“Mother” of the Freckled, eternally unhappy in love: the story of actress Margareta Pogonat, an overly sensitive soul

She starred in films alongside Liv Ullmann, but Romanians know her through the role she played in “Freckled”.

Margareta Pogonat was “a mountain” of talent, but she wasn’t as lucky in her personal life. The artist suffered much from love, but at all times she knew how to separate her unhappy personal life from the stage.

Margareta Pogonat was like a mother to the child Costel Băloiu (Pistruiatul)

Margareta Pogonat was born on March 6, 1933, in Iași and graduated from the Institute of Theatrical and Cinematographic Arts in Bucharest in 1959.

Throughout her career, which was by no means short, the artist distinguished herself on many stages in the country, including the State Theatre of Botoșani, the National Theatre of Iași, the State Theatre of Ploiești and even the Nottara Theatre.

From a cinematographic point of view, Margareta Pogonat made her debut in 1957 in “Pasărea furtunii”, directed by Dinu Negreanu, alongside Mircea Albulescu, Ștefan Ciubotărașu, Paul Sava, Costache Antoniu and Fory Etterle.

He also received the ACIN acting award in 1972 for “Drum în penumbră” , directed by Lucian Bratu and again in 1973 for his role in “Zestrea”, directed by Letitia Popa and “Dragostea începe vineri”, directed by Virgil Calotescu.

The actress conquered the cinema irredeemably with her role in “Actorul și sălbaticii”, which also starred Toma Caragiu.

Moreover, she played an important role in “Pistruiatul”, to be later seen in “Lumini și ombre”, and in dozens of other Romanian films.

In “Pistruiatul”, she played the mother of the character played by Costel Băloiu. “At that time I was just a child, but Mrs. Margareta Pogonat was like a mother to me, and not only in the film. When I wasn’t filming, she was very attentive to me. She always brought me sandwiches she made.

Before we started shooting, she gave me a lot of acting pointers, which I took into account. You should know that with her and Mr. Vistrian Roman I felt like I was living in a real family. Especially as Mr Roman was very much like my natural father”, Costel Baloiu recounted years later.

A lesser-known fact is that in 1972 she starred in the English production of “Papesa Ioana”, where she was co-starring with Liv Ullmann, Olivia de Havilland and Maximilian Schell.

Margaret Pogonat’s sorrows: she was lucky in her career, but not in love

In her personal life, Margareta Pogonat was not as lucky as in her professional life. Obviously, the actress did not have the love life she would have liked. Even so, she never let it show on stage.

She was an extremely discreet being, and she kept her sorrows to herself, just like the hard life she had, since her teens.

She married at a young age and divorced soon after, her first marriage resulting in Maria-Anca Rusescu, the artist’s only child.

Later she had a rather dramatic love affair with her partner in the film “Drum in Penumbra” (1972), Cornel Coman. Unfortunately, the story ended as badly as it could have. The actor died of a serious illness at the age of 44.

Later, she entered into a relationship with Geo Costiniu, despite the age difference between the two. However, this relationship was not to be either and at some point it ended.

“We were like two little stars who slowly drifted apart… until they never saw each other again,” Geo Costiniu said of his relationship with Margareta Pogonat.

Acrița died on May 11, 2014, in Bucharest, at the age of 81.