Jan Kurnakowicz – aktor doskonały

Abstrakt

Jan Kurnakowicz lived in the years 1901-1968. In 1921 he graduated from the State Drama School in St Petersburg. He made his début in Pawlowsk. He appeared in St Petersburg, and then, from 1922, in Vilnius. From there, in 1925 he moved to the Wojciech Bogusławski Theatre in Warsaw that was directed under the auspices of Schiller, Zelwerowicz and Horzyca. He worked in Warsaw until the outbreak of World War II. He spent the years of occupation in Vilnius, and after the war he first played in theatres outside the Polish capital: in Olsztyn, Łódź, Wrocław, Cracow, but in 1950 he settled in Warsaw and started work at the National Theatre. He created unforgettable roles in films. He could also be heard in radio plays and seen on television. Theatre critics noticed his uncommon talent and gave favorable opinions about the roles he played. He received a few state prizes. The fact that he was buried in Cmentarz Powązkowski in the Alley of the Meritorious testifies to his greatness and significance. However, there are as yet no serious works devoted to him – there are only some recollections of him and theatrical reviews scattered in the press and minor dictionary mentions. The present article is a fragment of the doctor's thesis Jan Kurnakowicz – a perfect actor that has the form of a monograph of the artist. It is a continuation of the earlier published series of the so-called `lives' written by, e.g. Zofia Jasińska (Kazimierz Kamiński) and J. Szczublewski (Juliusz Osterwa). The basis for the research is the historical information (coming mainly from the press) subjected to analysis and selection. Utterances, connected with comments from the author of the thesis, and quoted in the chronological order, show the great actor's life and work. The thesis aims at collecting all the knowledge about Kurnakowicz. It is going to show the artist's great personality and his substantial contribution to the Polish theatrical culture.