Jiří Voskovec

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Jiří Voskovec

Jiří Voskovec (czech pronunciation (help·info)) (19 June 1905 near Benešov as Jiří Wachsmann – 4 July 1981 in Pearblossom, California, USA) was a Czech actor and writer, inseparably associated with Jan Werich. He attended school in Prague and in Dijon, France.

In 1925, together with Werich, he founded the Osvobozené divadlo (Liberated Theater), which after 2 years ultimately changed into a center for Czech clownery, a reaction to contemporary political and societal problems. Their performances were strictly anti-fascist, which led to the closure of the Liberated Theater in 1938.

Both Voskovec and Werich fled to the United States in early 1939; from then on, Voskovec lived primarily in the United States, only living in Czechoslovakia in 1948 and in France from 1948 to 1950. Till the mid-forties Voskovec worked and wrote mostly with Jan Werich. They only met a few times after Werich returned to communist Czechoslovakia.

Voskovec lived in three countries (and his maternal grandmother was French), but always claimed, "I am a born and bred Czech." In 1955 he became a citizen of the USA, and is referred to in encyclopedias there as George Voskovec (they called him Voskoveck), an American character actor. Czech references consider him to be a Czech actor, playwright, dramatist, director, translator, and poet.

Voskovec acted in 72 movies (5 of them Czech, rest American). His last movie was Barbarosa, with Willie Nelson and Gary Busey, his most famous American movie was 12 Angry Men with Henry Fonda. In 1975 he published (in New York) Czech spoken LP record "Relativne vzato", where he reflects on his life and world in general. Sleeve note for this LP was written by another notable Czech emigre, author Josef Skvorecky.