Actor Ion Caramitru to be laid to rest today at Bellu Cemetery

Actor Ion Caramitru will be laid to rest today on the Actors Alley of the Bucharest Bellu Cemetery. On the way from the Visarion Church to the cemetery, the funeral procession will stop around noon in front of the "I.L. Caragiale" National Theater, where he served as manager over the past 16 years, for a final farewell. A condolence book was opened on Tuesday in the foyer of the theater's Grand Hall, for the public to pay tribute to the revered actor. Actor Ion Caramitru, manager of the Bucharest National Theater and president of the National Union of Romanian Theatres (UNITER), died on Sunday at the "Elias" Hospital aged 79. Born in Bucharest on March 9, 1942 into an Aromanian family, Ion Caramitru graduated from the Theater and Cinematography Institute - Beate Fredanov's class in 1964 and made his stage debut the same year, at the Bucharest National Theater, in the play "Eminescu" directed by Sica Alexandrescu. His acting career ranges across Shakespeare, Chekhov, Pirandello, Buchner, Bernard Shaw, Alfred de Musset, Süto Andras, Rolf Hochhuth and others, as he worked with a cast of directing greats such as Sica Alexandrescu, Moni Ghelerter, Liviu Ciulei, Vlad Mugur, Andrei Serban, Radu Penciulescu, Alexandru Tocilescu, Catalina Buzoianu. His memorable stage roles include Perdican in Alfred de Musset's Don't Fool With Love - directed by Moni Ghelerter (1964); Mircea Basarab in Vlaicu Voda by Alexandru Davila - directed by Sica Alexandrescu (1965); several lead characters in Shakespeare plays - Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Edward III, Macbeth, The Tempest; he also performed in poetry and music shows such as Dialogues and Jazz Fantasies - alongside Johnny Raducanu, or Yearning for Eminescu. Caramitru was also a highly regarded film actor, starring in dozens of films - with the character of philosophy teacher Socrates in the famous series Highschoolers most endearing him to the public. He served as Culture Minister between 1996-2000 and was elected UNITER president right at the Union's establishment, on February 15, 1990. The long list of honours received throughout his career includes Officer of the Order of the British Empire and Chevalier des Arts et the Lettres from the French Ministry of Culture, as well as Shakespeare Ambassador to Romania - a title bestowed on him by the British Council, on the occasion of Shakespeare's 400th anniversary in 2016. On December 21-22, 1989 Caramitru was one of the leaders of the anti-communist demonstrations in Bucharest. On December 22, 1989 he entered the building of the Romanian TV Broadcaster at the head of a column of demonstrators and was the first to announce on air the toppling of Ceausescu's dictatorship. AGERPRES (RO - author: Daniel Popescu, editor: Mihai Simionescu; EN - author: Simona Klodnischi, editor: Simona Iacob)