Jan Werich
Encyclopedia
Jan Werich (ˈjan ˈvɛrɪx) (6 February 1905, Prague
– 31 October 1980, Prague) was a Czech actor, playwright and writer.
, also studied). He studied law at the Law School of Charles University from 1924 to 1927, from which he made an early departure to begin his artistic career and forge one of the most important partnerships of his life.
They opened on April 19, 1927 with Vest Pocket Revue in Umělecká beseda on Malá Strana in Prague. July 1, 1929, Jan Werich married Zdenka Houskova. 1929 - first show "Líčení se odročuje" of Osvobozené divadlo
theatre in main location "U Nováků Palace". In this location they continued until the very end of their theatre in 1938.
His collaboration with theatrical talent Jiří Voskovec and musical legend Jaroslav Ježek
lasted for more than 10 years between the two world wars. Their partnership was a platform for their numerous lively left-wing political satires. The trio's work took inspiration from Dada
, with its love of the absurd, a reaction against bourgeois values and the horrors of World War I. The two intellectual clowns attacked the inanities of totalitarianism as well as the mistakes of democracy
.
In the bitter reality leading to the Second World War and the closure of Czechoslovak theatres Werich, Voskovec and Ježek were forced into exile in the United States in 1938, where Voskovec and Ježek remained for the rest of their lives. But Jan Werich returned to his homeland five years later. Upon his return to Czechoslovakia he started a partnership with Miroslav Horníček
and also worked with famous puppeteer Jiří Trnka
to write modern fairy tales. With his new partner Miroslav Horníček at his side, he re-staged many of the plays he had created with Voskovec in the 30s but set them in the political content specific to the time.
Jan Werich made his debut in film and television. Movies he starred in have kept their mythic status in Czech popular culture to this day. They include Byl jednou jeden král (English: Once Upon a Time There Was a King), which was released in 1955, and made many political compromises to appease the communist censors. Although Czechs saw the caricatures in the film as nothing more than communist propaganda, the film was colourful and had all the ingredients of a good fairy tale. The 1960s were a peak in Werich's career. From the creation of the ABC Theatre he moved to the City Theatres of Prague and then to the Musical Theatre of Karlin and Nusle. He was the original choice to play the villain Blofeld in the James Bond
film You Only Live Twice
released in 1967; however, after several scenes were shot, Werich fell ill and was replaced by Donald Pleasence
. In the TV documentary Best Bond the director of the film explained that they had to replace Werich because of his poor English and his benign appearance that made people think of him as Santa Claus. Jan Werich signed the pro-reform manifesto 2000 Words in 1968. After the Soviet invasion
of 1968, he and his wife immediately fled to Vienna
along with many other Czechs at the time. After long deliberations he realized he had to go back, saying that his "home was his castle" and realizing that if he stayed abroad he would never work again. He returned to Czechoslovakia in early 1969. Werich met with Voskovec for the very last time in Vienna, Austria in 1974. He had limited opportunities to perform in public until his death in 1980. His last public appearance was in Prague's Lucerna in 1977.
He did not sign the Charter 77
proclamation, organized by Václav Havel
, but in the end he succumbed to pressure from the communist authorities and in order to be able to work again, publicly proclaimed his full loyalty to the regime, by attending "Anti-charta77" meetings and even signing a petition denouncing Charter 77. He later claimed he was tricked into signing and that he did not really know what his signature was for, as the original attendance document signed open entry was potentially substituted for a later "declaration of faith".
Since Jan Werich's death in 1980, he has remained immensely popular, and many of his most famous lines have gone down into popular legend.
)
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
– 31 October 1980, Prague) was a Czech actor, playwright and writer.
Life
Between 1916 to 1924 he attended "reálné gymnasium" (equivalent to high school) in Křemencová Street in Prague (where his future partner, Jiří VoskovecJirí Voskovec
Jiří Voskovec was a Czech-American actor, playwright, dramatist, director, translator, and poet...
, also studied). He studied law at the Law School of Charles University from 1924 to 1927, from which he made an early departure to begin his artistic career and forge one of the most important partnerships of his life.
They opened on April 19, 1927 with Vest Pocket Revue in Umělecká beseda on Malá Strana in Prague. July 1, 1929, Jan Werich married Zdenka Houskova. 1929 - first show "Líčení se odročuje" of Osvobozené divadlo
Osvobozené divadlo
Osvobozené divadlo was a Prague avant-garde theatre scene founded as the theatre section of an association of Czech avant-garde artists Devětsil in 1926. The theatre's beginnings were strongly influenced by Dadaism and Futurism, later by Poetism...
theatre in main location "U Nováků Palace". In this location they continued until the very end of their theatre in 1938.
