Acting
Jan Werich
Biography
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 with Jan Werich
The Creation of the World
1958
The Fabulous Baron Munchausen
1962
The Good Soldier Svejk
1956
The 25th Hour
1967
Assignment K
1968
When the Cat Comes
1963
Mean Barbara
1989
The Emperor and the Golem
1951
Herecké Vánoce
1970
The Fall of Berlin
1950
Once Upon a Time, There Was a King...
1955
The World Belongs to Us
1937
Echoes of the Blue Room
1983
Powder and Petrol
1932
Pan Tau – der Film
1988
Two Little Frosts
1955
Osudy dobrého vojáka Švejka – Švejkova budějovická anabase
1956
Heave-Ho!
1934
Večer s Jaroslavem Haškem
1953
Jaroslav Hasek's Exemplary Cinematograph
1956
Dog's Heads
1955
The Cry
1964
Here in Kocourkov
1934
Silvestr 1957
1957
Těžká Barbora
1960
Fimfarum 2
2006
Hudba z Marsu
1955
Czechoslovakia: Portrait of a Tragedy
1968
Fimfarum - To the good of all
2011
Italienisches Capriccio
1961
Your Money or Your Life
1932
Jonáš a Melicharová
1986
Magnetické vlny léčí
1965
Kočár nejsvětější svátosti
1963
Medvěd
1961
To jsou Bratři v triku
1957
The Dear Departed
1964
Jan Werich's Fimfarum
2002
Osudy dobrého vojáka Švejka – Švejkovy nehody ve vlaku
1955
Cecílie
2025
Pražská strašidla
1966
The Golden Fish
1951
Jan Werich: Když už člověk jednou je…
2021
King and Women
1967
Balada z hadrů
1960
Osudy dobrého vojáka Švejka – Z Hatvanu na hranice Haliče
1954
Tears the World Can't See
1963
Královna Koloběžka první
1981
Crisis
1939
Uspořená libra
1963
When the Oak Leaves Fall
1991
Pouť noci silvestrovské
1953
