Jan Werich

Jan Werich (left) with his friend Jiří Voskovec

Jan Werich (born February 6, 1905 in Prague ; † October 31, 1980 there ) was a Czech actor, playwright and writer.

Life

After graduating from high school, Werich studied law at Charles University in Prague from 1924 to 1927 . However, he soon gave up his studies to start a small theater with his friend Jiří Voskovec . Later the composer and conductor Jaroslav Ježek joined as music director. On April 19, 1927, the Osvobozené divadlo (Liberated Theater) opened in Umělecká beseda on Prague's Lesser Town with the Vest Pocket Revue. The theater later moved to the "U Nováků" palace in a side street off Wenceslas Square , where it resided until its end in 1938. Inspired by Dada , surrealism , ancient tragedy and the joy of the absurd, the OD formed a clearly left-wing voice in the first Czechoslovak Republic. In 1931 Werich made his debut as a film actor and screenwriter of Pudr a benzin, directed by Jindřich Honzl .

When the Germans invaded in 1938, Werich, Voskovec and Ježek were forced into exile in New York. In contrast to Voskovec, Werich returned to Czechoslovakia after the war, where he quickly found changes in conditions in Klement Gottwald's Stalinist state. He began a collaboration with Miroslav Horníček , performed old OD pieces again and realized modern fairy tales with the puppet and animation artist Jiří Trnka . He starred in numerous fairy tale films and series and continued to appear in the theater. In 1963 he received the Actor Award of the Monte Carlo TV Festival for his role in the TV film Medvěd .

In 1967 Werich was hired twice for the role of the villain Blofeld in the James Bond film Mal Lives . After a few days of shooting, however, it became clear to the producers that Werich seemed far too friendly to convince as a Bond opponent. He was replaced at short notice by Donald Pleasence , who in turn was criticized in the finished film by some critics as "not bad enough". Officially, it was said that Werich suddenly fell ill and therefore could not play the role.

In 1968 he fled to Vienna after the Soviet invasion , but soon returned.

He was a multiple state award winner. In recent years he has suffered from limited performance opportunities despite being extremely popular with the public. Marked by throat cancer , he died in Prague in 1980. He is buried in the Olšany Cemetery in Prague. The asteroid (2418) Voskovec-Werich was named after him and Jiří Voskovec.

Filmography

actor

1934: With us in Krähwinkel (U nás v Kocourkově)
1951: The emperor and his baker (Císařův pekař a pekařův císař) - also a screenplay
1955: Once upon a time there was a king (Byl jednou every král) - also script

1961: Italian capriccio

1961: Baron Münchhausen (Baron Prášil)

1963: When the hangover comes (Až přijde kocour)

1967: The 25th hour (La vingt-cinquième heure)

1967: Geheimauftrag K (Assignment K)

1972: Pan Tau

Literary template

1983: Fortune given away (Tri veterani)
1997: Rumpelstiltskin & Co. (Rumplcimprcampr)

script

1953: The Secret of Blood (Tajemstvi krve) - biography of Jan Janský , the discoverer of blood groups

Web links

Commons : Jan Werich - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Werichovci - fan club
Werich in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Literature and other media by and about Jan Werich in the catalog of the National Library of the Czech Republic
Literature by and about Jan Werich in the catalog of the German National Library

Individual evidence

↑ Documentation Inside You Only Live Twice on DVD for sale James Bond 007 - You Only Live Twice (Ultimate Edition), MGM, 2007

↑ ^a ^b Kocian, Erich: Die James Bond Films Heyne, Munich, 7th edition 1994, ISBN 3-453-86044-6 , p. 145

↑ Steve Rubin, Siegfried Tesche: The background story to 25 years of Bond. Kino Verlag, Hamburg 1987, ISBN 3-89324-026-8 , p. 78

^ Lutz D. Schmadel : Dictionary of Minor Planet Names . Fifth Revised and Enlarged Edition. Ed .: Lutz D. Schmadel. 5th edition. Springer Verlag , Berlin , Heidelberg 2003, ISBN 978-3-540-29925-7 , pp. 186 (English, 992 pp., Link.springer.com [ONLINE; accessed on August 10, 2019] Original title: Dictionary of Minor Planet Names . First edition: Springer Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg 1992): “1971 UV. Discovered 1971 Oct. 26 by L. Kohoutek at Bergedorf. "

personal data
SURNAME	Werich, Jan
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Czech actor and playwright
DATE OF BIRTH	February 6, 1905
PLACE OF BIRTH	Prague , Austria-Hungary
DATE OF DEATH	October 31, 1980
Place of death	Prague

[dvd-1] Documentation Inside You Only Live Twice on DVD for sale James Bond 007 - You Only Live Twice (Ultimate Edition), MGM, 2007

[kocian-2] Kocian, Erich: Die James Bond Films Heyne, Munich, 7th edition 1994, ISBN 3-453-86044-6 , p. 145

[3] Steve Rubin, Siegfried Tesche: The background story to 25 years of Bond. Kino Verlag, Hamburg 1987, ISBN 3-89324-026-8 , p. 78

[4] Lutz D. Schmadel : Dictionary of Minor Planet Names . Fifth Revised and Enlarged Edition. Ed .: Lutz D. Schmadel. 5th edition. Springer Verlag , Berlin , Heidelberg 2003, ISBN 978-3-540-29925-7 , pp. 186 (English, 992 pp., Link.springer.com [ONLINE; accessed on August 10, 2019] Original title: Dictionary of Minor Planet Names . First edition: Springer Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg 1992): “1971 UV. Discovered 1971 Oct. 26 by L. Kohoutek at Bergedorf. "