Ryszard Bolesławski

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Ryszard Bolesławski
Ryszard Bolesławski

Ryszard Bolesławski (February 4, 1889 - January 17, 1937),was a Polish film director, actor and teacher of acting.

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[edit] Biography

Ryszard Bolesławski was born on February 4, 1889 as Bolesław Ryszard Srzednicki in Dębowa Góra, in then under the tsarist Russia rule Poland. He graduated of the Tver Cavalry Officer's School. Later he studied acting at the Moscow Art Theatre, became a Member of M.A.T. and the director of its First Studio.

During the World War I Bolesławski fought as a lieutenant of the cavalry on the Tsarist Russia side, until the fall of the Russian Empire. He left Russia after the October Revolution of 1917 for his native Poland where he directed his first movies. As his birth name Bolesław Srzednicki was difficult to pronounce even for the Poles, he took the name of Ryszard Bolesławski. His "Cud nad Wisłą", Miracle at the Vistula was a semi-documentary about the miraculous victory of the Poles at the Vistula river, over the much stronger Soviet Russia forces during the Polish-Soviet War of 1919-1921.

In 1922, Bolesławski acted in the main part in Die Gezeichneten , a German silent film directed by a Danish director Carl Theodor Dreyer. In the 1920s Bolesławski made his way to New York City where known as "Richard", the English spelling of his name, along with fellow emigré Maria Ouspenskaya, he began to teach what would become known as "Method" acting. In 1923, he founded the "American Laboratory [Stage] Theatre" in New York which evolved into the "Actor's Studio".

Offered a contract to direct Hollywood films, he made several significant productions with some of the major stars of the day until his death a few weeks short of his 48th birthday, on January 17, 1937. He is interred in the Calvary Cemetery, East Los Angeles.


For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Ryszard Bolesławski has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7021 Hollywood Blvd.

[edit] Filmography

Films directed by Ryszard Bolesławski (also credited as Richard Boleslavsky):

[edit] in Russia

  • Tri Vstrechi
  • Khlieb

[edit] in Poland

  • Bohaterstwo Polskiego Skauta
  • Cud nad Wisłą (The Miracle at the Vistula)

[edit] in the United States

[edit] Books by Ryszard Bolesławski

  • The Way of the Lancer (1932; about the battles of Polish Uhlans in Russia)
  • Lance Down (1932)
  • Six Lessons of Dramatic Art (1933)
  • New Features In Acting (1935)

[edit] External links

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