Jan Werich

Acting

Jan Werich

Born — Died

1905-02-06 — 1980-10-31

Place of birth

Praha - Československo

Known for

Acting

Credits

72 titles

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 bourg…

Known for

Pan Tau poster
7.1

Pan Tau always had a gentle expression and a friendly smile, he was elegantly dressed in a stroller, with an umbrella and a white carnation in the lapel. Foremost, he was famous for his magic bowler hat. By tapping on his hat, Pan Tau was able to change his appearance into a puppet, to conjure up miscellaneous objects or to do other magic. His most characteristically behavior is that he would help children who were experiencing some sort of difficulties in-between their dreams and reality, like finding a place for skiing, settling family problems on Christmas, and even give a boy a good time at a fair when he is supposed to have piano lessons. To adults, he usually remained invisible.

Pan Tau

1970

The 25th Hour poster
7.6

A Romanian peasant fights to get back to his family after he's imprisoned by the Nazis.The picture is based on real events. It includes Hungary's government in collaboration with the Nazis, the encroachment of Romania by Stalin's troopers, and other happenings.

The 25th Hour

1967

Klapzubova jedenáctka poster
7.0

No synopsis available yet.

Klapzubova jedenáctka

1968

No artwork available
8.0

No synopsis available yet.

Tři strážníci

2005

The Fabulous Baron Munchausen poster
7.4

A 20th century man lands on the Moon and discovers that Baron Munchausen has beaten him to it, accompanied by Cyrano de Bergerac and the characters from Jules Verne's novels about the conquest of the satellite.

The Fabulous Baron Munchausen

1962

When the Cat Comes poster
7.0

While old Oliva tells a group of children about his life as a sailor and how he met Diana and her cat with sunglasses, a strange circus arrives in town.

When the Cat Comes

1963

Film credits

2000s · 2 titles

1980s · 5 titles

Pan Tau – der Film poster
6.4

Pan Tau, the friend of all children, now also helps the adults. A movie producer is in trouble and decides to shoot another Pan-Tau movie. But the old Pan-Tau actor Karasek is no longer young enough to walk the almost weightless walk of Pan Tau. Mr. Novak turns up - he resembles Pan Tau like a twin brother. He succeeds every pirouette. And as if by magic, he solves all the problems between people! Who is Mr. Novak? Is he really ...?

Pan Tau – der Film

1988

Echoes of the Blue Room poster
NR

His thoughts wandered across his beloved Prague all the time. Namely, the Lesser Town, where I walk over the Charles Bridge, through small, intricate alleys all the way to Old Town Square and then through Kaprova street towards the Parliament. There, in Kaprova street, opposite the post office stands house Nr. 10, where the name Jaroslav Ježek used to be written on the door on first floor for many years... Jan Novák's and Frances Ježková's memories of Jaroslav Ježek

Echoes of the Blue Room

1983

Mean Barbara poster
8.2

When the village school master discovers the body of a mean-spirited, miserly old woman, with whom he has had a disagreement, he decides to dispose of the body himself without alerting anyone else to it, but when the body is discovered by another villager the same cycle begins again, with the body eventually passing through the hands of half of the village.

Mean Barbara

1989

No artwork available
9.0

Jonáš, an aging comedian, wanders the restored Semafor theater lost in memories of his glory days. He finds unexpected inspiration in Melicharová, a music-loving cleaner who joins him in sketches and songs drawn from their stage show. Interwoven with archival clips from Semafor’s past productions and earlier TV projects, their collaboration sparks a poignant musical reunion.

Jonáš a Melicharová

1986

No artwork available
NR

A Czech animation.

Královna Koloběžka první

1981

1960s · 17 titles

The 25th Hour poster
7.6

A Romanian peasant fights to get back to his family after he's imprisoned by the Nazis.The picture is based on real events. It includes Hungary's government in collaboration with the Nazis, the encroachment of Romania by Stalin's troopers, and other happenings.

The 25th Hour

1967

The Fabulous Baron Munchausen poster
7.4

A 20th century man lands on the Moon and discovers that Baron Munchausen has beaten him to it, accompanied by Cyrano de Bergerac and the characters from Jules Verne's novels about the conquest of the satellite.

The Fabulous Baron Munchausen

1962

When the Cat Comes poster
7.0

While old Oliva tells a group of children about his life as a sailor and how he met Diana and her cat with sunglasses, a strange circus arrives in town.

