You loved to “hate” him in movies, and Draga Olteanu Matei loved him “for real”: the story of actor Jean Lorin Florescu

Jean Lorin Florescu was one of the most interesting actors of his generation. Extremely charismatic, mysterious and, in general, brimming with a noble, almost unique air.

He starred in more than 40 films in which he managed, with great talent, to portray all sorts of characters, many of them negative. You loved to hate him when you saw him in films, and Draga Olteanu Matei really loved him, as we will tell you in the following.

Jean Lorin Florescu, a unique theatre and film actor

Jean Lorin Florescu was born on 5 May 1924 in Bucharest and died in 1992 in the same city.

He was a great theatre and film actor, succeeding in attracting the attention of the Romanian public in “Toate pânzele sus”. You may remember the character who shouted “as if from a snake’s mouth” “I am Martin Strickland!” or “You poisoned me with water!”. Well, that was him.

He graduated from the Institute of Cinematographic Art in 1953, and over the course of his career he starred in more than 40 films, including also “Poor John the Baptist”, “Felix and Otilia” , “The Yellow Rose” and even “The Turquoise Necklace”.

He had an exotic allure and managed, only he knows how, to phrase in a totally unique way. One could say that these characteristics have remained personal trademarks, as someone like him has not even appeared in cinema and theatre since.

Jean Lorin Florescu was an actor of composition, giving absolutely everything in the roles he performed so masterfully.

We will always remember him from films like:

• “Porto Franco”;
• “The Falconer’s Lineage”;
• “Seven Boys and a Rascal”;
• “Michael the Brave”;
• “Miscellaneous Brigade goes into action”;
• “At the Crossroads of the Great Storms”;
• “With Clean Hands”;
• “A commissioner accuses”;
• “The Great Loner”;
• “Stephen the Great”.

The “lost” boyfriend of the actress Dragăi Olteanu Matei

From a personal point of view, Jean Lorin Florescu knew how to love, but also how to be loved. The public loved him, but also women.

A story less known by Romanians is the one that has Draga Olteanu Matei in the foreground. Apparently, at one time, the two shared a beautiful love story, although this story would be forgotten in years to come.

The actress herself was to tell about this love story at some point in an interview with National.ro in 2010.

“While I was walking up and down Dacia Boulevard with Genovea Preda, we met an air force officer I knew from the Army House. He invited us to the Scala confectionery, bought us a basket of violets from a florist and, after a while, I found myself with him at our house.

We got married, but after two years, seeing that he was a bit of a fusspot, I broke the cat in two and returned home to my father and mother.

The second marriage, to journalist Virgil Olteanu, lasted longer, about six years. It didn’t work either, because of the drinking, the cards and the bags of doughnuts I had to carry alone on my back.

I was also in love with Jean Lorin Florescu, an interesting man…

I married doctor Ionel Matei in 1970, after two years of probation. I wanted to see if we could stand each other, after the experience of two failed marriages and a love affair in between. God brought us together well, he finally gave me a guardian angel”, said Draga Olteanu Matei.

As mentioned earlier, the enigmatic Jean Lorin Florescu died in 1992, at the age of 64. He is buried at Bellu Cemetery in the capital.