Jan Kreczmar

Jan Kreczmar's grave in the Powązki Cemetery in Warsaw

Jan Kreczmar (born May 6, 1908 in Warsaw , Russian Empire , † August 29, 1972 in Warsaw) was a Polish actor and theater director.

Life

After the First World War , Jan Kreczmar began training as an actor in Warsaw and at the same time studied Polish studies at the Warsaw University. In the interwar period he had theater engagements at the City Theater in Vilnius , Teatr Polski in Poznan and until 1939 in Warsaw. In addition, he began studying theater directing at the Theater Institute (PIST) in 1933 , but dropped out of the course in 1935 without a degree due to lack of time. When the Second World War broke out in 1939, he went to Lviv . When Lemberg was occupied by the Germans in 1941, he returned to Warsaw. There he worked odd jobs and was involved in the cultural life of the underground movement. The theater institute PIST meanwhile also taught underground and Kreczmar worked as their lecturer. When the Warsaw Uprising broke out in 1944 , Kreczmar went to Lublin , where he also played theater again. He became a member of the ensemble in the Polish Army Theater, which went from Lublin to Łódź after the war . With this ensemble he realized his first directorial work.

In 1946 Kreczmar returned to Warsaw and became a member of the Teatr Polski ensemble . At the same time he worked as a lecturer and later as an associate professor at the State Drama School PWST , the successor organization to the PIST . From 1947 to 1949 he was deputy head of the school and, after the dismissal of the founder Leon Schiller, he succeeded him as headmaster of the school. He was rector from 1949 to 1955 and from 1956 to 1967. In 1963 he moved from Teatr Polski to the Warsaw Teatr Współczesny , where he was part of the ensemble until the end of his life. For health reasons he only appeared sporadically in the last years of his life. His leg was amputated.

As a film actor, Jan Kreczmar was rarely seen on the screen. He took on his first film role in 1938.

Jan Kreczmar was married to the actress Justyna Kreczmarowa (1918-2008), who played at the Teatr Polski and was also a lecturer at the PWST drama school. His older brother Jerzy Kreczmar (1902–1985) was a theater dramaturge and theater director. During the years at Teatr Współczesny , both worked together. Jerzy was chief dramaturge and in-house director there. His son Adam Kreczmar (1944–1982) was a poet. Jan Kreczmar's father, Jan Kreczmar senior, was a famous pedagogue who founded a grammar school in Warsaw that is now named after him. Jan Kreczmar was also the uncle of the actor Zbigniew Zapasiewicz .

Theater roles (selection)

• 1939 - Laertes in Hamlet by William Shakespeare - Teatr Polski, Warsaw - Director: Aleksander Węgierko
• 1944 - The poet in Stanisław Wyspiański's Wedding - Army Theater, Lublin - Director: Jacek Woszczerowicz
• 1947 - Orestes in Aeschylus' Oresty - Teatr Polski, Warsaw - Director: Arnold Szyfman
• 1960 - Philip II in Don Karlos by Friedrich Schiller - Teatr Polski, Warsaw - Director: Władysław Hańcza
• 1962 - Lear in King Lear by William Shakespeare - Director: Zygmunt Huebner
• 1965 - George in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? by Edward Albee - Teatr Współczesny, Warsaw - Director: Jerzy Kreczmar
• 1969 - George Talbot in Maria Stuart by Friedrich Schiller - Teatr Współczesny, Warsaw - Director: Erwin Axer

Filmography (selection)

• 1963: The Passenger (Pasażerka) - directed by Andrzej Munk
• 1966: Chiffre (Szyfry) - Director: Wojciech Has
• 1968: The Doll (Lalka) - Director: Wojciech Has
• 1971: Family Life (Życie rodzinne) - Director: Krzysztof Zanussi
• 1972: Pilatus and others - A film for Good Friday - Director: Andrzej Wajda (in the role of Pontius Pilatus )

Web links

• Jan Kreczmar in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Jan Kreczmar at filmpolski.pl (Polish)