And the story goes...

2010  "Gandacul de Colorado" Romanian-American magazine announces - After a long absence, Romanian-American actor and writer Tudor Petrut returns on the soundstage as the principal in a series of spots for Discover Card. Tudor plays the likeable but inept "Peggy" in the new ad campaign by The Martin Agency. Produced by Harvest Films, the spots were directed by award winning Baker Smith, and photographed by Eric Treml. Writes the Chicago Sun Times: "The new Discover spots make their point via a customer service agent called Peggy, who is actually a he. Peggy is seen in each spot attempting to deal with a customer who has called a financial institution named USA Prime Credit. In each instance, the interaction with Peggy leads to a situation that is both funny and familiar -- at least to anyone who has struggled to get through to -- and then deal with -- a banking representative. It's a tribute to Martin's skills that the shop has managed to make us laugh at what is, in fact, a hugely frustrating experience for so many, namely the decline of customer service." TV Squad picks "Transfer" as one of the "Top 10 Commercials of 2010"!  

2007-to present  Tudor dedicates his energies to screenwriting, and several screenplays are completed, and one is carried on from his first stunt at writing in the early nineties in a revised draft. High concept sci-fi action story ELEVENTH receives a lot of buzz and it's believed to be soon in serious development discussions.

1991-to present  As a member of APA/American Press Association and NARPA/North American Romanian Press Association, Tudor is invited to write articles and commentaries for various Romanian newspapers and magazines. He writes weekly columns on the Romanian-American community and hosts the radio commentary "The Hollywood Minute" for the prestigious Radio Romania at Timisoara and Radio Romania Cultural.

1996  Tudor returns to California to be closer to his children and being a full time father makes him engage less creative energy after the staged reading of "Confessions of A Catholic Child" by Elizabeth Benton Appell opens at the Long Beach Playhouse, directed with gusto by Tudor. It will be the last stage accomplishment for a long while.

1994-1995  Perpetual Motion Films and Rexfilms, Hollywood based film companies, shoot documentaries and stock in Romania with Tudor as a production liaison with the famed Buftea studios in Bucharest. You may find his name in the credits of the widely shown A&E documentaries about "Attila the Hun" and "Hannibal". 

 1995  With a blast of energy and lots of fun, the musical comedy "Crazy Cats" opens at the Drama Theatre of Constanta, the famous Romanian city-port. Tudor adapted the French play into a musical, wrote the lyrics, and provided a brilliant stage direction.

1995  Invited by his former university professor Tudor Marascu to produce and direct a documentary about his famous uncle, actor Emanoil Petrut, Tudor plunges into family emotions and memories for a touching tribute that airs on National Television. A local theatre in the Romanian Moldavian countryside is named after the great artists Emanoil "Mimi" Petrut.

1995  What commences as an exercise for graduating student-actors evolves into a commedia dell'arte extravaganza Tudor writes and directs for the Drama Theatre of Constanta. Using old Italian texts, Tudor re-creates in "The Works of Pulcinella" the droll mishaps of the Middle Ages characters and enables established celebrities and young actors alike to try their talents at non-traditional theatre.

1995  Written and originally produced as a high school play, "Decently Furnished Brains" becomes a cry of memories of the communist years Tudor revises and directs after more that a decade in a sober show produced by the Drama Theatre of Constanta with a cast of upcoming stars and student-actors. The opening night also marks the debut of the Alternative Foundation for the Arts, sorrowfully a short lived but effervescent endeavor that Tudor sponsored and consulted for until his return to Califonia.

1995  It was a perfect fit, and therefore artistic director and famous actor Lucian Iancu invited Tudor to direct Arthur Miller's "Death of a Salesman" for his Drama Theatre of Constanta. Tudor was bringing in five years of living and working in the USA, and a wealth of understanding of the American way of life. The audiences cried and clapped, the critics disputed the ghostly atmosphere and the dire look at living in the shadow of the big city, and everybody exulted the great performance of Lucian  as the small man with a crushed big soul and aspirations. It was a great opening night for the Petrut family for Tudor's eighty three years old grandma from the Transylvanian town of Sebes was for the first time present to witness her grandson's stage success.

1994  From a romantic comedy of the nostalgic Romanian forties, Tudor builds a lovable and hilarious musical for the talented team of the State Theatre of Arad. With music by Ildiko Stefanescu and enthusiastic participation of three generations of actors, the play becomes an instant hit, with long lines for tickets lasting for months, and a tour that included Serbia and Southern Romania.

