Kruscharska, Sascha
In Sterne © DEFA-Stiftung, Lotte Michailowa
Biography:
Sasha Krusharska was a student in her second year at the Bulgarian Academy for Performing Arts when she was discovered by director Konrad Wolf and cast as the Greek Jewess Ruth in his film Sterne.
In a 1958 interview Wolf remembered, “When we were not able to cast the Jewish actress Haya Harareet (Ben Hur, 1959), we decided for Sasha Krusharska. The role is very difficult and we had to work very hard with Krusharska.”
Krusharska was briefly married to the Bulgarian actor, scriptwriter, and director Rangel Vulchanov, who was also the assistant director of Sterne. Although her film debut was an international success and she was praised by critics for her performance, Krusharska acted in only two other film—The Last Round, a Bulgarian crime story directed by Lyudmil Kirkov and the Italian Western Black Jack (1968)—and abandoned her acting career.
Sasha Krusharska apparently moved to Italy in the 1960s and got married to an Italian musician in 1966. After a short stay in Italy, they both abandoned their respective artistic careers and moved to London for a decade, where she worked as an antiques dealer, before returning to Italy in the 1980s.