Jan Werich
Known for: Acting
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".
Filmography
Series
Pan Tau
1970
Film
The Creation of the World
Narrator (voice)
1958
Film
The Fabulous Baron Munchausen
kapitán holandské lodi
1962
Tři strážníci
self
2005
Film
The 25th Hour
Sgt. Constantin
1967
Series
Klapzubova jedenáctka
1968
Film
The Emperor and the Golem
Emperor Rudolf II / Matheus Kotrba, The Baker
1951
Film
Once Upon a Time, There Was a King...
král Já I.
1955
Herecké Vánoce
Jan Werich
1970
Pražská strašidla
Narrator (voice)
1966
Film
When the Cat Comes
Oliva
1963
Film
Mean Barbara
Narrator (voice) (archive footage)
1989
Film
The Fall of Berlin
Goering
1950
Film
Assignment K
Dr. Spiegler
1968
Co tomu říkáte, pane Werich?
Self
1968
Film
Powder and Petrol
1932
Voskovec & Werich, paralelní osudy
self
2012
Film
Fimfarum - To the good of all
(voice)
2011
Přiložte životopis
Self
1968
Film
Two Little Frosts
Brave Frost (voice)
1955
Film
Heave-Ho!
1934
Film
Pan Tau – der Film
(archive footage)
1988
Film
Echoes of the Blue Room
1983
Film
Jan Werich's Fimfarum
Vypravěč
2002
Královna Koloběžka první
Narrator (archive footage) (voice)
1981
Film
Jaroslav Hasek's Exemplary Cinematograph
Commentary (voice)
1956
Silvestr 1957
1957
Film
The World Belongs to Us
kamelot
1937
Film
Balada z hadrů
strážný Holofern
1960
Film
Magnetické vlny léčí
léčitel Wohu
1965
Film
Your Money or Your Life
Tonda
1932
Film
Dog's Heads
1955
Film
Crisis
1939
Film
Hudba z Marsu
Nadšený divák
1955
Film
The Cry
Narrator (voice)
1964
The Dear Departed
Dědeček
1964
Osudy dobrého vojáka Švejka – Švejkova budějovická anabase
Narrator (voice)
1956
Film
Kočár nejsvětější svátosti
1963
Film
Uspořená libra
Sam Adams
1963
Osudy dobrého vojáka Švejka – Z Hatvanu na hranice Haliče
Narrator (voice)
1954
Czechoslovakia: Portrait of a Tragedy
Self
1968
Here in Kocourkov
Ferdinand Kaplan
1934
The Golden Fish
Narrator (voice)
1951
Pouť noci silvestrovské
1953
Film
Jan Werich: Když už člověk jednou je…
Self (archive footage)
2021
Film
When the Oak Leaves Fall
Narrator (voice) (archive footage)
1991
Film
Italienisches Capriccio
Don Marzio
1961
Večer s Jaroslavem Haškem
1953
Film
The Good Soldier Svejk
Narrator
1956
Film
Medvěd
statkář Grigorij Stěpanovič Smirnov
1961
Osudy dobrého vojáka Švejka – Švejkovy nehody ve vlaku
Narrator (voice)
1955
Těžká Barbora
1960
Jonáš a Melicharová
(archive footage)
1986
King and Women
Jindřich VIII.
1967
To jsou Bratři v triku
Himself
1957
Film
Tears the World Can't See
Fedor Akimič Rjebrotěsov
1963
Film
Fimfarum 2
Narrator
2006
Cecílie
voice
2025