Christine Baranski

My father was the editor of a Polish newspaper in Buffalo.

My mother and father wanted to marry, except World War II intervened.

And my father then fought in the war as a lieutenant in the army.

He fought in the Philippines and was in Nagasaki when they liberated the camps.

Why were they in Buffalo?

They were in Buffalo because grandparents and great-grandparents were Polish and migrated to what was a very active, large Polish-American community, which still exists in Buffalo.

Well, my grandfather, my paternal grandfather, actually did come over when World War I broke out.

And he was an artist.

And he came over.

And I think on my mother's side, they also came over.

I don't think they were refugees.

They were not Jewish.

But there was a vast immigration happening.

And I think they were from Warsaw.

But the wonderful thing about my upbringing, which I love to talk about actually, is that the Polish-American community, I was raised in a bilingual house, and I felt the effects of Polish culture.

My paternal grandmother...

Janina Baranski and my paternal grandfather were actors in the Polish theater community in Buffalo.

And my grandfather looked rather like Rudolph Valentino.

He was so handsome.

I did not know him.