The actress Stela Furcovici, famous for the role of Ecaterina Teodoroiu in the film of the same name, died in 2000, at only 46 years old, following a terrible traffic accident.
Born in 1954, in Turda, the actress entered the Theater and Cinematography Institute in Bucharest, in the class of the great actor Dem Rădulescu. However, she was expelled after only one year of college, due to absences from military training.
She was unstable, tonic, explosive and full of revolt against the regime. “He didn’t go to military training. He didn’t want to. And then they kicked her out of the institute”Dinu Cocea, the director of the film Ecaterina Teodoroiu, told in an interview.
“I went to the Council of Culture and Socialist Education to talk to the director responsible for the theaters. I told her: “Look at Ecaterina Teodoroiu, the first prize in the country of the Association of Cinematographers for interpretation. And she’s not an actress.” A few phone calls were made, some measures were taken and that’s how Stela Furcovici received the status of actress. Until then she had only been an extra“, explained Dinu Cocea, who also cast Stela Furcovici in his next films, “Iancu Jianu, the outlaw” (1980) and “Iancu Jianu, the zapciul” (1981).
The plague caused by boredom
Her fiery temper is best evidenced by a hilarious moment: “To give you an idea of what I’m talking about, I’ll tell you an incident. We were filming for “Ecaterina Teodoroiu”, but Stela was already bored. “Mr. Dinu”, he tells me, “I have scabies”. I stopped all the filming, a thousand costumes put in the oven, I sent samples for the laboratory. After two weeks, the answer from the laboratory: «No, sir, no scabies». She didn’t feel like filming anymore”, recalls the director about the actress’s temperament.
In the movie they loved each other, but in reality they couldn’t stand each other
Stela Furcovici also played a good role in the series “Iancu Jianu”, alongside the late Adrian Pintea. In the movie, they were madly in love, in reality “they couldn’t stand each other“. “I found a psychological correspondence between her and Pintea. It was the spirit of revolt against existentialism, of what we were living in that terrible era of the 80s. Both expressed their disagreement with the regime, while the majority was obedient and adapted. They were unfit. But in reality they didn’t like each other. Although they were similar psychologically. Neither she swallowed Pintea, nor Pintea her, even though they were lovers in the movie”, the story of Dinu Cocea.
America searched for her with the police
Stella Furcovici’s talent and potential were also noticed by an American impresario, who came through Europe in search of acting talents. “She had to go to America, because the Americans chose her out of all the Romanian actors. This after the respective impresario had an intense program of watching Romanian films for two weeks. The moment he saw it, he said: “That’s it!”. But she was nowhere to be found either in Bucharest or in Turda. He had gone to the mountains with his lover. The American extended his stay in Romania for two weeks for her. He thought maybe she wasn’t happy with the $10,000 down payment and said he’d give her more. He had also bought her a plane ticket. They also looked for her with the police, but they still didn’t find her…”Cocea remembered. The star reappeared only after a month, but it was too late.
A brutal end
Entering a cone of shadow after 1989, Stela Furcovici had a tragic end, in the fall of 2000, shortly before her 47th birthday. The actress was involved in a traffic accident on one of the streets of Turda.
She tried to cross irregularly, but the scarf around her neck got caught in the rear-view mirror of a car, and she was knocked to the ground. The impact was hard, Stela suffered a skull fracture and, on the way to the hospital, she died in the ambulance.
