
Jan Werich
Department: Acting
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".
Known For

Assignment K
1968

The Fabulous Baron Munchausen
1962

The Emperor and the Golem
1952

Jan Werich's Fimfarum
2002

Fimfarum 2
2006

Two Little Frosts
1955

Once Upon a Time, There Was a King...
1955

Fimfarum - To the good of all
2011

The Creation of the World
1958

Your Money or Your Life
1932

Pražská strašidla
1966

The Fall of Berlin
1950

Hudba z Marsu
1955

Powder and Petrol
1932

The World Belongs to Us
1937

Heave-Ho!
1934

Těžká Barbora
1960

When the Cat Comes
1963

The Good Soldier Svejk
1956

Crisis
1939

Here in Kocourkov
1934

Uspořená libra
1963

Balada z hadrů
1960

The Dear Departed
1964

Silvestr 1957
1957

When the Oak Leaves Fall
1991

The 25th Hour
1967

Kočár nejsvětější svátosti
1963

Medvěd
1961

Magnetické vlny léčí
1965

King and Women
1967

The Cry
1964

Tears the World Can't See
1963

Mean Barbara
1989

Italienisches Capriccio
1961

To jsou Bratři v triku
1957

Pan Tau – der Film
1988

The Golden Fish
1951

Czechoslovakia: Portrait of a Tragedy
1968

Pouť noci silvestrovské
1953

Dog's Heads
1955

Osudy dobrého vojáka Švejka – Švejkova budějovická anabase
1956

Osudy dobrého vojáka Švejka – Švejkovy nehody ve vlaku
1955

Osudy dobrého vojáka Švejka – Z Hatvanu na hranice Haliče
1954

Jaroslav Hasek's Exemplary Cinematograph
1956

Jan Werich: Když už člověk jednou je…
2021

Jonáš a Melicharová
1986

Královna Koloběžka první
1981

Večer s Jaroslavem Haškem
1953

Herecké Vánoce
1970

Cecílie
2025

Co tomu říkáte, pane Werich?
1968

Pan Tau
1970

Přiložte životopis
1968

Tři strážníci
2005

Voskovec & Werich, paralelní osudy
2012

Klapzubova jedenáctka
1968