Jan Werich
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Between 1916 and 1924, Werich attended "reálné gymnasium" (equivalent to high school) in Křemencova Street in Prague (where his future business partner, Jiří Voskovec, also studied). He studied law at the Charles University Law School 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. For more than 10 years he worked in theatre Jiří Voskovec and Jaroslav Ježek. Their partnership was a platform for their numerous left-wing political satires, most notably in the Osvobozené divadlo (Liberated Theatre). 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. In 1955 he begun working in cinema, and 1960s were a peak in his actor 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. Werich was originally cast by producer Harry Saltzman to play Ernst Stavro Blofeld in the 1967 James Bond film You Only Live Twice. Upon his arrival at the Pinewood set, both producer Albert R. Broccoli and director Lewis Gilbert felt that he was a poor choice, resembling a "poor, benevolent Santa Claus".
Known for
Credits
The Fabulous Baron Munchausen (1962)
as kapitán holandské lodi
The Creation of the World (1958)
as Narrator (voice)
The 25th Hour (1967)
as Sgt. Constantin
The Fall of Berlin (1950)
as Goering
When the Cat Comes (1963)
as Oliva
Assignment K (1968)
as Dr. Spiegler
The Emperor and the Golem (1951)
as Emperor Rudolf II / Matheus Kotrba, The Baker
Once Upon a Time, There Was a King... (1955)
as král Já I.
Jaroslav Hasek's Exemplary Cinematograph (1956)
as Commentary (voice)
Dog's Heads (1955)
Actor
Fimfarum - To the good of all (2011)
as (voice)
The Good Soldier Svejk (1956)
as Narrator
The Cry (1964)
as Narrator (voice)
Powder and Petrol (1932)
Actor
Hudba z Marsu (1955)
as Nadšený divák
Heave-Ho! (1934)
Actor
Pan Tau – der Film (1988)
as (archive footage)
Your Money or Your Life (1932)
as Tonda
Pražská strašidla (1966)
as Narrator (voice)
The World Belongs to Us (1937)
as kamelot
Medvěd (1961)
as statkář Grigorij Stěpanovič Smirnov
Herecké Vánoce (1970)
as Jan Werich
Italienisches Capriccio (1961)
as Don Marzio
Here in Kocourkov (1934)
as Ferdinand Kaplan
Tears the World Can't See (1963)
as Fedor Akimič Rjebrotěsov
Mean Barbara (1989)
as Narrator (voice) (archive footage)
Balada z hadrů (1960)
as strážný Holofern
Osudy dobrého vojáka Švejka – Švejkova budějovická anabase (1956)
as Narrator (voice)
Czechoslovakia: Portrait of a Tragedy (1968)
as Self
Silvestr 1957 (1957)
Actor
Magnetické vlny léčí (1965)
as léčitel Wohu
Těžká Barbora (1960)
Actor
Večer s Jaroslavem Haškem (1953)
Actor
Kočár nejsvětější svátosti (1963)
Actor
Fimfarum 2 (2006)
as Narrator
The Dear Departed (1964)
as Dědeček
The Golden Fish (1951)
as Narrator (voice)
Echoes of the Blue Room (1983)
Actor
When the Oak Leaves Fall (1991)
as Narrator (voice) (archive footage)
Jan Werich: Když už člověk jednou je… (2021)
as Self (archive footage)
Jan Werich's Fimfarum (2002)
as Vypravěč
Crisis (1939)
Actor
Two Little Frosts (1955)
as Brave Frost (voice)
To jsou Bratři v triku (1957)
as Himself
Jonáš a Melicharová (1986)
as (archive footage)
King and Women (1967)
as Jindřich VIII.
Osudy dobrého vojáka Švejka – Z Hatvanu na hranice Haliče (1954)
as Narrator (voice)
Osudy dobrého vojáka Švejka – Švejkovy nehody ve vlaku (1955)
as Narrator (voice)
Pouť noci silvestrovské (1953)
Actor
Královna Koloběžka první (1981)
as Narrator (archive footage) (voice)
Uspořená libra (1963)
as Sam Adams
Cecílie (2025)
as voice