'' *1980: ''Zamach stanu'' *1980: ''

Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson ''Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson'' is a television series created by Sheldon Reynolds and based on characters and storylines from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories. It starred Geoffrey Whitehead, Donald Pickering and Patric ...

'' – man in a hotel (episode 24) *1980: ''Punkt widzenia'' (episode 5) *1981: ''Przyjaciele'' (episode 4)

Publications

*''Teatr za kulisami i na scenie'', Oficyna wydawnicza "Rytm”, Warsaw 1995, . *''Teatr – plotki, aktorzy, wspomnienia zza kulis'', Oficyna wydawnicza "Rytm”, Warsaw 1995, . *''Ludzie teatru – mijają lata, zostają wspomnienia'', Oficyna wydawnicza "Rytm”, Warsaw 2000. *''Czas który minął'', Oficyna wydawnicza "Rytm”, Warsaw 2009, . *''Przekraczam setkę. Zapis wspomnień 2018-2019'', Wydawnictwo ZASP, Warsaw 2020, .

Honours and awards

*Medal of the Centenary of Regained Independence, 2020 *Commander's Cross of the

Order of Polonia Restituta The Order of Polonia Restituta ( pl, Order Odrodzenia Polski, en, Order of Restored Poland) is a Polish state decoration, state Order (decoration), order established 4 February 1921. It is conferred on both military and civilians as well as on al ...

, 2012 *Pro Masovia Medal, 2012 *Warsaw Feliks Award, 2011 *Officers Cross of the

, 2001 *Knight's Cross of the

, 1987 *

Medal of the 40th Anniversary of People's Poland The Medal of the 40th Anniversary of People's Poland (Polish: ''Medal 40-lecia Polski Ludowej'') is a former civil decoration of Poland established by the Sejm The Sejm (English: , Polish: ), officially known as the Sejm of the Republic of Po ...

, 1986 *Golden Cross of Merit, 1979

References