Next person biography:
George Voskovec was a Czech actor, producer, director, and author born Jirí Wachsmann on June 19, 1905. His ancestry was Czech, German, and French. He was born shortly after his family returned to Bohemia, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, where the spelling of the family name was changed from Vaksman to Wachsmann. Later, the family changed the name to Voskovec, a Czech translation, and his father changed his name to Václav Voskovec.
George received his education at Lycée Carnot in Dijon and Charles University (School of Law) in Prague. He made his stage debut in Prague in 1927 in "Vest Pocket Revue" and subsequently formed a solid partnership with fellow actor/lyricist Jan Werich. For the next 11 years, they wrote, produced, and performed 26 productions for the avant-garde Liberated Theatre of Prague, Osvobozene divadlo. He also established himself in Czech comedy films as both performer and writer in tandem with Werich.
In the late 1930s, he left his homeland following the German invasion and emigrated to America. Rebuilding his status as a performer/writer/director, he débuted at the Cleveland Playhouse in 1940 in "Heavy Barbara" and "The Ass and the Shadow," again in collaboration with Werich. During the war years, he and Werich wrote and broadcast a host of radio programs for the "Voice of America". He also made his Broadway debut in "The Tempest" in 1945.
He returned to Prague after the war in 1946 and worked for a time in the theatre before traveling to Paris, where he first worked for UNESCO, later founded the American theatre of Paris in 1949 and served as producer/director.
Upon his return to America in 1950, he was detained for 11 months on Ellis Island on suspicion of being a communist sympathizer. After he was allowed to enter the USA, Voskovec appeared in New York with "The Love of Four Colonels," which he later toured. He went on to accumulate a formidable list of theatre credits, including "The Seagull," "Festival," and, notably, "Uncle Vanya" for which he won an Obie award in the title role.
He made his London stage debut as Otto Frank in "The Diary of Anne Frank" in 1956, and was a continued presence on the 1960s Shakespearean stage with "Caesar and Cleopatra" (as Caesar) and John Gielgud's production of "Hamlet" as the Player King, the latter play was filmed.
In films, he played supporting roles in the U.S. from 1952, including "Affair in Trinidad" (1952),"The Iron Mistress" (1952),"The 27th Day" (1957),"The Bravados" (1958),"BUtterfield 8" (1960),"The Spy Who Came in from the Cold" (1965),and "The Boston Strangler" (1968). He also played one of the jurors in the classic drama "12 Angry Men" (1957) alongside Lee J. Cobb and Henry Fonda.
Voskovec was indeed a vital ethnic presence during the "Golden Age of Television" during the 1950s and in episodic 1960s TV. He was also a songwriter, being the lyricist of some 300 popular songs over his career.
