The actress who refused to ‘sit at the pot’ to become the most beloved ‘grandmother’: Monica Ghiuta, the star who left Ion Caramitru

Monica Ghiuță was one of the most famous actresses in our country, although in her later years you could see her quite often in TV commercials for a certain brand of oil.

Beyond the commercials in question, Monica Ghiuță was a talented actress as well as a beautiful one, managing, throughout her life, to retain the noble air and finesse of a woman from another social class, you might have said.

Monica Ghiuță, more than the “grandmother” of the oil commercials

Monica Ghiuță was born on July 26, 1940, in Câmpulung Moldovenesc and died on July 28, 2019, in Bucharest.

She attended and graduated from the Institute of Theatrical and Cinematographic Arts in Bucharest – class of 1964, in the class of Professor George Mărutză.

Although she played dozens of roles in theatre and film, most Romanians remember her today only as the protagonist of an advertising campaign called “Untdelemn de la Bunica”, as mentioned above.

With more than 100 roles in theatre, film and radio plays to her credit, Monica Ghiuță made her debut in 1966, more precisely in the film “Time of the Snows”.

Her success came immediately after the release of the film “Autumn of the Freshmen” in 1975.

…but it continued even after the Revolution, with the actress starring in:

• “E pericoloso sporgersi;
• “Famous Paparazzo”;
• “Philanthropy”;
• “Engaged in America”;
• “Casanova, Female Identity”.

“A few years ago, I cried with Monica Ghiuță in front of the Royal Palace on Calea Victoriei, at Queen Anne’s funeral. She had come to light a candle and ask King Michael’s forgiveness for having torn out the King’s photo from her alphabet book more than 70 years ago because her teacher had asked her to do so at school.

She had not forgiven herself for that gesture and I was impressed that she came to the Palace, although she was not feeling well and was moving badly. I interviewed him briefly and I was so impressed! The great actress was crying with her”, wrote journalist Camelia Csiki on Facebook.

Monica Ghiuta didn’t like to talk about her alleged relationship with Ion Caramitru

As for her personal life, it has always been rumored that she had, at one time, a relationship with Ion Caramitru.

“Ask Ion Caramitru. You journalists have pinned dozens of mistresses on him. And their list always opened with me”, Monica Ghiuță said, at one point, on this subject, adding, each time, that she did not feel like commenting on this subject, suggesting that she would like her personal life to remain private. “I have nothing to comment on and I am not in the mood for popularity on this issue.”

However, according to some theatre sources, Monica Ghiuta and Ion Caramitru met during the preparatory courses for the entrance exams to the Theatre Academy, and this is where it all began.

Legend has it that they would have been together for six years, but eventually Monica Ghiuta didn’t like the prospect of sitting at the pot, so it would all end.

Despite this, she was married twice, but never for a moment stopped believing that the institution of marriage would, in fact, be the definition of “human nothingness.”

“Has the good Lord spared me from any tragedy that I could not have endured, most likely because I have always put my career above all else.

Then, great loves should never fail in a marriage”, Monica Ghiuță is said to have said, at one point, in the company of her close friends.

Monica Ghiuță died at the age of 79 and is buried, like almost all the great Romanian artists, at Bellu Cemetery in the capital.