His collaboration with theatrical talent Jiří Voskovec and musical legend Jaroslav Ježek
Jaroslav Ježek
Jaroslav Ježek was a Czech composer, pianist and conductor, author of jazz, classical, incidental and film music.- Life :...
lasted for more than 10 years between the two world wars. Their partnership was a platform for their numerous lively left-wing political satires. The trio's work took inspiration from Dada
Dada
Dada or Dadaism is a cultural movement that began in Zurich, Switzerland, during World War I and peaked from 1916 to 1922. The movement primarily involved visual arts, literature—poetry, art manifestoes, art theory—theatre, and graphic design, and concentrated its anti-war politics through a...
, with its love of the absurd, a reaction against bourgeois values and the horrors of World War I. The two intellectual clowns attacked the inanities of totalitarianism as well as the mistakes of democracy
Democracy
Democracy is generally defined as a form of government in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law...
.
In the bitter reality leading to the Second World War and the closure of Czechoslovak theatres Werich, Voskovec and Ježek were forced into exile in the United States in 1938, where Voskovec and Ježek remained for the rest of their lives. But Jan Werich returned to his homeland five years later. Upon his return to Czechoslovakia he started a partnership with Miroslav Horníček
Miroslav Hornícek
Miroslav Horníček was a Czech actor, writer, director, artist and theatre theoretician. He is well-known in Czechia for his on-stage partnership with Jan Werich, his talkshows and many small roles in Czech movies and TV.-External links:...
and also worked with famous puppeteer Jiří Trnka
Jirí Trnka
Jiří Trnka was a Czech puppet maker, illustrator, motion-picture animator and film director. In addition to his extensive career as an illustrator, especially of children's books, he is best known for his work in animation with puppets, which began in 1946...
to write modern fairy tales. With his new partner Miroslav Horníček at his side, he re-staged many of the plays he had created with Voskovec in the 30s but set them in the political content specific to the time.
Jan Werich made his debut in film and television. Movies he starred in have kept their mythic status in Czech popular culture to this day. They include Byl jednou jeden král (English: Once Upon a Time There Was a King), which was released in 1955, and made many political compromises to appease the communist censors. Although Czechs saw the caricatures in the film as nothing more than communist propaganda, the film was colourful and had all the ingredients of a good fairy tale. The 1960s were a peak in Werich's career. From the creation of the ABC Theatre he moved to the City Theatres of Prague and then to the Musical Theatre of Karlin and Nusle. He was the original choice to play the villain Blofeld in the James Bond
James Bond
James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...
film You Only Live Twice
You Only Live Twice (film)
You Only Live Twice is the fifth spy film in the James Bond series, and the fifth to star Sean Connery as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. The film's screenplay was written by Roald Dahl, and loosely based on Ian Fleming's 1964 novel of the same name...
released in 1967; however, after several scenes were shot, Werich fell ill and was replaced by Donald Pleasence
Donald Pleasence
Sir Donald Henry Pleasence, OBE, was a British actor who gained more than 200 screen credits during a career which spanned over four decades...
. In the TV documentary Best Bond the director of the film explained that they had to replace Werich because of his poor English and his benign appearance that made people think of him as Santa Claus. Jan Werich signed the pro-reform manifesto 2000 Words in 1968. After the Soviet invasion
Prague Spring
The Prague Spring was a period of political liberalization in Czechoslovakia during the era of its domination by the Soviet Union after World War II...
of 1968, he and his wife immediately fled to Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
along with many other Czechs at the time. After long deliberations he realized he had to go back, saying that his "home was his castle" and realizing that if he stayed abroad he would never work again. He returned to Czechoslovakia in early 1969. Werich met with Voskovec for the very last time in Vienna, Austria in 1974. He had limited opportunities to perform in public until his death in 1980. His last public appearance was in Prague's Lucerna in 1977.
He did not sign the Charter 77
Charter 77
Charter 77 was an informal civic initiative in communist Czechoslovakia from 1976 to 1992, named after the document Charter 77 from January 1977. Founding members and architects were Václav Havel, Jan Patočka, Zdeněk Mlynář, Jiří Hájek, and Pavel Kohout. Spreading the text of the document was...
proclamation, organized by Václav Havel
Václav Havel
Václav Havel is a Czech playwright, essayist, poet, dissident and politician. He was the tenth and last President of Czechoslovakia and the first President of the Czech Republic . He has written over twenty plays and numerous non-fiction works, translated internationally...
