50 Facts About Victor Rebengiuc

Victor Rebengiuc starred in films by Dan Pita and Lucian Pintilie.

Victor Rebengiuc was celebrated for his stage performances, appearing in plays directed by, among others, Ciulei, Radu Penciulescu, Andrei Serban, Catalina Buzoianu, Yuri Kordonsky, Gabor Tompa, and Alexandru Dabija.

Victor Rebengiuc subsequently spoke out against political forces he believes stand for the regime's legacy in modern society, and called for the retrospective condemnation of communism.

Victor Rebengiuc grew up on the city's outskirts, in the low-income quarters, and, as he remembers, his family frequently changed residence in order to afford the rent.

Victor Rebengiuc's mother worked as a clerk, and, just before her retirement, was an employee of the Transport Ministry.

Victor Rebengiuc completed his secondary studies at the Military High School, a school which he is grateful to for having instilled in him a sense of discipline.

Victor Rebengiuc graduated in 1956, and, after a six-month stint at the National Theater in Craiova, returned to Bucharest, settling in the vicinity of the Cismigiu Gardens and starting work with Bulandra.

Victor Rebengiuc was at the time in a relationship with Anca Veresti, whom he married in 1960, divorcing her five years later.

Victor Rebengiuc debuted in cinema with the 1956 Mindrie, and went on to minor roles in several films, including the 1960 Furtuna, adapted by Andrei Blaier from one of Titus Popovici's writings, Iulian Mihu's Poveste sentimentala and Darclee, the biographical story of opera singer Hariclea Darclee.

In 1965, Victor Rebengiuc portrayed Apostol Bologa, the central character in Ciulei's film The Forest of the Hanged.

Thirty-six years after, Victor Rebengiuc acknowledged that the film was his breakthrough role, and indicated that the film's depiction of ethnic conflicts in Austria-Hungary made it "absolutely fresh, undated", drawing a parallel between its script and the issues posed by the Yugoslav wars.

Victor Rebengiuc says that, upon receiving the news of his acceptance, "my legs began trembling and I fell off my chair".

Victor Rebengiuc fathered a son, Tudor, in 1975, and later recounted that his wife had decided to keep him only because abortion had been outlawed and the clandestine interventions had become unsanitary.

Ever since he became known to the public, Victor Rebengiuc established himself as one of the leading actors of his generation, and won praise for both his technique and natural ability.

Two years later, under the direction of Mihai Iacob, Victor Rebengiuc starred in The Castle of the Condemned.

Victor Rebengiuc had a role in the 1976 Tanase Scatiu, which was his first collaboration with director Dan Pita.

Victor Rebengiuc acknowledges having managed to escape most other forms of endorsement for the communist leader's personality cult, but indicates that, without his permission, several of his performances were considered up for competition in communist-run festivals, and that he was sent a number of diplomas for his various roles.

In 1983, Victor Rebengiuc appeared in Dan Pita's Dreptate in lanturi.

Victor Rebengiuc starred as the surgeon Theodor Hristea, who, after some of his belongings are stolen, involves himself in the inquiry and directs the interrogation of a seemingly innocent man.

In 1986, Victor Rebengiuc was the central figure in Morometii, an adaption of Marin Preda's 1955 book, directed by Stere Gulea.

Victor Rebengiuc's critically acclaimed performance saw Rebengiuc being identified by the public with his character, the patriarchal and rigid peasant Ilie Moromete.

Victor Rebengiuc repeatedly stated having felt unsure about his participation in the film, indicating that he had only impersonated city-dwellers in his previous roles, and that he had limited knowledge of the rural world.

Victor Rebengiuc was initially deemed unfit for the part, but managed to convince the director after preparing for it by spending a month in Teleorman County, where he lived among the peasants.

In December 1989, Victor Rebengiuc was a participant in the Romanian Revolution, which managed to topple the Ceausescu regime and end Communist Party's rule.

Victor Rebengiuc joined the crowd of revolutionaries heading into the Romanian Television building, and voiced anti-communist messages in front of live cameras.

