He was one of my favorite Polish actors…Stanislaw Mikulski, who played fictional WWII agent Hans Kloss in one of Poland’s biggest TV hits of the communist era (“Stawka większa niż życie”), died on Thursday morning aged 85. 

“Stawka większa niż życie” (More Than Life at Stake, Stakes Larger Than Life or Playing for High Stakes), a very popular in Poland Polish black and white TV series about the adventures of a Polish secret agent, Hans Kloss, who acts as adouble agent in the Abwehr during Second World War in occupied Poland.

The series was filmed from March 1967 to October 1968. There were 18 episodes, 9 of which were directed by Janusz Morgenstern and the other 9 by Andrzej Konic.

It became popular also in other countries, especially in former Czechoslovakia.

The premise of the series was that Pole Stanisław Kolicki, a lookalike of Nazi officer Hans Kloss, would be sent to carry out a series of daring acts of subversion on behalf of Soviet intelligence. According to some historians, the character of Kolicki was loosely based on Artur Jastrzębski, a Polish communist with German roots who was recruited by Soviet intelligence in 1941. Prior to the show, Mikulski had played supporting roles in films by directors such as Andrzej Wajda (Kanal) and Tadeusz Chmielewski (Ewa Wants to Sleep). Although the Kloss role brought Mikulski unprecedented success, to avoid being typecast he began to spend more time working in the theatre. In 2012, Mikulski reprised his role as Kolicki/Kloss in a silver screen sequel directed by Patryk Vega. 

May he rest in peace (niech spoczywa w pokoju).

Do następnego razu… (Till next time…)