, but in the end he succumbed to pressure from the communist authorities and in order to be able to work again, publicly proclaimed his full loyalty to the regime, by attending "Anti-charta77" meetings and even signing a petition denouncing Charter 77. He later claimed he was tricked into signing and that he did not really know what his signature was for, as the original attendance document signed open entry was potentially substituted for a later "declaration of faith".
Since Jan Werich's death in 1980, he has remained immensely popular, and many of his most famous lines have gone down into popular legend.
Theatre
(in cooperation with Jiří VoskovecJirí Voskovec
Jiří Voskovec was a Czech-American actor, playwright, dramatist, director, translator, and poet...
)
- Vest Pocket Revue - 1927
- Smoking Revue - 1928
- Si pořádně zařádit (Having a Spree) - 1928; based upon Nestroy's Einen Jux will er sich machenEinen Jux will er sich machenEinen Jux will er sich machen , , is a three-act musical play, designated as a Posse mit Gesang, by Austrian playwright Johann Nestroy first performed at the Theater an der Wien in Vienna on 10 March 1842...
- Gorilla ex Machina - 1928
- Kostky jsou vrženy (The Dice are Cast) - 1929
- Premiéra skafandr (The Diving Suit) - 1929
- Líčení se odročuje (The Trial is Adjourned) - 1929
- Fata Morgana - 1929
- Ostrov Dynamit (Dynamite Island) - 1930
- Sever proti Jihu (North Against South) - 1930
- Don Juan and Co. - 1931
- Golem - 1931
- Caesar – 1932
- Robin zbojník (Robin Hood) - 1932
- Svět za mřížemi (A World Behind Bars) - 1933 (script collaboration also with Adolf Hoffmeister)
- Osel a stín (Ass and Shadow) - 1933
- Slaměný klobouk (The Straw Hat) - 1933; based upon Labiche's The Italian Straw Hat
- Kat a blázen (Executioner and Fool) - 1934; an anti-fascist work and critique (the German Embassy protested that this play insulted their head of state, and as a result, Werich and Voskovec were expelled from the theatre "U Nováků")
- Vždy s úsměvem (Keep Smiling) - 1934
- Panoptikum (The Wax Museum) - 1935
- Balada z hadrů – (Rag Ballad) - 1935; draws from the works of François VillonFrançois VillonFrançois Villon was a French poet, thief, and vagabond. He is perhaps best known for his Testaments and his Ballade des Pendus, written while in prison...
.
- Nebe na Zemi (Heaven on Earth) - 1936; based on Fletcher's The Spanish CurateThe Spanish CurateThe Spanish Curate is a late Jacobean era stage play, a comedy written by John Fletcher and Philip Massinger. It premiered on the stage in 1622, and was first published in 1647.-Date and source:...
- Rub a líc (Heads or Tails) - 1936; later made into the Svět patří námThe World Is Ours (film)-Cast:* George Voskovec as Kamelot * Jan Werich as Kamelot* Bohus Záhorský as Dexler* Vladimír Smeral as Josef Forman* Ladislav H...
film
- Panorama - 1937
- Těžká BarboraTěžká BarboraTěžká Barbora is a Czech comedy play.- Story :The story depicts a conflict between two fictional noble houses, Eidamští and Yberlandští , the later attacking the former, the former then employing two soldiers , that build a cheese canon .- Divadlo ABC :*Directed by Miroslav Zachata...
– (Heavy Barbora) - 1937; depicts a conflict between two fictional nations, Eidamští ("Edams") and Yberlandští ("YberlandersÜberÜber comes from the German language. It has one umlaut. It is a cognate of both Latin super and Greek ὑπέρ...
"), the latter attacking the former, the former then employ two soldiers (Werich and Voskovec), that build a cheese canon (Těžká Barbora)
- Pěst na oko – (A Fist in the Eye) - 1938; humans refuse to take a lesson from history and constantly repeat the same mistake
- Divotvorný hrnec - (The Wondermaking Pot) - 1946; a musical comedy based on Finian's RainbowFinian's RainbowFinian's Rainbow is a musical with a book by E.Y. Harburg and Fred Saidy, lyrics by Harburg, and music by Burton Lane. The 1947 Broadway production ran for 725 performances. Several revivals and a 1968 film version followed. A Broadway revival ran from October 8, 2009 until January 17, 2010...
by 'Yip' Harburg and Fred Saidy
Films
- Pudr a benzínPudr a benzínPudr a benzín is a Czech comedy film. It was released in 1931....
– 1931 (Powder and Gas) - Peníze nebo život – 1932 ((Your) Money or (Your) Life; a Czech threat used by violent robbers)
- U nás v Kocourkově – 1932 (In Our Kocourkov; Kocourkov is a fictitious "city of fools", Czech equivalent to GothamWise Men of GothamWise Men of Gotham is the early name given to the people of the village of Gotham, Nottinghamshire, in allusion to their reputed simplicity. If tradition is to be believed, the people of Gotham were not so very simple.- Legend :...
