Roman Polanski is a 91-year-old French-Polish film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor known for several critically acclaimed screenworks including Chinatown (1974) and The Pianist (2002).
Polanski, who has a projected net worth of $50 million, has been married thrice. However, he has been romantically involved with other women. He has also been linked to several sex offenses, especially with minors. Consequently, Polanski fled the United States in 1978 in order to avoid being imprisoned.
Short Biography Of Roman Polanski
Roman Polanski was born on August 18, 1933, in Paris, French Third Republic. The names of his parents are Bula Katz-Przedborska and Mojżesz. His father, Mojżesz, is a painter and manufacturer of sculptures who, after World War II, was known as Ryszard Polański. Also, his father was Jewish and originally from Poland.
In 1937, Polanski’s Polish-Jewish parents returned to Kraków from Paris, where he was born. When Nazi Germany invaded Poland two years later, sparking the commencement of World War II, the family became stuck in the Kraków Ghetto.
He spent his early years in foster homes after his parents were abducted during raids. He survived the Holocaust by taking on a false identity and hiding his Jewish ancestry.
Also, Polanski was taken in by a Polish Roman Catholic woman in 1943, who had assured his father that she would provide the boy with shelter. Though he was never baptized, he went to church, learned the Catholic prayers by heart, and presented himself as a Roman Catholic.
Meanwhile, he saw several atrocities while he wandered the countryside, attempting to survive in then-occupied Poland. Sometimes, he was forced to take part in a cruel and sadistic game in which German soldiers took shots at him for target practice.
He went to elementary school for a few weeks before all Jewish students were forcibly removed from school. Polanski would not be permitted to return to school for six years following his expulsion.
Polanski later reunited with his father after the war. But unfortunately, he could not set eyes on his mother again because she did not make it.
On December 21, 1946, his father remarried Wanda Zajączkowska, a woman Polanski had never been fond of. His father later passed away from cancer in 1984.
A Quick Look at His Higher Education and Early Career Days
Polanski studied at the National Film School in Łódź, Poland’s third-biggest city.
In the 1950s, he began acting and made appearances in two films: Andrzej Wajda’s Pokolenie (A Generation, 1954). In the same year, he starred in Silik Sternfeld’s Zaczarowany Rower.
Furthermore, he made his directorial debut in 1955 with a short film titled Rower.
He later moved on to make his first feature-length film in 1962. The movie is titled Knife in the Water. The movie received several positive reviews and was nominated for the United States Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
After his first feature film, the actor saw himself moving to countries like France, the United Kingdom, and the United States, working on several screen works.
All You Should Know About Roman Polanski’s Marriages
He was married to Barbara Kwiatkowska-Lass between 1959 and 1962
Polanski got married to Barbara Kwiatkowska-Lass in 1959. But things didn’t work out with them, and in 1961 they separated before getting a divorce in 1962.
Meanwhile, Barbara was also a Polish actress, and she starred in several movies, including When Angels Fall (1959), which was directed by Roman.
In 1963, Barbara met actor Karlheinz Böhm in Tokyo on the set of the film Rififi in Tokyo. The pair later tied the knot and birthed actress Katharina Böhmt together.
Unfortunately, Kwiatkowska-Lass also divorced Böhm in 1980 and married Polish jazz musician Leszek Żądło, with whom she lived until her death on March 6, 1994. She was 54 when she passed.
His Former Wife, Sharon Tate was murdered by The Manson Family Cult
After his marriage with Barbara failed, Polanski met and started dating actress Sharon Tate while filming The Fearless Vampire Killers (1967).
On January 20, 1968, in London, the couple tied the knot despite accounts of their encounter being everything but ideal.
Moreover, there were many wild tales about their marriage, ranging from forced threesomes to cheating and other forms of dehumanizing treatment. More so, one of Tate’s acquaintances, Joanna Pettet, said that Polanski exerted a great deal of control over his wife. According to Joanna, Roman gave Tate fashion advice and informed her about his preferred and disliked makeup looks.
Meanwhile, Polanski and Tate started renting a house at 10050 Cielo Drive in the Benedict Canyon neighborhood of Los Angeles in February 1969. In August of the same year, Tate stayed at home pregnant for eight and a half months while Polanski was in Europe working on a movie.
Unfortunately, the cult of the Manson family stormed into the house and stabbed her and her friends multiple times. Those who died alongside Tate were Steven Parent, Wojciech Frykowski, Abigail Folger, and Jay Sebring.
Roman and Tate’s unborn child was posthumously named Paul Richard Polanski.
Along with other cult members, Charles Manson, a notorious gangster, was arrested in late 1969, tried, and convicted of first-degree murder in 1971.
Reacting to the incident, Polanski said that his biggest regret in life is not being there on the night of the killings. Additionally, he stated in his memoirs that the single significant turning point in his life was Sharon’s passing. Furthermore, he said that her murder had transformed him from a “boundless, untroubled sea of expectations and optimism” to an “ingrained pessimism… eternal dissatisfaction with life.”
His 3rd wife, Emmanuelle Seigner is also an actress
In 1989, Polanski married Emmanuelle Seigner in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, and they welcomed two children together. Their first child, Morgane, was born in 1993 and is currently 31 years old, while their second child, Elvis, was born in 1998 and is currently 26 years old.
Emmanuelle Seigner is also a French actress and singer. She is known for her roles in The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007), The Ninth Gate (1999), and Frantic (1988).
How Rich is He?
With a career that spans 71 years, Roman Polanski stands as very wealthy. He has amassed a projected sum of $50 million, according to several sources. Also, the controversial director and film producer made his fortune through his work as an actor, director, and film producer.
SEE ALSO: Richard Roundtree: Bio, Wife, Net Worth, Where Is He Today?
Roman Polanski Remains a Fugitive From Justice
As earlier noted, Roman is known to have been engaged in several sexually related controversies. As you will easily find, he was arrested in 1977 and charged with drugging and raping a 13-year-old girl named Samantha Gailey.
Gailey who had modeled for Polanski during a Vogue photoshoot accused him of sexually exploiting her. He was later indicted on six counts of criminal behavior, including rape. At his arraignment, he pleaded not guilty to all charges and many executives in Hollywood came to his defense.
However, Gailey’s attorney later arranged a plea bargain in which five of the six charges would be dismissed. As a result of a plea bargain, Roman pleaded guilty to the lesser offense of unlawful sex with a minor. He was ordered to undergo 90 days of psychiatric evaluation at California Institution for Men at Chino.
He was later released from prison after 42 days. However, hours before his formal sentencing, Roman learned that the judge, Laurence J. Rittenband, had hinted that he was going to disregard the plea bargain and sentence him to 50 years in prison.
After he was notified that the judge planned to reject his plea deal and impose a prison term instead of probation, Roman fled to Paris where he was already a citizen. He has been shielded from extradition because he is a French citizen. Furthermore, he has spent the majority of his life in France and has refrained from traveling to any country that would extradite him to the US.
Other women have also accused Roman of sexually molesting them, while Samantha Gailey has forgiven him and left the past behind
Several additional women have reported that Polanski sexually assaulted them during their adolescent years. But in March 2023, Geimer (the then 13-year-old teenager he raped) and her spouse met with Polanski and his spouse Seigner for an interview for the cover of a French magazine.
In the interview, Geimer says she doesn’t really care about what happened between her and Roman years ago. She also said that anyone who believes Romand ought to be behind bars is incorrect and that he has already completed his term.
