Jan Werich

Jan Werich

Born: February 6, 1905
Died: October 31, 1980
in Praha - Československo
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".

Movies for Jan Werich...

Jan Werich: Když už člověk jednou je…
Title: Jan Werich: Když už člověk jednou je…
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: August 5, 2021
Type: Movie
bee
Title: Voskovec & Werich, paralelní osudy
Character: self
Released: January 1, 2012
Type: TV
bee
Fimfarum - To the good of all
Title: Fimfarum - To the good of all
Character: (voice)
Released: February 10, 2011
Type: Movie
The film contains three Jan Werich's fairy tales, each directed by one artist. The first story sets out to the Sumava mountains in Southern Bohemia to find out whether Ogres ever lived there. The middle tale The Hat and the Little Jay Feather concerns a king who sends his three sons to bring back a hat he left at a tavern when he was young. The third and longest fairy tale Reason and Luck is about the two virtues of the title try to prove their importance by changing the life of a pig herder named Louis. Written by
bee
Fimfarum 2
Title: Fimfarum 2
Character: Narrator
Released: February 23, 2006
Type: Movie
In this antological film, four fairy tales from the book by Jan Werich, each one by a different director. Břetislav Pojar directs the story of Thumbelina, Aurel Klimt "The Hunchbacks of Damascus", Vlasta Pospíšilová "Three Sisters and a Ring" and Jan Balej close the film with "The Sea, Uncle, Why is it Salty?".
bee
Title: Tři strážníci
Character: self
Released: January 1, 2005
Type: TV
bee
Jan Werich's Fimfarum
Title: Jan Werich's Fimfarum
Character: Vypravěč
Released: November 28, 2002
Type: Movie
feature-length animated band on the themes of Jan Werich's book. A funny and instructive narrative about fairy-tale and everyday things, about the dwarves, the miracles, but also about the very ordinary human weaknesses and cleverness. The Art Concept of Puppet Stories accurately depicts the humor and atmosphere of the fairy tales "Fimfarum", "The Fall of the Oak", "Franta Nebojsa", "The Dream of the Dream" and "Lakomá Barka", written by Jan Werich on a gramophone record in the 1960s under the title Fimfarum.
bee
When the Oak Leaves Fall
Title: When the Oak Leaves Fall
Character: Narrator (voice) (archive sound)
Released: January 1, 1991
Type: Movie
The story is a celebration of the cleverness and wit of the simple peasant Čupera, who triumphs not only over the demon of alcohol, but also over the bureaucratically persistent and thorough devil. The hell that the farmer goes through during the withdrawal process is stylized as a shantytown, a galley with a prison and a dehumanized night club.
bee
Pan Tau – der Film
Title: Pan Tau – der Film
Character: (archive footage)
Released: November 3, 1988
Type: Movie
Pan Tau, the friend of all children, now also helps the adults. A movie producer is in trouble and decides to shoot another Pan-Tau movie. But the old Pan-Tau actor Karasek is no longer young enough to walk the almost weightless walk of Pan Tau. Mr. Novak turns up - he resembles Pan Tau like a twin brother. He succeeds every pirouette. And as if by magic, he solves all the problems between people! Who is Mr. Novak? Is he really ...?
bee
Mean Barbara
Title: Mean Barbara
Character: Vypravěč
Released: July 28, 1987
Type: Movie
When the village school master discovers the body of a mean-spirited, miserly old woman, with whom he has had a disagreement, he decides to dispose of the body himself without alerting anyone else to it, but when the body is discovered by another villager the same cycle begins again, with the body eventually passing through the hands of half of the village.
bee
Title: Pan Tau
Released: December 13, 1970
Type: TV
Pan Tau always had a gentle expression and a friendly smile, he was elegantly dressed in a stroller, with an umbrella and a white carnation in the lapel. Foremost, he was famous for his magic bowler hat. By tapping on his hat, Pan Tau was able to change his appearance into a puppet, to conjure up miscellaneous objects or to do other magic. His most characteristically behavior is that he would help children who were experiencing some sort of difficulties in-between their dreams and reality, like finding a place for skiing, settling family problems on Christmas, and even give a boy a good time at a fair when he is supposed to have piano lessons. To adults, he usually remained invisible.
bee
Title: Přiložte životopis
Character: Self
Released: September 27, 1968
Type: TV
bee
Title: Co tomu říkáte, pane Werich?
Character: Self
Released: June 28, 1968
Type: TV
bee
Assignment K
Title: Assignment K
Character: Dr. Spiegler
Released: February 16, 1968
Type: Movie
Philip Scott, the boss of a toy company, is secretly also the chief of a British spy organization. Scott's cover is destroyed when enemy agents kidnap his girlfriend to force him to reveal the identities of his fellow spies.
bee
Title: Klapzubova jedenáctka
Released: January 6, 1968
Type: TV
bee
Czechoslovakia: Portrait of a Tragedy
Title: Czechoslovakia: Portrait of a Tragedy
Character: Self
Released: January 1, 1968
Type: Movie
bee
King and Women
Title: King and Women
Character: Jindřich VIII.