) - Hej rup! – 1934 (the name is an exclamation or command to pull, "Heave-ho", in English also distributed under title Workers, Let's Go)
- Svět patří námThe World Is Ours (film)-Cast:* George Voskovec as Kamelot * Jan Werich as Kamelot* Bohus Záhorský as Dexler* Vladimír Smeral as Josef Forman* Ladislav H...
– 1937 (The World Belongs to Us) - Pád BerlínaThe Fall of Berlin (film)The Fall of Berlin is a 1950 two-part Soviet film directed by Mikhail Chiaureli. The plot revolves around the history of the Great Patriotic War, focusing on the role that Joseph Stalin played in the events...
- 1949 (The Fall of Berlin; as Hermann GöringHermann GöringHermann Wilhelm Göring, was a German politician, military leader, and a leading member of the Nazi Party. He was a veteran of World War I as an ace fighter pilot, and a recipient of the coveted Pour le Mérite, also known as "The Blue Max"...
in a USSR production made in Prague) - Císařův pekař a pekařův císař – 1951 (The Emperor and the Golem)
- Tajemství krve – 1953 (The Secret of Blood)
- Byl jednou jeden král – 1954 (Once Upon a Time There Was a King)
- Vzorný kinematograf Haška Jaroslava – 1955 (An Exemplary Cinematograph of Jaroslav Hašek; a tongue-in-cheek title)
- Hudba z MarsuHudba z MarsuMusic from Mars is a 1955 Czechoslovak comedy film directed by Ján Kadár and Elmar Klos. The film starred Josef Kemr....
– 1955 (Music from Mars; a cameo appearance as one of the people in the audience) - Stvoření světa – 1957 (The Creation of the World; animated French/Czech classic narrated by Werich in rhymes)
- Baron PrášilThe Fabulous Baron MunchausenThe Fabulous Baron Munchausen is a 1961 tinted Czechoslovak romantic adventure film directed by Karel Zeman, based on the tales about Baron Münchhausen. The film combines animation with live-action and is heavily stylised.-Plot:...
– 1961 (a Czech take on Baron MünchhausenBaron MunchhausenKarl Friedrich Hieronymus, Freiherr von Münchhausen , usually known as Baron Münchhausen in English, was a German nobleman born in Bodenwerder and a famous recounter of tall tales....
) - Šest otázek pro Jana Wericha – 1964 (Six Questions for Jan Werich)
- Až přijde kocour – 1968 (The Cassandra CatThe Cassandra CatThe Cassandra Cat , also released under the titles When the Cat Comes, The Cat Who Wore Sunglasses, and/or That Cat) is a 1963 Czechoslovakian film directed by Vojtěch Jasný....
) - Pan TauPan TauPan Tau is a character created for a children's television series. 33 episodes were made in Czechoslovakia in cooperation with German TV network WDR from 1967 on. The project ended with a feature film in 1988. Pan Tau, who generally didn't speak, was played by Otto Šimánek...
a Claudie – 1970 (Mister Tau and Claudia) - Muž, který rozdával smích – 1970 (The Man Who Spread Laughter)
- Pan Tau a cesta kolem světa – 1972 (Mister Tau and the Journey Around the World)
- Hledá se pan Tau – 1972 (Mister Tau Is Being Sought)
- Dva mrazíci (The Two Frosts)
Television works
- Medvěd – 1961 (The Bear)
- Slzy, které svět nevidí – 1962 (The Tears That the World Sees Not)
- Kočár nejsvětější svátosti – 1962 (The Carriage of the Most Holy Sacrament)
- Uspořená libra – 1964 (A Saved Pound); based upon A Pound on Demand by Seán O'CaseySeán O'CaseySeán O'Casey was an Irish dramatist and memoirist. A committed socialist, he was the first Irish playwright of note to write about the Dublin working classes.- Early life:...
- Král a žena – 1967 (The King and a Woman)
- Magnetické vlny léčí (Magnetic Waves Cure)
Literary works
- Fimfárum - fairy tales not only for children
- Italské prázdniny (Italian Holliday)
- Potlach
- Falstaffovo babí léto
- Lincoln 1933
- Povídky nejen o psech - published posthumunously, a revival of his former wish to write a story book about dogs. There were not enough stories however and so it was renamed and other stories were added - some of them has been previously published and some are originals, from manuscripts and letters.
External links
- Werichovci - fan club website
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97QRvUPYl8c Jan Werich about Alexander Dubček (1968, in Czech)