Biography:

Krystyna Stypulkowska was born in Warsaw, Poland, where she worked as an interpreter for, among others, Rene Clair, Yves Montand, and Simone Signoret when they visited her country. She became an actress by chance, when she responded to a call for auditions for Andrzej Wajda’s film Niewinni czarodzieje, an ironic comedy about the disillusionment of young Poles. She had wanted to meet Wajda and talk to him since seeing his internationally recognized film, Popiól i diament (1958), which had impressed her and her generation a great deal.

After two auditions, Stypulkowska was surprised when Wajda cast her – even though she was an amateur – to play the role of the clever and coquettish Pelagia. Once the movie came out, many Polish youth magazines nominated her as their favorite actress of the year. Having seen Stypulkowska in Niewinni czarodzieje, East German director Frank Beyer offered her the role of Kati Klee, the young engineer in Spur der Steine. She heard from friends that the film was banned by East German officials shortly after its premiere. It was almost three decades before she saw her performance for the first time and heard her voice, dubbed in German by actress Jutta Hoffmann (Carla, 1965; Her Third, 1971). Krystyna Stypulkowska lived in Arlington, Virginia, and worked at the State Department’s Foreign Service Institute, where she wrote interactive Polish language programs for diplomats.                                                                                          

Stypulkowska died on October 20, 2020.

Bibliography & More:

Interview with Krystyna Stypulkowska on Trace of Stones (USA, 2007, 25 min., dir. Peter Rollberg, on behalf of the DEFA Film Library)