Irena Laskowska was born in mid-March 1925 in Piotrowice. Her father worked as a teacher, while her mother, who had no formal education, took care of raising their four children. The family barely made ends meet. When a wealthy relative offered to take one of the children to raise, they chose Irena, the eldest. She was only four years old when she moved from the small town to Warsaw and began a completely new life.
First, she performed in the circus, then in theater. Irena Laskowska's film career was determined by chance
Almost immediately, she joined the dance group of her cousins, with whom she began performing on stage. They presented their shows in venues such as the Staniewski Brothers Circus, consistently drawing large crowds, largely due to Irena's presence.
"When people saw me, a four-year-old, they started throwing oranges they had brought to the circus. (...) I performed with the Watras sisters until they could no longer toss me around," she recalled in an interview. Even then, she wanted to become an actress, a dream she ultimately fulfilled when she was accepted into the Łódź Film School. "I was a beautiful, talented, and bold girl, so I thought, why not try, especially since my brother Jan was just about to pursue a career as a film operator," she recalled years later.
Towards the end of her studies, she joined the Polish Army Theater but also made her mark in productions at various Warsaw theaters, such as the National Theater, Dramatic Theater, Classical Theater, Polish Theater, and Rozmaitości Theater. This quickly became her gateway to the film world, which she had never even dreamed of.
"She acted in theater, but it was the end of socialist realism; what could a beautiful woman with her talents play in plays about collective farm workers or textile workers?" wrote Tadeusz Konwicki, whose film was one of the first in her rich artistic career.
The role in Konwicki's directorial debut brought her fame. On set, Laskowska had an affair with Machulski
Laskowska first appeared on screen in 1948 in the war drama "Stalowe serca" ("Steel Hearts") by Stanisław Januszewski, but both the production and her role went largely unnoticed. The real breakthrough in her career came a decade later with "Ostatni dzień lata" ("The Last Day of Summer"), Konwicki's directorial debut, who, as it later turned out, had a crush on her. "I didn't like him; he wasn't the love of my life," she said about him. It was no secret that Jan Machulski, with whom she co-starred, was also vying for her attention. From the start, he had a great affection for her and never hesitated to compliment her, which she found very flattering. "I was quite corrupted because I knew I had an effect on men," she confessed.
Although a passionate affair did indeed ignite between Laskowska and Machulski, it ended almost as quickly as it began, with their relationship dissolving with the final clap on set. After the premiere, she was hailed as a rising star of cinema, and critics predicted a spectacular career for her, but she wanted to forget about it. She was embarrassed by a scene in which she appeared in the nude, especially since her brother was present as a camera operator during its filming. She later appeared in many other notable productions, including works by Andrzej Wajda and Aleksander Ford, as well as in TV series such as "Czterdziestolatek" ("The Forty-Year-Old") and "Pierścień i róża" ("The Ring and the Rose"). She also found love with a painter, graphic artist, and playwright 15 years her senior, Mieczysław Piotrowski. "I never wanted to have children. I was an actress, and children would have been a hindrance," she said. She passed away on December 6, 2019, in Warsaw at the age of 94.
