The diva loved by Romanians, kicked out of films by Ceaușescu and out of theatre by Iliescu. Violeta Andrei “wore dresses too short” in times of hardship

One of Romania’s best-loved actresses was kicked out of films by Ceaușescu, and Iliescu made sure she was not allowed to appear in the theatre because she “wore skirts too short”. Read the story of beautiful actress Violeta Andrei.

Some Romanians have heard of Violeta Andrei, while others have had the chance to see her in films or on stage. She was born on 29 March 1941 and graduated from the Ion Luca Caragiale University of Bucharest in 1965.

Her debut took place on the stage of the Giulești Theatre at that time, now the Odeon Theatre, where she played several roles, later also performing on the stage of the Lucia Sturdza Bulandra Theatre in the capital. She made her screen debut in the film “Golgota” in 1966 directed by Mircea Drăgan, and throughout her career, she played in over 60 films.

As far as her personal life is concerned, Violeta Andrei was married in 1961 to the former communist foreign minister Stefan Andrei. The star has told stories in the past about how it all happened and how she fell in love with the former politician.

“I was only 17 and I was at the International Festival of Students and Youth. Stefan was somehow my boss. But he didn’t seduce me! I was wild! Everyone told him to let me grow up. And he followed me, so he wouldn’t lose me… I was afraid of the wedding night. After I got married, I didn’t give in for two weeks!” the actress once said.

Stefan Andrei’s rise in the Communist Party occurred at the same time they were getting married, so he managed to get himself noticed by Nicolae Ceausescu. At that time, Ștefan Andrei was head of the UTM’s Foreign Relations, and from 1965 he became deputy to Gizela Wass, head of the PCR’s Foreign Section, and later became secretary of the CC in 1972.

She became Minister of Foreign Affairs in 1978, a post she held until 1985. Five years later, he was arrested and spent two years and five months in prison. According to the former actress, he was born near Brasov and Violeta Andrei’s father was a horticulturist.

Although her mother wanted her daughter to attend the Faculty of Architecture, she took the IATC, getting in with an A and managing to finish with the same grade. It is known that Elena Ceaușescu banned other actresses, so she did not overlook Violeta Andrei either.

Actress Violeta Andrei is banned from films by order of Elena Ceausescu.

In 1982, the former dictator’s wife forbids her to appear on television or in films, thus losing 18 roles. Elena Ceausescu’s reason was that she appeared too often on TV and was too sexy, her eyes were too glossy and her legs were too visible.

“After 1990, I was asked to act in films again, but I was thrown out of the theatre when Ion Iliescu, who ordered my husband’s arrest, intervened. It was a cheap revenge, Ștefan has the same profession as Iliescu and, at one point, he opposed when Iliescu wanted to apply Soviet technology in hydro-construction. For that he punished him. Elena Ceaușescu drove me out of cinema and Ion Iliescu out of theatre”, Violeta Andrei also told Libertata in 2011.

The star also recounted that in 1965 she made her first feature film, and by 1972, the roles were coming thick and fast. Later, together with her husband, she met Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife. Elena Ceaușescu hated her from their first meeting until 1989.

“For me, Elena Ceaușescu was a nightmare that followed me for almost 20 years. In 1988, I became quite ill and underwent an operation. The Ceaușeasca kept telling my husband: “Forget it, darling, he’s going to die”. Well, I didn’t die, she did, in December 1989,” she added.

Throughout her career, she played dozens of roles including Roxana in Edmond Rostand’s Cyranp de Bergerac, Ana Petrovna in A.P. Chekhov’s Ivanov, Ilona in Orkeny Istvan’s Game of Cats, Laura in Tennesse Williams’ Glass Menagerie, Dana in Adrian Dohotaru’s Investigation of a Young Man Who Did Nothing, Elmira in Moliere’s Tartuffe, Madeleine Bejart in Mikhail Bulgakov’s Cabal of Bigots and more.

On the small screen she appeared in such series as The Musketeers, The Saltimbanks, The Fearless, The Lover of the Great Lady Dracula, Lights and Shadows and The Sins of Eve from 2005. She has also recorded dozens of songs and released the album Music from the Movies, sung to the soundtrack of the films Veronica and Veronica Returns.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgUes_Z6sBo