When the Cat Comes

1963

Assignment K poster
6.3

Philip Scott, the boss of a toy company, is secretly also the chief of a British spy organization. Scott's cover is destroyed when enemy agents kidnap his girlfriend to force him to reveal the identities of his fellow spies.

Assignment K

1968

Czechoslovakia: Portrait of a Tragedy poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Czechoslovakia: Portrait of a Tragedy

1968

No artwork available
7.0

When Jan Werich wakes up as his seemingly deceased grandfather, he discovers that all the survivors are only interested in his property. That's why he decides to get married.

The Dear Departed

1964

Tears the World Can't See poster
8.3

Three friends from a wet neighbourhood come back from the pub properly stoned and decide to continue partying at the home of one of them, because he has a nice wife who understands and gives them a nice treat. But the reality is somewhat different...

Tears the World Can't See

1963

Magnetické vlny léčí poster
6.5

Detective Biddle arrives in a small American town to warn the local mayor Banks about a fraudulent healer. Together, they agree on how to convict the con man. They only need to catch him in the act, so the mayor feigns illness and the healer is called upon to help him. Directed by Vojtěch Jasný, they played with gusto - the healer Jan Werich and the mayor Jiří Sovák.

Magnetické vlny léčí

1965

The Cry poster
7.0

While a woman is in the hospital preparing to deliver her child, her husband has all day to reflect upon his wife and their relationship. As he tends to his job as a television repairman, Slavek fondly remembers how he first met Ivana and the days they spent getting to know one another. Slavek also grows increasingly aware of the environment that surrounds him and questions the society his new child will be entering.

The Cry

1964

No artwork available
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Pražská strašidla

1966

Balada z hadrů poster
7.0

Jan Werich and Miroslav Horníček in the legendary play of the Liberated Theatre.

Balada z hadrů

1960

Italienisches Capriccio poster
10.0

Biography of the comic poet Carlo Goldoni (1707-1793).

Italienisches Capriccio

1961

Kočár nejsvětější svátosti poster
6.7

Jan Werich, as the Spanish viceroy in Lima, Peru, at the end of the eighteenth century, is not only afflicted with gout but also doubts about the fidelity of his mistress, an actress of the local theatre, with whom he intends to settle his scores very firmly...

Kočár nejsvětější svátosti

1963

Medvěd poster
8.5

Will a young widow's determination to spend the rest of her life alone hold up when an uncouth but nevertheless attractive man bursts into her house? An adaptation of Chekhov's play performed by Jan Werich and Stella Zázvorková.

Medvěd

1961

No artwork available
6.2

No synopsis available yet.

Těžká Barbora

1960

Uspořená libra poster
7.8

No synopsis available yet.

Uspořená libra

1963

No artwork available
8.0

A married couple in which he is the older and powerful one and she is young and charming. Their mutual teasing, fussing and bickering filled a royal morning in the bedroom. The mighty King Henry VIII of England, who, as we know from history, had more than one of his wives put to death, and the last of them, Catherine Parr, using all the powers of her youth. The main dispute is over the colour of Alexander the Great's horse. Was he white or black? Will he, she, or the love that lies behind all the words win?

King and Women

1967

1950s · 19 titles

The Fall of Berlin poster
5.0

Surrounded by a few party officials, Alexei Ivanov, a stakhanovist smelter, is decorated by Stalin. The "Little Father of the Peoples" takes this opportunity to invoke threats of war.... One day, war indeed breaks out. Bombs fall on the field where Alexei finds himself in the company of the schoolmistress Natacha, his fiancée. Alexei joins the Red Army and soon becomes a sergeant. Fighting rages and German troops advance. Natacha is arrested and deported. But the tide turns decisively with the German defeat at Stalingrad. Now the major offensive against Hitler can begin.

The Fall of Berlin

1950

The Creation of the World poster
6.8

La Création du Monde is among the first animated feature films made in France. But to be exact, the film was animated in Czechia and directed by Eduard Hofman. It is adapted from a series of five books by Jean Effel, a French caricaturist and illustrator. The visual style is adapted from his drawings. The film is a comedy about the creation of the universe in six days, with the devil messing around and contributing in his own way.

The Creation of the World

1958

The Emperor and the Golem poster
7.0

The Emperor's mismanagement of his country is provoking some in his court to plot to overthrow him. He feels successful, at least, when he discovers the legendary Golem, which he believes can protect him and even cure his imaginary illnesses but, when he disappears while on a bender, his kindly baker, who looks just like him, is mistaken for him, and begins to put things in order. However, the conspirators, not to be outdone, determine to bring the Golem back to life to do their bidding.