1994  While in Arad, Tudor accepts the invitation of great friend and Artistic Director Ion Manzatu to assemble and direct a play for actors and marionettes at the Puppets and Marionettes Theatre. "Amor", a parable on social life under dictatorship, opens the EUROmarionettes festival in Arad, and is received either passionately or with sour overtones directed at the implied criticism on communism.

1994  After four unsuccessful years in California and the beginning of a long divorce, Tudor returns to Romania and upon recommendation of his good friend, director Cornel Mihalache,  re-creates Moliere's "Le contre temps" for the Caragiu Theatre of Ploiesti, the oil town the Allies heavily bombarded during WW II. The play features friends and actors Oana Mereuta and Andrei Zaharescu, and marks the stage debut of six fresh UNATC graduates.

1992  In what could have been a huge career bid, Tudor works for Columbia Pictures, the production of Francis Coppola's "Bram Stoker's Dracula" as a dialect and Romanian language consultant. Even if there is no follow up, Tudor cherished the chance to be on the same soundstage and learn from Francis and the super cast of the successful film.

1991  Tudor makes his directorial debut at Magnolia Playhouse of Hollywood with a spirited and innovative Shakespeare's  "The Two Gentlemen of Verona". Actors from a very good cast find film work during the first six weeks, and the production closes early, leaving Tudor with a bitter taste of Los Angeles theatre.

1990  Tudor graduates cum laudae from the Theatre and Film Art Institute of Bucharest, Romania (at present the National University of Theatre and Film Art), with a degree in theatre, film and television directing. He adapts, directs, and stars in the leading role of Moliere's "Le contre temps" and is applauded by family, professors and his colleagues and friends, in a farewell show that precedes his departure to California.

1989  Tudor stars in the travel across Romania funny TV series "Calatorie de neuitat", a last adventure of the four "musketeers", with best friends Stefan Banica jr, George Ciubotaru and Bogdan Ghitulescu.

1988  Another on screen lover in "Pastreaza-ma doar pentru tine", this time with friend and film star Catrinel Dumitrescu, and under the watchful eye of "older brother", cinematographer Gabriel Cobasnian.

1987  After a commotion with the authorities, Tudor lands the leading man in the musical comedy "Zambet de soare" with beautiful co-star Bianca Brad. Even if the composer didn't like Tudor's voice, the actor made a pretty believable lip-synch that fooled many.

1987  The youth romantic comedy "Liceenii" opens in Bucharest on its way to become the most successful at box office Romanian film. Friends and actors Stefan, Mihai Constantin, and Tudor enjoy the popularity, and embark on a rare (under the communist censorship) tour of Romania with a music and poetry show that sells out town and countryside.

1985-1989  As a student, Tudor directs a hilarious and inventive Shakespearean "Love's Labour's Lost", a commedia dell'arte play without words, plays by Ibsen, Beckett and Romanian authors, and performs in many of his colleagues' plays and dramatic exercises.

1982  Supporting role in "Femeia din Ursa Mare", the only film in which Tudor appears alongside his actor uncle Emanoil Petrut. Only one black and white with the two is saved from the shoot.

1980  Engaging his family in the process, the high school sophomore begins the quest to acceptance at the Theatre and Film Art Institute - a two weeks feast of entrance examinations and tests, and about two hundred candidates for a yearly class of seven. Five years and three tries later, Tudor is accepted by the university with the highest entrance scores in his discipline.

1976  Tudor makes his silver screen debut in the action-adventure film "Misterul lui Herodot" and his name and face become recognizable amongst high schoolers. It will help him cope with high school life and contemplate a career on stage and in the movies.

1966  Tudor makes his small screen debut placing Fram the polar bear toy inside a "Fram" Romanian made refrigerator. Some black and white 16 mm strip from the commercial still survives in a grandma drawer.

1963  A (come and gone) star is born in Bucharest, Romania, to the joy of Sanda and George Petrut and the whole family. They did not know what was to come...

Pictures top to bottom: Tudor at Chavez High School, "The Graduates", Tudor remembers his uncle, "The Graduates", Tudor directing at Magnolia Playhouse, "The Graduates", a star is born and the first toy would be, what else, a camera. Photo courtesy of Adrian & Co, family archives, and Ma Vie en Blonde Films, © MVeB 2000-2011..