The second of Pintilie's films to star Victor Rebengiuc was the Palme d'Or-nominated drama Too Late, which discussed the failings of justice in post-communist Romania, where he played the role of Elephant Foot.

Victor Rebengiuc starred as Grigore Cafanu in Pintilie's 1998 film Last Stop Paradise.

Victor Rebengiuc was sporadically present on the stage with Bulandra, and stated that he was not interested in starring in works of experimental theater, indicating that it did not suit his taste.

Victor Rebengiuc was Caliban in Bulandra's 1991 production of William Shakespeare's The Tempest, appearing alongside his fellow actor and revolutionary Ion Caramitru.

Victor Rebengiuc starred in several main roles in classical plays, and, as Nick Bottom in Ciulei's production of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, received the UNITER prize.

Victor Rebengiuc had several main roles in play by acclaimed stage director Silviu Purcarete: Horazio in Carlo Goldoni's The Comical Theater, Pelasgus in Aeschylus' The Suppliants, and the title role in Shakespeare's King Lear.

Victor Rebengiuc appeared in his first major television production, Tandretea lacustelor, adapted by Dan Necsulea from a screenplay by Eugene Pretorian, and aired by TVR 1 in 2003.

Victor Rebengiuc describes this part as the most straightforward of his film characters, and indicates that working with screenwriter Cristi Puiu impressed him.

Victor Rebengiuc, who portrayed one of three characters, describes feeling "pleased" by the collaboration, and having to work with "one of the best" texts.

Victor Rebengiuc was praised by critic Valentin Dumitrescu for a "remarkable performance covering the palette of the tragic-grotesque and de-canonized myth of an insurmountable condition".

Victor Rebengiuc starred in another of Pintilie's productions, Tertium non datur, playing The General.

Victor Rebengiuc collaborated with Kordonsky on three other stage productions: Nikolai Gogol's Marriage, Ion Luca Caragiale's Conu' Leonida fata cu reactiunea and Mikhail Bulgakov's Heart of a Dog, where he was Preobrazhensky.

Victor Rebengiuc resumed his work in television productions, appearing in the short series La Urgenta, and in several episodes of Pro TV's Cu un pas inainte.

Victor Rebengiuc appeared again alongside Mihut, who played Linda, in what was announced as his comeback to the world of theater.

Victor Rebengiuc released an audiobook version of Leo Tolstoy's The Death of Ivan Ilyich.

Victor Rebengiuc, who discussed his Christian faith in interviews, began applying his actor's craft to religious broadcasting, with readings of the Psalms.

Victor Rebengiuc first voiced his political message to the public during the Romanian Revolution, when he was present in the Romanian Television building.

On 1 May 1990, at the height of the Golaniad events, Victor Rebengiuc read a Protest of the Romanian Intellectuals, expressing solidarity with the students gathered in University Square in opposition to the National Salvation Front.

Since 2002, Victor Rebengiuc has been a member of the non-governmental organization Asociatia Revolutionarilor fara Privilegii, alongside Ion Caramitru, Dan Pavel, Radu Filipescu, and others.

In February 2007, as parliamentary forces voted in favor of an impeachment referendum against Basescu, Victor Rebengiuc joined Tismaneanu and 48 other intellectuals in signing an open letter condemning the move.

Victor Rebengiuc's call to uncover the secrets of Romania's communist past made him look up data kept on him by the Securitate and placed at his disposal by the CNSAS, a state agency which manages Securitate archives.

Victor Rebengiuc believes that certain information is still missing from his file, indicating that his tendency to speak his mind is likely to have caused the authorities to keep him under surveillance.

Victor Rebengiuc stresses that he long suspected people in his pre-1989 entourage of having informed on him to the Securitate, and recounts having received hate mail soon after the Revolution, especially after having expressed criticism for the Salvation Front.

Three years later, during the Transilvania International Film Festival, Victor Rebengiuc voiced a public protest of cinema professionals against Nicolaescu's law project, which aimed to modify the criteria in use for the public financing of films.

Victor Rebengiuc was the spokesman of a 2009 campaign launched by Realitatea TV and titled Noi vrem respect.