The bittersweet friendship of Voskovec and Werich / Horke pratelstvi Voskovce a Wericha

An actor, writer and a poet George Voskovec, known as the “11th angry man“(from a famous American movie called “12 Angry Men“) definitely belongs to my favorite famous Czech American. He was born to a Czech father and French mother in Sazava in 1905 , went to high school in Prague, where he ended up meeting his best friend as well as the life-long acting partner Jan Werich. Together, while still university students, they joined the acting team at the Liberated Theater in 1927. Thanks to their wonderful acting and singing abilities the place soon became one of the most hip places in Prague. Even the German theater scene loved them until their performances became mostly anti-fascist which also led to closing the theater in 1938 and them immigrating to the USA in early 1939.

After the war both of them returned to Prague to their re-established Liberated theater where they again started happily performing until their humor became “not welcomed” by the communist party. Once again, Woskovec and Verich were under a political pressure. Voskovec did not feel like dealing with it anymore and went back to the United States, while Werich decided to stay in communist Czechoslovakia. Werich went on making many successful Czech movies such as “Byl jednou jeden kral” (“There once was a king”). Verich had to start his acting career in the US all over again – this time as GEORGE Voskovec. He acted in 72(!!) movies from which only 5 of them were Czech ( i.e. “Penize nebo zivot“/ “Give me the money or else you die!”) and the rest were American. Voskovec remembers: ” During the beginnings when I still couldn’t speak English that well and had a strong accent I would get casted much more often, especially into the Cechov’s dramas.“His most successful movie role became the “juror no.11” in the “12 Angry Men ” where he played along with Henry Fonda. After the two inseparable friends had gone their own ways Voskovec and Werich met sadly only five or six times within their lifetimes. Their meeting point became Vienna and since that was considered Western Europe, it was hard for Werich to get a permission to travel there. Voskovec ,on the other hand, was afraid to come visit Werich in Czechoslovakia. His one and only chance was during the Prague Spring in 1968 but Voskovec was casted in a musical at that time and the director would not let him go. They met up for the last time in 1974 – again in Vienna.

Although Voskovec lived in three countries he would always say that “I am a born and bred Czech“. In 1955 he became an American citizen. He died on July 4th, 1981 in Pearblossom, CA, only 8 months after the death of his life-long friend Jan Woskovec. He was 76 years old.

Voskovec once said about their relationship: ” We knew each other more than we knew ourselves. Zdenka (perhaps his wife?) would always say that the only person Werich has ever loved was me and I think she may have even been right…We were so different, yet we understood each other so well: not in an intellectual kind but of way but in a way that cannot be described by words..”

CZ: Herec, spisovatel a basnik Jiri Voskovec, znamy jako “11-ty rozzlobeny muz” z filmu “12 Angry Man” si zcela urcite vybudoval misto, jako znamy Cechoamerican. Narodil se roku 1905 na Sazave, jeho maminka byla francouzskeho puvodu, zatimco otec byl Cech. Odesel studovat gymnasium do Prahy, kde take nasel svou “celozivotni lasku” a take hereckeho parntera – Jana Wericha. Zatimco byli porad universitnimi studenty, roku 1927 zacali take hrat v misnim Osvobozenem divadle. Diky jejich vynikajicimu herckemu a zpeveckemu talentu se toto divadlo stalo nejpopularnejsim v Praze. Dokonce i nemecka divadelni scena je obdivovala, ovsem az do te doby, kdy jejich skyty byly zcela proti-fasistickeho razu, coz take v roce 1938 vedlo k uzavreni celeho divadla. O rok pozdeji se oba umelci rozhodli emigrovat do Ameriky. Jakmile valka skoncila, oba se do Ceskoslovenska vratili, Osvobozene divadlo se znovu rozlehalo V+W vtipky; ovsem ne dlouho. Jejich humor zacal byt “nevitanym” ze strany komunistu – oba herci byli opet pod politickym tlakem. Voskovec uz na to nemel zaludek a vratil se zpatky do USA. Werich se rozhodl v komunistickem Ceskoslovensku zustat, kde take po zbytek sveho zivota vytvarel velmi uspesne filmy, jako je “Byl jednou jeden kral”. Verich bohuzel musel v Americe se svoji hereckou karierou zacit od sameho pocatku, tentokrat ale jako GEORGE Voskovec. Jiri hral celkove v 72 filmech, kde pouze 5 z nich bylo ceskeho puvodu ( jako je “PEnize nebo Zivot”), zbytek to byli filmy americke. Voskovec vzpomina:”Když jsem ješte neumel dobre mluvit, mel jsem víc angažmá. Kvuli evropskému akcentu, to se hodilo v Cechovových dramatech,”. Jeho nejznamejsi herecka role se stal “soudce c.11” ve filmu “12 rozzlobenych muzu”, kde si zahral po boku Henryho Fondy. Od te doby co se tito dva nerozlucni kamaradi museli rozloucit, se Voskovec a Werich videli pouze 5 az 6-krat, a to ve Vidni. Jelikoz Viden byla uznavana jako “Zapadni Evropa”, bylo hrozne tezke pro Wericha dostat visum. Voskovec se do Ceskoslovenska za Verichem bal prijet. Jedinou sanci kterou mel, a to byloPrazske jaro roku 1968, promeskal; to diky tomu, ze mel angazma v jednom z americkych muzikalu a reziser ho nemohl pustit. Jejich posledni setkani probehlo opet ve Vidni, a to v roce 1974. Presto, ze zil Voskovec pres pulku sveho zivota v cizine, vzdycky tvrdil, ze je “Cech jako poleno”. V roce 1955 dostal americke obcanstvi, ktere si uzival az do roku 1981, kdy v Pearblossomu (CA) zemrel na srdecni zachvat. Oba pratele “na smrt”, tedy take zemreli necelych 0sm mesicu od sebe.

Voskovec jednou rekl: “Zdenka ríkávala (Voskovcova manzelka?), že jediná lidská osoba, kterou Werich miloval, jsem byl já, a myslím, že mohla mít pravdu. (…) Byli jsme práve tak nesmírne odlišní, jak jsme si nesmírne rozumeli: nikoli intelektem, nýbrž necím, co nemá jména…”
http://www.radio.cz/en/article/63330

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ji?í_Voskovec

http://www.velikani.cz/index2.php?zdroj=voskovecj&kat=litcz