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