RIP Rodica Tapalaga

Romanian actress Rodica Tapalaga died on Saturday December 18, 2010 after a long illness, her family announced. Known and loved for her numerous roles on stage and in movies, Tapalaga was 71. Her body was viewed at the Coltea Sfintii Trei Ierarhi Church in downtown Bucharest on Sunday and colleagues and admirers can pay their respects until the morning of December 21.

"My mother had multiple ailments and a more severe one, collagenosis, for seven years, but she was only hospitalized in the last few months. We tried all treatments but the disease was in an advanced stage and she just braved it, she didn't want to give up the active life style she had, and her condition got worse in the last couple of months. She was in hospital at Floreasca but her condition was not getting any better and in seven days, she died at home. It happened yesterday. Her body was taken to Coltea Church, where her colleagues can come and say goodbye and pay their respects. We didn't announce this earlier because we wanted time to mourn her," the actress's son Barbu Popescu told Realitatea TV.

The actress was awarded with the ACIN Moviemakers' Association Award in 1976 for her role in Tanase Scatiu and in 2001, she got a lifetime achievement award from UNITER. Tapalaga was also awarded at the Bucharest City awards for arts and literature on December 14, 2009, at the Ion Dacian Operetta Theater.

She was married to stage designer Ion Popescu Udriste with whom she had a son, Barbu Popescu, and was the sister of actor Stefan Tapalaga.

Rodica appeared in one Euro-western, "The Actress, the Dollars and the Transylvanians" (1979) she played the role of 'The Actress'.