Constantin Baltaretu(1938-1985)

Constantin Baltaretu was born on 16 April, 1938 in Bucharest, Romania. He finished the Theatre and Movie Institute (IATC) in Bucharest, in 1958, with the professor Alexandru Finti and Ion Sahighian. Together with his colleagues he established the "Mihai Eminescu" Theatre in Botosani, where he played in "The Journalists" ("Ziaristii") by Alexandru Mirodan and in "The Town of our Dreams" ("Orasul Visurilor noastre") by Aleksei Nicolaevici Arbuzov. In 1960 he moved then to the National Theatre "Lucian Blaga" in Cluj, where he appeared in "The Power of the Dark" ("Puterea Intunericului") by Lev Nikolaevici Tolstoi, "When Migdals bloom" ("Cand infloresc Migdalii") by Angela Niculescu Plati, a dramatization after the novel "The Days of our Lives" ("Zilele Vietii noastre") by Marina Sereni. He switched then to the "Radu Stanca" Theatre in Sibiu, where he played in "Big Play in Chitaoani" ("Mare Meci la Chitaoani") by Dominic Stanca, "Midnight Lithurgy" ("Liturghia de la Miezul Noptii") by Peter Karvas, "The Ocean" ("Oceanul") by Alexandr Stein, "If the Loves weren't" ("De n-ar fi Iubirile") by Dorel Dorian, etc. In 1965 he started with the "Comedy Theatre" in Bucharest, where he played Chechov: Osip in "A provincial Hamlet" ("Un Hamlet de Provincie"), Andrei Prozorov in "Three Sisters" ("Trei Surori"), Lopahin in "The Cherry Orchard" ("Livada cu Visini"), and Brecht: Jesse in "Galy Gay's Disparition"("Disparitia lui Galy Gay"), the Sergent (Plutonierul) in "Mother Courage" ("Mutter Courage"), the Tenant (Locatarul) in "There are Nerves" ("Exista Nervi") by Marin Sorescu. He also directed "History Pages, Poetry Pages" ("File de Istorie, File de Poezie") in 1977 and "The Youth of Comedy" ("Tineretea Comediei") in 1984. Constantin Baltaretu wrote articles for journals, was a speaker at the Radio Station, and collaborated at the book "The Culture of the Theater Play" ("Cultura Spectacolului teatral"), written together with Andrei Baleanu, in 1976. He appeared also in movies: in 1968 he played Zeno in "Saturday Dance" ("Balul de Sambata Seara"), a film by Geo Saizescu. In 1974 he appeared in the TV serial "Two Years of Holidays" ("Deux Ans de Vacances"), a Romanian, Belgian, French, Swiss, West-German co-production, in the part of O'Brian, and in 1975, in the serial "Burning Daylight" ("Lockruf des Goldes"), a Romanian, Austrian, French, West-German co-production, in the part of Bettles. Constantin Baltaretu died on 9 March 1985, at the age of only 47.