The Emperor and the Golem

1951

Pekařův císař poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Pekařův císař

1951

Císařův pekař poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Císařův pekař

1951

Once Upon a Time, There Was a King... poster
8.0

A selfish self-centered widowed ruler, barely tolerated by his subjects and called appropriately enough, 'King Myself, First' asks his three daughters to name the measure of their love for him. When one of them says, "more than salt", he banishes her from the kingdom. Not understanding what she meant the King assumes love can only be measured by precious metals or one's own talent, the 'correct' answers from his other two daughters. The arrogance of the King leads him to gather all the salt in the kingdom and destroy it. Of course, this backfires as he slowly learns the universal value of the substance, and of course, the essence of his daughter's reply. With the help of the wise and magical old 'herb woman', the King also learns what it means to be a true and wise ruler.

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

1955

No artwork available
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Silvestr 1957

1957

Two Little Frosts poster
6.6

Two mischievous frost spirits make things chilly for a pair of travelers in this wintry comic folktale.

Two Little Frosts

1955

Jaroslav Hasek's Exemplary Cinematograph poster
5.9

Jaroslav Hašek screens four film stories in the fairground shed around 1900. After period advertising slides and a "newspaper", we see "the first part of a sensational, exemplary, parfuss, salon program - a film from the life of school-age children, shot under very difficult circumstances". The plot of this film takes place partly in a school classroom and partly in a gymnasium toilet, where the primate Chocholka took refuge from a Latin composition. "Exemplary Family Happiness" is the second film that takes the viewer into the family of the municipal official Honzátek, in which many stormy scenes occurred when the hamster, provided by Honzátek Jr., moved into the sofa - a wedding gift from Sister Ema. Equally surprising are two other stories, one of which tells about the "father of the poor", the owner of a company with unrecoverable cash flow and a famous patron, and the other about the fateful consequences of a joint trip between the old bachelor Mr. Hanzlíček and his neighbors.

Jaroslav Hasek's Exemplary Cinematograph

1956

The Good Soldier Svejk poster
7.3

Adapting Jaroslav Hasek's raucous satirical novel, and also bringing Josef Lada's equally famous illustrations to garrulous puppet life, posed Trnka one of his biggest creative challenges. Trnka himself felt that the final episode was the most artistically successful, but there's much to enjoy in all three, not least the way that the lackadaisical layabout Svejk's own self-serving anecdotes are realized through cut-out animation.

The Good Soldier Svejk

1956

No artwork available
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Osudy dobrého vojáka Švejka – Švejkova budějovická anabase

1956

No artwork available
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Osudy dobrého vojáka Švejka – Z Hatvanu na hranice Haliče

1954

No artwork available
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Večer s Jaroslavem Haškem

1953

Hudba z Marsu poster
6.1

The employees of the furniture company MARS welcome a rare visitor with hired music. Their boast that they would put together an orchestra is taken seriously, so they receive a small gift - musical instruments for thirty musicians.

Hudba z Marsu

1955

No artwork available
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Osudy dobrého vojáka Švejka – Švejkovy nehody ve vlaku

1955

No artwork available
6.1

A poor fisherman catches the golden fish that promises him to fulfil three wishes if he sets her free again. He does so and the fish fulfils two of his three wishes. However, she refuses to fulfil the third one, the last one in which the fisherman’s wife wants to be equal to God.

The Golden Fish

1951

Dog's Heads poster
5.7

The history of the rebellion of the brave Chody, led by Jan Sladký Kozina and Matěj Přibek, against the violent tyranny of the foreign nobleman Maximilian Lamminger of Albenreuth. Based on the novel of the same name by Alois Jirásek.

Dog's Heads

1955

No artwork available
NR

No synopsis available yet.

To jsou Bratři v triku

1957

No artwork available
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Pouť noci silvestrovské

1953

1930s · 6 titles

Heave-Ho! poster
6.8

A Milk-Cannery baron, Jakub Simonides, is broken by the Canned Milk-Trust and, in his wanderings with a worker, Filip Kornet, he discovers he still owns a half-finished apartment-house. They rally the workers and complete the building for use as a collectivist dairy. The cooperative flourishes and after a chase/pursuit with the police, pratfalls, slapstick and various crashes, the workers buy out the Milk-Trust.

Heave-Ho!

1934

Crisis poster
8.0

A documentary about the conquest of Czechoslovakia by the Nazis just prior to World War 2.