Released: December 30, 1967
Type: Movie
bee
Pražská strašidla
Title: Pražská strašidla
Character: Narrator (voice)
Released: January 1, 1966
Type: Movie
bee
Magnetické vlny léčí
Title: Magnetické vlny léčí
Character: léčitel Wohu
Released: December 25, 1965
Type: Movie
bee
The Dear Departed
Title: The Dear Departed
Character: Dědeček
Released: December 25, 1964
Type: Movie
bee
The Cry
Title: The Cry
Character: Narrator (voice)
Released: February 14, 1964
Type: Movie
While a woman is in the hospital preparing to deliver her child, her husband has all day to reflect upon his wife and their relationship. As he tends to his job as a television repairman, Slavek fondly remembers how he first met Ivana and the days they spent getting to know one another. Slavek also grows increasingly aware of the environment that surrounds him and questions the society his new child will be entering. Loaded with a repeated plea for social change, this is the first feature from Czech writer/director Jaromil Jires.
bee
Uspořená libra
Title: Uspořená libra
Character: vkladatel libry
Released: December 31, 1963
Type: Movie
bee
Kočár nejsvětější svátosti
Title: Kočár nejsvětější svátosti
Released: October 18, 1963
Type: Movie
bee
Tears the World Can't See
Title: Tears the World Can't See
Character: Fedor Akimič Rjebrotěsov
Released: October 18, 1963
Type: Movie
bee
When the Cat Comes
Title: When the Cat Comes
Character: Oliva
Released: September 20, 1963
Type: Movie
While old Oliva tells a group of children about his life as a sailor and how he met Diana and her cat with sunglasses, a strange circus arrives in town.
bee
The Fabulous Baron Munchausen
Title: The Fabulous Baron Munchausen
Character: kapitán holandské lodi
Released: September 21, 1962
Type: Movie
The 20th century's first man lands on the moon and discovers - that Baron Munchausen has already beaten him to it, along with Cyrano and characters from Jules Verne's lunar-landing novel. The Baron spirits the young cosmonaut by horse-drawn ship back to an ancient "Earth", where they insult a sultan, rescue a princess, fall in love with the princess, and then as a trio have further experiences in a world of pastel colors, ornate dreamlike settings, and the inevitable angry disrupters of peacefulness and love.
bee
Italienisches Capriccio
Title: Italienisches Capriccio
Released: June 8, 1961
Type: Movie
bee
Medvěd
Title: Medvěd
Character: statkář Grigorij Stěpanovič Smirnov
Released: January 15, 1961
Type: Movie
bee
Balada z hadrů
Title: Balada z hadrů
Character: strážný Holofern
Released: August 17, 1960
Type: Movie
bee
Těžká Barbora
Title: Těžká Barbora
Character: druhý žoldnéř
Released: June 13, 1960
Type: Movie
bee
The Creation of the World
Title: The Creation of the World
Character: Narrator (voice)
Released: April 4, 1958
Type: Movie
La Création du Monde is among the first animated feature films made in France. But to be exact, the film was animated in Czechoslovakia and directed by Eduard Hofman. It is adapted from a series of five books by Jean Effel, a French caricaturist and illustrator. The visual style is adapted from his drawings. The film is a comedy about the creation of the universe in six days, with the devil messing around and contributing in his own way.
bee
To jsou Bratři v triku
Title: To jsou Bratři v triku
Character: Himself
Released: January 1, 1957
Type: Movie
bee
The Good Soldier Schweik
Title: The Good Soldier Schweik
Character: Narrator
Released: October 4, 1956
Type: Movie
Adapting Jaroslav Hasek's raucous satirical novel, and also bringing Josef Lada's equally famous illustrations to garrulous puppet life, posed Trnka one of his biggest creative challenges. Trnka himself felt that the final episode was the most artistically successful, but there's much to enjoy in all three, not least the way that the lackadaisical layabout Svejk's own self-serving anecdotes are realized through cut-out animation.
bee
Osudy dobrého vojáka Švejka – Švejkova budějovická anabase
Title: Osudy dobrého vojáka Švejka – Švejkova budějovická anabase
Character: Narrator (voice)
Released: September 21, 1956
Type: Movie
bee
Jaroslav Hasek's Exemplary Cinematograph
Title: Jaroslav Hasek's Exemplary Cinematograph
Character: Commentary (voice)
Released: June 1, 1956
Type: Movie
bee
Hudba z Marsu
Title: Hudba z Marsu
Character: Nadšený divák
Released: May 27, 1955
Type: Movie
bee
Two Little Frosts
Title: Two Little Frosts
Character: Brave Frost (voice)
Released: April 22, 1955
Type: Movie
Two mischievous frost spirits make things chilly for a pair of travelers in this wintry comic folktale.
bee
Dog's Heads
Title: Dog's Heads
Released: March 25, 1955
Type: Movie
Dog's Heads (Czech: Psohlavci) is a 1955 Czech drama film directed by Martin Frič, based on the novel of the same name by Alois Jirásek. It was entered into the 1955 Cannes Film Festival.
bee
Once Upon a Time, There Was a King...
