Gustaw Holoubek was a Polish

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

 actor

Actor

An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...

, director, member of the Polish Sejm

Sejm

The Sejm is the lower house of the Polish parliament. The Sejm is made up of 460 deputies, or Poseł in Polish . It is elected by universal ballot and is presided over by a speaker called the Marshal of the Sejm ....

, and a senator.

Holoubek participated in the September Campaign

Invasion of Poland (1939)

The Invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign or 1939 Defensive War in Poland and the Poland Campaign in Germany, was an invasion of Poland by Germany, the Soviet Union, and a small Slovak contingent that marked the start of World War II in Europe...

 and was a prisoner of war

Prisoner of war

A prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...

 during the Nazi German Occupation of Poland

Occupation of Poland

Occupation of Poland may refer to:* Partitions of Poland * The German Government General of Warsaw and the Austrian Military Government of Lublin during World War I* Occupation of Poland during World War II...

. His father was a Czech immigrant who settled in Poland after the First World War, and his mother was Polish

Poles

thumb|right|180px|The state flag of [[Poland]] as used by Polish government and diplomatic authoritiesThe Polish people, or Poles , are a nation indigenous to Poland. They are united by the Polish language, which belongs to the historical Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages of Central Europe...

.

Holoubek had his first role as an actor in 1947, thus beginning his life-long career in theatre and film in Poland and abroad. His political career began in 1976, when he was elected to the Sejm

Sejm

The Sejm is the lower house of the Polish parliament. The Sejm is made up of 460 deputies, or Poseł in Polish . It is elected by universal ballot and is presided over by a speaker called the Marshal of the Sejm ....

, the lower house of the Polish Parliament

Polish parliament

Polish parliament is an expression referring to the historical Polish parliaments. It implies chaos and general disorder, and that no real decision can be reached during sessions...

. He was re-elected in 1980, but resigned in 1981 when martial law

Martial law in Poland

Martial law in Poland refers to the period of time from December 13, 1981 to July 22, 1983, when the authoritarian government of the People's Republic of Poland drastically restricted normal life by introducing martial law in an attempt to crush political opposition to it. Thousands of opposition...

 was declared. In 1989, he was elected to the Senate, the upper house. That same year, he took a position as a professor at the Academy of Theatre in Warsaw. Holoubek was a recipient of the Order of Polonia Restituta (Knight's Cross, Commander's Cross with Star, Grand Cross).

Partial filmography

• 1958 – Pętla (The Noose)
• 1959 – Das gemeinsame Zimmer
• 1960 - Rozstanie
• 1961 – Historia żółtej ciżemki (Story of the Golden Boot)
• 1961 – Czas przeszły (Time Past)
• 1962 – Jutro premiera (Opening Tomorrow)
• 1962 – Spotkanie w "Bajce" (Cafe from the Past)
• 1963 – Naprawdę wczoraj (Yesterday in Fact)
• 1963 – Gangsterzy i filantropi (Gangsters and Philanthropists)
• 1964 – Prawo i pięść
  Prawo i pięść
  Prawo i pięść is a Polish 1964 drama film directed by Jerzy Hoffman and Edward Skórzewski. Based on a novel by Józef Hen, the film achieved cult status in the history of Polish cinema.The film is set in 1945, immediately after the end of World War II...
  
   (The Law and the Fist)
• 1965 - Rękopis znaleziony w Saragossie (The Saragossa Manuscript
  The Saragossa Manuscript (film)
  The Saragossa Manuscript is a 1965 Polish film directed by Wojciech Has, based on the 1815 novel The Manuscript Found in Saragossa by Jan Potocki. Set primarily in Spain, it tells a frame story containing gothic, picaresque and erotic elements...
  
  )
• 1965 – Les rideaux blancs (The Moment of Peace)
• 1965 – Salto
• 1966 – Marysia i Napoleon
  Marysia i Napoleon
  Marysia i Napoleon is a Polish historical film. It was released in 1966. The film is set in two time periods: modern and historical.-Plot:...
  
   (Maria and Napoleon)
• 1972 – Jak daleko stąd, jak blisko (How Far, How Near)
• 1973 – Sanatorium pod klepsydrą (The Hour-Glass Sanatorium
  The Hour-Glass Sanatorium
  The Hour-Glass Sanatorium is a 1973 Polish film directed by Wojciech Jerzy Has, starring Jan Nowicki, Tadeusz Kondrat, Mieczysław Voit, Halina Kowalska and Gustaw Holoubek. It is also known as The Sandglass in English speaking countries. The story follows a man who visits his father in a mystical...
  
  )
• 1978 – Szpital przemienienia (Hospital of the Transfiguration)
• 1978 – Pokój z widokiem na morze (A Room with a View on the Sea)
• 1981 – Dziecinne Pytania (Childish Questions)
• 1986 – Zygfryd (Siegfried)
• 1990 - Mistrz i Małgorzata (The Master and Margarita
  The Master and Margarita
  The Master and Margarita is a novel by Mikhail Bulgakov, woven around the premise of a visit by the Devil to the fervently atheistic Soviet Union. Many critics consider the book to be one of the greatest novels of the 20th century, and one of the foremost Soviet satires, directed against a...
  
  )
• 1999 - Ogniem i mieczem (With Fire and Sword)