Crisis

1939

Here in Kocourkov poster
7.4

Curious citizens await the arrival of an important guest, the son of poacher, who became famous abroad. Begins celebration in his honor, but nobody knows that instead of the hero arrived cursory prisoner number 1313. He quickly understand how things are and decides to take the opportunity and very quickly gets into a new role.

Here in Kocourkov

1934

Powder and Petrol poster
8.0

The Voskovec and Werich duo play a peculiar pair - a clumsy coach driver and an equally clumsy traffic policeman, who both fall in love with a young actress. Although their ludicrous courtship does not work out, both buddies become successful revue comedians.

Powder and Petrol

1932

The World Belongs to Us poster
7.2

One of the few European films of the 30s to criticize the Nazis, even if they couldn't be directly named due to censorship: Gangsters with gray hats stir up trouble in what is obviously the Sudetenland.

The World Belongs to Us

1937

Your Money or Your Life poster
7.5

A czech film that focuses on an unfaithful husband who married in to money, as well as an impoverished man who is turns to theft.

Your Money or Your Life

1932

Series credits

Behind the camera

The Emperor and the Golem poster
7.0

The Emperor's mismanagement of his country is provoking some in his court to plot to overthrow him. He feels successful, at least, when he discovers the legendary Golem, which he believes can protect him and even cure his imaginary illnesses but, when he disappears while on a bender, his kindly baker, who looks just like him, is mistaken for him, and begins to put things in order. However, the conspirators, not to be outdone, determine to bring the Golem back to life to do their bidding.

The Emperor and the Golem

1951

Pekařův císař poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Pekařův císař

1951

Císařův pekař poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Císařův pekař

1951

Once Upon a Time, There Was a King... poster
8.0

A selfish self-centered widowed ruler, barely tolerated by his subjects and called appropriately enough, 'King Myself, First' asks his three daughters to name the measure of their love for him. When one of them says, "more than salt", he banishes her from the kingdom. Not understanding what she meant the King assumes love can only be measured by precious metals or one's own talent, the 'correct' answers from his other two daughters. The arrogance of the King leads him to gather all the salt in the kingdom and destroy it. Of course, this backfires as he slowly learns the universal value of the substance, and of course, the essence of his daughter's reply. With the help of the wise and magical old 'herb woman', the King also learns what it means to be a true and wise ruler.

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

1955

Heave-Ho! poster
6.8

A Milk-Cannery baron, Jakub Simonides, is broken by the Canned Milk-Trust and, in his wanderings with a worker, Filip Kornet, he discovers he still owns a half-finished apartment-house. They rally the workers and complete the building for use as a collectivist dairy. The cooperative flourishes and after a chase/pursuit with the police, pratfalls, slapstick and various crashes, the workers buy out the Milk-Trust.

Heave-Ho!

1934

Powder and Petrol poster
8.0

The Voskovec and Werich duo play a peculiar pair - a clumsy coach driver and an equally clumsy traffic policeman, who both fall in love with a young actress. Although their ludicrous courtship does not work out, both buddies become successful revue comedians.

Powder and Petrol

1932

Powder and Petrol poster
8.0

The Voskovec and Werich duo play a peculiar pair - a clumsy coach driver and an equally clumsy traffic policeman, who both fall in love with a young actress. Although their ludicrous courtship does not work out, both buddies become successful revue comedians.

Powder and Petrol

1932

The World Belongs to Us poster
7.2

One of the few European films of the 30s to criticize the Nazis, even if they couldn't be directly named due to censorship: Gangsters with gray hats stir up trouble in what is obviously the Sudetenland.

The World Belongs to Us

1937

Kočár nejsvětější svátosti poster
6.7

Jan Werich, as the Spanish viceroy in Lima, Peru, at the end of the eighteenth century, is not only afflicted with gout but also doubts about the fidelity of his mistress, an actress of the local theatre, with whom he intends to settle his scores very firmly...

Kočár nejsvětější svátosti

1963

No artwork available
6.1

A poor fisherman catches the golden fish that promises him to fulfil three wishes if he sets her free again. He does so and the fish fulfils two of his three wishes. However, she refuses to fulfil the third one, the last one in which the fisherman’s wife wants to be equal to God.

The Golden Fish

1951

Uspořená libra poster
7.8

No synopsis available yet.

Uspořená libra

1963

Your Money or Your Life poster
7.5

A czech film that focuses on an unfaithful husband who married in to money, as well as an impoverished man who is turns to theft.

Your Money or Your Life

1932