Mitică Popescu

Mitică Popescu (Romanian pronunciation: [miˈtikə poˈpesku]; 2 December 1936 – 3 January 2023) was a Romanian actor. Popescu was born in Bucharest on 2 December 1936. He started his studies in the mid-1950s at the Institute of Theatrical and Cinematographic Art, but he was arrested by the Securitate in 1958, allegedly for planning to flee the country, and was sentenced to 3 years of prison. First detained at Malmaison Prison in Bucharest, he was transferred to Jilava Prison, and then to the labor camps at Periprava and Salcia on the Danube. Upon release, Radu Beligan and Mircea Șeptilici helped him find a job at Teatrul de Comedie, and in 1963 he resumed his acting studies.After graduating in 1967, he worked at Teatrul Tineretului in Piatra Neamț, where he stayed until 1973, when he transferred to Teatrul Mic in Bucharest, on whose stage he played until 2010. In 2002 he was awarded the National Order of Faithful Service, knight rank. In 2009 he received a lifetime career award from UNITER, while in 2013 he received the Gopo Award for lifetime achievement.In 1977, Popescu married the actress Leopoldina Bălănuță, who died in 1998. He died on 3 January 2023, at the age of 86, at the Elias Hospital in Bucharest, where he was hospitalized. He was buried with military honors in the city's Bellu Cemetery, next to his wife.