Jan Werich
Photoplayd Industry Rating
Not enough rated films yet to compute a weighted score.
Roles are weighted by involvement: director 1.0, screenwriter 0.7, lead 0.8, supporting 0.4, crew 0.1.
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 25th Hour (1967)
as Sgt. Constantin
The Creation of the World (1958)
as Narrator (voice)
The Fabulous Baron Munchausen (1962)
as kapitán holandské lodi
Herecké Vánoce (1970)
as Jan Werich
When the Cat Comes (1963)
as Oliva
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.
Two Little Frosts (1955)
as Brave Frost (voice)
Czechoslovakia: Portrait of a Tragedy (1968)
as Self
Pan Tau – der Film (1988)
as (archive footage)
Mean Barbara (1989)
as Narrator (voice) (archive footage)
Assignment K (1968)
as Dr. Spiegler
Jaroslav Hasek's Exemplary Cinematograph (1956)
as Commentary (voice)
Fimfarum - To the good of all (2011)
as (voice)
Osudy dobrého vojáka Švejka – Švejkova budějovická anabase (1956)
as Narrator (voice)
The World Belongs to Us (1937)
as kamelot
Tears the World Can't See (1963)
as Fedor Akimič Rjebrotěsov
Pražská strašidla (1966)
as Narrator (voice)
Jan Werich: Když už člověk jednou je… (2021)
as Self (archive footage)
Here in Kocourkov (1934)
as Ferdinand Kaplan
Večer s Jaroslavem Haškem (1953)
Actor
Silvestr 1957 (1957)
Actor
The Good Soldier Svejk (1956)
as Narrator
Hudba z Marsu (1955)
as Nadšený divák
Your Money or Your Life (1932)
as Tonda
Jan Werich's Fimfarum (2002)
as Vypravěč
Powder and Petrol (1932)
Actor
Fimfarum 2 (2006)
as Narrator
The Fall of Berlin (1950)
as Goering
Crisis (1939)
Actor
Těžká Barbora (1960)
Actor
Heave-Ho! (1934)
Actor
Magnetické vlny léčí (1965)
as léčitel Wohu
The Golden Fish (1951)
as Narrator (voice)
Cecílie (2026)
as Voice (archive footage)
Královna Koloběžka první (1981)
as Narrator (archive footage) (voice)
Osudy dobrého vojáka Švejka – Z Hatvanu na hranice Haliče (1954)
as Narrator (voice)
Italienisches Capriccio (1961)
as Don Marzio
The Cry (1964)
as Narrator (voice)
Echoes of the Blue Room (1983)
Actor
The Dear Departed (1964)
as Dědeček
Osudy dobrého vojáka Švejka – Švejkovy nehody ve vlaku (1955)
as Narrator (voice)
To jsou Bratři v triku (1957)
as Himself
Kočár nejsvětější svátosti (1963)
Actor
When the Oak Leaves Fall (1991)
as Narrator (voice) (archive footage)
King and Women (1967)
as Jindřich VIII.
Dog's Heads (1955)
Actor
Jonáš a Melicharová (1986)
as (archive footage)
Uspořená libra (1963)
as Sam Adams
Medvěd (1961)
as statkář Grigorij Stěpanovič Smirnov
Balada z hadrů (1960)
as strážný Holofern
Pouť noci silvestrovské (1953)
Actor