Zbigniew Cybulski
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Zbigniew Cybulski (better known as Zbyszek Cybulski; November 3, 1927 - January 8, 1967) was a Polish actor, one of the best known and most popular personalities of the Polish cinema after World War II. For his unique style of play, he is often called the Polish James Dean. His roles paralleled somewhat those of Dean, playing nonconformist rebels, and notably he also died relatively young in a needlessly tragic way - run over by a train he was trying to catch on his way home from a film shoot.
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[edit] Biography
Zbigniew Cybulski was born November 3, 1927 in a small village of Kniaże near Stanisławów (currently in Ukraine, then Poland). After World War II he joined the Theatre Academy in Kraków. He graduated in 1953 and moved to Gdańsk, where he made his stage debut in Leon Schiller's Wybrzeże Theatre. Also, with his friend Bogumił Kobiela, Cybulski founded a famous student theatre Bim-Bom. In early 1960s, Cybulski moved to Warsaw, where he joined the Wagabunda experimental theatre. He also appeared on stage of the Ateneum theatre, one of the most modern and least conservative Warsaw-based theatres of the epoch.
However, Cybulski is best remembered as a screen actor. He first appeared in a 1954 film Kariera as one of the extras. His first major role came in 1958, when he played in Kazimierz Kutz's Krzyż Walecznych. The same year he also appeared as one of the main characters in Andrzej Wajda's Ashes and Diamonds and Aleksander Ford's Eighth Day of the Week based on a short story by Marek Hłasko. Since then, Cybulski was seen as one of the most notable actors of the Polish Film School and one of the young and wrathful, as his generation of actors were called at the time.
Among the most famous films he played in are Wojciech Has' The Manuscript Found in Saragossa. He also appeared in numerous plays of the Television Theatre, including plays based on works by Colib Robertson, Truman Capote, Anton Chekhov or Jerzy Andrzejewski.
Zbigniew Cybulski died in an accident at a Wrocław train station on January 8, 1967, at the age of 39. He was running to catch a train leaving the station to Warsaw. As Cybulski jumped to the already speeding train (as he often did before) he slipped on a stairway and fell beneath the train, run over by its wheels. He was buried in Katowice.
[edit] Heritage
Cybulski remains a legend of the Polish cinema. Undoubtedly this is partly due to his premature and tragic passing. The place of his tragic death is now marked with a small monument to him and is visited every year by hundreds of his fans. In 1996 the readers of Film magazine awarded Cybulski with the title of Best Polish Actor of All Time.
[edit] Filmography
- 1954 - Kariera (an extra, bus passenger)
- 1954 - A Generation (as Kostka)
- 1955 - Trzy starty (Leśniak)
- 1956 - Koniec nocy (Romek)
- 1956 - Tajemnica dzikiego szybu (as a miner)
- 1957 - Wraki (Rafał Grabień)
- 1958 - Krzyż walecznych (Wiecek)
- 1958 - Eight Day of the Week (Ósmy dzień tygodnia, as Piotr)
- 1958 - Ashes and Diamonds (Popiół i diament, as Maciek Chełmicki)
- 1959 - Night Train (Pociąg, as Staszek)
- 1959 - Zamach
- 1960 - Do widzenia, do jutra (as Jacek and screenwriter)
- 1960 - Niewinni czarodzieje (Edmund)
- 1960 - Rozstanie (as renown actor)
- 1962 - How to Be Loved (Jak być kochaną, as Wiktor Rawicz)
- 1962 - La Poupee (film)
- 1962 - Miłość dwudziestolatków (L'Amour a vingt ans, as Zbyszek)
- 1963 - Ich dzień powszedni (Andrzej)
- 1963 - Milczenie (Roman)
- 1963 - Rozwodów nie będzie (Gruszka)
- 1963 - Zbrodniarz i panna (captain Ziętek)
- 1964 - Att älska (Fredrik)
- 1964 - Giuseppe w Warszawie (Staszek)
- 1964 - Pingwin (Łukasz)
- 1964 - The Saragossa Manuscript (Rękopis znaleziony w Saragossie, as Alfons Van Worden)
- 1965 - Jutro Meksyk (coach Jańczak)
- 1965 - Salto (Kowalski/Malinowski)
- 1965 - Sam pośród miasta (Konrad)
- 1966 - Cała naprzód (Janek)
- 1966 - Iluzja (TV)
- 1966 - Mistrz (TV)
- 1966 - Przedświąteczny wieczór (Zapała's colleague)
- 1966 - Szyfry (Maciek)
- 1967 - Jowita (coach Księżak)
- 1967 - Morderca zostawia ślad (as Rodecki, unfinished because of Cybulski's death)
[edit] Trivia
- Cybulski died in real life while trying to catch a train. Coincidentally, his character in Ashes and Diamonds, is gunned down while trying to catch a train.
