Ilarion Ciobanu

Ilarion Ciobanu (Romanian pronunciation: [ilariˈon tʃjoˈbanu]; 28 October 1931 – 7 September 2008) was a Romanian actor. He has been described as "a legend" in the press and the last true Romanian comic. Ciobanu was born in Ciucur, Tighina County, Kingdom of Romania (now Moldova), in a family with six brothers. When he was 8, his father, Vlase, a longshoreman in the Port of Constanța, died in an accident. His mother, Olga, moved to Constanța, where she had to work as a cook at a hospital to support her children, two of whom would die due to illness. From age 12, Ciobanu held a variety of jobs: he worked as a longshoreman, farmer, tractor driver, miner, digger, carpenter, sailor, and fisherman. He distinguished himself as a volunteer at the building of the Bumbești–Livezeni railroad; as a dump truck driver, he transported stone from Ovidiu for the construction of the Danube–Black Sea Canal.Starting in 1948 he played rugby, first with Știința București, then with Dinamo București and finally (from 1959 to 1962) with Progresul București. In 1958 he was admitted at the I.L. Caragiale Institute of Theatre and Film Arts in Bucharest, but did not finish his studies. Instead, he worked as electrician at the Bulandra Theatre and made his debut in the movie Thirst.Ciobanu married twice (and divorced twice) Tamara Barna, a dancer with the Ciocârlia ensemble. In 1972, he married Marion; the two adopted Natalia Doina, the daughter from his wife's first marriage, and in 1978 their son Ioachim was born.He died in Bucharest at age 76 of laryngeal cancer; according to his wishes, his remains were cremated and his ashes were thrown into the Black Sea.