Władysław Hańcza (18 May 1905 – 19 November 1977) was a Polish

actor An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

and

theatre director A theatre director or stage director is a professional in the theatre field who oversees and orchestrates the mounting of a theatre production such as a play, opera, dance, drama, musical theatre performance, etc. by unifying various endeavors a ...

Education and debut

In 1924, he graduated high school in his hometown of

Łódź Łódź is a city in central Poland and a former industrial centre. It is the capital of Łódź Voivodeship, and is located south-west of Warsaw. Łódź has a population of 655,279, making it the country's List of cities and towns in Polan ...

. Afterwards he studied philosophy and Polish philology at the University of Poznań. In 1927, he made his actor debut in a theater in

Poznań Poznań ( ) is a city on the Warta, River Warta in west Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business center and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint John's ...

Career

He performed in theatres in Poznań,

Katowice Katowice (, ) is the capital city of the Silesian Voivodeship in southern Poland and the central city of the Katowice urban area. As of 2021, Katowice has an official population of 286,960, and a resident population estimate of around 315,000. K ...

Toruń Toruń is a city on the Vistula River in north-central Poland and a World Heritage Sites of Poland, UNESCO World Heritage Site. Its population was 196,935 as of December 2021. Previously, it was the capital of the Toruń Voivodeship (1975–199 ...

and Łódź, before he joined the National Theatre in Warsaw in 1939. During the German occupation in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, he joined an underground theater in

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

. In October 1944, he was deported by the Germans to a

forced labour Forced labour, or unfree labour, is any work relation, especially in modern or early modern history, in which people are employed against their will with the threat of destitution, detention, or violence, including death or other forms of ...

camp in

Cottbus Cottbus () or (;) is a university city and the second-largest city in the German state of Brandenburg after the state capital, Potsdam. With around 100,000 inhabitants, Cottbus is the most populous city in Lusatia. Cottbus lies in the Sorbian ...

, and imprisoned there until the war ended in May 1945. After the war he was a lecturer at the State Theatre Academy in Warsaw.

Selected filmography

* '' Popioły'' (1965) * '' Sami swoi'' (1967) as Władysław Kargul * '' Colonel Wołodyjowski'' (1968) as Nowowiejski * '' Chłopi (1973 film)'' (1973) as Maciej Boryna * '' Potop'' (1974) as Janusz Radziwiłł * '' Nie ma mocnych'' (1974) * '' Nights and Days'' (Noce i Dnie) (1975) * '' Kochaj albo rzuć'' (1977)

References

External links

* 1905 births 1977 deaths Male actors from Łódź Polish theatre directors Commanders of the Order of Polonia Restituta Recipients of the Order of the Banner of Work Polish male film actors Polish male stage actors 20th-century Polish male actors Burials at Powązki Cemetery Polish people imprisoned in Germany Recipients of the Medal of the 10th Anniversary of the People's Republic of Poland {{Poland-actor-stub