Title: Once Upon a Time, There Was a King...
Character: král Já I.
Released: February 11, 1955
Type: Movie
A selfish self-centered widowed ruler, barely tolerated by his subjects and called appropriately enough, 'King Myself, First' asks his three daughters to name the measure of their love for him. When one of them says, "more than salt", he banishes her from the kingdom. Not understanding what she meant the King assumes love can only be measured by precious metals or one's own talent, the 'correct' answers from his other two daughters. The arrogance of the King leads him to gather all the salt in the kingdom and destroy it. Of course, this backfires as he slowly learns the universal value of the substance, and of course, the essence of his daughter's reply. With the help of the wise and magical old 'herb woman', the King also learns what it means to be a true and wise ruler.
bee
Osudy dobrého vojáka Švejka – Švejkovy nehody ve vlaku
Title: Osudy dobrého vojáka Švejka – Švejkovy nehody ve vlaku
Character: Narrator (voice)
Released: January 1, 1955
Type: Movie
bee
Osudy dobrého vojáka Švejka – Z Hatvanu na hranice Haliče
Title: Osudy dobrého vojáka Švejka – Z Hatvanu na hranice Haliče
Character: Narrator (voice)
Released: July 11, 1954
Type: Movie
bee
Pouť noci silvestrovské
Title: Pouť noci silvestrovské
Released: December 31, 1953
Type: Movie
bee
The Emperor and the Golem
Title: The Emperor and the Golem
Character: Emperor Rudolf II / Matheus Kotrba, The Baker
Released: January 4, 1952
Type: Movie
The Emperor's mismanagement of his country is provoking some in his court to plot to overthrow him. He feels successful, at least, when he discovers the legendary Golem, which he believes can protect him and even cure his imaginary illnesses but, when he disappears while on a bender, his kindly baker, who looks just like him, is mistaken for him, and begins to put things in order. However, the conspirators, not to be outdone, determine to bring the Golem back to life to do their bidding.
bee
The Golden Fish
Title: The Golden Fish
Character: Narrator (voice)
Released: January 1, 1951
Type: Movie
A poor fisherman catches the golden fish that promises him to fulfil three wishes if he sets her free again. He does so and the fish fulfils two of his three wishes. However, she refuses to fulfil the third one, the last one in which the fisherman’s wife wants to be equal to God.
bee
The Fall of Berlin
Title: The Fall of Berlin
Character: Hermann Goering
Released: January 21, 1950
Type: Movie
Surrounded by a few party officials, Alexei Ivanov, a stakhanovist smelter, is decorated by Stalin. The "Little Father of the Peoples" takes this opportunity to invoke threats of war.... One day, war indeed breaks out. Bombs fall on the field where Alexei finds himself in the company of the schoolmistress Natacha, his fiancée. Alexei joins the Red Army and soon becomes a sergeant. Fighting rages and German troops advance. Natacha is arrested and deported. But the tide turns decisively with the German defeat at Stalingrad. Now the major offensive against Hitler can begin.
bee
Crisis
Title: Crisis
Released: March 13, 1939
Type: Movie
A documentary about the conquest of Czechoslovakia by the Nazis just prior to World War 2.
bee
The World Belongs to Us
Title: The World Belongs to Us
Character: kamelot
Released: July 30, 1937
Type: Movie
One of the few European films of the 30s to criticize the Nazis, even if they couldn't be directly named due to censorship: Gangsters with gray hats stir up trouble in what is obviously the Sudetenland.
bee
U nás v Kocourkově
Title: U nás v Kocourkově
Character: Ferdinand Kaplan
Released: November 23, 1934
Type: Movie
Curious citizens await the arrival of an important guest, the son of poacher, who became famous abroad. Begins celebration in his honor, but nobody knows that instead of the hero arrived cursory prisoner number 1313. He quickly understand how things are and decides to take the opportunity and very quickly gets into a new role.
bee
Heave-Ho!
Title: Heave-Ho!
Released: October 26, 1934
Type: Movie
A Milk-Cannery baron, Jakub Simonides, is broken by the Canned Milk-Trust and, in his wanderings with a worker, Filip Kornet, he discovers he still owns a half-finished apartment-house. They rally the workers and complete the building for use as a collectivist dairy. The cooperative flourishes and after a chase/pursuit with the police, pratfalls, slapstick and various crashes, the workers buy out the Milk-Trust.
bee
Your Money or Your Life
Title: Your Money or Your Life
Character: Tonda
Released: October 14, 1932
Type: Movie
A czech film that focuses on an unfaithful husband who married in to money, as well as an impoverished man who is turns to theft.
bee
Powder and Petrol
Title: Powder and Petrol
Released: January 15, 1932
Type: Movie
bee
Silvestr 1957
Title: Silvestr 1957
Released: December 31, 1969
Type: Movie