The Schindler's List Actors You May Not Know Passed Away

Director Steven Spielberg had an interesting year in 1993, as he released both an epic dinosaur movie and a serious drama about the holocaust during that twelve-month span. While "Jurassic Park" is the one that cleaned up at the box office, it was "Schindler's List" that won Spielberg the Best Director and Best Picture Oscars. Spielberg had always balanced his "fun" movies with his "serious" movies, but having those two in theaters at almost the same time took that to a whole new level — although he would do it again in 1997 with the dual releases of "The Lost World" and "Amistad."

The cast of "Schindler's List" is absolutely massive, owing in part to the many scenes with large amounts of people in one place at the same time. It also contained a lot of actors who had already been around for quite some time, which is fitting as a lot of older people needed to be part of the story being told in the film. With that in mind, it's actually somewhat surprising how many people who appeared in the nearly 30-year-old film are still alive today, with several being in their 80s and 90s. 

But a few members of the "Schindler's List" cast have passed away since the release of the film, including some that many people might not even be aware of.

Another "Schindler's List" actor who did primarily Polish films and for whom it's his only American credit, Henryk Bista played the role of Mr. Löwenstein. While Bista did appear in more than 100 films and TV shows, he was most known and acclaimed in Poland for his theater work, winning dozens of awards. He was a member of Warsaw's Contemporary Theatre from 1992 until his death in 1997 (via Culture.Pl).

While actors always achieve a certain amount of immortality in that their roles outlive them, Bista is especially true in this regard. His final film was the Shakespearean drama "Ubu król," which wouldn't be officially released until 2003 — six years after Bista's death. Bista received several high honors for his career from his native Poland, including the Bronze Medal of Merit for National Defence, the Knight's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta, the Silver Cross of Merit, and the Gold Cross of Merit (per People Pill).

Of all the actors from the cast of "Schindler's List" to pass away so far, the one with the biggest roles in the film is definitely Béatrice Macola. Macola played Ingrid, a mistress of Oskar Schindler, who is riding across the countryside on horseback with Schindler when he witnesses Nazi soldiers murdering people in a neighborhood below. It was in that moment that he finally decided he must do something to fight against the injustices of the Nazis, making it an extremely pivotal scene in the film.

Macola was one of the younger members among the adult cast of "Schindler's List," only 28 at the time of production. The Italian actress had only just began her career, appearing in a few Italian and French films before her "Schindler's List" role introduced her to American audiences and helped to elevate her fame to a worldwide level. Unfortunately, her rising career would be cut short when, in 2001, she suffered a stroke and went into a coma. Macola would die 10 days later at age 36. 

Unlike most of the people on this list, Eugeniusz Priwieziencew wasn't new to American films when he appeared in "Schindler's List" as a waiter. The actor got that out of the way 11 years earlier when he played a small role in the Meryl Streep/Kevin Kline drama "Sophie's Choice" — though that movie also touches on WWII and concentration camps. That said, Priwieziencew was still a predominantly European-based actor.

On top of his many screen credits, Priwieziencew was also an accomplished theater actor and was considered one of the key figures in the Polish neo-renaissance of the early-1980s (per World Literature Today and JSTOR). He also wrote and directed the movie "Prostytuki" in 1998. Besides movies and theater, Priwieziencew also appeared in several Polish TV shows, with one of his final roles being in the series "Television Theater" where he played multiple roles. He passed away in 2005 at only 58 years old.

Stanislaw Koczanowicz's acting career didn't really get started until fairly late into his life. His first role was in 1979, when he was already 58 years old. He would only go on to have 11 credits to his name, mostly in television, with his final role being that of a doorman in "Schindler's List." Koczanowicz died in 1993, the same year that his American movie debut was released, at the age of 72. 

If nothing else, Koczanowicz is a good lesson that it's never too late to follow your dreams, or even to just start a new path in life. He was never a huge star, but he did get to be in an Academy Award-winning Steven Spielberg movie despite not becoming a full-time actor until he was almost in his 60s. Little is publicly known about Koczanowicz beyond his short acting career, but he definitely managed to make his professional mark with a career that technically spanned three decades. 

Tadeusz Bradecki played the foreman of Schindler's Krakow factory in "Schindler's List," another performer for whom it was his only American film credit. Bradecki is also another member of the cast who was more widely known in his native country (Poland) for his theater work than his screen credits, though he had plenty of the latter. He passed away in January of 2022 at the age of 67.

Reports of his death in Poland largely focused on his contributions to the theater there, not only as an actor but also a playwright, director, and theater teacher (via the Polish News). His work in the theater actually brought him to more countries than his film acting career did, performing not only on stages in Poland but in Spain, Hungary, and France as well. As such, Bradecki was credited with helping to bring international attention to Polish theater.