(1929-)
The role of Hans Kloss in the television series More Than Life at Stake (Stawka większa niz życie, eighteen episodes, 1967-1968), directed by Janusz Morgenstern and Andrzej Konic, propelled Mikulski to stardom and overshadowed his other accomplishments. The series, set during World War II, narrated the story of a Polish superspy dressed in a German uniform and offered a simplified version of history. Thanks to this role, Mikulski became one of the most popular Polish actors of the day. According to the poll of the Evening Express (Express Wieczorny), he was voted the most popular Polish actor in 1965, 1966, and 1968; he was second most popular in 1967 and 1969.
After his film debut in Leonard Buczkowski's The Start (Pierwszy start, 1951), Mikulski played mostly military men, partisans, and insurgents. He appeared as the lieutenant in Jan Rybkowski's The Hours of Hope (1955), the Home Army (AK) fighter Smukły (Slim) in Andrzej Wajda's Kanal (1956), and the underground fighter in Jerzy Passendorfer's Answer to Violence (1958). Mikulski continued with similar roles in the 1960s, playing a security (UB) officer in Jan Batory's Meeting with the Spy (1964), an army captain in Bathed in Fire (1964), and the AK officer in Scenes of Battle (1965), both directed by Passendorfer. Mikulski's notable accomplishments, however, resulted from ventures into different genres in films such as Tadeusz Chmielewski's Ewa Wants to Sleep (1968), a classic Polish comedy, and Stanisław Jedryka's Return to Earth (1967), a psychological war drama about the impossibility of freeing oneself from the shadow of the war. After More Than Life at Stake, Mikulski struggled with his star status. Following Jerzy Zarzycki's In Search of Adam (Pogoń za Adamem, 1970) and Stanisław Lenartowicz's Obsession (1972), he appeared in several television series, sometimes playing himself. He still enjoys popularity in Poland, especially among young viewers, for whom More Than Life at Stake remains a cult series.
Historical Dictionary of Polish Cinema by Marek Haltof
Guide to cinema. Academic. 2011.